Jump to content

Menu

AoPS for this kid maybe?


Recommended Posts

I'm re-thinking AoPS for my DS.  Please help me figure out if this could be right for him.  

He is 12.  He finished through Singapore 6 and I have him doing Evan Moore Daily Math Practice and some Math Mammoth single topic sheets to work on fractions.   He has incredible conceptual understanding and is very intuitive.  His mental math skills are excellent--the way he solves things in his head often blows my mind.  He solves logic problems that I can't wrap my brain around.  However, he doesn't like it when things don't come easily to him.  He hates to write out his work.  He avoids multistep problems where he has to write everything out like long division or showing work when doing operations with fractions.  He doesn't like to read.  He had vision issues that we were unaware of until last spring/summer and had to go through vision therapy to correct them.  That is all corrected now, but he has had years of avoiding reading because it was hard for him to see.  

I have a copy of AoPS Pre-A.  Looking through it, there is no way that he would read that textbook and work through the problems on his own.  There are just way too many words!  He also would NOT want me to sit with him and read through it with him.  He likes to be shown what to do quickly and then do it OR do it in his own way.  Is there an online AoPS class that could teach him in this way, or would he still have to read through the textbook?  

I was leaning mostly towards Horizons Pre-A because I have read that the lessons are short and he is so quick to learn that he doesn't need much practice.  But would AoPS possibly be a better fit?  I would most certainly need an online class for him as I am not math inclined and I don't think I could actually understand and teach the AoPS way.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AoPS was a great fit for my oldest and not-so-much for my second. My oldest was used to working for long periods, teaching himself, and puzzling through things. He'd taught himself from Singpore Intensive Practice for the year prior to AoPS Pre-A. Actually, in retrospect, he should have skipped AoPS pre-A and he told me that every week (I didn't believe him). He had a super-strong math background. He *loved* the written style of the online AoPS classes because it meant that if he missed something, he could easily scroll back and reread it. He enjoyed seeing if he could solve the problems before they were revealed during class.

My daughter hated the online format. She didn't work on problems if I wasn't sitting next to her. I was really upset when I realized she just hit "give up" or whatever more than half the time on Alcumus. She loves personal interaction and found the AoPS classes totally unmotivating. She didn't like the competition to solve a problem before the answer was put up on the classroom screen. My daughter is really smart and very intuitive in math, and I think she would think of herself as smart at math if she were in a normal school, but this was not the right program for her.

You might try having him do Horizons Pre-A with Alcumus on the side, trailing by a few concepts. If he finds the Alcumus problems motivating and exciting, then try an AoPS class.

I regret the time my daughter spent doing AoPS. We could have been finding an appropriate math program for her instead of having her do lots of problems and not really learn anything because she was hating it so much. My son, OTOH, loves it. He's in public school now, but doing an AoPS class now that his math club isn't meeting due to COVID.

ETA: I think the AoPS books are supposed to be written to the student; they don't expect you to teach them per-se. I ended up enrolling DS in classes because it helped him not spin his wheels and it gave him a quicker way through the books vs my "do every single problem" approach. 

Emily

Edited by EmilyGF
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the replies 😊

18 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

You might try having him do Horizons Pre-A with Alcumus on the side, trailing by a few concepts. If he finds the Alcumus problems motivating and exciting, then try an AoPS class.

 

Does the style of Alcumus represent the teaching style of AoPS online? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know lots of people on here sing the praises of AoPS, and my oldest DS thrived on it, so I get the appeal. I wish I'd found it earlier for him.

Some people on here seem to think they have to use it because it's the "most rigorous".

But IME it is a niche product that is primarily suitable only for people who really loooooooove math and truly enjoy spending hours per day thinking about it. Like my DS who took the AoPS Calculus book on vacation to Alaska "in case he got bored" 😂

Most normal students do not fall into this category 😉 Only you can know if your kid is one of them.

Again, just my $0.02 and my experience.

Edited by Momto6inIN
  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

I know lots of people on here sing the praises of AoPS, and my oldest DS thrived on it, so I get the appeal. I wish I'd found it earlier for him.

Some people on here seem to think they have to use it because it's the "most rigorous".

But IME it is a niche product that is primarily suitable only for people who really loooooooove math and truly enjoy spending hours per day thinking about it. Like my DS who took the AoPS Calculus book on vacation to Alaska "in case he got bored" 😂

Most normal srudents do not fall into this category 😉 Only you can know if your kid is one if them.

