Russian School of Math or AOPS?

[Anonymous]

Our experience has been that the mid level class at RSM has less practical application and more practice to set the foundation. The highest level of RSM is more learn the algorithm and then apply it. You can reach out to RSM if your child feels like they could do more. They will have a conversation with you about the class and your child’s placement.

[Anonymous]

daddy

[Transplant_1]

I've brought my kids (at different points in elementary school and middle school) to all - Kumon, Mathnasium, AOPS, and Russian Math, and had them "assessed" and asked a lot of questions about their methodology, and asked to see the workbooks, etc.

In the end, that is what you have to do. Figure out your kids weak spots, and then figure out which methodology would best fit his/her need.

From watching my 3rd grade daughter do her one sheet daily math homework, I saw she got the concepts, but still didn't have a math facts down pat. So Kumon was great for her: daily math sheets to practice and drill the facts. It also was good for my middle schooler for a bit, as he had to do a lot of double digit greatest common factor, least common multiple, complex fractions calculations - it was good practice to develop greater ease and familiarity beyond single digit numbers.

My kids didn't do Mathnasium, but I had them assessed by them, and asked about their methodology. I think it'd be good if you want your kid to do more math sheets of the type of math they do at school, with a tutor nearby to ask questions to, and have a chance at "getting ahead," or getting help from the tutor for gaps and hard spots. What I least liked is that I would not be able to see the work they are doing. They keep them in binders at school. Also, I wasn't able to see the assessment. They just gave me an aggregate dashboard type of report.

RSM Honors classes and AOP are probably most similar.

Both my kids are in the RSM mid-level class -- one in late elementary school, one in middle school. Very good for making sure they understands the concepts by asking more word based problems, probling their math understanding through different types of problems, and more complicated problems that require focus, consistency, and precision, eg "remembering the negative sign." For example, in schools, my 5th grader was deemed to know fractions. At RSM, she's gotten to really understand it. However, she hates that classes are 2 hours long. I love the workbooks, and the problems, but wish the classes were shorter.