DS 9 is taking the Intro to Algebra course, which covers topics in both Alg 1 & Alg 2, plus some trig; most of the kids are older (11-12)
Do they offer Intro to Algebra? I thought they only offered Intermediate Algebra?
DS started his "flirt" with AoPS by taking AMC 10 class. The rationale was that it will get him prepared better for AMC 8, since AoPS does not offer AMC 8 class. What can I say - the class was very difficult for Ghost, he could not follow most of the problems.
Next he took Intro to Counting and Probability and it was a totally different story. He was able to follow during class sessions, was contributing a lot to the classroom discussion. To learn most from AoPS you have to be familar with the subject to the point of being able to participate during class. If you are just sitting in front of the computer and watching it like a lecture (as Ghost did for AMC 10 class), you are not going to gain a lot . After each lesson about 10 problems are posted online for class participants. You have to wrestle your brain and try to solve them, even partially. After second lesson a challenge set number 1 is released. You have a few weeks to submit it to your instructor for evaluation. After leson 8 set number 2 is released. Those are really difficult problems (that's why it is called challenge :-)and it takes a while to answer them. And then within the challenge, there is even a larger challenge - Ghost was not even able to touch those problems:-)
Of course he was procrastinating, and you can't do that - you have to be very systematic and start working on the challenge set as soon as it gets released. But it is easier said than done.
Do not even think about participating in the class without a textbook. Actually, they ask you to read selected chapters before each lesson, so you will have some idea of the problems you are about to encounter.
They say that of all the intro classes Geometry is the most challenging. It is also the longest. DS is still waiting to take that, even though he "did" Geometry last year.
What I am trying to say, like Cym did in her last post, do not jump into AoPS just because your child is gifted in math. I think is is better for them to cover the material at school first and then learn on AoPS how to approach problems that are based upon that section of math.
