Give it a try - she might like it! My only caveat is that after having happily listened to dozens and dozens of chapter books (Paddington was a favorite), DS abruptly stopped wanting to hear anything with more than a few words on a page right about the time he was starting to work out the words himself. My theory is that he wanted to look over my shoulder and follow along, which he couldn't do with a whole page of text.

My point, though, is that most of the time when AoPS is asking for something you think you can't do by hand, what they really want is something else that you can.... and grabbing the calculator isn't going to do it.

A calculator isn't going to help you on 2^200 -- it's going to give you a rough approximation, but not (for instance) the last digit. Most often, in AoPS, if there's something ridiculous to work out, there's another way to do it. So 2^200 might be in a fraction that can be simplified, or the question might be what the last digit is (and not the whole number). DS did Counting & Probability and Number Theory mostly without a calculator, although once he had simplified a C&P problem sometimes I'd let him use the calculator at that point. My rule is always (always!) to set up and simplify the problem before deciding whether a calculator is needed. More often than not you can do it by hand once you know what you're doing.

I've never tried reselling them, but I expect you could. Having it in your hands though, you can compare the content with the course pace. You might find that he's up for the content but not the breakneck speed their courses can run at... or that it will be fine. I believe you get three weeks to cancel after a class starts if you find yourself in over your head. For Counting & Probability the problems in Alcumus were a little easier than the book, and the book problems were a little easier than the challenge sets (longer-term homework)... and there were Alcumus sections assigned for weekly homework. I don't know if they do that for other classes though -- I don't remember Number Theory having Alcumus assignments. Anyway - take a look! You know your kid better than we do, and if he's enjoying it now I'd say there's at least a reasonable chance that he will continue to enjoy it and rise to the challenge of the class. And if he isn't up to it yet, you have plenty of other good options in the meantime.

If he's enjoying it, it's not too difficult. And if it gets too difficult, you can do something else!

I don't know whether I have enough experience with Derek Owens to make a fair comparison, but I'll give it a shot... I tutored one kid who took Derek Owens' Geometry class, and it was, as another poster has said, a good, solid, college-prep class. His lectures were clear and engaging, and the homework was reasonable. He used Jacobs Geometry and pretty much followed the book. It was a well-done course and he was a good teacher. My own kid has done AoPS -- not Geometry, but Counting & Probability and Number Theory as classes, and he's working through the Problem Solving Volume 1 Book without a class this year. AoPS is above-and-beyond the standard math curriculum, and it's extra-challenging. The teachers that DS has had were excellent, and the class discussion was fast-paced and challenging. It's an exciting way to learn math... but not strictly necessary for a kid who doesn't enjoy that kind of thing. The kid who took Derek Owens' class (this was a few years back) is now in BC Calculus at the local public high school and is doing great. He's well-prepared, hard-working, and knows his stuff. Some of that of course is personality and native ability... but the class certainly didn't hurt him any. That said, if he were my kid I would have loved for him to have taken some AoPS -- Number Theory and C&P in particular -- just because it's such a great bit of math that the standard sequence never gets to. Some bits and pieces found their way into his Precalculus course last year, but not enough IMO. So I think for a kid who is on a standard math track, doing well, enjoying it, and on track to get through a good solid college prep sequence by his or her senior year, Derek Owens is an excellent choice. But if you have a kid who really wants to wallow in the stuff, wants to know all those weird little things about numbers that the rest of us never learned, and thrives on challenge -- or similarly if you have a kid who is way ahead of schedule for the standard sequence and could use some interesting side-topics to spend some time on rather than getting to calculus very early... that's the kid I'd sign up for AoPS classes.

