chelsea in TN Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I know this is the highschool board but most of you have been "there" with 7th grade children. My 12 yo son is currently working through Saxon 8/7. he should finish this over the summer. My Current thoughts for next year... A: have him work through The Teaching Company's Basic Math program and MUS geometry maybe Life of Fred Algebra book then into Dolchiani Alg I B: Finish 8/7 and go directly into Dolchiani Alg. I A: would have him doing Alg I in 8th grade B: Alg I in 7th grade. He wants to be an engineer of some sort - probably mechanical. Alg I in 7th grade would have a math sequence of 7th - alg I 8th - Jacobs Geometry 9th - Alg II - Dolchiani 10th - Saxon adv. math??? Or college alg at community college. 11th - Calculus or other math corse at community college. 12th - Calculus or other math corse at community college. Alg I in 8th grade would place him in adv math courses at an more mature age for tackling college courses and beign with older students. So what are the pros and cons of doing alg early and or waiting to do it in 8th grade?? BTW - he looked at my older sons work tonight in Dolchiani Book 1 - chapter 5 - took one look at the problem and solved it. Granted this is just one problem.. but he does this kind of stuff all the time. He seems to just "get" it. I look forward to hearing your words of advice and experience. Thank you! Chelsea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Chelsea, My 6th grader is working in Saxon 87 now as well, and he understands math concepts pretty easily. I've been mulling over the same things you have. I'm thinking of starting him with Algebra 1 in 7th grade, but probably taking it slowly. If he doesn't finish it in a year, he can continue it in 8th grade, but he'll still be ahead of the game. He tends to work a bit slowly as it is, so if it takes him 3 years to complete Algebra 1 & Geometry, he'd still be on track so that his higher maths would enable him to take higher level science. If he does well with Algebra 1 and finishes it in a year, all the better as long as he understands it. I'm looking forward to hearing others' thoughts on this issue as well. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Chelsea, I wanted to suggest you read the posts Jann and I wrote at http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11726 . I think it is FINE to start Algebra as early as reasonable for any student be that at 7years old or 7th grade or whatever. HOWEVER, I honestly believe there is benefit to an extra year of the basic maths and algebraic concepts also. HTHs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea in TN Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 thankyou ! Any other ideas or thoughts? What about Jacobs alg? Chelsea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in MD Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Our Ds , now 17 and finishing pre-calculus, was looking like he going to be doing Al I in 7th grade. But, I felt that his conceptual skills were out pacing his computational skills, so we slowed down and did the extra year of basic math as Pamela mentioned. We also did some drill during this time. This brought his speed up considerably his confidence as well. You may not have that issue with your boy, but taking the extra year was a plus for us. The sequence for us from 8th on has been AL I Jacobs Geometry Jacobs AL II Foerster Precalculus with Trigonometry Foerster We were going to do just the trig section of the Foerster precal book and then move directly into Calculus this semester because the topics covered in the precalculus portion of the text had been covered in his Al II....BUT when I really looked at it, I felt that the added depth on those topics was too valuable to short cut it. I'd rather he move into Calculus in the fall and be rock solid ready by completing the full precalc course. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne/Ankara Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 We've been with Saxon, on that schedule (sixth grade Saxon 87, seventh grade Saxon Algebra I, eighth grade Saxon Algebra II) without difficulty-- if the Saxon approach is going well, why not stick with it? Like the others have said, if you need to slow down in high school, you'll have the time to do just that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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