SeaConquest Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 We are looking at SOHS vs Blue Tent for Calculus BC next year. My son has done AoPS all the way through so far, but he is really struggling with the text-based format + his ADHD meds wearing off at the time of his classes + puberty and is wanting to switch to a live class next year. With AoPS, he has never had to physically write down his math solutions because of the AoPS system. He has fine motor delays and is used to writing everything in Latex and would not be able to handle a DE CC class with a ton of problems/drill and kill. Does anyone have experience with either of these classes and have feedback on which would be a better fit for an AoPS kid who likes AoPS problems, and an AoPS-like set-up, but with a live instructor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Mine loved Bluetent but I am not sure it will meet your needs. It has a tremendous amount of problems per week. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) I have been thinking about this. If he has issues writing with hand, wouldn’t 1.5 hour FRQ section on the AP exam that’s hand written be an issue? I have a kid who really struggles with handwriting. We have so far avoided all APs that require hand written essays for that reason. I would not discount DE in your case. Not all teachers assign/collect a ton of homework, so if you find a right teacher where homework isn’t graded, he might have an easier time with a DE class that having to place all chips on a single 4 hour AP exam where he might get exhausted. I don’t know anything about SOHS courses, but generally AP courses tend to have lots of work to over-prepare kids for that last showdown. Edited January 12, 2022 by Roadrunner 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Maybe considering an iMACS live class for a side trek until he’s at least through puberty. (That hit hard here, so I GWYM). I think they have the higher lever courses available in the online live format. I occasionally get emails from small group teachers doing interesting things. I agree that Blue Tent would not be a good fit at this time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 9 hours ago, Roadrunner said: I have been thinking about this. If he has issues writing with hand, wouldn’t 1.5 hour FRQ section on the AP exam that’s hand written be an issue? I have a kid who really struggles with handwriting. We have so far avoided all APs that require hand written essays for that reason. I would not discount DE in your case. Not all teachers assign/collect a ton of homework, so if you find a right teacher where homework isn’t graded, he might have an easier time with a DE class that having to place all chips on a single 4 hour AP exam where he might get exhausted. I don’t know anything about SOHS courses, but generally AP courses tend to have lots of work to over-prepare kids for that last showdown. He has accommodations for his APs. so he is able to use computers. So, he typed his AP CS and will do the same for AP Human Geo. I hadn't thought about him having to handwrite for the AP Calc exam. I just assumed he could type that as well, but you are right. I need to look into that for him. That's a really good point. Thank you. Another local mom mentioned the same re DE, so I am going to look into it for him as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 (edited) I can’t speak to BC, but my DD is taking Blue Tent Calc AB currently and finds the teaching to be among the best she’s ever experienced. Can’t say whether the class would be a good fit for your student, but Dr. Shin Yen is an excellent instructor. Edited January 13, 2022 by fourisenough ETA: my DD doesn’t attend the live classes, but watches the recordings at 2x speed. She doesn’t find the workload heavy at all. Definitely not drill & kill. (Again, this is for the AB class though.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) Don’t many CC and even college classes now use computer generated homework sets where all of the work is done on a computer? I know it was this way for both my son and my niece for their early college calculus classes. These were relatively small classes without TAs. It seems like the most common model is a reasonable number of assigned HW problems, but the student can do more if they don’t score 100% and want a better grade or if they just need more practice. I also think there is going to be quite a bit of variation in teachers and professors, so using a tool like Rate My Professors for any CC instructor might help you find one that is a good fit. For what it’s worth, none of my high school math teachers or college math profs collected or graded HW. They assigned it for our practice and we were free to ask questions in or out of class and get their help. But it didn’t count towards our grade, only exams did. I didn’t start having to hand in math HW until I went to grad school. Then I also had to grade it as a TA. Edited January 14, 2022 by Frances 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, Frances said: Don’t many CC and even college classes now use computer generated homework sets where all of the work is done on a computer? I know it was this way for both my son and my niece for their early college calculus classes. These were relatively small classes without TAs. It seems like the most common model is a reasonable number of assigned HW problems, but the student can do more if they don’t score 100% and want a better grade or if they just need more practice. I also think there is going to be quite a bit of variation in teachers and professors, so using a tool like Rate My Professors for any CC instructor might help you find one that is a good fit. For what it’s worth, none of my high school math teachers or college math profs collected or graded HW. They assigned it for our practice and we were free to ask questions in or out of class and get their help. But it didn’t count towards our grade, only exams did. I didn’t start having to hand in math HW until I went to grad school. Then I also had to grade it as a TA. This is true. My dd has had to seek out professors for Calc 1-2 that don’t use the computer based tests. Those were the part of Blue Tent that she really didn’t like. (countdown timer visible on the screen). She liked Shin Yen and got a B in Calc BC but is retaking Calc 1&2 on campus. She’s had “tough graders” for profs and still has had around 100% on all of the (now paper) tests. She’s made her peace with computer- based homework. Edited January 14, 2022 by MamaSprout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 21 hours ago, fourisenough said: I can’t speak to BC, but my DD is taking Blue Tent Calc AB currently and finds the teaching to be among the best she’s ever experienced. Can’t say whether the class would be a good fit for your student, but Dr. Shin Yen is an excellent instructor. Dr. Yen is an absolute treasure but the work load in BC is significant. At least it feels that way for my kid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 10 hours ago, madteaparty said: Dr. Yen is an absolute treasure but the work load in BC is significant. At least it feels that way for my kid. Curious...about the workload say compared to CVC's Adv. Honors Chem...since we are right in the middle of that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 (edited) 15 hours ago, calbear said: Curious...about the workload say compared to CVC's Adv. Honors Chem...since we are right in the middle of that. About the same I think. It’s just in Chem the time is mostly spent on lectures and reading the textbook. In Calc it’s all problems, and if I remember right, those problem sets were long. I don’t think my kid ever opened a textbook though but that’s because he had familiarity with all concepts before starting the class. I am not sure if he would have spent more time otherwise. It’s not like AoPS. Shin is ❤️. Wonderful teacher. Edited January 15, 2022 by Roadrunner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 6 hours ago, calbear said: Curious...about the workload say compared to CVC's Adv. Honors Chem...since we are right in the middle of that. I wouldn’t know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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