One doctor said yes, two said no.... One of the "no" doctors really was an idiot, but the other seems good.... In my case it only came on with a viral infection or bronchitis, but it was like cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-GASP-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-cough-GASP etc. Like my lungs were trying to pump every last bit of air out. I also have had a spastic cough with any kind of cold or respiratory infection -- the kind that would suddenly crop up in the middle of anything or nothing, wake me up at night, interrupt meals mid-bite, keep me from finishing a sentence, etc. What I've found lately though... is if I take Sudafed whenever I have a cold or cough, I don't have a problem. I don't know if I just haven't had a problem yet or if it really does help, but what I had noticed is that everything was better with exercise and with (strange as it sounds) panic... Found that out with a cold that coincided with a dental emergency.... I know my blood pressure runs very low, and my guess is that the Sudafed raises it slightly. Other than that I can't actually explain it... but as long as it's working I'll stick with it.

DS was interested, so I taught him. I don't remember how old he was, but he hadn't perfected printing -- what I found, actually, was learning to write cursive improved his printing tremendously. He still doesn't write in cursive most of the time, but his printing has improved from the exercise!

One thing I did do was allow DS to just "set up" some problems rather than working them all. He thought he was getting away with something, and I got to see that he knew what he was doing even without every step done to the end. We did do some calculator work around the same time for test prep, because he was taking the Explore. I don't think calculators are evil or anything... the only thing is that I'd want to see the work set up, diagrams drawn or equations written, before any buttons are pushed. Some kids find it way too tempting to just start entering numbers without stopping to think which ones they need and what needs to be done with them... and that's when I start making them do everything by hand again.

Half. Very very important. Do NOT try to wing it from memory and substitute vodka for all of the water. Trust me. :D

And as someone who tutors, I'd much rather a parent be involved, make sure the kid is reading and understanding the instructions on their homework, suggest that they edit for neatness, even have them re-do what they did wrong the first time. What I want the kid to do is practice the math. If they need to go to someone (parent) to bounce ideas off of or if they need support to get it done on time and legibly, that's fine. If the parent is DOING the homework (and letting the kid out of the practice he seriously needs) then it's not helpful. But telling them to take another look at parts they had trouble with, or to recopy a mess onto a clean sheet of paper for me... that's all good. If they waste their time on homework they didn't understand, and then have to spend another expensive hour with me re-doing what came down to a simple misunderstanding... that's not good. The grey area would be parents checking the work before it comes back to me. If there's a huge discrepancy between what they did right to begin with and what they did right after reminders, I'd want to know so I can keep an eye on it and not move on too fast. I'll figure it out eventually, but it helps to have a heads-up if they're having trouble.

I'd like to say I'm shocked but I've heard it too many times before. DH used to work with an engineer who spent his days doing his high school kid's calculus homework. I had a parent once approach me about tutoring her (I tutor high school math) so she could help with her college son's homework. Honestly by high school and college I'd like the kids who are having trouble to go to the resources that are available to them - their teachers, tutoring centers, math lab, whatever. DS does competitive science fairs, and it comes up there too. There are absolutely parents who interfere with their kids' projects... but it almost never gets past the judges. The competitions DS has been involved in require extensive student interviews, and it becomes really obvious really fast if the kid doesn't know what he supposedly did. In our house, because of my math and data background I categorically refuse to touch his numbers. If he has a question we have friends he can call in their professional capacity, and he needs to document their assistance and acknowledge it appropriately, but he also needs to have exhausted his own resources first before bothering someone at work. As far as sending him in (to a class or to a competition) with mistakes... it happens. They're his own mistakes. If I think he's not put in the work that the assignment or project deserved, I'll ask questions, encourage him to go back and add to it, etc. But if he can't do it himself, he's not benefitting from the work. And I'd much rather he honestly earn a bad grade or a low ranking in a competition than for him to think that awards are more important than the work, or that he can't do these things independently.

