Art of Problem Solving vs Russian School of Math

[Anonymous]

Would appreciate any feedback, particularly from anyone who has tried both in online form.
I have been extremely impressed with the prealgebra curriculum for AOPS. But the online instruction is by chat room, which is OK, but I would like more interaction for DC. Am wondering if I should swiTch to online tracking with Russian School of Math.
Pros and Cons most appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

We did AOPS prealgebra, as well as Mathnasium and Fairfax Collegiate math. AOPS was definitely the most rigorous, although I would hesitate to enroll DS during the school year because it is a lot to cover. DS did the online course which as you said is by chat room, but my understanding is that is you enroll at a Center (there is one in Vienna) instruction is over Zoom.

If you feel you DC is not getting enough math this year it might be a good option, but as I said it s a lot of work if they have a full school schedule.

[Anonymous]

Russian Math has two tracks, one for normal kids and one for high-performing ones. I believe AoPS is smarties only.

[Anonymous]

I can't say anything about Russian SoM but my 5th grader is doing AoPS (Vienna) through zoom and is doing really well (now that we are passed geometry - she needed a lot of help from her father during that part).

She is also doing AoPS L&A (also 5th grade) and she has told me she "loves" the class and is her favorite.

In both classes they meet over zoom and it is expected to be like this until Dec. 31st - after that is a toss up... I hope they go back in person.

The classes are small and they put kids into small group rooms to work on problems/discuss, etc. The classes take 1 hour and 45 min and she usually spends about 2 hours per week on L&A homework (plus reading - maybe 45 min?) and about 1 hour to 1 hours and 30 min on math homework.


She did the summer camp (math) and it was horrible - never again!

She also didn't do as well when she was just doing beast academy - I guess she needs a real life teacher and real life classmates to discuss things to learn better.

[Anonymous]

My kid currently goes to both and it a grade ahead at both. She loves math and her school curriculum is nowhere near where she is so I have to supplement. I really like them both. Previously we also tried mathnasium, kumon, Aloha, math tutor. RSM and AOPS are different but equally great, definitely much better than other enrichment classes we had. They both force kids to develop logic problem solving skills as opposed to going parallel to what school curriculum is. I do not like online classes as much as I liked in person, because in both schools there is just one teacher and 17-18 kids, which is a lot. However it is still better in my opinion than any other math programs and way cheaper than having a tutor. If you can, enroll her in both. It’s only once a week each and their curriculum are different for the same grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid currently goes to both and it a grade ahead at both. She loves math and her school curriculum is nowhere near where she is so I have to supplement. I really like them both. Previously we also tried mathnasium, kumon, Aloha, math tutor. RSM and AOPS are different but equally great, definitely much better than other enrichment classes we had. They both force kids to develop logic problem solving skills as opposed to going parallel to what school curriculum is. I do not like online classes as much as I liked in person, because in both schools there is just one teacher and 17-18 kids, which is a lot. However it is still better in my opinion than any other math programs and way cheaper than having a tutor. If you can, enroll her in both. It’s only once a week each and their curriculum are different for the same grade level.

Would you mind sharing your experience with Aloha compared to the other programs? I am thinking of enrolling my kindergartener in aloha since she isn’t getting much out of distance learning. Thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid currently goes to both and it a grade ahead at both. She loves math and her school curriculum is nowhere near where she is so I have to supplement. I really like them both. Previously we also tried mathnasium, kumon, Aloha, math tutor. RSM and AOPS are different but equally great, definitely much better than other enrichment classes we had. They both force kids to develop logic problem solving skills as opposed to going parallel to what school curriculum is. I do not like online classes as much as I liked in person, because in both schools there is just one teacher and 17-18 kids, which is a lot. However it is still better in my opinion than any other math programs and way cheaper than having a tutor. If you can, enroll her in both. It’s only once a week each and their curriculum are different for the same grade level.

Would you mind sharing your experience with Aloha compared to the other programs? I am thinking of enrolling my kindergartener in aloha since she isn’t getting much out of distance learning. Thank you

I am personally not a fan of Aloha. We tried both ( language and math) for about 3-4 months. And honestly I should have left sooner.
I just wanted to be fair and gave it a try. At math classes they use abacus tool to help them add and subtract fast. That is all they do. Just arithmetic with abacus , over and over and over again. Starting with single digit numbers, moving to double, but still the same add/subtract and nothing else. My kiddo got very bored and you honestly can have the same or even better results by just using workbooks at home.
English seemed to be more engaging and interesting, and she really liked her teacher. The problem was that their books have A LOT of misspellings and A LOT of grammar mistakes. I mean , almost every page of their workbook had a few grammar and spelling mistakes. Things like: She go ( instead of goes) to school every day. So we had to switch to tutoring for English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid currently goes to both and it a grade ahead at both. She loves math and her school curriculum is nowhere near where she is so I have to supplement. I really like them both. Previously we also tried mathnasium, kumon, Aloha, math tutor. RSM and AOPS are different but equally great, definitely much better than other enrichment classes we had. They both force kids to develop logic problem solving skills as opposed to going parallel to what school curriculum is. I do not like online classes as much as I liked in person, because in both schools there is just one teacher and 17-18 kids, which is a lot. However it is still better in my opinion than any other math programs and way cheaper than having a tutor. If you can, enroll her in both. It’s only once a week each and their curriculum are different for the same grade level.

