My DS has only taken one AoPS course so far (Intro to Algebra). It was definitely challenging, definitely for "mathy" kids and not just the casual course in Algebra 1. The instructor was great and the community of kids were clearly amazing math students. If you're interested in credit, choose a different provider (I think it would be hard to negotiate because there are no grades). The more you put into it, the more you get out. We started pretty strong, doing all of the problems, reading the chapters ahead of time, keeping up with the Challenge set. But it went fast, and without the 7 hrs/wk, we did not do the last Challenge Set and typically DS was not able to solve some of the homework problems. He got a lot out of it, did very well on Algebra placement test at the middle school (so that teacher says he doesn't need the course and should move on). DS wants to take another AoPS course soon (maybe this summer).
I did think it was a little irresponsible for the district's gifted newsletter to list AoPS as a resource for math courses, first because I don't think they would give credit for it, and second because I do not think it's appropriate for just anyone--again, really designed for "mathy" kids.
Last edited by cym; 05/15/08 11:42 AM.
