Cottonwood Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I've recently posted about Ds's math woes here, and am now looking into different programs to try to motivate him again. We've looked over several programs, and as I thought he would...he's zeroed in on LoF. I think Saxon is the wrong math program for him but math is his gift, so I"m trying to find a good fit in another program. I think once we get some things ironed out regarding operations and putting the work on paper correctly, he will really excel in math. I let him tinker with some other math sources and he is doing algebra 1 work when it's not Saxon. I want to try LoF but keep reading that before trying the Algebra books, we really need to do the Pre-A 2 book, just to get an understanding of these methods before trying any of the higher LoF maths. I don't mind doing that, but I'm not liking what I'm reading regarding the Economics integrated into the Pre-A 2 text. Is there a way to do just the math in that text and skim over the econ part? Is getting the Pre-A book really a necessary step before trying out the Alg 1 book? Since this is his 2nd year in Pre-A I really hesitate to put him through ANOTHER Pre-A book. My instinct is to just go with the Alg 1 book....but if prepping him w/ the PreA book is really necessary, I would consider it, I guess.??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Since no one else has answered .... LOF Algebra was written well before the LOF PreAlgebra books, and many used it successfully after using only the LOF Fractions and Decimals and Percents books. [We didn't use any of the LOF books in our own homeschool; however, my husband (who tutors both homeschooled and public schooled students) has used LOF Algebra and Geometry with several of his students.] Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Indeed Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 He does go into word problems and how to set them up in the pre-algebra books, but covers it again in Algebra since as mentioned they were added later. It gives more practice, which I like. I don't think you could really take the economics out of LOF with Economics, it's part of the teaching, part of the entire book. So if you don't think you would agree with his economic policies, skip the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Indeed Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Sorry double post Edited February 24, 2015 by Free Indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I disagree with his economics, but see that as a point for jumping off into research and discussion. Gauss makes a good devil's advocate. However, I'd be willing to bet given what you describe you could jump right into LoF Algebra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 If he has already done pre-A, go ahead and start with the LoF Algebra. That said, we vehemently disagreed with the author's POV in the Economics book, but that did not stop us from letting both boys use the book. On the contrary, we used our disagreement with the author as many a terrific dinner table discussion. Not only have both of our boys learned quite a bit about economics (particularly from digging deeper to figure out what point of view they were then going to be more comfortable with, finding that their math author and Mom & Dad disagreed), but we had great dinner conversation about math and other topics for a while, and even more important lessons were learned-- namely that you can disagree with a textbook author if you do your homework and find your own facts, and that you can still learn good stuff and respect somebody with whom you disagree. In a sense, the boys learned more from that book because we disagreed with it than from many other, more straightforward, texts. FYI, our older DS uses Fred as his sole program. He hit a "bump" in the road for a bit somewhere in the algebra sequence, but perseverance won the day, which was excellent; as a highly gifted kid, he took running into difficulty in math after so many years of finding it easy pretty personally! But now that he figured it out and is sailing once again, he feels even better about himself than ever. The questions he asks DH (a math professor) convince DH that DS is receiving a superior math education from Fred, and that Fred is truly teaching him how to think about math, rather than just how to do problems. It isn't the right series for everyone, but when it works, it works. Good luck to you! Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Thanks everyone! We also welcome discussions with the kids when choices/values/opinions don't match up with ours in our studies and we do not hide those things from their examination. Truth is, I don't know if I agree with his economics or not. I just wanted a math book without any further distractions...for lack of a better word..for DS whose bump in the road is pretty big at this point. Thanks for all the input. Our Beginning Algebra book is on it's way!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.