AOPS or other online for supplemental math challenge

[C&W'sMum]

My 10 year old just finished RSM 6.2 advanced pre-algebra class and did great, but the class is moving back to full in class and he preferred the flexibility of online.   I am looking for an extracurricular activity that doesn't have excessive homework, because he attends a b&m school and has homework for his math class in school.  Even with differentiation, school doesn't fully challenge him in math.  So to keep the spark we have done RSM since he was in kindergarten.  He loves the Beast Academy books and still takes them to bed, even though he finished them a couple years ago.  I've read several reviews from parents about AOPS that kids did part of the homework and were still fine.  He currently does about half to 75% of the RSM homework and still consistently scores around 100% on the quizzes.  I'd also appreciate if any of you have suggestions of online classes other the AOPS.  Unfortunately, many of the online classes I have seen are during school hours.

Thank you!

[WTM]

The AOPS Online classes don't really have quizzes or tests. They do have problem sets each week with challenging problems. Some of the courses  also have writing problems, which are like proofs. AOPS Online classes also don't give traditional grades. Instead of a percentage or letter grade, they use colored bars. If you're not worried about getting an actual grade (it sounds like you aren't, since this is for enrichment and your child is in another school), then I suppose he could just do however much of the homework he has time to complete.  However, I'm not sure that taking the class this way would be worth the cost. The online class is completely text based. There is no video. There is no audio. So you're reading a transcript of a class in real time. The student is expected to come to class having already read the textbook chapter.  There also isn't really any "Real time" help or office hours. They have office hours (also text based), but it often takes awhile for answers to come through after you post your question.  If your son won't have time to do much work or reading outside of classtime, then it might be much more cost effective just to have him read the textbook on his own. Then, if he has time for "homework," he could use ALcumus, which is AOPS's online question bank.

Every kid is different, but in case it helps you to have an idea of what the workload is like: For my DD, she spends about an hour a day on AOPS Online classes (depending on the class).  Intro to Alg B was harder for her - it was her first online class and first experience with AOPS Online, and she sometimes spent 2+ hours a day on it. But none of the classes have been as intense for her since that one.  Python has been the easiest one for her so far.  I barely see her spend any time on it...

 

[calbear]

welll there is the option that AOPS is developing separate from their existing online program that is associated with their brick & mortar program.

https://virtual.aopsacademy.org/

 

[calbear]

Or alternatively take a look outside of AOPS. My son does AOPS with WTMA, but he giving Alphastar a go this summer. 

https://alphastar.academy/

[Jackie]

If he doesn’t need a class-type setting, he could self-teach with the AOPS books and work problems on Alcumus. That’s actually my daughter’s preference at this time.

[Sequoia Gifted]

Have you looked to see if there are any Mathcounts teams or Math Circles in your area? 
 

Here’s another option, too, that one of my families passed along as a referral: live.poshenloh.com. 

Edited June 22 by Sequoia Gifted

[gstharr]

The new 12th grader after-schooled Thinkwell from the third grade up.  We started with pre-algebra and finished with college calculus in 10th. Math was year round with the goal of keeping him at least two yeas above grade level.  It was low pressure, roughly 3 hours per week.  Because he did not accelerate at school., all school math was  review.  Thinkwell is all videos, with automatic gading of homework, and test.   We tried Derek Owen, a very popular option here, but it did not work for us.    We never tired AOPS.  There was no way that he was going to do all that reading.

[calbear]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:52 PM, Sequoia Gifted said:

Have you looked to see if there are any Mathcounts teams or Math Circles in your area? 
 

Here’s another option, too, that one of my families passed along as a referral: live.poshenloh.com. 

^ Po Shen Loh is the national coach for the US International Math Olympiad team.

[EmilyGF]

How about RSM Online, at the .3 level instead of .2? We've been generally happy with our online RSM teachers, though we did switch once.

Otherwise, another kid (ds) really liked the typing format of AoPS online. Some kids like it. Some don't. 

RSM and AoPS are really different from each other. My RSM kid wouldn't really like AoPS, and my AoPS kid wouldn't have liked the video format. I do have one kid who has done great in both, though. The AoPS are a lot more puzzly than RSM, IMO. 

You could also just have your kiddo do a few Alcumus problems each day. 

We've found the AoPS homework load to vary a lot from class to class. The core classes seem to have a lot more work, whereas the number theory and counting and probability have a lot less. 

Emily