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If anybody is still talking about modular arithmetic, I remembered that it is a good way to win at Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Mo

Nice Cathy, nice.

Yes, good thinking. I was trying, but couldn't come up with any real applications. "Catch a tiger/monkey/penguin/rugrat by the toe..." would do it.

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.

So Cym, do you also figure that at least 7 hours per week, outside of classroom time is needed to really take advantage of the course?
Also, since your son has finished Intro to Algebra without prior Algebra knowledge, what do you think is better : doing AoPS Intro to Algebra before or after being already introduced to Algebra at school?

It was perfect for us for our purposes at the time. DS needed new material, challenge, exciting community of amazing mathy kids, and a very clever instructor. Ideally, to get the most out of the class, I would suggest someone already have taken Algebra 1 and invest at least 5 hrs/wk time (outside class). Maybe not 7 consistently, but 5 probably--I would think 7 would be difficult since it's after school. Then maybe a little more when the crunch of turning in the Challenge Sets.

My DS11 just took Algebra 1 and I think it would be a class well-suited for him (if he were mathy) because it would build on what he's learned and go deeper/more complex. I will offer it to him in the fall, but I doubt it's something he would elect to do (though he always surprises me).

They say only that the most difficult of "Intro" courses is Geometry, so I guess one should take it last.
Good luck! And please let us know later on how are you liking it