chontaveal Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 My DS 11yo is starting VTA this year. I am now wondering if its too early. My concerns are 1. If it gets too difficult and I have to stop, then what do I got to until he is ready to continue? 2. If he gets throught just fine, will he forget the material by the time he goes to college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 The first part of VTA is Pre-Algebra, so that should go fine. If he gets stuck and he has to stop for awhile, there are a lot of fillers you can do! The Key To... series comes to mind right off hand. It also depends on how stuck he gets. If he stuck on one concept but gets the surrounding idea, he can go back a little and watch the dvd again.....and again.....and again, as many times as he needs to to get the concept! Or, get the Key to.... book, or some other kind that does the same thing, and work on that specific type of problem. If he just gets stuck/overwhelmed with it all, then you'd want a longer-term fix, then come back to it later. Lyle's BCM, Teaching Textbook Pre-Algebra...something that will fill the little gaps to help him have a stronger base. Then go back to VTA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlovebaker Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 a regular textbook pre-algebra by himself and then, late in the year, we discovered VT Algebra which he started and is now continuing as a 7th grader. Your plan seems doable although I wouldn't say that VT is all a repeat for him - it's a different way of thinking about algebra. Also, regular pre-algebra courses cover alot more material but not necessarily all relevant to algebra (for example, my son's textbook cover statistics and probablity which are not algebra subjects in my mind). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janis in DE Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Hi Chonta, I just posted to your question about scheduling Video Text. My daughter started in 6th last year too. I couldn't see spending the money on a pre-algebra program and then buying Video Text which included pre-algebra. We are just taking it slow, 2 modules a year. Which will put her finishing algebra II in 8th. We can slow it down even more if she gets stuck and finish in 9th. We've not had any problems yet. We are 3/4 of the way through B. I tried to throw in some Life of Fred last year to slow her down some, but she didn't like it. Janis in DE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greensa Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 I agree with Janis with one minor caveat - to my mind (and my daughter's skills) VTA does not include enough problems to truly cement it in her mind. After taking the pre-algebra portion, she understood the ideas very well but wasn't good at translating that to problems outside the course (I used a standardized test. Ask her to explain a concept - great. Problem skills...not so great). We added in some workbooks (Key to.. series) to repeat the skills she had already learned, and the next time I tested her, she managed to jump from 30th to 85th percentile and commented how much easier it was to figure out what she should do and then do it. She's not happy with having to do all the "extra" problems, but now that she has seen the difference it makes, she does them without nagging. Sara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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