Algebra II following Jacobs

[romeacademy]

I’m looking at Algebra II programs for my rising 10th grade dd. She used Jacobs for both Algebra I (8th) and Geometry (9th) and they have gone well. She seems to “get†that approach and likes the style of the textbooks. I’ve heard Jacobs described as a more “liberal arts†feel to math, and I guess that describes it (and her) relatively well.

If anyone has used Jacobs Algebra I and Geometry, what worked well for Algebra II?

If it helps, we used Singapore 4-6 after Saxon 3. I have considered Saxon Algebra II, but dd didn’t like the incremental approach the first time and I’m not sure that it would be a better fit now. I'm also looking at Doliciani's and trying to find a copy at a library to evaluate, but any thoughts are welcome.

Dd is not going the math/science route, but I'm still planning on 3-4 years of hs math.

Thanks for your advice.

Tegwin

dd 15

ds 12

ds 9

dd 7

dd 7

[Myra]

We did Lial's Intermediate Algebra with the DVT (video tutors) after Jacob's - worked just fine for us! It's more "text-booky" style than Jacob's but my son was ready for that.

 

Myra

[AngieW in Texas]

My oldest did Miquon, then Singapore 3A-6B, then Jacobs Algebra, Jacobs Geometry, and Kinetic Books Algebra II.

 

My middle dd did Miquon, Singapore 3A-6B, Jacobs Algebra and Kinetic Books Algebra I (but liked KB better and dropped Jacobs halfway through), Jacobs Geometry, and now Kinetic Books Algebra II.

[eumyang]

If anyone has used Jacobs Algebra I and Geometry, what worked well for Algebra II?

A number of posters here use Foerster's for Algebra 2. The author himself (Jacobs) recommends this.

 

 

69

[amtmcm]

A number of posters here use Foerster's for Algebra 2. The author himself (Jacobs) recommends this.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

I understand Foerster's Algebra 2 and Trigonometry is considered an honors course. Veritas Press Scholars Academy completes the book over 2 years instead of 1, so that might help for a "language arts" leaning student.

 

I have Foerster's Algebra 1 and love the format. It's cleaner with a tad more white space and a slightly larger font than Lial's and Chalkdust. If TT wasn't working so well for my DD I'd switch to Foerster's in a heartbeat.

[romeacademy]

 

I understand Foerster's Algebra 2 and Trigonometry is considered an honors course. Veritas Press Scholars Academy completes the book over 2 years instead of 1, so that might help for a "language arts" leaning student.

 

 

 

Thanks, that's very helpful. While Dd doesn't struggle to grasp the concepts, she doesn't work quickly when it comes to math so planning to spread it over 2 years would be a relief .

 

The information about the white space is helpful too. She's also mildly dyslexic and we briefly tried Singapore's NEM, but it was very text-dense and she just couldn't get past that.

[romeacademy]

A number of posters here use Foerster's for Algebra 2. The author himself (Jacobs) recommends this.

 

I didn't know that. Thanks very much.

 

Is there a particular edition that I should look for? I have read that for some books (I believe the thread concerned Dolciani's book) editions from the 60's or 70's do a better job of explaining the why behind the concept. That's one thing I have liked about both Jacob's and Singpore.

[TravelingChris]

WE tried Foerster's and everyone in my family found it not very friendly to use including my husband who has a phd in physics and lots of advanced math work. We had problems understanding what some of the questions were getting at and some of the problem solutions were done in strange ways. I ended up switching to Saxon Advanced Math and simply skipping the geometry that he didn't need. He did very well in Calculus after this in college.

[shall]

I was happy to see this question posted because I am struggling with this same thing. My oldest is finishing up Jacob's geometry but not sailing through it. I'm actually thinking of going back to TT for Algebra 2. Any thoughts on that? I personally found TT easier to teach and more "friendly". I've heard pros and cons to their higher math courses and wondered if anyone had actually made this same transition from Jacob's to TT. Thanks very much!

[LoriM]

I'd be tempted to try LoF next if I were doing it over again with my "liberal arts math" daughter. We used Lial's Intermediate Algebra and then Lial's PreCalculus before getting into the Larson Calc book. It required a lot of teaching from me, and gave her a more traditional sequence, but also sucked out the joy she'd found in the Jacobs methodology. I think she'd have loved Fred.

[romeacademy]

I'm borrowing some of the LoF books from a friend to review for ds who has decided that fractions are evil. I think he will enjoy Fred's somewhat irreverrent approach. I hadn't considered it for dd, but maybe I should.

 

I had considered TT, but dd doesn't want to spend a lot of time on the computer and I keep hearing that TT is less rigorous. Since she's highly unlikely to pursue math or science I don't know how much rigor she really needs, but she did really like the Jacobs Algebra and doesn't want to do something "lightweight" (her word).

 

So my question, does Fred have enough meat to it to be a whole Algebra II course? Has anyone used it that way? I had considered it as more of a supplement.

[LoriM]

I'm borrowing some of the LoF books from a friend to review for ds who has decided that fractions are evil. I think he will enjoy Fred's somewhat irreverrent approach. I hadn't considered it for dd, but maybe I should.

 

I had considered TT, but dd doesn't want to spend a lot of time on the computer and I keep hearing that TT is less rigorous. Since she's highly unlikely to pursue math or science I don't know how much rigor she really needs, but she did really like the Jacobs Algebra and doesn't want to do something "lightweight" (her word).

 

So my question, does Fred have enough meat to it to be a whole Algebra II course? Has anyone used it that way? I had considered it as more of a supplement.

 

Fred plus the Home Study Companion should be meaty enough. :)

[RENEEinVA]

We haven't started it yet, but my dd is beginning Chalkdust Alg. II in the next few weeks, after having worked through CD Geometry. I like the look of the book (lots of built-in review, many examples, etc.). It also comes with a solutions manual for the odd problems. Also, if you get stuck, help is only a phonecall away.

[Alyce]

It is Jann in TX recommendation and my son found it very easy to use. It is very easy to do independently. He liked the way it was worded and the practice problems on the side so he could easily see them from the text itself. He did well in Alg 1 and Geometry but did even better with Lial's, we also used it for Pre-Calculus. I like it because it's cheap. Most people buy the 7th or 8th edition and with the student solutions book and DVT's you can get it for around $35. We also liked the way each problem is worked out step by step in the solutions manual. We tried TT but for Geometry but my son had a hard time retaining info because of the way it's set up so we wanted to use something else for Alg II. Not big fan of TT and think it's way too expensive. My son looked at Chalkdust and said it looked way to overwhelming for him. So we didn't go that route

[EKS]

We're using Foerster here, though I wouldn't say that he is a Jacobs clone or anything. However, it is a solid course and I am happy with it.