Saxon Algebra with DIVE or Chalkdust?

[Faithr]

We've used Saxon with my older teens but I find the way Saxon does geometry frustrating. Neither of my older teens wanted to continue with Advanced Math and so we had to scramble to get in enough geometry to make a credit.

 

So now I'm wondering about Chalkdust which I keep hearing wonderful things about. I need something that will teach my 13 year old as I simply don't 'do' Algebra. The 13 yo just completed Saxon 8/7.

 

Or maybe there's another program out there? This kid is pretty good at math and I think the chances are he will want to go on to higher math as he has dreams of being an engineer.

 

Thanks!

[Brenda in MA]

my older son used Saxon through the first half of Advanced Math. He struggled through Advanced Math and did well only because he's good at memorizing procedures. Math gets very abstract at that level, and IMHO, Saxon's black & white approach with few practical examples is tough for many children to understand. This son used Chalkdust's PreCalc this year and really loved it. Chalkdust's instructor beats the DiveCD hands down according to my son.

 

The book also includes a lot of visual aids (e.g. graphs) that help the student to understand the Algebra. It also has explanations of how the math is used in real life, and lots of real-world examples are given. Seeing the applications was a motivator for my son.

 

Since your son is finished with Math 87, I'd suggest trying CD's Algebra 1. It's a pricey program, but it includes help from the instructor if the student gets stuck.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[langfam]

2 of my DC did Saxon Advanced Math. DD only got through half. She was getting more and more lost. She opted to do geometry. DS continued with Adv. Math because he wanted to get to Calculus. He did great with it. He used www.teachingtape.com We have the DIVE CD, but found it was not effective. The teacher on teachingtape is very good. I would reccommend her if you decide to go with Saxon.

 

Having said that, I personally do think Saxon's method of integrating geometry, does not work well for everyone. My DC did comparatively worse on geometry type questions of the PSAT and my DD who did geometry separately surprisingly scored better than DS (mathy one) of the math section of SAT.

 

We did prep. with CD SAT and feel Dana Mosely helped them alot. We were so impressed that all DC except littlest will switch.