LuvingLife Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 There are so many algebra choices to choose from, and I have narrowed it down to two of them: Forester's, and Lial's. Which is better at explaining directions, very thourogh, and will prepare me for the SAT's? The curriculum I had stunk! I am going to review algebra 1 before geometry, start of with geometry, then do algebra 2 along with geometry halfway through the book. I can do this if I have a good book that explains the steps well. I know I have probably asked questions like this before, but I just want to make sure I get a good education!:D P.S. What geometry is better, Holt 2007 or AoPS into to geometry?:001_huh: I am going to use LOF for fun!:001_smile: P.S.S. What's a good english course? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 My favorite is a 3rd choice - Kinetic Books. Unfortunately, they only have Pre-algebra, Algebra I, and Algebra II right now, so we can't use them all the way through. My two older girls did fine with Jacobs Geometry, but I have seen negative posts about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilesonly Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 There are so many algebra choices to choose from, and I have narrowed it down to two of them: Forester's, and Lial's. Which is better at explaining directions, very thourogh, and will prepare me for the SAT's? I have no experience with those, as my dd is currently doing Elementary Algebra by Harold Jacobs. I can share, that the mom who teaches the upper level math courses at our co-op has a ph.d in math and uses Foresters with her own dc. IHNSHO, "It is the absolute best for college prep." ;) Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamarind Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Lial's has more step-by-step directions than Forester. My daughters used the Forester Algebra 1 text, and although it starts off gently, it quickly progresses, and is probably best used only if you have access to a tutor. Lial's is probably the more user-friendly text, especially for self-teaching. Holt is a standard algebra text. I don't know if the student text is self-teaching or if it relies on access to teacher materials. AoPS is put together more imaginatively than Holt but assumes that after a few lessons, you will be able to jump into rather complex problems. My daughters used Jacobs Geometry and did well with it, but I know a lot of people have problems with Jacobs and prefer other texts. The new Saxon Geometry looks like it would be self-teaching and more step-by-step than some of the other texts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvingLife Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 This all sounds so interesting, is Lial's a good college prep? I need the step by step instructions, but if Lial's isn't college prep, I'll have to go with Forester's. I have looked at Jacob's but it doesn't have as many proofs as I like, although I could supplement with LOF... Well geometry is still in debate and now I want to take a look at Saxon geometry too!:001_smile: Any other opinions will help as well! Thanks!!:bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eumyang Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 This all sounds so interesting, is Lial's a good college prep? I need the step by step instructions, but if Lial's isn't college prep, I'll have to go with Forester's. Lial is definitely college prep. They are college textbooks for college remedial courses, after all. ;) Search for posts written by "Jann in TX" about Lial and you'll find a ton of posts. (I feel sorry for Jann for repeating herself so much. ;)) I like Lial better than Foerster because I think Foerster is too high-level; Pearson's catalog (Pearson is the publisher for Foerster) says that Foerster is perfect for honors-level classes. I also don't like the order of topics in Foerster's Algebra 1 book. Just MHO. 69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 It IS a college text... this series was developed for use in community colleges. It is a VERY popular program---verified by the high amount of texts in the resale marked! While being a 'college text' the concepts taught in Intermediate Algebra and below are at the 'high school' level...this program is comparable to Foersters and Larson in rigor of concepts covered--but to me (personally) it has a MUCH more user-friendly layout and teaching within the text. My students (who have completed Lial's Intermediate Algebra --Algebra 2) have had no difficulty moving on to Pre-Calc or other college Maths. They have also scored well on standardized tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tardis Girl Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Foerster does have a teaching DVD you can buy through mathwithoutborders.com but I haven't used it so I can't give you an educated opinion. However, the teaching DVD only goes through Algebra 2, just so you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosiermom Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Regarding your question about geometry texts--I'm teaching geometry in a co-op this year, and thanks to Jann's previous posts I will be using the Holt 2007 Geometry text. As I do my prep, the best thing I see about this text is the on-line video instruction which accompanies it. The video lessons are terrific! It will be a great help to me since I will be meeting with my class only once per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvingLife Posted July 2, 2010 Author Share Posted July 2, 2010 Wow, thanks for all of the posts and suggestions for what I should do, it has really helped me with my decision in choosing a math text. I am now ready to say that will be going with Lial's and I won't change my decision this time.:lol: But if you have any more suggestions on algebra 2/geometry courses, please let me know! Keep them coming!!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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