Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources AOPS books vs LOF

Anyone tried both sets of books? Due to time zones we cannot do AOPS live classes. Currently Fred is working nicely along with Dreambox maths online but I worry it's not in depth enough - both kids in question are strong in maths, but I fear oldest (nearly 9) is getting complacent.

Next year he has chosen to start a formal grade 7 distance learning program in preparation for CIE (Cambridge International) high school distance learning. They have a full Maths subject but since we are still torn between continuing with putting together our own curriculum or doing a full single type, I need to look at all the options.

In LOF he is on the Fractions book, in Dreambox he is working between grades 6 - 8.

ANy ideas/suggestions?

Hey Portia - yes it's been ages, been really busy here with the kids and the business and other stuff happening.

It sounds like my kids will really enjoy AOPS then; They prefer the straightforward, clean thing - Fred is just enough pictures to keep younger kids entranced and of course they all love the story of Fred too.

Perhaps we will just add the AOPS books in when we get to pre algebra (there are 3 pre algebra LOF books now btw) and phase out dreambox, and then Fred if needed....

The oldest will be ready for Fred Pre Algebra by January the latest at his current rate. The middle one will be ready for Pre Algebra around mid year next year - although he is suddenly very concerned with working grade by grade so right now no maths unless it has the official grade number on as the rest of the "work" he is insisting on finishing (3rd grade). This middle one is the scary maths kid who used simultaneous equations without being taught them for a grade 3 maths olympiad solution, who counts in prime numbers in his sleep and instinctively seems to know most maths concepts.

I will definitely get the answer books - thank you for that heads up - as I am very very weak in maths.

The other good reason to have the solutions manual is they often offer more than one solution, or a different (and often simpler) one than we got to on our own. Even on easy questions, we always check to see if we missed any neat tricks.

Pre Algebra 0 - with Physics
Pre Algebra 1 - With Biology
Pre Algebra 2 - With Economics

They have also added readers for learning to read, an entire book on financial choices, a series of LA books, a Chemistry book that is actually about Chemistry not maths, a problem solving book, an analysis book and you can get the Kingie and Fred dolls now too

I really like that!

One other question - is each book like a workbook or could I re-use them for the other kids later on?

Cause they are not cheap!

The books are the textbooks that you'll wish that you would've had!
As such, the problems can be worked out with an exercise book - and, of course, may be handed down from son to son.

I'll echo the solutions manual recommendation - understanding that there are multiple routes to the solution is critical to gaining conceptual fluency (as opposed to procedural fluency) IMO. Additionally, the elegance and brevity of some of their solutions really helped my daughter to learn some good techniques for simplifying problems.

My DD started with pre-alg and has also done the first alg I class. We have taken a bit of a break due to other interests and activities but we expect to resume next February.

My DD loves AOPS and so do I because through itmy DD has learned some useful Maths and, even more importantly, persistence.

You should sign up on AoPS and go to the alcumus section and check out the pre-algebra questions. They will be similar to what you might see in the book. After you answer the question there will be solutions below, sometimes several. There will be links to supporting videos and page reference numbers to the text also. It is a good way to get a feel for it.

I agree with the persistence comment above.

Fantastic! That way I am quite happy to spend the money for the books (our exchange rate to the dollar is crazy at the moment) and the shipping.

I will definitely check out Alcumus - he can use that perhaps while waiting for the books. He loves pre algebra type apps that I have managed to find. (they both do honestly)

Cool! thanks guys - I'm happy with the plan now - stay with Fred and dreambox till he gets to Pre Algebra and then use AOPS for serious stuff and Fred for the fun maths stuff until he wants to only do the AOPS.

And get the solutions with the actual book.

One last question - how long did/does each book last your kids? I need to see if it makes sense to just order them all at once or if I can do one at a time

Did you try Lure of the Labyrinth, Madoosa?

My DD loved it between 5th grade SG Maths and AoPS.

lure of the labyrinth link

One of the things that Portia highlighted above is one of the most important aspects (to me) of the AoPS classes - learning to show one's work. This was driven home by the one hand marked challenge question.

This is where my DD finally learned to show her work instead of just doing everything in her head. Additionally, she also learned some LaTeX formatting tags which made her written solutions look 'professional' which in turn incentivised her to put together a cogent argument supporting her solution. The result of all this is that DD automatically shows her work now in a clear and concise manner.