New AoPS Academy in Bellevue

[SeaConquest]

Greetings,

Art of Problem Solving is proud to announce our newest AoPS Academy location in Bellevue, Washington! AoPS Academy offers in-person math and language arts courses for outstanding students in grades 2-12 during both the summer and the school year.

AoPS Academy math classes offer problem-based instruction similar to that found in our online school. Our focus on rigor provides a thorough understanding of the fundamentals, while our approach to creative problem solving teaches students how to handle novel mathematical situations.

From an exploration of number systems and place value in our 2nd Grade Mathematics course to Calculus and our national contest preparation courses, AoPS Academy offers challenges seldom provided by traditional in-person classes.

For students seeking extra depth and enrichment in reading and writing, AoPS Academy provides a strong selection of language arts courses as well. From the basics of grammar and vocabulary, to public speaking and advanced literature courses, AoPS Academy trains students to become effective communicators, critical readers, and exceptional writers.

To view our course offerings, including math and language arts, please visit our course catalog. Admission to these courses is selective - students are encouraged to submit an application to be considered for admission.

We will start taking applications for the 2018-19 school year in May or June. Please click here to join our mailing list to be notified when we start accepting applications.

We will offer the following courses in the upcoming school year:

Math

2nd Grade Mathematics
3rd Grade Mathematics
4th Grade Mathematics
5th Grade Mathematics
Prealgebra
Algebra 1
Geometry
Algebra 2
Precalculus
Calculus
Middle School Contest Math
High School Contest Math

Language Arts

2nd Grade Language Arts
3rd Grade Language Arts
4th Grade Language Arts
5th Grade Language Arts
6th Grade Language Arts
7th Grade Language Arts
8th Grade Language Arts
Advanced Language Arts Seminar

These are full-year courses that run from September 2018 to June 2019. For specific dates, times, and more information on the courses, click on the links above for the individual courses or visit our course catalog.

You can visit our Bellevue campus site to learn more about classes at this location.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at info-bellevue@aopsacademy.org.

We're looking forward to an exciting new school year, and we hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

Art of Problem Solving

[Lawyer&Mom]

Bellevue.  Of course.

-Grumbling in Seattle

[SoCal_Bear]

The demographics for Bellevue is pretty similar to the demos for where they sited the San Diego one. It's all about who can and will pay the tuition. 

[SeaConquest]

3 minutes ago, calbear said:

The demographics for Bellevue is pretty similar to the demos for where they sited the San Diego one. It's all about who can and will pay the tuition. 

We pay the tuition at the expense of other things, like retirement and a house. So, I'm not so sure that we are in the 'can pay' category as much as the 'will pay.' Ronen's preschool expenses will be ending this year, which will hopefully help, but yeah. It's a lot.

[Lawyer&Mom]

My Seattle neighborhood competes with Bellevue for all the latest and greatest in after school enrichment.  (In addition to your typical Kumon etc., we have an art history center and a science lab center.)  Trust me, we will send kids to this School!

[SoCal_Bear]

I'm referencing what SeaConquest has said before about which ethnic groups are predominantly enrolling at the SD one which is in Carmel Valley and the ethnic make up of the class her son is in. My sister has lived in Issaquah, then Bellevue and now returned after being an expat in Singapore to Mercer Island. She says the demo in Bellevue has gotten pretty Asian and heavily foreign born. I think something like 39% of the population is from overseas. FWIW, I am Asian American, so this is just an observation about the parallel demo for that specific community for their next academy. I live in two communities over from where SD academy is located. Both of those communities are even more similiar in demo to Bellevue than Carmel Valley. 

[whangty]

Our family live in Seattle area as well; we were overjoyed to learn about the AOPS academy opening up in Bellevue.   However, seeing that yearly tuition runs close to $1800 (in San Diego location) has dampened our excitement.  At this point, due to this high cost, we are inclined to opt for online courses, which seem more reasonable at under $400 (w/o books) for classes (prealgebra 2 and intro to algebra) that our son would be interested.  

However, I like to hear from people who have taken AOPS academy classes.   How was your (rather your children's) experience?   Was it worth the price?   I would particularly appreciate comparative pros and cons bet. AoPS online classes vs. AoPS academy classes.  

Thank you very much in advance.

[SeaConquest]

It is very much worth the price for us. My son is very social, and likely has ADHD. The all-text version of the online classes, as well as the blistering pace, were likely not going to work for us. The tuition payments are broken up into three payments, spread throughout the 9 month course, so they haven't felt as painful as making a lump payment. My son's professor has a PhD in math and runs the school. Having this relationship has been invaluable for us. He also suggested moving my son to the front of the class, which has helped his concentration enormously. He has made friends in the class and was recently even in a commercial for AoPS. Overall, we are thrilled with our experience with AoPS Academy, and will continue with them even if I have to sell plasma to do so. ;)

[SanDiegoMom]

We haven't taken the classes, but for my son it wouldn't be worth it -- for one, my three kids bleed me dry with extracurriculars so we don't have the money for it. The online classes are more affordable. And two, for his younger years it was too hard to tell where he would be at the end of the year. I wouldn't want to spend a whole year's tuition if he was advancing too quickly.  We did too much compacting. Even now the fast pace of the online class definitely better suits him -- 16 weeks for Alg 2 and now 24 weeks on Geometry. (Though there was a steep learning curve in Geometry he has mostly caught up now).  