Again, just my $0.02 and my experience.

I agree.

@kristin0713This is our experience as well.  Our ds loved it.  He is a person who sees math in the world.  When he was little he taught himself multiplication (actually, he thought he'd made a discovery!) playing with Lego pieces and seeing patterns in window panels, etc.  He grew up to be a math and physics major and is now in grad school for theoretical cosmology.  

He has a sister who is as gifted in math as he is, but spending hrs thinking about math was not her thing.  AoPS was not for her.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/19/2020 at 7:19 PM, EmilyGF said:

 

ETA: I think the AoPS books are supposed to be written to the student; they don't expect you to teach them per-se. I ended up enrolling DS in classes because it helped him not spin his wheels and it gave him a quicker way through the books vs my "do every single problem" approach. 

 

 

I see this assertion a lot, but it just wasn't true in our family.  I never had my students study from AoPS independently.  I always went through the problems with them together.  They did the exercises and end of chapter problems as homework, and then we review the problems they got wrong.  I think it's because I personally wasn't an independent learner until college really, so I just couldn't see making my kids use this for self-study.  AoPS is challenging enough as it is.  I'm sure there are other students who could study independently, but mine weren't ready.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/20/2020 at 9:36 PM, Momto6inIN said:

But IME it is a niche product that is primarily suitable only for people who really loooooooove math and truly enjoy spending hours per day thinking about it.

 

On 4/20/2020 at 9:50 PM, 8FillTheHeart said:

He has a sister who is as gifted in math as he is, but spending hrs thinking about math was not her thing.  AoPS was not for her.  

 

Ok, this really helps me.  He is definitely gifted in math but he would never voluntarily spend hours thinking about it.  He just doesn't care that much.  He will spend hours doing science experiments though or building intricate things or figuring out how things work.  

9 hours ago, daijobu said:

I never had my students study from AoPS independently.  I always went through the problems with them together. 

Looking at the textbook, I don't think he would want to do either.  He would never read it on his own and if I tried to go through the chapters with him, he would be frustrated.  The only way this would work is if there was an engaging teacher leading him through it in an exciting way.  

I think we are just going to go with Horizons.  Thanks 🙂 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

 

I think we are just going to go with Horizons.  Thanks 🙂 

I have used Horizons through 6th grade with all of my kids.  I have not read good reviews of the pre-alg book.  (I have never used it, so no personal info.  It was published long afer I had come up with a different path with my kids.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

I have used Horizons through 6th grade with all of my kids.  I have not read good reviews of the pre-alg book.  (I have never used it, so no personal info.  It was published long afer I had come up with a different path with my kids.)

Thank you, I appreciate the input.  It seems to fit what I want for him because it is has a student workbook, short lessons (two pages from what I read somewhere?), and review.  The negative reviews that I have read deal mostly with lack of instruction.  I don't think that will be an issue because I've already taught my older DD Pre-A (CLE 700-800) and will be helping her work through Algebra 1 next year.  So as far as instruction goes, I think I will be able to help him if he needs more explanation.  He honestly picks things up so quickly.  Thanks 🙂 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, kristin0713 said:

 

 

Ok, this really helps me.  He is definitely gifted in math but he would never voluntarily spend hours thinking about it.  He just doesn't care that much.  He will spend hours doing science experiments though or building intricate things or figuring out how things work.  

Looking at the textbook, I don't think he would want to do either.  He would never read it on his own and if I tried to go through the chapters with him, he would be frustrated.  The only way this would work is if there was an engaging teacher leading him through it in an exciting way.  

I think we are just going to go with Horizons.  Thanks 🙂 

AOPS Prealgebra is working great for my oldest, and she would absolutely NOT spend hours thinking about math apart from what she's required to do each day. She would give you The Preteen Death Glare if you suggested she do such a thing. 😄 She does enjoy logic puzzles and coding, but straight-up math? NOPE. But the AOPS approach is a beautiful fit for how she learns math.

She usually just watches the (free) videos on the AOPS site and then does the exercises for the section, then we go over the ones she missed. She loves RR's sense of humor in the videos. There are videos for all of prealgebra, and it looks like about the first half of intro to algebra, and most (all?) of intro to counting & probability.

Not necessarily trying to sway you from Horizons (I have no experience with it) but wanted to mention that not every kid who fits with AOPS is a think-about-math-all-the-time kid. 🙂 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...