Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments EPGY or CTY Math - How much time does it take?

We have done EPGY and I think it worked well for DD through the 6th grade math class but she just finished most of the algebra course and we're going to 're-do' algebra with the Art of Problem Solving book and Alcumus; we already have one of their books and DD is actually excited about reading it (Intro to counting and number theory, I think) and so I'm optimistic that their Intro to Algebra book will rekindle her interest in math--which was the reason we started this in the first place. I sat with her during all the EPGY sessions and although they explained the mechanics okay, they didn't really connect it with larger ideas and nifty problems the way AoPS seems to. But that only seemed to matter for her for algebra. One advantage of EPGY is that you pay by the quarter (three-month period) and if the kid gets through a course they can start the next one right away with a nominal course fee.

Do keep in mind though that if a transcript is important, EPGY changed their policy on that earlier this year and they give you a letter or something, not an official transcript. Which was irritating to me because that's one of the reasons we had picked it in the first place. But on the other hand, it might not matter that much because I am thinking that any school would want a kid to take a test/ their test anyway if they were going to change placement because of outside courses. But we haven't come to that bridge yet so I don't know.

The courses we've taken with EPGY have a default session of 20 minutes that you could increase on request; we also have afterschool stuff and negotiated with DD that she would do EPGY on days when she didn't have something else after school. Which I'm not sure was a great idea because it ended up being about 3 days a week, but on the other hand I am very aware of not wanting to push and turn her off her natural interest in math. So IMO depending on the kid and the program, 15 minutes a day could be great--but I guess you might have to see how it goes. With DD it's quite odd--she really pushed to be able to learn more math, but then is often reluctant to actually sit and do the work, so I'm hoping she will have a better attitude about AoPS and Alcumus. She was all fired up about Alcumus at first--they have really given it some thought and give the kids points and challenges and quests--very cool. Whereas EPGY is more like, you get a lecture and then you do some problems and if you get them right you move on--but the experience is very reminiscent of the math classes I had as a kid (30+ years ago)--it sometimes seems like more of a slog than something that might actually be fun.

In our area there is a math circle at one of the universities--it used to be every week but is now just once a month. It's very nice of the people to put it on (for free!), but it would be great if there was some kind of mathletics type stuff around and I haven't been able to find anything local or online. Again, more for older kids, but something to keep in mind.

Good luck!