kfeusse Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I need a pre algebra for a non mathy kid who stuggled with math until we found Rod and Staff. She still struggles, but not as bad...so is there a pre algebra that is sort of like Rod and Staff? thanks.(my daughter also has a non mathy mom....so if that makes a difference....please keep me in mind too...:) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I'm sorry, I haven't any clue about Rod & Staff. Teaching Textbooks is pretty gentle. I have used that and paired with Life of Fred -- but I know LoF isn't anything like Rod & Staff. I have used Abeka Pre-Algebra with the DVDs, and it seemed pretty solid (spiral). I've also used AoPS -- but I wouldn't suggest that for our dd, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 For this situation, I'd probably look at Lial's BCM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 For this situation, I'd probably look at Lial's BCM what edition? and are their answers in the book...or is there a teacher's guide? I already looked on Homeschool classifieds..can't find a used one...unless I get the 2005 edition on Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 IIRC, any edition will do - there are loads on Amazon. The 7th edition is what I have - there is a "good" copy for 60 cents http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0321257804/ref=sr_1_2_twi_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1421072144&sr=8-2&keywords=lial+basic+college+mathematics I think the answers are in the back, at least to the odds, but it's in my basement. Someone else will know :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 For Lial we bought the student text and solutions manual. Older dirt cheap editions are fine. Just make sure the picture on the covers match. My oldest also struggled with math until Rod and Staff. I really wanted BCM to work for him, but the page layout drive his hyper, easily distractable brain bonkers. His loathing of math in general didn't help. :p We ended up trying this and that before he fell into a comfortable groove with MUS alg/geo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 we were using MUS until frations...then we hit a road block...and spent about 1 1/2 years looking for something else...ended up geting further and further behind....finally finding R & S....but now wer are behind. My 14 year old is just now finishing up R & S 7 and I want to go into pre-algebra. I did discover that Memoria Press usies R &S math until 7th grade then they go into pre-algebra....so i looked at what they used...but it looks quite easy (thus using it as a 7th grade text), so I am don't know if it's TOO easy for a 8th grader (going into 9th next year). But since my dd isn't mathy, it might be perfect...or it might insult her intellegence. On the other hand, i wanted to start giving her quizzes and tests for math (which we haven't done to this point) and the fact that it is easy, might making that transistion sort of gentle and nice...I don't know. UGH!!!! She has about 20 lessons left...so I dont' have a lot of time to figure this ouit. thanks for all of your help. Oh, for those who are curious, the book MP uses is "College of the Redwood" math.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Math u See prealgebra :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I've heard good things about that Redwood book. You might take a look at Keys to Algebra for a supplement whichever way you go. They are inexpensive little workbooks that cover exponents, negatives, and such. The clear, no nonsense approach could be comfortable to a R&S user. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 You may want to check out CLE which is very gentle. All lessons are included in the texts (Light Units) and directed toward the student. We used it before Math Mammoth and liked it overall. Our youngest still says she misses it at times because MM has too many words problems. :) Only reason we switched was for a bit more challenge with MM since I felt they were up for it. But we could have easily stayed with CLE. The thing with their Pre-A is that it is spread over two years (7 & 8). So some don't like that. But it can be easily accelerated due to repeated concepts. http://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/4 We also bought Lials Pre-A and found the layout terribly busy and too visually distracting. Still need to put it up for sale including the solutions guide. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 what edition? and are their answers in the book...or is there a teacher's guide? I already looked on Homeschool classifieds..can't find a used one...unless I get the 2005 edition on Amazon. We are half way through Lial's. I am not enamoured with it but I think it does the job. The busyness of the pages that people complain about here is real, but I read through and assign problems to my son so he is not that much affected. My other pet peeve about Lial's is that it is heavy on "real world application" problems which really are not complicated word problems at all, just a lot of words to get you to do a simple calculation ;) I do miss Singapore-like word problems. My DS also does alcumus (with no teaching, just doing the problems) for areas which we have covered in Lial's. Sometimes there is much tears and gnashing of teeth, sometimes he wants to go just one more. ;) We only assign a fraction of the problems in Lial's but do all the end chapter tests. I bought the answer book. Both text and answer book were cheap used. I've also heard great things about Teaching textbooks (I've heard it is pretty independent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momee Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I love that Redwood book. We're using it now with my non-mathy student. I wouldn't say it is easy. What I would say instead is that it is thorough. Something can be easy and shallow or it can be understandable and complete. We have not had one problem with the mathbook itself. The problem we had was that I handed it to my teen and she glanced over the material and attempted to do the problems. Saw that, rectified it by sitting with her EVERY day doing the lesson together (I think this is absolutely how their school does it - bad me for not doing so from beginning!) and she is getting it. She's confident and EVEN said math is probably her favorite subject, IF she had to pick something school related, lol. HTH. