Drama Llama Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 (edited) . Edited May 8, 2021 by BaseballandHockey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I think @SeaConquest does, although I'm sure she's not the only one. There are lots of them, though -- they probably really depend on the area. So local reviews might help more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I can only speak to our experience with the San Diego location. My son took Beast Academy 5, Pre Algebra, and Algebra, along with several math summer camps there. He now takes the AoPS Online classes and prefers those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, SeaConquest said: I can only speak to our experience with the San Diego location. My son took Beast Academy 5, Pre Algebra, and Algebra, along with several math summer camps there. He now takes the AoPS Online classes and prefers those. Do AoPS headquarters folks work at the San Diego one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said: Do AoPS headquarters folks work at the San Diego one? I have definitely seen some of the HQ folks around -- especially in the beginning when they were just getting started with the academies. I was able to get my fan girl pic with RR and Sacha was able to score a bit part in some AoPS/Beast commercials. I am not sure if any of them actually work there, though. I think they are in Rancho Bernardo, at the HQ offices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, SeaConquest said: I have definitely seen some of the HQ folks around -- especially in the beginning when they were just getting started with the academies. I was able to get my fan girl pic with RR and Sacha was able to score a bit part in some AoPS/Beast commercials. I am not sure if any of them actually work there, though. I think they are in Rancho Bernardo, at the HQ offices. I know that my main contact at AoPS has mentioned teaching classes there, but maybe that has stopped. Edited March 9, 2021 by Not_a_Number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said: I know that my main contact at AoPS has mentioned teaching classes there, but maybe that has stopped. Edited because TMI. Edited March 9, 2021 by SeaConquest 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer1112 Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 My son loves the academy, he has taken both online and academy and enjoys the social interaction at the academy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drama Llama Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) . Edited May 8, 2021 by BaseballandHockey Punctuation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 1 minute ago, BaseballandHockey said: What does he prefer about the online classes? He likes not having to commute back and forth, so he has more free time. He also likes that he is able to move through classes quicker. I like that he is able to get proof writing practicing with the writing problems in the online classes. There were no writing problems at the Academy, and Sacha really needed practice with writing problems. I was hoping that there would be more social interaction at the Academy, but the kids were mostly public schoolers who just came to class and then went home. There was very little socializing. Could just be the demographic at our Academy, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 18 hours ago, SeaConquest said: He likes not having to commute back and forth, so he has more free time. He also likes that he is able to move through classes quicker. I like that he is able to get proof writing practicing with the writing problems in the online classes. There were no writing problems at the Academy, and Sacha really needed practice with writing problems. I was hoping that there would be more social interaction at the Academy, but the kids were mostly public schoolers who just came to class and then went home. There was very little socializing. Could just be the demographic at our Academy, though. Based on where the academies end up being located, it's probably a common experience anywhere. We went to the Vienna location in Northern Virginia for an AMC 8, and the majority of the kids took classes there and were public or private schooled. I think my son was the only homeschooler. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) 46 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom said: Based on where the academies end up being located, it's probably a common experience anywhere. We went to the Vienna location in Northern Virginia for an AMC 8, and the majority of the kids took classes there and were public or private schooled. I think my son was the only homeschooler. Yes, a lot of the kids seemed to know each other from the same high-performing local schools, too. So, I got the impression that AoPS Academy was just kind of an extension of the usual cliques from local math clubs/math teams/math circle. In the three years that we were there, I saw absolutely zero diversity beyond these high-performing schools, which made me sad in such a huge city like San Diego. In the last year we were there, the Academy began offering a low income scholarship to attend one math class per year, but it was not well publicized. I don't even remember where we learned about it, but it wasn't at the Academy because I had to ask the director for an application and he seemed pretty clueless about it at the time (I think it may have been in one of the FB groups that I am in). I would really love to see RR and the AoPS crew doing some math outreach in some of the other schools in the area, given that AoPS is local to San Diego. Edited March 9, 2021 by SeaConquest 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 1 minute ago, SeaConquest said: I would really love to see RR and the AoPS crew doing some math outreach in some of the other schools in the area, given that AoPS is local to San Diego. You should suggest that to them. Although I wonder if they'll wind up feeling like AoPS books aren't the right thing for that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Just now, Not_a_Number said: You should suggest that to them. Although I wonder if they'll wind up feeling like AoPS books aren't the right thing for that? Donating Beast Academy books would be perfect for an elementary afterschool math club in low performing SD Unified schools. Surely, AoPS has grown big enough to support that, and we have plenty of local math talent who could donate a semester of time once or twice per week to help nurture kids. Seems like a no brainer to get a pipeline to the Academy. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Just now, SeaConquest said: Donating Beast Academy books would be perfect for an elementary afterschool math club in low performing SD Unified schools. Surely, AoPS has grown big enough to support that, and we have plenty of local math talent who could donate a semester of time once or twice per week to help nurture kids. Seems like a no brainer to get a pipeline to the Academy. It does seem like a lovely idea. I've never done any organized outreach like that. But I know that the kids in my homeschool classes tend to need something a bit more scaffolded than BA, anyway... although I do use many puzzles for them, including some inspired by BA 🙂 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 5 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said: You should suggest that to them. Although I wonder if they'll wind up feeling like AoPS books aren't the right thing for that? Sacha has his bar mitzvah coming up. Maybe I will pitch it to him as an idea. He can go make a proposal to RR and try to take it on as a project. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, SeaConquest said: Sacha has his bar mitzvah coming up. Maybe I will pitch it to him as an idea. He can go make a proposal to RR and try to take it on as a project. That'd be a good project!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer1112 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 (edited) 23 hours ago, SeaConquest said: I was hoping that there would be more social interaction at the Academy, but the kids were mostly public schoolers who just came to class and then went home. I am sorry to hear that your son didn’t have a better experience. My son started attending the AoPS in San Diego in the middle of 5th grade and our experience was completely different. Ds didn’t know about math competitions until we start going to AoPS. For us AoPS sparked his interest and love of math. He met some good friends in his AoPS classes, who got him interested in competitions and encourage him to join the math circle, the following year. I am wondering if it has to do with the instructors because he took all of his classes with the assistant director and she was very good at assigning seats and grouped the kids by age, so they would have better group interactions. Even on Zoom last year I would hear laughing during his class. She left the academy this year to work in the corporate office and I can tell that his class is not the same this year with his current instructor, not much social interaction, just work. Definitely not as fun. Edited March 10, 2021 by Marie.Sd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 (edited) Because the classes went online, DD is doing Beast 4 with an academy (we are not that close to one). Zoom, live teacher. It’s going well. We all hate the online text based classes, so we are enjoying it while it lasts. Edited March 10, 2021 by madteaparty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDMomof3 Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 My son takes both ELA and Math at the Academy. This is our third year, he likes the classes, the teachers have been wonderful. They did a great job switching to Zoom. There was more social interaction before Covid, my son's teacher encouraged the kids to friend each other on Alcumus and on the AoPS forums. We've met several students from different charter schools in our area. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drama Llama Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) . Edited May 8, 2021 by BaseballandHockey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDMomof3 Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 5 hours ago, BaseballandHockey said: I wonder if they will continue to offer online classes? It would be nice to have a small group option. AoPS is planning to keep their virtual academy, they will be expanding their course offerings in the virtual academy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drama Llama Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 (edited) . Edited May 8, 2021 by BaseballandHockey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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