Anonymous wrote:DS is in AOPS and I'm not sure whether it's working for him or not. They just put out an announcement about summer math camp. Has anyone's child enrolled in AOPS summer? I'm looking at math and LA but is it worth it?

And what about levels - If he is in Math 3 currently for example, does he sign up for Math 3 summer or Math 4 summer? I'm actually wondering if it would be better for him to do the online platform over the summer and finish Math 4 so he can enroll in Math 5 next year.

Math 4 Summer is between Math 4 and Math 5.


https://aopsacademy.org/courses/course/summer-math-4

DS is in AOPS and I'm not sure whether it's working for him or not. They just put out an announcement about summer math camp. Has anyone's child enrolled in AOPS summer? I'm looking at math and LA but is it worth it?

And what about levels - If he is in Math 3 currently for example, does he sign up for Math 3 summer or Math 4 summer? I'm actually wondering if it would be better for him to do the online platform over the summer and finish Math 4 so he can enroll in Math 5 next year.

There are some weird responses. IMO you shouldn't force a kid to take classes at AOPS. It really is a different math focus and not aimed at all learners. I do think if a kid is struggling with math at school, it is fine to require the kid to be tutored or go to a center that follows the normal school curriculum.

I have never heard people link AOPS to status except here on DCUM. There are those who are lucky enough to be able to pay to supplement and those who have to scrape and make it work, but I've never met anyone at these academic centers doing it for some status marker. I HAVE heard a lot of parents at centers bragging about what geniuses their kids are, but that is a separate issue. It is interesting to observe the different cultural norms around this (I'm mixed and definitely see a pattern of parent behavior among different ethnic groups).

Anonymous wrote:My kid does not attend any Math classes outside the school. They are in Advanced math and score in the 99th percentile in standardized tests. How would you compare school curriculum with RSM/AoPS and are the private classes far ahead of school? For someone very interested in Math, am I doing a disservice by not providing extra enrichment?
I am feeling a tinge guilty reading this thread

What grade? I think you are doing fine. Lots of people say it's actually not ideal to double accelerate because by the time they are in 11th grade, they are way past what the SAT tests for, so they end up having to relearn it to ace the test.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a strong (or any) math background you're better off with the self-paced self-study options and doing the enrichment at home. Lower cost, zero drive time, one on one help from mom or dad or older siblings if needed, never conflicts with other activities or family meals.

Something to consider is that for some families, especially insecure striver types, it's often a status thing to schlep the kids to a physical enrichment center and be seen by their fellow strivers. Some of these people probably know they would be better off switching to the format homeschoolers use, but then their mommy friends Olga, Manjula, and Mei Li would disapprove.

It's also a motivation thing. It's easier to get a kid to learn and focus and do work when in an environment of other kids doing the same.m

PP just wanted to brag about having a rich husband so she doesn't have to work.

Anonymous wrote:If you have a strong (or any) math background you're better off with the self-paced self-study options and doing the enrichment at home. Lower cost, zero drive time, one on one help from mom or dad or older siblings if needed, never conflicts with other activities or family meals.

Something to consider is that for some families, especially insecure striver types, it's often a status thing to schlep the kids to a physical enrichment center and be seen by their fellow strivers. Some of these people probably know they would be better off switching to the format homeschoolers use, but then their mommy friends Olga, Manjula, and Mei Li would disapprove.

Hard-working, achievement-oriented immigrants aren't interested in your ethnicity-swapped misogynist stereotypes.

Anonymous wrote:My kid does not attend any Math classes outside the school. They are in Advanced math and score in the 99th percentile in standardized tests. How would you compare school curriculum with RSM/AoPS and are the private classes far ahead of school? For someone very interested in Math, am I doing a disservice by not providing extra enrichment?
I am feeling a tinge guilty reading this thread

why? Your kid is doing well in math. They don’t need more.

we enrolled DS in AoPS and then RSM because he wanted more. He was teaching himself new concepts at home and enjoyed playing math games. We asked him if he wanted to try AoPS and he was excited. He enjoyed the class and the work but wanted in person and closer by. He enjoyed RSM and fell in love with math competitions. He treats math like some of his friends treat sports, it is fun to do outside of school and he loves to compete. He does play rec sports and has other activities, he just also has math.

He can choose to drop out of competition math if he wants, this is one of his extras.

Does your kid love math and want to do more? Then look into it. If they are doing well in school and are happy, then no worries. Most of DS classmates think he is crazy for doing additional math, but he doesn’t care. he has friends who are doing well in school and don’t want to participate in math enrichment, that is fine. Let your kid choose their interests, all you should do is offer suggestions.

My kid does not attend any Math classes outside the school. They are in Advanced math and score in the 99th percentile in standardized tests. How would you compare school curriculum with RSM/AoPS and are the private classes far ahead of school? For someone very interested in Math, am I doing a disservice by not providing extra enrichment?
I am feeling a tinge guilty reading this thread

Both my kids (grades 6 and 8) are in AoPS. My older child did RSM starting second semester 1st grade through 5th grade and was placed in the highest level after the initial screening. The biggest problem DC seemed to have with it, is that the word problems were not written by native English speakers. My husband (phD from Caltech; triple majored in undergrad--math, double E and computer science) would sometimes have to take a look at the answer to then explain to DC what the question was actually asking. Also, sometimes it was hard to understand what the teachers were saying due to their heavy accents. Finally, there wasn't an official text book. By the time DC reached 6th grade, the RSM school recommended for those in the highest level of RSM take 2 hours of algebra and 1 hr of geometry a week to really grasp their approach to teaching math. I could tell DC was done. It was hard to gauge where DC was at. All of the report cards from RSM were way too effusive with praise. At AoPS, they explained a 70% is considered a good score on their tests.

