Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources AoPS pre-alg first impressions

Signed DD (just turned 9) for the Art of Problem Solving pre-algebra I course and have been working alongside DD on the prep for lesson one with the book to get her used to the new format (finished SM5 a year ago).

I have to say that I wish this had been around when I was a kid! Really gets the reader thinking about the most efficient and therefore 'easiest to compute' (my quotes) solutions from the first page!

Here is a quote from RR on the genesis of AoPS books that I will share because I am sure that it will resonate with many here...

sounds like you have found a good fit! I hope it continues to impress - please give us more feedback the further into the course you guys go!

madeinuk, that quote so warms my heart.

I would love to clone people like that.

I'm excited that AOPS exists and plan to use it to teach my son when the time is right. Thanks for sharing, and do keep us posted. Success stories are precious treasures.

Looking at this AoPS online it looks like a resource I have been looking for the past few months to help my son in Algebra II. Anyone have a clue if we can START in the Intermediate Algebra text?

There's an assessment you can take to determine which level you should join.

Also, for younger kids, there's Beast Academy, created by the same guys.

I didn't see the assessment, I tried sending an email to see what they would recommend. Looking at it further the Intermediate Algebra text is supposed to be for those who have finished Algebra II.

I was only thinking of buying the books, not signing up for a class. I assume this is possible? My husband & I should be more than capable of helping our son with the material.

Scroll down this page, and you'll see "Are You Ready?/ Do You Need This?" -- That's the assessment. You could use the assessment to determine which book to buy, regardless of whether you sign up for the class.

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/classlist.php#cd_prealgebra1

Art of Problem Solving got back to me. They recommend the Intro to Algebra Book (it's Algebra I & II) or Introduction to Counting and Probability. The first because it lines of up with his Algebra II material. The Counting book because it's material he won't have seen before but should be ready to handle.

I decided to order both. I expect that my son will enjoy the Counting and Probability Book better. He's one of those kids who doesn't seem the purpose in 'relearning' something. But I suspect the Algebra book will be a better book to him study for his tests.

As I am looking at this as supplemental, and my husband & I should be capable of answering questions I wasn't planning on signing up for any classes.

I just noticed they have online computer programming classes? Does anyone have experience with their child taking their programming?

My ds now just 11 went through the book when he was 9 also. We didn't take the class. He moved at a good clip and finished in about 4 months. We had a tutor, a very nice kid, a senior at the local high school come to our house once a week to answer any questions and just chit chat. They ended up finishing a bit early most times to keep up with their perpetual game of chess.

The tutor was a wonderful experience, kind of a peer mate that my ds lacked. They had the tendency to get off topic from time to time.

What book, the pre-algebra? Or Algebra?

Pre-algebra.

Just got the books in the mail. Not sure I should have bothered with the Algebra Book. There isn't much in book my son hasn't already covered in his Algebra Class. He is currently doing Logs & Exponents, But the Challenge problems look very good. The problems look easy at first, but when you start thinking about them not at all obvious. And there is no Trig in this book at all. The Counting & Probability book starts with material my son did last semester and gets more challenging.

I can see why these books would appeal to parents homeschooling their gifted kid. They seem very accessible to elementary school kids.

This was recently discussed in the thread "On-line computer programming class?" in the message
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....line_computer_programmin.html#Post180090 and following.

Thanks.. I posted at the top of that thread but never saw the bottom for some reason. Guess I'll see how the math books work first. Problem with the class is that the only summer class takes ALL summer, and my son already has other commitments. And during the school year he is already too busy.

Maybe i am a freak but to me Maths education isn't a race to be 'King of the castle' and acquire all of the methods but rather it is about acquiring a solid mental toolkit with which to solve diverse problems and to be able to understand the 'why' as much as the 'how' so that rules can be derived from first principles.

So far, the AoPS pre-algebra class has demonstrated that it fits that bill. Starting all the way back at the rules of Arithmetic and then working forwards... It is a bit slow but it is rigourously slow which is OK in my book.

My son is finishing the AoPS Intro to Number Theory book. He is self-studying as the timing of the online course is not convenient and I am not sure necessary. There have been a few chapters he breezed through and others have been quite challenging.

This is his second AoPS course (first was Intro to Programming) and I like their material.

He did EPGY for Pre-Algebra, Algebra and Intermediate Algebra. I think AoPS may be a better course as the questions seem more challenging.

I have also purchased AoPS Intro to Geometry and AoPS Counting and Probability that he will do next. EPGY's Geometry course was not very good.

Did he do the Intro to Programming as a Class? I don't see books? How old was he when he completed it. Just wondering if it was something my son could do as self study this summer.

There was no textbook when my son took the class. There are lots of books on Python, but some of them are aimed at professional programmers who have used other languages. You can search Amazon for "python computer science" to find books on Python for introductory computer science classes which do not assume prior programming experience. The book "Introduction to Computer Science Using Python: A Computational Problem-Solving Focus" by Charles Dierbach is recommended by Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python.

I have python & C, & C++ etc books. Professionally I am a computer programmer (although I haven't worked in a few years) & my husband is also in the field. Tried teaching my son a little programming when he was 12 and it didn't really work.

He was 10.5 when he did it. It was a difficult course and I found a tutor after he was about 75% through with the course. The tutor helped him some with the course but they did not always follow the "assignments" but I am pretty impressed with how much he knows at this stage. I think khanacademy.org udacity.com and maybe also codeacademy.com also have some beginner courses.

Overall I would recommend the AoPS Python course based on my sons experience with it. See how he goes with it and if he needs help try to find a tutor but he may be fine and even if we did not have the tutor, my son learned a lot from the course.