................... Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 If a parent went throgh the Key To Books and picked out all the ones applicable to the student and also the standards for prealgebra, why wouldn't that be an actually awesome choice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 My issue with that plan: the Key-to books tend toward rote procedures. They are good for drill, but IMO that is not all that is needed for most students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I love this series for supplement and extra drill. I would not use it as a stand-alone program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 awww, bummer...OK... ;o) What if you were using supplements for application and problem solving and also had an amazing tutor coming to work with your child in problem solving? Does Dolciani include plenty of word problems? That's the other one I am hoping might work. It should arrive this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 What if you were using supplements for application and problem solving and also had an amazing tutor coming to work with your child in problem solving?.Keys is more for drills or long car rides. Have you tried MOEMS Div. M problems for fun since your tutor is a MOEMS coach?A good math tutor can make any textbook work, or they just use pen and paper. My high school math lecturer used to just teach with chalk and blackboard even for calculus. She didn't need a textbook (nor a graphing calculator). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 Well the tutor is actually coming because my son thinks he hates math and has zero problem solving skills. He will use guess and check for an hour before doing anything creative. Which is frightening since he is going for a Comp Sci degree. So, we finally realized there was an issue and hired/were blessed by her to tutor him. He is probably like at a 3rd grade level in MOEMS, if that. Honestly. So, no we aren't at the point where he would do MOems stuff for fun yet! The Lord willing, that day will come though. Also, she is not really doing a lot with the textbook because she is only coming every other week. She won't have time to really teach the day to day nitty gritty of prealgebra, and recover his love of math, and teach him how to solve problems without shutting down. :) So, I get to continue with the day to day stuff and if we really get stuck, we can ask her on her tutoring day, but it wouldn't really be an ideal use of our time. :) Thanks for the ideas though and also for being another voice in my choice about Key To. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Does Dolciani include plenty of word problems? yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Yes, lots of word problems in Dolciani. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Dolciani does involve copying into a notebook. You may want to stick with options that are workbook or work text- based for a kid who is shutting down. That makes a big difference for some of my tutoring students. Or focus on using a whiteboard for Dolciani. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 Wow thank you Ella Darcy. He generally doesn't mind copying but I think it's math as a whole that is making him shut down and of course all the copying is part of that! I am going to stick with Key To. The tutor thinks it's ok. He is doing one page of the free Glencoe CA Math Pre-Alg refresher alongside Key TO this week, and he really loves the Key To. He just thinks they are such happy cute little workbooks. The free workbook I printed reviews all elementary and middle school math concepts for a week, before moving to the next. And I am considering purchasing Zaccaro's for problem solving stuff he and I can do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 You know, I don't see why it's such a bad plan. I think the Key to books get a bad rep. Some kids need their simple procedural focus in order to practice so that they can go into the more thought provoking stuff. And they do lay out the reasoning for the algorithms. Someone will probably flame me for this, but I think they're sort of like super pared down Math Mammoth pages in a way. Lots of practice and building up by introducing "in between" steps. There's less of the "more than one way to do things" element of Math Mammoth and certainly the hardest problems are a lot easier in the Key to series (plus almost no word problems), but the way it teaches the algorithms really reminds me of MM (with more calm white space). I think your plan to do it alongside Challenge Math makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 My son did the Keys to Algebra for pre-algebra. He went on to get a degree in EE. It does work. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 Well I have to say....i was feeling OK about the Key To thing, but just OK. I signed my son up to work with Jann in TX w/ Lials and he is thrilled with that plan. She teaches well and asks a lot of questions and keeps the kids involved, not to mention going over areas of weekness, taking mid week emails when kids are really stuck, grading tests, and pacing out assignments. SO, now we have a really good plan between her teaching w/ Lial's and the local tutor coming to really work on that deep problem solving stuff. But...we both really liked the Key To books so I am going to keep them around the house for when someone gets stuck. Personally I think they teach better than any textbook I have seen in a long while. They show the visual, explain how it works, walk kids gthrough making connections, all with tons and tons of practice. .....my son just about finished the Percents 2 book and he REALLY gets percents now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 But...we both really liked the Key To books so I am going to keep them around the house for when someone gets stuck. I have them on hand for just this sort of thing. I wish they still offered them in PDF form because I usually only need part of one workbook to get it through their heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I first used Keys To... 20 years ago when I taught at a juvenile hall. They were perfect for independent work with kids who really needed to go back and learn fractions and decimals. Now I use the algebra ones with my own daughter on trips and during the summer as review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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