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 We are in a similar situation. My youngest has struggled mightily with math. After trying many things, the most effective of which was just time to mature, we did Teaching Textbooks for two years. It gave her confidence and made math at least tolerable. As she became more confident I decided I wanted a different math program. We moved to R&S. Honestly I wish that I had used R&S much earlier. It is excellent and working well. She doesn't love math but she's learning it and learning it better than with TT. I have been looking at what to do for Pre-Algebra as well. We use a lot of MP products so I started looking into Redwood. I REALLY like the look of it. To me it seem like a more modern R&S (less farming problems LOL). According to MP you can move from R&S 6 to COTR pre-algebra. They used to do R&S 7 as pre-algebra but said COTR is better prep for Algebra and from what I have seen I agree. Did you know you can see the entire book online? I play to buy the book because I know my daughter wouldn't do well with an online text but it's a great way to see the book in depth. http://mathrev.redwoods.edu/PreAlgText/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shay Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Heather, I have looked at the book online also, and what I don't see (and what was invaluable for us with R&S) is a section of review problems at the end of each lesson. For us, we don't need prealgebra to go back over arithmetic, because we mastered that with R&S, but we need lots of time in the algebra, geometry, and statistics areas, if that makes sense. I can't get a sense if the COTR book does what I want. I like having a physical copy to mull over, but also feel very fortunate to be able to see the entire text online. I also have been looking at Dolciani PreAlg, which does have the review section in each lesson. I am driving myself batty over this, but I think it is necessary to labor over it and choose well. That is how I approached using R&S and it was a great fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 You may want to check out CLE which is very gentle. All lessons are included in the texts (Light Units) and directed toward the student. We used it before Math Mammoth and liked it overall. Our youngest still says she misses it at times because MM has too many words problems. :) Only reason we switched was for a bit more challenge with MM since I felt they were up for it. But we could have easily stayed with CLE. The thing with their Pre-A is that it is spread over two years (7 & 8). So some don't like that. But it can be easily accelerated due to repeated concepts. http://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/4 We also bought Lials Pre-A and found the layout terribly busy and too visually distracting. Still need to put it up for sale including the solutions guide. Agree with the above. CLE might be a good fit. Lots of review so if a concept is solid you can just cross out some of the review problems. Quizzes and tests are included which might be nice since you said you were interested in those. Otherwise, if you wanted to speed up, just skip them. My extremely non-mathy kid that really struggles is doing incredibly well with CLE and my kid who does much better is also doing well. Easy to implement, easy to teach. Give the placement tests, though, and start back a level or two. See where there might be gaps and target those first. FWIW, each year starts with a Light Unit that is all basically review of previous concepts to make certain they have been mastered. If your child tested into CLE with a really solid score, no issues, then you could probably skip the first light unit of the level they tested into. Or you could use that unit to shore up any weak areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I do love the review sections in R&S and I agree that review isn't as apparent in COTR. I do like the step-by-step approach it has though. That's one thing I really liked about R&S as well. One thing to remember is that pre-algebra is supposed to be a review and final study of all the math going up to Algebra and then a introduction to Algebra concepts. If you don't feel like you need that you might actually be ready for Algebra. What level of R&S did you finish? If you went through 7 or 8 you probably don't need to do a pre-algebra program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 You might look at Keys To Algebra for a bridge if you don't want a full prealg course. They are slim, inexpensive workbooks that cover negatives, exponents, and such. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 OP, I would do R&S 8 (why mess with what *is* working) and add in Keys to Algebra to give more focused time in algebra concepts. That's what I'm doing next year with my 8th grader who just needs more time and practice before a full-blown Algebra course. I'll also be adding in some units on logic/probability/statistics from MEP's Years 7 and 8. I plan on one R&S lesson daily, adding in MEP units for first half of the year, and Keys to Alg for the second half. Yes, I could just use a Pre-A program ( I have BJU Pre-A and a 1980's Dolciani Pre-A on the shelf waiting for the next boy),but I also already have R&S 8, and the Keys to books, and MEP is free for the printing. The Pre-A texts I have are good but faster paced, but this boy needs a slower pace with less new stuff and lots of review. I think that R&S 8 with the add ons will be good for his emotional, hormone soaked brain at this time. And probably good for my emotional, hormone soaked brain (difficult pregnancy, newborn, sleep deprivation, 6 kids! ) as well. :svengo: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Algebra-Geometry-Grades/dp/0769643302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426772449&sr=1-1&keywords=complete+book+of+algebraI wrote a review of this resource years ago. It is an excellent introduction to pre-algebra. Sadly, the book has gone out of print, but it can still be purchased online through used book dealers.Here is a link to the resources the publisher has available currently http://www.carsondellosa.com/search-catalog?q=complete%20book%20of%20algebra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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