ljensen1 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I need some advice on math programs. My 8th grade daughter is in the middle of LOF (Life of Fred) Beginning Algebra. She did Math Mammoth for 1st through 6th grades. Last year she went through LOF Decimals, Fractions, and the two Pre-Algebra books. She really enjoyed LOF and she was in the 99th percentile for math on the PASS test at the end of the year. This year is different. She is getting frustrated with LOF Beginning Algebra. She has to involve me much more than she did last year (she was quite independent last year). She feels that it moves too quickly and doesn't give her enough of a framework to hang the concepts on. I don't want to eliminate LOF. I like the way he goes beyond the rote memorization of formulas and really brings math to life. However, my daughter needs some additional help at this point. Can anyone suggest another program that would be good to do along with LOF, that would lay out the concepts in a slower, more structured way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I would have her work through the key to algebra series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 :lurk5: My DD is working through LoF Pre-Algebra with Key to Algebra this year-she'll finish the last couple of Key workbooks along with Beginning Algebra next year. I'm planning to get the Home companion as well-but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'd welcome them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljensen1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Thank you. I will look into the Key to Algebra series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 did you also get the supplemental books for LOF algebra? There is a home companion and a "Zillions of practice problems" . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljensen1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I do have the supplemental books and she does do the Home Companion. Her frustration is due to the way the text covers topics so quickly and casually. She needs slower, more methodical explanations for some of the concepts. If I could do this year over again I would have her use a more structured program to learn each new topic and then have her do the appropriate LOF chapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 did you also get the supplemental books for LOF algebra? There is a home companion and a "Zillions of practice problems" . . . IMHO the Home Companion is essential, and Zillions of Problems has worked solutions to a variety of problems, and uses Schmidt's "Six Pretty Boxes" method of solving word problems. This method is not covered in the Beginning Algebra book itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljensen1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I took a look at Keys of Algebra. They might do the trick. Any suggestions on which one to start with - for a child who has had no problem with Pre-Algebra? I'm thinking Books 1-4 might not be necessary. But perhaps the review would be valuable? Also, has anyone used anything else to supplement LOF Algebra? Thank you all for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Also, has anyone used anything else to supplement LOF Algebra? We used Real World Algebra by Zaccaro, but it's only good for roughly the first half of the LOF:BA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljensen1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Thanks - I'll look into Real World Algebra. I also just took a look at Khan Academy. Anyone use that? How does that compare to "Keys to Algebra"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 to be honest, i tried starting with LOF algebra and totally failed. we tried it twice. i ended up switching to the upper level singapore, which is much more straight forward, and using LOF BA as review Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlynn Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Coming in late to share what we do. We started using LOF Algebra as our primary math program after two years of using the previous books in the series to supplement Saxon. Seeing that Saxon algebra text on the book shelf has been a huge incentive to my son to stick it out with LOF :) But, he started having the same problems as your dd....not enough emphasis placed on material that was essential to understanding the concept. This really showed up in the chapter on Fractions. After I discussed it with him, I realized that he hadn't really gotten the hang of the Factoring chapter that came right before...so we backed up and went through it together. We also used the Lial's Intro to Algebra that I had on my shelf to help explain factoring. After that I realized that I would need to stay one chapter ahead of him, do all the problems myself so that I can have them handy if he has a question, and have a cross reference in Lials ready if needed. I can cover a chapter in a day or two over the weekends, it takes him about two weeks, so I'm not having to do math in every spare moment. It helped him to see that mom can figure this stuff out too. It has also been a good lesson in researching a math topic and self teaching. We're on the final set of cities this week and he wants to stick with LOF for the next book, just because he really likes his method of explanation. My biggest grief with LOF though, is the easy access to answers. This works fine for me as an adult. I know that only by working through the problems will I learn the concept. For my 13(now 14) yr old son, that hasn't played out as well :). He sees that he got the wrong answer, and will just plug in the right one, not really focusing on WHY he got the wrong one! So I've made it mandatory that I'm the one who checks the Cities...the on your own and others from the home companion often have explanations in them that make it easier for the student to self check. Anyway all that to say that we have made it work as our main curriculum with a little help from Lials. You can find older editions of those texts and full solution books fairly cheap on Amazon. They line up almost perfectly with LOF covering the same material in almost exactly the same order. We haven't had to use them much once my son got the hang of how to use LOF more productively, but they do provide plenty of extra problems and great step by step solutions. A note to say that I did also have him watch about 5 of the great courses algebra classes, but only because we got them for $34 for the entire set. LOF covers more and my son happens to prefer a book format over a video. He hasn't taken his yearly standardized test (required here) yet, but has always done well on that, so I'm curious how he'll do this year. I took the CAT practice test online and didn't see anything on there that wasn't covered in LOF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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