Jump to content

Menu

Alg. 1 in 8th, then again in 9th?


Recommended Posts

My 7th grader will finish BCM this year and will be ready to move on to Algebra 1 in 8th. I don't think Lial will be a good fit, based on how this dc prefers to have frequent review - BCM has been a little frustrating in that regard. I was thinking that maybe we would use TT Alg. 1 in 8th to introduce the concepts, then do Lial in 9th to solidify concepts, learn the real math vocab, and increase the difficulty of the work. Does that sound reasonable? Would you recommend some other Alg. 1 text with more frequent review?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jacobs Algebra has review in every lesson.

 

Jacobs Algebra has 4 sets in every lesson. The first set is review. This is usually (maybe always) 3 problems. The 2nd and 3rd sets are almost identical, but have different numbers/equations. This is so you have your dc work through one of these sets and you still have the other set available if you need more reinforcement. The 4th set is a brainteaser.

 

I always assigned the 1st and 3rd sets. The answers to the 2nd set were only in the back of the student book and I found it extremely frustrating to have to flip to the back for the answers. The answers to the 1st, 3rd, and 4th sets were in the teacher guide (which was really just an answer key).

 

There was a review at the end of each chapter. There was also a cumulative midterm review and a cumulative final review.

 

The set 1 problems were really good for keeping old concepts alive. And since you would typically only do either set 2 or set 3, you could always choose to pull out some problems from the set you didn't use to do review if it was needed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you decide to take Teachin'Mine's suggestion, a good supplement for review/reinforcement problems is A Plus Notes for Beginning Algebra by Rong Yang.

 

It is a practice book with at least a hundred problems per topic (seriously).

 

Wouldn't use it to teach from, but I used it as a problem/test bank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the suggestions. Does anyone have an opinion about repeating algebra 1 in 9th to ensure solid understanding? I just don't see this dc wanting or needing calculus, so going through pre-calc in high school seems like enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the suggestions. Does anyone have an opinion about repeating algebra 1 in 9th to ensure solid understanding? I just don't see this dc wanting or needing calculus, so going through pre-calc in high school seems like enough.

 

You never know what they may choose to pursue in the future. Calculus, or even higher math, may be needed. But even beyond the benefit of being able to do calculus or statistics in 12th, doing algebra 1 in 8th and moving on, assuming it's mastered, allows for so many more options when it comes to science. Except for biology, each of the sciences requires a certain amount of math in order to work the problems and having the required courses done, gives more scheduling options. You can always evaluate whether another year is needed after completing algebra 1 in 8th, but I personally wouldn't approach it with the thought that I'd take two years as your student may not need the second year - or worse, would be bored and turned off from math by repeating the course work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if you've thought about this. But Alpha Omega's Horizons is coming out with their Algebra 1 in the fall. I just bought their Horizons Pre Algebra and am very impressed with it. My daughter is enjoying it and it gives her plenty of practice. Their pre algebra ends with starting into Algebra 1 and also includes some Trig as well. I also like that they include college prep questions in it to prepare them for testing.

 

Just thought I'd throw that out there for you to check out too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see no reason to repeat the course if your child understands it. If one curriculum is weak in a certain area like terminology, I'd just supplement as I went along. Also, I'd be more prone to slowing down and mastering the material rather than repeating it.

 

:iagree:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) I think it would be much better to do a challenging Alg I course over 2 years rather than doing 2 Alg programs back to back. I'm not positive I would do that in 8th/9th (I have in 7th/8th), but if I didn't think my child was ready to do a thorough Algebra course in 8th I would do it in 2 years rather than another year of something else and then Alg in 9th.

 

2) I completely agree that we should not shut options for our children by deciding that they aren't strong in math. I, however, do not feel that they need to have Calculus or Statistics in high school. I have strong math skills and received a degree in Math. I took both College Algebra and Calc I in college. More recently, my oldest is a EE major. He did have Calc I in high school(see below) and started at Calc II in college. He is not at a MIT level school, but is at a more selective strong engineering school. I lot of his engineering classmates take Calc I in college, either for the first time or they repeat it even if they did well in high school in Calculus. It helped him to start at Calc II, but wasn't necessary. Far, far better to have really solid, strong algebra skills then to get through Calc I with less solid skills. Just my opinion. If you are aspiring to MIT level schools then you might want to ignore my opinion.

 

2) Another option, which happened by accident with my oldest 2, is to do Algebra I in 1.5 years(8th and half of ninth. Then the last semester of the senior year they could take Calculus at a college or Community College. This works if you are doing the math rather than doing online classes. Obviously you probably aren't going to find online courses for Geometry, Alg II, PreCalc that start in the middle of the year.

 

my 2 cents worth,

Kendall

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...