What Is MOEMS? The Math Olympiad That Runs at School
Your child cannot enter MOEMS alone. A school, institute, or homeschool group enrolls a team, and the contests run at school. What to ask your child's teacher, and the date to work toward.
MOEMS enrollment is by team, not by child. That is the most useful thing to know about it: a school, a district, an institute, or a homeschool group enrolls a team, and the contests run inside the school or club, at a time the team's coach picks. If you want your child in this season, your real move is one conversation with one teacher, and the standard enrollment rate ends October 15, 2026.
The basics of MOEMS
MOEMS stands for Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools. Its site says the program was established in 1979 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The format is small and steady. Five contests across the school year, held monthly from November through March. Each contest has five questions and is limited to 30 minutes. Calculators, rulers, graph paper, and other aids are not permitted. A child sits with five problems, once a month, for five months.
There is no test center and no test day you travel to. MOEMS sets a window of about four weeks for each contest, and the adult who runs the team gives the contest inside that window, at a time and date they choose. Your child takes it where they already are.
Division E and Division M
MOEMS runs two divisions. Division E covers grades 4-6. Division M covers grades 6-8.
For a parent searching for a math olympiad for an elementary school child, Division E is the fit: grades 4-6, taken at school. Grade 6 appears in both ranges, so if your child is in grade 6, ask which division the team is enrolled in; that decides which contests your child sees. The divisions the site lists start at grade 4, and the pages we checked describe nothing below that.
Five short contests, not one big day
For the 2026-27 season, the first contest window is November 9-30, 2026, and the season runs through late March 2027, one contest each month.
The rhythm shapes the experience. This is not one high-stakes morning. It is five short sittings a month apart, so a child who stumbles in November gets four more tries, and the year shows a pattern rather than a single result.
Who enrolls, and where a parent fits
Enrollment is by team. Each team names a PICO, short for Person In Charge of the Olympiad, who MOEMS describes as the team coach and contact person. The PICO gives each contest, scores it, and submits the scores. A team may enroll up to 35 students, and the fee is per team, not per child.
The team belongs to an institution: a school, a district, an institute, or a homeschool group. The parent's position is plain: you cannot enter one child alone, but you can act as PICO for a homeschool or homeschool-group team, or push your child's school to enroll.
MOEMS' own program page lists participation as available to public, private, parochial, home schools, institutes, and, with restrictions, individuals. It does not spell those restrictions out. If your child has no school route and no group route, that question goes to MOEMS directly.
The dates that matter now
The enrollment fee climbs in steps. moems.org's dates, deadlines and fees section lists four registration tiers, each costing more than the one before. The early-bird rate, $175 per team in the US, required registering and paying in full by July 31, 2026; it is gone. The standard rate is $200 per team and runs through October 15, 2026. A late tier at $250 runs through October 31, 2026, and after November 1, 2026 a last-chance tier applies at $300. The page states no final close date. Fees can change, so confirm the current ones on moems.org before you enroll.
| Tier | Register by | US fee per team |
|---|---|---|
| Early bird (closed) | July 31, 2026 | $175 |
| Standard | October 15, 2026 | $200 |
| Late | October 31, 2026 | $250 |
| Last chance | November 1, 2026 onward | $300 |
Rates from moems.org for the US, Canada, and Mexico; international teams pay $40 more per tier. One fee covers a team of up to 35 students.
So October 15, 2026 is the date to work toward: the last day at the standard rate, comfortably ahead of the first contest window, which opens November 9. This page goes up in late August, which leaves about seven weeks. Seven weeks is enough for one conversation and a school's paperwork. It is not enough to sit on. Teachers are easiest to catch early in the term, and a school that has never run a team needs time to find a coach before it can enroll.
The one conversation
Ask your child's math teacher, or whoever runs the school's math club, three things:
- Does the school already have a MOEMS team? Some schools have run one quietly for years. If yes, ask how a child joins and which division the team is in.
- If not, is a teacher willing to start one? The school enrolls as the team's home, one adult serves as PICO, and up to 35 students can join. Point them at moems.org.
- The date: enrolling by October 15, 2026 keeps the standard rate. Registration runs later at a higher fee, but the first contest window opens November 9.
If you homeschool, or can gather a homeschool group, you do not need a school at all. The group enrolls as its own team, and you serve as the PICO.
That is the whole move. No parent account, no test-center booking, no seat to chase. One teacher says yes, the school enrolls before the fee climbs again, and your child gets five contests between November and March, at the school they already attend. If you are weighing competitions more broadly, the AMC 8 runs on a different model: a parent still cannot register a child directly, but the deadlines and the readiness question work differently.
Where Cuemath fits
We do not run MOEMS and we cannot enter your child in it. Enrollment is by team, through a school or a homeschool group, and the PICO is an adult inside that school or group. That part is a conversation with a teacher, not something any tutoring company can do for you.
What a competition like this rewards is reasoning under a clock, on problems a child has not seen before. Cuemath students take it on too; one grade 5 student, Samin, finished in the top 2% nationwide and earned a Gold Pin. That is the thing worth knowing about your child before the first contest in November: not whether they can finish a worksheet, but how they think when a problem does not look familiar. A free Cuemath evaluation is an hour of exactly that.
Wondering how your child handles an unfamiliar problem?
One hour, problems they have not seen before, and a clear read on how they reason.
Book a Free EvaluationFor students in Grades K to 12 worldwide.
FAQs
Can I register my child for MOEMS myself?
No. MOEMS enrollment is by team, and the team belongs to a school, a district, an institute, or a homeschool group. A parent cannot enter one child alone through the normal route. Your two routes: ask your child's school to enroll a team, or act as the PICO for a homeschool or homeschool-group team.
What grades can take MOEMS?
Grades 4 through 8. Division E covers grades 4-6 and Division M covers grades 6-8. The MOEMS site lists nothing below grade 4.
My child is in grade 6. Which division will they take?
Whichever division their team enrolled in. Grade 6 appears in both Division E and Division M, so the team's enrollment decides which contests a 6th grader sees. Ask the team's coach which division the team registered for.
How much does MOEMS cost?
The fee is per team, not per child, and covers up to 35 students. For 2026-27, a US team pays $200 if it registers by October 15, 2026, $250 by October 31, and $300 after November 1.
When are the 2026-27 MOEMS contests?
Five contests, one each month from November through March. The windows: November 9-30, December 7-28, January 4-25, February 1-22, and March 1-23. On the last window MOEMS' own site disagrees with itself: its homepage says March 1-29, its dates, deadlines and fees page says March 1-23; plan around the earlier close. The team's coach picks the exact date inside each window. Score entry closes March 31, 2027, at 11:59pm Pacific for all five contests, so a coach who runs the last contest on March 23 has eight days to submit.
Where does my child take the contests?
At their own school or club. There is no test center and no travel. MOEMS gives each contest a window of about four weeks, and the coach runs it inside that window at a time they choose.
Can homeschooled kids do MOEMS?
Yes. A homeschool or homeschool group can enroll a team, and a parent can serve as the PICO, the adult who runs the contests and submits scores. For entering a single child with no group, MOEMS lists individual participation "with restrictions" but does not spell them out, so ask MOEMS directly.
Can my child use a calculator?
No. Calculators, rulers, graph paper, and other aids are not permitted. Each contest is five problems worked in 30 minutes without tools.
