Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having worked in the the math center industry, I highly recommend just getting a private tutor for a very smart mathematically inclined child, or doing the enrichment at home yourself with carefully curated materials.

AOPS is probably the only company I would recommend, based on it catering to the mathematically gifted crowd and the founders having an elite math contest background. As far as I have seen, the other companies are not really geared toward enrichment. Does your child's school have a Gifted and Talent program coordinator? That person is also a good resource even if your kid is not identified as gifted.

why not RSM? They seem to have a good system for gifted math kids and has good results - maybe not at the IMO level, but for Mathcounts, etc... those kids at IMO levels are basically done with these courses by the time they enter high school anyways.

Not PP but RSM is not geared towards the gifted crowd or math advanced kids. It’s not geared towards enrichment, looking at math in different ways, approaching math in different ways.

From what I understand RSM focus is on supporting what the kids are learning in school. The kids above already know that material and need a deeper dive and manipulating things. I think the math competition class at RSM might be more similar to AOPS in general but not the general 3 level courses.

The gifted kids by far go to AOPS and that community, not RSM.

Lastly, RSM is weighed down by trying to focus on all kids at all levels. Not so with AOPS. There is only 1 level and that is a high level. Either you can hack it or you can’t. Also the pace of their courses are fast. They will introduce a topic briefly and then go right into complex and challenging problems. They expect the kids to get it, process it fast, and go right to tackling difficult problems.

Kumon is great for first graders because automaticity with math facts is no longer emphasized in school. You lean to be quick AND accurate first with addition and subtraction single digits then with multi digit subtraction, addition, then single digit multiplication facts, then multiplication and division if you stick it out to level D. Level E is fractions.

It can be tedious but it’s like practicing scales in music or doing drills in basketball or soccer. You want muscle memory so you don’t have to think when doing challenging problems.

I was at a neighbors house and her child was doing beast academy 2nd grade but was still counting on her fingers. You have to be able to see patterns in numbers which is so hard to do if you haven’t memorized math facts.

AOPS algebra is designed so you don’t need a calculator but you better have math facts down cold to see all the shortcuts and easier ways of solving the problems.

Anonymous wrote:Having worked in the the math center industry, I highly recommend just getting a private tutor for a very smart mathematically inclined child, or doing the enrichment at home yourself with carefully curated materials.

AOPS is probably the only company I would recommend, based on it catering to the mathematically gifted crowd and the founders having an elite math contest background. As far as I have seen, the other companies are not really geared toward enrichment. Does your child's school have a Gifted and Talent program coordinator? That person is also a good resource even if your kid is not identified as gifted.

why not RSM? They seem to have a good system for gifted math kids and has good results - maybe not at the IMO level, but for Mathcounts, etc... those kids at IMO levels are basically done with these courses by the time they enter high school anyways.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BA 5 is not Prealgebra. There is a Prealgebra book and free video series and Alcumus after BA 5.

I felt there was a lot of overlap between BA5 and their prealgebra. Sure, it's not a perfect match but I may just skip prealgebra with my 2nd kid and go straight to Algebra.

There is a leap between BA5 and AOPS prealgebra, not the least of which is the transition from a comic-book and online puzzle/games setting to a thick textbook with lots of contest-problems setting. It's worth it to go through the pre-alg book/course just for that.

Having worked in the the math center industry, I highly recommend just getting a private tutor for a very smart mathematically inclined child, or doing the enrichment at home yourself with carefully curated materials.

AOPS is probably the only company I would recommend, based on it catering to the mathematically gifted crowd and the founders having an elite math contest background. As far as I have seen, the other companies are not really geared toward enrichment. Does your child's school have a Gifted and Talent program coordinator? That person is also a good resource even if your kid is not identified as gifted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BA 5 is not Prealgebra. There is a Prealgebra book and free video series and Alcumus after BA 5.

I felt there was a lot of overlap between BA5 and their prealgebra. Sure, it's not a perfect match but I may just skip prealgebra with my 2nd kid and go straight to Algebra.

Wouldn't it be better to skip BA 5 instead and go from BA 4 to prealgebra?