Before you even look at a paper, ask him specific questions: "Did you write on the front of the paper?" "Did you start every sentence with a capital letter?" (and there should be a pause while he checks - not just an automatic "of course") "Did you end every sentence with the right punctuation?" "Did you check your spelling?" When DS was about that age we did something like this -- his spelling was atrocious (except when it was a spelling lesson) because he wasn't paying any attention to it. So the understanding was that he would be taking several passes through any writing assignment. One (or two) to get his ideas down in order, one for grammar and usage, one for spelling, maybe one for neatness (recopying the edited original).

I've done this with several tutoring kids - either have them highlight all the negatives in each step or switch to a colored pencil for the negatives. Highlighter is my favorite because it makes them go back through for a double-check.

I didn't have Earth/Environmental in my plans, especially since DS is extremely science-oriented and wants to be an engineer.... I was going for the solid Biology/Chemistry/Physics/AP-something-or-two-or-three plan... But it sneaked in there anyway. Three years of science fair projects have ended up leaning that way (with a definite engineering approach and "flavor" but earth-environment subject matter), and then this year he got an opportunity for a field ecology project that has turned into three... We're still doing Physics this year, but now we have this Field Ecology thing too, that might go on a couple years and probably ends up as a credit (or two) somewhere, and possibly the AP Environment test if I add a couple readings. So yes, my kid is doing Earth science (of a kind), but not at the expense of anything else.

If you include Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalc, Calculus, and AP Stats, you only have one more year to fill, which could be Discrete Math (AoPS Number Theory and Counting & Probability?) I would probably put it in between Algebra 2 and Precalc myself.... maybe with AP Stats too, before Precalc. Or, you could do Geometry, Algebra 2, AP Stats, Precalc, Calc, and Multivariate Calc. All perfectly normal and within the range of what the NCAA is likely to recognize, and only one college class (which you could do online if necessary).

I've posted about the IAAT before.... That might be the one you're remembering. I've tagged this post, so you should be able to find the old threads from the tag.

DS did it in 3rd, but he was skipped a grade already, and 7 at the time.

I don't count reading, or music practice in our totals, so without those you'd be down to 5-5.5 hours, which doesn't seem so long.

The way I'm doing it (with the caveat that we're not at college yet - I'm not speaking from experience!!) is to stick any course in the year that it was completed. We do generally finish things within the usual 9 months, but not always the "regular" 9 months. Spanish for instance, we do year-round, so it's going to be 1 in one year, 2 and 3 the next, and 4 the third. And an elective completed over the summer (like between 9th and 10th) would go with the following year (10th). I doubt anyone is going to ask for specific dates, but if they do I'd be happy to tell them more than they ever wanted to know about it... lol...

Apparently I was typing too slow.... :D

Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual I've not used it myself (DS has never been in PS) but the people I know who have successfully accelerated their kids have had good things to say about the process that the IAS puts you through to make that decision.

Definitely happy with the experience, and I did find the information useful. We were never in it for awards ceremonies -- actually we participated through an out-of-region talent search, so there were no state award ceremonies for our area anyway, and the classes were not conveniently located... Really I just wanted data, and they provided plenty!

Loved it, loved it, loved it! He's in 200 now with Jenne's DD. :) And we're lazy bums on the east coast that are just thrilled to have a 10:15 class instead of a 9:30 class. LOL

Or if I do include homework, it's a minimal percent of the total, and only on review questions. Basically if he's learning a new topic he needs to stick with it until it's right, and I want to be able to change the practice on the fly - if he needs another run through something with different numbers, or looking up a different perspective on the topic... or on the converse if he doesn't need all the exercises to get the point we can drop some. Once he's got it, end of chapter problem sets are fair game for grading. They're kind of like quizzes at that point. This year I'm deviating from my usual and grading some homework... this is a "consolidating" year for math - we're doing problem solving and reviewing a lot of what he's done up to now, so there aren't as many new topics and a lot of his work is intended to build fluency. So he's getting something like 1/20 of a percentage point for his total grade from each practice set. When we have a new topic he's still not graded on practice, but so much of what we're doing this year is review, it's fair game again. But the bulk of his grade, even this year, will be from tests and review sets.