It definitely is going to be different family by family.   There are some families who wouldn't drive 45 minutes one way each day to bring their daughter to ballet (spending a car payment on tuition) when there is a lesser but decent school 10 minutes away. :-) It's all about the priorities. My son does Math club for the social interaction, which is not quite enough but it's enough for now. 

Online classes -- definitely less social interaction.  Some kids do post a lot and interact on the message boards. My son doesn't post much. He occasionally asks for help.  He spent about 1-1/2 hours a day on average on math in Pre-Algebra and Algebra, and in Geometry he has had a few four hour days. Some of the time was spent on the diagrams in Asymptote though -- he really enjoys the write up for the writing problems.  

We did not use Pre-Algebra online - we did it at home.  Lots of videos available through Algebra, and my son just worked through the book on his own with occasional help from me.  It is written for the student so no teaching necessary -- it's all in the book. 

 

[seaben]

For those of you in Seattle, my joke about this to a friend was this is certainly going to cement Odle MS's dominance in events like MathCounts. In all seriousness, traffic being what it is, I don't think it will pull many people from the city like our family. 

[whangty]

1 hour ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

We haven't taken the classes, but for my son it wouldn't be worth it -- for one, my three kids bleed me dry with extracurriculars so we don't have the money for it. The online classes are more affordable. And two, for his younger years it was too hard to tell where he would be at the end of the year. I wouldn't want to spend a whole year's tuition if he was advancing too quickly.  We did too much compacting. Even now the fast pace of the online class definitely better suits him -- 16 weeks for Alg 2 and now 24 weeks on Geometry. (Though there was a steep learning curve in Geometry he has mostly caught up now).  

It definitely is going to be different family by family.   There are some families who wouldn't drive 45 minutes one way each day to bring their daughter to ballet (spending a car payment on tuition) when there is a lesser but decent school 10 minutes away. :-) It's all about the priorities. My son does Math club for the social interaction, which is not quite enough but it's enough for now. 

Online classes -- definitely less social interaction.  Some kids do post a lot and interact on the message boards. My son doesn't post much. He occasionally asks for help.  He spent about 1-1/2 hours a day on average on math in Pre-Algebra and Algebra, and in Geometry he has had a few four hour days. Some of the time was spent on the diagrams in Asymptote though -- he really enjoys the write up for the writing problems.  

We did not use Pre-Algebra online - we did it at home.  Lots of videos available through Algebra, and my son just worked through the book on his own with occasional help from me.  It is written for the student so no teaching necessary -- it's all in the book. 

 

 

Was just wondering if your kids are home schooled and how long it took them to do prealgebra book on their own.  

My son recently started his self-study of AoPs prealgebra book.   He is nearly done with chapter two and it has been about two weeks.  But, he is doing it in the mornings before his brick and mortar school starts.   I am not sure how much time he will have as his school work will become more challenging in the future. 

I am still trying to decide if taking online or academy class will help my son to learn the material at a deeper level, therefore making the financial sacrifice worth while.   In any case, it seems that my son would enjoy online and academy class more vs. self-study for the social aspect.   But, with two kids doing music and other extracurricular stuff, our limited budget can go only so far.  

Thx. again for your response.  

[Lawyer&Mom]

I grumble about Bellevue because I don’t want to move there and there always seem to be new good reasons to do so!  (My husband grew up there, my in-laws still live there, we are there all the time...)

Why can’t we have *all* the nice things in Seattle!?!

[SoCal_Bear]

49 minutes ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

Why can’t we have *all* the nice things in Seattle!?!

You do have a killer children's museum! My son loved visiting there last year.

[daijobu]

12 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

He has made friends in the class and was recently even in a commercial for AoPS. Overall, we are thrilled with our experience with AoPS Academy, and will continue with them even if I have to sell plasma to do so. ;)

Wait, what?  Is this on YouTube?  Link please!  I need to know what an AoPS commercial would look like!  

[SeaConquest]

1 minute ago, daijobu said:

Wait, what?  Is this on YouTube?  Link please!  I need to know what an AoPS commercial would look like!  

I think they are still working on it. They spent a day filming last month, but I haven't seen a finished product yet. Sacha got a BA t-shirt out of it, which is also forthcoming. I imagine that they will email me when it is published. I have no idea to what extent Sacha will end up in the final edit, if at all.

[SanDiegoMom]

9 hours ago, whangty said:

 

Was just wondering if your kids are home schooled and how long it took them to do prealgebra book on their own.  

