Our math club director just sent out an invite to register for Areteem classes this summer. It looks like they offer camps and online courses, and are affiliated with universities like Georgetown University. Reputedly, they help students learn skills to prepare for contests like USA Computing Olympiad. Three of their alumni made of half of the U.S.A. team which won the 2015 International Mathematics Olympiad. Just leafing through their offerings, I was pretty impressed. They offer courses like: Discrete Math, Intro to Algorithms, Python Programming, AP Physics and Physics Olympiad, Math Challenge, etc. Has anyone taken their offerings? I'd be interested in hearing your opinions of their online courses and summer camps. Could this be a good accompaniment to AOPS, perhaps?

Has anyone participated in ACSL? What was the experience like?

Hi All, I am wondering what others are planning to take or have taken? If your dc took a course, what were some of the pros/cons? I know this is a reoccurring theme. But it is also one which changes quite a bit based on new offerings. I have a somewhat flexible plan for ds13 this Fall as I consider a few different online programming/CS courses. One of the courses on my short list from UC Berkeley is new. I don't think its been offered before as a MOOC. I really like the sounds of the Berkeley course the more I read about it. So i'm leaning slightly in that direction. Here both which I'm strongly considering for Fall: Berkeley's Preparing for the AP* Computer Science A Exam — Level Up! Amplify AP Computer Science - Fall My educational goal for ds13 is focused more on learning good programming skills rather than practicing for the AP test. We may not even take that test. So I'm not sure I want to dedicate that much time on test prep. Though, I'm not opposed to studying CS principles. So I am still open to other suggestions/options. Ds13 is also taking another shorter programming course this Summer which he enjoys so far. The course is: Beginning Programming on Android using Java So far, I like the teaching method in making learning fun while working on an Android game. The only negative I can think of is that the Android development setup instructions are somewhat sparse. So I had to help him more in the beginning to get things up and running. But now that everything is configured, he finds it fairly straightforward to move through the lessons independently. Another great free course we started a few weeks before the Android course began is through Udemy. Its very flexible in that you can start at any time and go at your own pace: Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners We both like this Udemy MOOC a lot. So, between these two beginner courses this Summer, I am now starting to wonder if the AP CS Courses may be too easy or too repetitive for him over the span of two semesters. I actually downloaded the syllabus from the Amplify course and it looks very similar to what he is already doing - basic programming logic stuff (strings, loops, arrays, etc...). The only addition I can see is the AP Exam Prep. Though there may be more 'depth' in the course once started. They are definitely longer than the other ones he is working on now.

I've got a huge mind block when it comes to recursion. I like to trace my programs, but I just get stuck and confused. I trace the results of a recursively called function, and I forget where I came from. If that makes any sense. What am I missing? I want to see the light! Help me see the light. And anyone who says, "To understand recursion you must understand recursion." is asking for it.

Hi, This looks very intriguing with quite a variety of technologies explored for an intro course. I was wondering if anyone has given it a try? https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x#!

Dd tells me she's finished all the assignments for Amplify MOOC, so we have a couple more weeks to prep for the AP exam. We have the green Litvin AP prep book that she's been reading through, so she'll take some practice exams there. I also have some practice exams that I've printed, but it may be redundant to what she already has. She will also continue to participate in the webinars. What are you planning to do?

One of my dd's is pretty strong with Python with the exception of OOP. She needs more practice creating and using classes. What are some good beginning to intermediate projects that make use of classes, inheritance, encapsulation, and all that good stuff?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. My husband and I have come to the conclusion that programming is a non-negotiable skill in our homeschool. As I've thought about the benefits of it, it seems like many of them overlap with those benefits that traditionally describe Latin. For years I've waffled on whether Latin is important or not and I just haven't been convinced of its usefulness. Most of the benefits described can be obtained by other language study and logic as far as I can tell. It seems to me that the modern, but useful, equivalent of Latin is programming. It is a universal language and it teaches logic. It also helps you understand a large part of your world that many don't understand. So while I am probably not giving the best arguments for each side, I thought I would see if anyone wants to discuss this idea. Is computer programming a legitimate substitute for Latin in a modern neoclassical-inspired homeschool?

Who else is prepping for AP computer science next year? I'm a python gal, who never had a very strong grasp of OOP. My dd13 has developed some pretty decent programming skills in python, but I'm sure there are plenty of gaps, including no experience with Java. So after passing the course audit, I bought a copy of Java Methods by the Litvins because it was regularly recommended on the discussion boards and in the sample syllabi. Their support is really great. A live person answered my emails on multiple occasions with my numerous technical difficulties. I started off using JCreator for my IDE, but just got bogged down. Then I stumbled on an awesome video by "Patrick Washington DC." It's a great fast-moving intro to Java. I was constantly pausing it while typing in code. He doesn't miss a single detail. But he used Eclipse, so I switched to that. But that's okay, because the Litvins seem to endorse Eclipse, too. Now I'm returning to Java Methods and after several false starts I have GridWorld up and running, hooray! Then I find out that GridWorld is no longer being promoted by the College Board in lieu of some other labs. Boo. But I'm going to use it anyway, because it makes sense to me as an intro to OOP in Java. It's weird that in learning Java you start immediately learning OOP and learn all the other stuff (loops, etc.) later. While in Python, you begin with more basic stuff first, then OOP is usually last, almost as an afterthought. ("Oh, yeah, you can use OOP in python, too.") My latest hiccup is now that I have GridWorld going, I don't know how to open up any other java programs, unrelated to GW. I think it has something to do with my workspaces, whatever those are. Oh, how I miss Python and its easy-to-use IDLE!

Dd knows a fair amount of Python, but is no expert. How big of a leap is it to learn objective C with the "objective" (ha, ha) of developing an iphone app? (We don't own any Apple computers at home, so we want to scope out this project before investing in a new computer that we really don't need...except for producing iphone apps.)

This article was published in our local paper, and it has me a little confused. "Seniors Ashutosh Jindal, Douglas Chen and Prajit Ramachandran recently learned they earned perfect scores on their AP computer science exams. They are three of only 19 students in the world to earn every point on the test." I guess one does not need a perfect exam to score a 5, but I didn't realize that raw scores were also released. Does the AP let students know how they did on individual problems, other than their 1-5 score?