Finally, DC agreed to switch to AoPS which our younger DC had started in 2nd grade during COVID (first virtual and then now live classes). I like that there are several ways for students to learn the materials. First, through in person instruction, then with text books and finally with online videos. As everyone learns differently. I think this helped my older DC whose in class attention seemed to have dropped after COVID. DC1 will often consult the text book or YouTube if DC can't solve a certain problem. Last resort is dad as he will really drag out the process rather than show our kids how to solve something.

For DC2, who doesn't take the time to read the text book, says the classroom lesson is enough.

Both kids have applied what they've learned in AoPS to end of year testing at their DMV public schools. DC1 unfortunately has found that the advanced 8th grade math teacher can't teach the 10th grade math DC1 is supposed to be learning in school so AoPS has helped fill in the gaps as the public school math teacher just refers kids to IXL (which both of my kids hate with a passion but do their weekly assigned math HW in their public school advanced math classes).

My kid wanted to be in a class with other kids, that is why we chose RSM. They had in-person classes that were close. He liked being with other kids who were good at math and enjoyed math. It was a nice change of pace from school were kids disliked math or were good at math but didn’t find it enjoyable. As a kid who loves math and enjoys discussing math, being with some other kids like himself was huge. So we did in-person as long as he wanted to.

Now we are online for math classes because the kids who are doing the type of math he is doing tend to be scattered further and classes are online. He loves the Mathcounts club because he has his people there.

He did AoPS in third grade. He enjoyed the class but didn’t think it was that hard and was surprised at the number of kids in the class that needed help. It was online during COVID and we would hear the teacher asking kids to stay on after class so she could walk them through what the class had done.

Anonymous wrote:If you have a strong (or any) math background you're better off with the self-paced self-study options and doing the enrichment at home. Lower cost, zero drive time, one on one help from mom or dad or older siblings if needed, never conflicts with other activities or family meals.

Something to consider is that for some families, especially insecure striver types, it's often a status thing to schlep the kids to a physical enrichment center and be seen by their fellow strivers. Some of these people probably know they would be better off switching to the format homeschoolers use, but then their mommy friends Olga, Manjula, and Mei Li would disapprove.

It's also a motivation thing. It's easier to get a kid to learn and focus and do work when in an environment of other kids doing the same.m

If you have a strong (or any) math background you're better off with the self-paced self-study options and doing the enrichment at home. Lower cost, zero drive time, one on one help from mom or dad or older siblings if needed, never conflicts with other activities or family meals.

Something to consider is that for some families, especially insecure striver types, it's often a status thing to schlep the kids to a physical enrichment center and be seen by their fellow strivers. Some of these people probably know they would be better off switching to the format homeschoolers use, but then their mommy friends Olga, Manjula, and Mei Li would disapprove.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never bring this up in real life so I will ask here. What are the make up of kids (racial / public vs private) at your AOPS and RSM campuses? I'm not in DC but we feel very much like outsiders. At RSM it is all Russian speaking parents with a few Indian families, mostly public school and some science magnets. At AOPS it's 100% Indian and Asian mostly public school. I don't even live in an area with signifiant Indian, Russian, and Asian populations so I think they are driving in other towns. TBH I always thought of AOPS as a nerdy white homeschool or science kids kind of franchise. I feel weird at pick up because at RSM all the parents talk to each other in Russian and talk to staff while I sit there like an idiot. Same in AOPS except in Chinese.

People outside those ethnic groups take the online classes and/or buy workbooks for study at home. AOPS is popular with homeschoolers, you just won't encounter them in the wild.

My kids online class through RSM is 99% Asian, I think there are 2 non-Asian kids in the class. The in-person class was far more diverse then the online class.

RSM offers online only classes?

Yes: https://www.mathschool.com/locations/online and so does AoPS: https://virtual.aopsacademy.org/ (they also have cheaper, text-based live classes: https://artofproblemsolving.com/school )

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never bring this up in real life so I will ask here. What are the make up of kids (racial / public vs private) at your AOPS and RSM campuses? I'm not in DC but we feel very much like outsiders. At RSM it is all Russian speaking parents with a few Indian families, mostly public school and some science magnets. At AOPS it's 100% Indian and Asian mostly public school. I don't even live in an area with signifiant Indian, Russian, and Asian populations so I think they are driving in other towns. TBH I always thought of AOPS as a nerdy white homeschool or science kids kind of franchise. I feel weird at pick up because at RSM all the parents talk to each other in Russian and talk to staff while I sit there like an idiot. Same in AOPS except in Chinese.

People outside those ethnic groups take the online classes and/or buy workbooks for study at home. AOPS is popular with homeschoolers, you just won't encounter them in the wild.

My kids online class through RSM is 99% Asian, I think there are 2 non-Asian kids in the class. The in-person class was far more diverse then the online class.

But AoPS is more popular with homeschoolers, who are mostly white.

Anonymous wrote:I would never bring this up in real life so I will ask here. What are the make up of kids (racial / public vs private) at your AOPS and RSM campuses? I'm not in DC but we feel very much like outsiders. At RSM it is all Russian speaking parents with a few Indian families, mostly public school and some science magnets. At AOPS it's 100% Indian and Asian mostly public school. I don't even live in an area with signifiant Indian, Russian, and Asian populations so I think they are driving in other towns. TBH I always thought of AOPS as a nerdy white homeschool or science kids kind of franchise. I feel weird at pick up because at RSM all the parents talk to each other in Russian and talk to staff while I sit there like an idiot. Same in AOPS except in Chinese.

You shouldn't feel weird. Just say "hi" in English - if they ignore you, move on to a different person to say "hi" to (there are nice and rude people of all races).

At the same time, it's not like you need to make friends with everyone there, either. You can be on your phone etc. if you want.