My son recently started his self-study of AoPs prealgebra book.   He is nearly done with chapter two and it has been about two weeks.  But, he is doing it in the mornings before his brick and mortar school starts.   I am not sure how much time he will have as his school work will become more challenging in the future. 

I am still trying to decide if taking online or academy class will help my son to learn the material at a deeper level, therefore making the financial sacrifice worth while.   In any case, it seems that my son would enjoy online and academy class more vs. self-study for the social aspect.   But, with two kids doing music and other extracurricular stuff, our limited budget can go only so far.  

Thx. again for your response.  

My twins are homeschooled. My son started Pre-A in third and took about a year and a half, I want to say. It took a LONG time but he also did every problem. Then started Intro to Algebra in fourth and finished in fifth - just the first half of the book, and sometimes skipped a few challenge problems that I literally couldn't help him with. Also did Intro to C and P. Then this year in sixth he started the online Alg B class and now Geometry. Definitely fewer problems than when he did the book but really challenging ones all the same. It is a much faster pace, covering 1/2 to a full chapter a week. 

My daughter started Pre-A a couple months ago and is on chapter 4. We are going to just take lots of time and really let the concepts sink in. Probably the rest of this school year and all of next. 

Eta: school year not calendar year. 

[SoCal_Bear]

We just wrapped up Jousting Armadillos and are now diving into Pre-A. He's homeschooled and currently in 3rd grade. I believe that vast majority on these boards are homeschooling. There is a specific after schooling board that you might be interested in checking out as well. We spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on math a day. We will go as quickly or as slowly as he likes and take our time. Most likely a similar timeline as SanDiego Mom in VA. It will take what it takes. I have the option of doing the same academy as SeaConquest but we don't have the social need that her son has. The online class doesn't appeal to us either as my son likes live online classes when he does online classes. 

[deerforest]

On 4/19/2018 at 8:56 PM, calbear said:

I'm referencing what SeaConquest has said before about which ethnic groups are predominantly enrolling at the SD one which is in Carmel Valley and the ethnic make up of the class her son is in. My sister has lived in Issaquah, then Bellevue and now returned after being an expat in Singapore to Mercer Island. She says the demo in Bellevue has gotten pretty Asian and heavily foreign born. I think something like 39% of the population is from overseas. FWIW, I am Asian American, so this is just an observation about the parallel demo for that specific community for their next academy. I live in two communities over from where SD academy is located. Both of those communities are even more similiar in demo to Bellevue than Carmel Valley. 

According to my friend whose son participated in the RTP pre-cal course last year, it's the same here. We have a large high tech population, and she said that there was only 1 other homeschooler in his class.

[shawthorne44]

I am totally jealous.   Have you'll considered north of Dallas?    There are a bunch of people with lots of money who push their kids.   

 

[arliemaria]

Or St. Louis?

[SeaConquest]

On 4/20/2018 at 7:42 PM, daijobu said:

Wait, what?  Is this on YouTube?  Link please!  I need to know what an AoPS commercial would look like!  

 

It finally made its appearance on the AOPS Academy's new website. Sacha is the blonde kid with the blue and white sweater, mustard brown pants, and red backpack. He is featured a lot, but doesn't have a speaking part in the final edit. He probably talked too much!

 

[Kathy in Richmond]

1 hour ago, SeaConquest said:

 

It finally made its appearance on the AOPS Academy's new website. Sacha is the blonde kid with the blue and white sweater, mustard brown pants, and red backpack. He is featured a lot, but doesn't have a speaking part in the final edit. He probably talked too much!

 

My daughter showed me this the other day, and I picked Sacha out right away! So cute!!

Dd is in there, too! She's the teacher in the floral top.

Do you know that there are 3 separate ads? I saw Sacha in the BA ad, too, and he has a speaking role there 🙂

BA ad:

AoPS Online School ad: (dd is in this one, too 🙂

 

 

[SeaConquest]

Wow, I had no idea, Kathy! Thank you! Which one is your daughter? [Fangirls] ❤️

ETA: Nevermind, I found her. So sweet!

Edited December 1, 2018 by SeaConquest

[Kathy in Richmond]

In the AoPS Academy ad, she's wearing a floral top & makes a few quick appearances, and in the Online school ad, she appears briefly in an office scene starting at 1:38. No speaking roles, though! ❤️

[daijobu]

6 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

 

It finally made its appearance on the AOPS Academy's new website. Sacha is the blonde kid with the blue and white sweater, mustard brown pants, and red backpack. He is featured a lot, but doesn't have a speaking part in the final edit. He probably talked too much!

 

 

Nice!  So you know some of the teachers in this video personally?  

[SeaConquest]

18 hours ago, daijobu said:

 

Nice!  So you know some of the teachers in this video personally?  

 

I've met some of them, yes. Sacha has had the same teacher for the past 2 years. He is the director of the school, here. So, I mostly just interact with him.