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.

My ds did the pre-algebra in 4th grade after school (not the formal class). We started in Sept and finished in May. He also had a tutor once a week ( Senior boy from the local high school) to answer questions he might have and kick start the next weeks lessons. He still does alcumus but not as much as I would like him to.

The thing that takes getting used to with AoPS is that there are almost no repeat questions. Virtually every. single. question. introduces a twist, so it's well worth doing all of them. Which can take a really long time, but is worth every minute.

We did pre-Algebra the first time in about 6 weeks (with only grade 4 math at that point) - doing just enough out of the textbook to get the basics and complete all the Alcumus questions. Then we did Algebra 1 online. DS had the concepts, and did OK in Algebra, but we really wanted to do all the questions on this course, and it was going WAY too fast for us, with our limited prep and limited time (after-schooling). Now, we've gone back and are slowly working our way back through the whole pre-Algebra book, skipping no questions this time, and realizing the book gets a lot more complex than Alcumus.

And this time, DS is loving the math, and really, really understanding how to use these very simple concepts to solve some pretty tricky problems. Now that I've learned my lesson, I've no doubt we'll go back and re-do a big chunk of Algebra as well, cuz this time I won't rush him, and it will actually be fun.

Agree with Portia completely. LOF is a really fun way to be introduced to some concepts; but AOPS builds the actual skills.

AOPS online course is a lot of work. The pace would be OK IF you have the time for it. I remember DS sometimes struggling over a geometry problem for 2-3 hours. I also felt that the problems given by the online class teacher (at least for geometry and algebra 2) were harder than the problems in the books. Some kids don't finish every problem in the assignment and it's absolutely OK. But for kids like DS who can't get the peace of mind unless he finishes everything on the assignment, AOPS is very time-consuming.

Thank you all of you for your input! I am convinced that when he is ready we will go for the AOPS books and Alcumus with LOF as the intro and then AOPS as the main meal so to speak.

I love love love the idea of him learning to do the proofs, to present everything properly etc. I know it will help so much!

Thank you again.

Portia - thanks for the link to the older thread and for all your input - I really appreciate it.