Would you mind sharing your experience with Aloha compared to the other programs? I am thinking of enrolling my kindergartener in aloha since she isn’t getting much out of distance learning. Thank you

I am personally not a fan of Aloha. We tried both ( language and math) for about 3-4 months. And honestly I should have left sooner.
I just wanted to be fair and gave it a try. At math classes they use abacus tool to help them add and subtract fast. That is all they do. Just arithmetic with abacus , over and over and over again. Starting with single digit numbers, moving to double, but still the same add/subtract and nothing else. My kiddo got very bored and you honestly can have the same or even better results by just using workbooks at home.
English seemed to be more engaging and interesting, and she really liked her teacher. The problem was that their books have A LOT of misspellings and A LOT of grammar mistakes. I mean , almost every page of their workbook had a few grammar and spelling mistakes. Things like: She go ( instead of goes) to school every day. So we had to switch to tutoring for English.

Thank you! How old is your daughter? Since mine is so young, figured that Aloha would be good for a year or so to drill those math facts in her head, and then we could move to something more substantive like Russian Math.

[Anonymous]

Is there an admission process of Art Of Problem Solving? My kids are above average but not gifted-both in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid currently goes to both and it a grade ahead at both. She loves math and her school curriculum is nowhere near where she is so I have to supplement. I really like them both. Previously we also tried mathnasium, kumon, Aloha, math tutor. RSM and AOPS are different but equally great, definitely much better than other enrichment classes we had. They both force kids to develop logic problem solving skills as opposed to going parallel to what school curriculum is. I do not like online classes as much as I liked in person, because in both schools there is just one teacher and 17-18 kids, which is a lot. However it is still better in my opinion than any other math programs and way cheaper than having a tutor. If you can, enroll her in both. It’s only once a week each and their curriculum are different for the same grade level.

Would you mind sharing your experience with Aloha compared to the other programs? I am thinking of enrolling my kindergartener in aloha since she isn’t getting much out of distance learning. Thank you

I am personally not a fan of Aloha. We tried both ( language and math) for about 3-4 months. And honestly I should have left sooner.
I just wanted to be fair and gave it a try. At math classes they use abacus tool to help them add and subtract fast. That is all they do. Just arithmetic with abacus , over and over and over again. Starting with single digit numbers, moving to double, but still the same add/subtract and nothing else. My kiddo got very bored and you honestly can have the same or even better results by just using workbooks at home.
English seemed to be more engaging and interesting, and she really liked her teacher. The problem was that their books have A LOT of misspellings and A LOT of grammar mistakes. I mean , almost every page of their workbook had a few grammar and spelling mistakes. Things like: She go ( instead of goes) to school every day. So we had to switch to tutoring for English.

Thank you! How old is your daughter? Since mine is so young, figured that Aloha would be good for a year or so to drill those math facts in her head, and then we could move to something more substantive like Russian Math.

She is 7 now, 2nd drake in regular school and 3rd grade in both RSM and AoPS. We started math classes when she was four, it was more like a game type studying at that age though. If you decide to go with RSM or AOPS they will do assessment for your child to see where she is in math. It can be the same grade as her current school class or might be not. Also, in RSM they have three levels for each grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there an admission process of Art Of Problem Solving? My kids are above average but not gifted-both in AAP.

At AoPS they do assessment prior to enrolling . They will give your child a test to see where he/she is. At RSM there are three levels for each grade, so it would be easier to match to a child’s current math level.

[Anonymous]

NP bumping this thread. Can anyone else share experiences with Russian School of Math? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there an admission process of Art Of Problem Solving? My kids are above average but not gifted-both in AAP.

At AoPS they do assessment prior to enrolling . They will give your child a test to see where he/she is. At RSM there are three levels for each grade, so it would be easier to match to a child’s current math level.

do they reject kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there an admission process of Art Of Problem Solving? My kids are above average but not gifted-both in AAP.

At AoPS they do assessment prior to enrolling . They will give your child a test to see where he/she is. At RSM there are three levels for each grade, so it would be easier to match to a child’s current math level.

RSM also tests for placement.