Hello, would appreciate hearing anyone's experience with aops online classes. I am considering an aops prealgebra online class (have not decided on prealgebra 1 or 2) for my 4th grade son, who enjoys math and likes to participate in math competitions such as math counts, amc 8, etc. Since this class costs over $300 and requires regular time commitment, I am wondering if a student can learn the material by just studying the aops prealgebra book. Specifically, I am wondering if the online class would allow students to learn the material at a deeper level, making the cost worthwhile. Also, I suppose it would be easier for a 4th grader to learn the material through an online class vs. on his own, which would require a greater self-discipline. Thx. a ton in advance for your response.

So...I thought since there are quite a few threads going now on the topic of Pre-Algebra, it might be helpful to have one master thread to discuss texts, and to link to previous conversations. (Links at the bottom) I will post a link to my blog once I get photos up, as I know some of the texts are hard to preview online (Lial's, in particular) I have received Dolciani PreAlgebra: An Accelerated Course (1985) and Lial's Pre-Algebra Third Edition in the mail this past week. I already own Lial's BCM and AoPS Pre-A. So I think I have shopped enough that I can now safely make my decision...:D Initial impressions of Dolciani and Lials: Dolciani Pre Algebra: An Accelerated Course 1985 thorough, dry, no color, few pictures/images, black text with some color fonts as headers to different sections. Problems: divided into A (basic) B (more challenging) and C (challenging) problems. Word problems are dull, but serviceable. If your child didn't have trouble with Singapore CWP, he/she won't find these too hard, certainly not in the first part of the book. Odd answers in the back of the student book. Percents Chapter has the following sections: Percent of Increase or Decrease, Discount and Markup, Commision and Profit, Percents and Proportions, Simple Interest, Compound Interest, Percents and Problem Solving. Sample Word Problem: Gilbert wants to borrow $2250 for 3 years to remodel his garage. The annual rate is 18%. If the principal and interest are to be repaid in equal monthly installments, how much will each installment be? Sample Word PRoblem 2: If a car uses 5 gallons of gas to travel 160 miles, how many gallons would the car use in traveling 96 mi Lial's Pre-Algebra, Third Edition: Thorough, more visually appealing than Dolciani. Some might say it's more visually cluttered, but I don't agree. I think the colored fonts are used well to highlight important information. Sidebars on each page provide problems that are linked directly to the text they are next to, so it's easy to pinpoint areas of weakness in your student. Word problems seem more 'real-life'. Each chapter has sub-sections outlining how to solve different sorts of problems. For example, the Percent chapter has subsections entitled: Changing Percents to Decimals by Moving the Decimal Point, Changing Decimals to Percents by Moving the Decimal Point, Wrting Percents as Fractions, Writing Decimal Percents or Fractions Percents as Fractions, Writing Fractions as Percents, Finding 100% of a Number, Finding 50% of a Number. Each explanation is clear and shows a few examples. Sample Word Problem:In the hospital pharmacy, Michiko sees that a medicine is to be given at a rate of 3.5 mg for every 50 lbs of body weight. How much medicine should be given to a patient weighing 210 pounds? As point of reference, this question shows up about halfway through the book. Sample Word Problem 2: Ms Henderson owes $1900 in taxes. She is charged a penalty of 12 1/4 % annual interest and pays the taxes and penalty after 6 months. How much does she pay? Both text have built-in review and self-tests. I think Lial's has more concrete examples, Dolciani assumes a bit more. Lials' questions seem more...interesting. With Lial's I think you'd have to be careful that your child wasn't just following the steps: the steps are so clear, that a child could potentially follow formulas rather than truly understand the concept. Throwing in some Singapore CWP 6 or AoPS Pre-A would certainly reveal that. Dolciani is more old-fashioned and perhaps less suitable to a younger child. Okay, so I have more to say, and want to talk about AoPS and BCM too, but I'm tired and I'd rather here what others have to say. Links to recent threads on Pre-A: Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4 Thread 5 Thread 6

My seventh grade daughter, age 12, is working through AOPS pre-algebra right now. She is a good math student and enjoys math. She aspires to be an engineer some day. She is frustrated daily by AOPS but is loathe to switch programs. I think she might benefit from a supplemental text to offer a little more practice and more explanation when the discovery method fails her. Thoughts? Suggestions?

We school year round, so except for online classes, we start and finish whenever we start and finish. So it looks like we will finish AoPS PreCalculus by December. The plan is for dd15 to take AP calculus next year with an online course, starting in the fall. Since she hasn't had discrete math, I was thinking about starting her on AoPS Intermediate C&P. But I know she (ever the planner) will want to do what she can to prepare for AP Calc BC. (She has a good handle on PreCalc, solving all but the Putnam, IMO, and similar problems, lol.) What are your ideas for math for the rest of the school year and possibly the summer?

Was checking on DS10's class starting next week and saw that they now have a "My Goals" tab. Depending on what days of the week you click on for doing work, the system generate a suggested work schedule. Really cool for my kid who still needs some hand holding in terms of planning.

Do you recommend AOPS or Teaching Textbooks for Algebra I? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? We are currently using AOPS for Prealgebra and love it. I am strong in math and don't mind teaching it. A friend of mine loves Teaching Textbooks, so I was curious about how it compares with AOPS.

D13 is a 8th grade public school kid D13 "afterschooled" Foerster Algebra I in 7th grade while taking Algebra I in 7th grade at school. She did great with both. She has been resistent to really try AOPS pre algebra and Intro to Algebra texts (Have them both). I asked her to go through the AOPS Intro Alg text and work on anything she did have in Foerster. She is doing fine with this and not geting frustrated like she has before everytime she try AoPS. Question: Woud it be ok to start AOPS intermediate while taking geometry in public school? I was thinking we could slowly work on AoPS and supplement with Foerster Alg 2. I was not planning on supplementing on formally doing an afterschool text on geometry but using youtube to help as needed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All, I have been wondering for some time now how the WTMA math courses have been going? Yet the silence is almost deafening. Maybe I missed the memo? :D While they are still relatively new, I have been a little surprised with the lack of comments. I sort of chalk it up to a) folks not wanting to say something which might offend (e.g. had some issues) or b) not wanting seem overly excited about something which may come off as disingenuous. So, I decided to simply ask outright for some honest feedback. Knowing the thoughtfulness of this group, I would expect those sharing their real experiences to be sincere. I'm sure Susan wouldn't mind hearing both praise and constructive criticism. I'll start out with being honest regarding my take on the offerings. We are not fans of Saxon. So, that leaves us with AoPS/Singapore courses. Those I find interesting for 'some' kids. Ds went through AoPS Intro to Algebra before WTMA had courses and it was his most challenging course. I realized then that their advertising was correct. AoPS is definitely 'not' for every student. In fact, it is probably not the right fit for most students due to the level of challenge and difficulty built-in by design. So, for our younger dds, I'm not sure there would be a fit for them at the WTMA. For ds14, he is already beyond the scope of their current offerings. But still, I can't help but wonder how things are going for other families?

I ordered just the book and online version for youngest as I already had the solutions manual when ordering the book for oldest. My oldest boy's textbook is too worn out for hand me down. Intermediate Algebra soft copy textbook + online book = $59 + $64 = $123 Intermediate Algebra soft copy textbook + online book + soft copy solutions manual = $83 The combo with the solutions manual is $40 cheaper. I sent an email to AoPS to let them know that their pricing is making me buy combos next time to save $40 and have extra solutions manuals. They sent me the wrong book so I had to email them for wrong shipment anyway.