Art of Problem Solving online classes

[raristy]

I'm looking into having my daughter take the Prealgebra 2 online class offered by The Art of Problem Solving. Has any of you taken their online classes? How do you like or dislike them?

 

My daughter just completed Saxon 1/2 but prior to that we had always used Singapore Math. She loved the bar models of Singapore Math and learned the concepts very well. However, I think in this our first year of using Saxon and I've observed there are now gaps in her understanding of the reasons behind the new math concepts she's learned. She loved math while doing Singapore Math but had a learning curve adjusting to the Saxon method.The AoPS Prealgebra 2 would be a bit of a review, but I want any gaps to be fully covered prior to starting Algebra 1.

 

Another option, I'm looking into to revisit these Prealgebra concepts is to use some of the corresponding Singapore Math books (i.e. Discovering Math series).

 

Besides these two options, any other suggestions are most appreciated.

 

Thanks a lot!!! Rosa

[snowbeltmom]

I'm looking into having my daughter take the Prealgebra 2 online class offered by The Art of Problem Solving. Has any of you taken their online classes? How do you like or dislike them?

 

The AoPS Prealgebra 2 would be a bit of a review, but I want any gaps to be fully covered prior to starting Algebra 1.

 

 

Two of my kids like the online classes. The pace is too fast for my middle child, so he works through the books on his own at his own pace. AoPS changed the format for their problem sets this year, and I am not happy with the changes. That being said, I still think the classes are worthwhile for a child who can handle the pace.

 

My dd took both Pre-algebra classes. Based on my experience with Saxon, I don't think that your dd will find the Pre-algebra 2 with AoPS to be review of what she learned in Saxon 1/2.

[Luckymama]

Dd is taking the online geometry class now. She really enjoys the class! She spends about 8-9 hours on the class work each week ( in addition to the 1.5 hours of actual class time). She does the in-book end-of-section problems, the end-of-chapter review problems, the assigned alcumus problems, and the problem sets. Out of the 9-12 problems/proofs in each problem set she easily answers 6 without a hitch. The others take much more effort. This is the first time in dd's life that she had actually been challenged!

 

Please excuse any typos--I'm on the phone.

[Jen in NY]

We really, really love AoPS here. (http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/448214-8th-grader-just-finished-alg-1-now-what/ post #6 in this thread says it all for me.) The classes and materials take a lot of effort, but none of it seems wasted or like busywork. It is problem solving training... worthwhile in many fields above and beyond mathematics. I have made a million posts about AoPS and how grateful I am to them for what they have provided for my kids... highly recommended!! :001_smile:

[wapiti]

I don't think that your dd will find the Pre-algebra 2 with AoPS to be review of what she learned in Saxon 1/2.

 

 

This is quite possible. My advice to OP is to look carefully in the book at the topics and sub-topics covered. Use the pretest for Prealgebra 2. I would do any lessons in the first half of the book on sub-topics that your student may not have learned previously (e.g., such topics might include some operations with exponents, change repeating decimals into fractions, maybe some of the equation solving). Alcumus may also be a useful tool for review along with the chapter summaries.

 

I would not take this course without doing the book lessons (it's easy enough to skip the individual lessons she knows well). Prealgebra 2 includes topics that may be new to your student, e.g., arithmetic with square roots, simplifying radicals, some of the geometry, counting, etc., possibly a good chunk of the course.

 

Although it is slower-paced than other classes, it's still challenging to get through the book work in addition to the class homework. The class homework includes the Alcumus topics plus a weekly problem set - the problem set usually has a couple of rather hard problems. My dd was a good way into the second half of the book before she started the Prealgebra 2 class about a year ago, which worked out nicely.

 

Good luck! I hope she enjoys and appreciates the AoPS perspective! My dd enjoyed the on-line class and the silly chatting before and after each class. She was in email contact with some of her classmates for quite a while.

 

If you are looking at the rest of the AoPS courses for the future, they proceed at a much faster pace than Prealgebra 1 and 2 - maybe twice as fast or even faster than that. If we do any of those courses, my plan is to have my student start the book months in advance of starting the course, possibly even finishing the book before taking the course as a review.

 

If you are hoping to transition your dd to Intro to Algebra, you might go through the Prealgebra text the same way - have her do the chapter review problems and any lessons that are new to her - whether or not you use the on-line course. However, I'm not sure how necessary that would be; that may depend on your student.

[Candid]

Two of my kids like the online classes. The pace is too fast for my middle child, so he works through the books on his own at his own pace. AoPS changed the format for their problem sets this year, and I am not happy with the changes. That being said, I still think the classes are worthwhile for a child who can handle the pace.

 

My dd took both Pre-algebra classes. Based on my experience with Saxon, I don't think that your dd will find the Pre-algebra 2 with AoPS to be review of what she learned in Saxon 1/2.

 

 

Tangent: Can you explain this remark? I'm curious.

[snowbeltmom]

Tangent: Can you explain this remark? I'm curious.

 

 

In the past, the kids had to submit detailed solutions to challenge set problems. The kids had three weeks to work on each Challenge Set. The instructors would grade the Challenge Sets and critique the kids solutions. The feedback would include how the kids could have improved on explaining how they arrived at the correct answer.

 

Now the homework is set up very similar to Alcumus and the kids just input the final answer into a computer program. There are a couple of "free response" questions in each homework set that are graded, but that is it.

 

I realize that AoPS has expanded since my oldest started taking their classes five years ago. They may not have the man-power to grade the challenge sets like they used to. The classes are still great.

[Luckymama]

And they don't have the manpower to quickly grade the free response questions. The only "con" to the geometry course is that it's been taking A Very Long Time for dd to receive the grading for her proofs, like two weeks! She wants the feedback sooner to help improve her proof writing.

[Candid]

Thanks snowbeltmom, that was helpful!

[Kathy in Richmond]

In the past, the kids had to submit detailed solutions to challenge set problems. The kids had three weeks to work on each Challenge Set. The instructors would grade the Challenge Sets and critique the kids solutions. The feedback would include how the kids could have improved on explaining how they arrived at the correct answer.

 

Now the homework is set up very similar to Alcumus and the kids just input the final answer into a computer program. There are a couple of "free response" questions in each homework set that are graded, but that is it.

 

I realize that AoPS has expanded since my oldest started taking their classes five years ago. They may not have the man-power to grade the challenge sets like they used to. The classes are still great.

 

Some of the AoPS graders feel the same way! Dd loved to grade when she could go through a kid's whole problem set at a time & offer advice based on the big picture in addition to the details of each problem. Now they grade one problem across the board for dozens of students. The new set up isn't as fun for her (she used to try to get the same kid week after week to watch them progress), so now she's just TA'ing a couple of the online classes.

 

The grading is mostly done by college students, so any delays this time of the year might be because many of them are in the midst of end-of-year finals themselves. During the summer sessions, it's the opposite. Then dd has trouble finding papers to grade; they're all grabbed already whenever she checks.

[snowbeltmom]

Some of the AoPS graders feel the same way!

Maybe your daughter could convince RR to go back to the original Challenge Set format. The feedback my kids received was outstanding.

[8filltheheart]

I just want to echo Snowbeltmom's comments. Our ds went through the online courses in the original format. The course that our dd took was in the new format and I did not like it at all. It is far more "schoolish" with the right answer focus vs. the thought process leading to the answer. I am really glad ds went through the courses in the older format. The challenge sets were one of the main reasons he loved the online classes.