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supplement for AOPS Pre-algebra?


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My seventh grade daughter, age 12, is working through AOPS pre-algebra right now.  She is a good math student and enjoys math. She aspires to be an engineer some day.  She is frustrated daily by AOPS but is loathe to switch programs. I think she might benefit from a supplemental text to offer a little more practice and more explanation when the discovery method fails her.  Thoughts?  Suggestions? 

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My seventh grade daughter, age 12, is working through AOPS pre-algebra right now.  She is a good math student and enjoys math. She aspires to be an engineer some day.  She is frustrated daily by AOPS but is loathe to switch programs. I think she might benefit from a supplemental text to offer a little more practice and more explanation when the discovery method fails her.  Thoughts?  Suggestions? 

This is my son too!  Well he's good at math but hates it, and I guess it's me that's more frustrated (not too bad) because this is not how I learned math.  But we work on it together until we both get it.  My other son is in a more traditional prealgebra program and I'd love to just put them both together but he wants to stick with this because there aren't as many problems.  It seems that some of the concepts though could use more reinforcement and more of a foundation that he doesn't have yet.   I did read in an old TWTM post that chapter two is the hardest, and we are almost done with that.  The videos have been helpful.   I need to have him do Alcumus more often.  Another idea is supplementing with Khan. 

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Thank you all for your responses! I did not know about the videos, do thank you to those who mentioned them.

 

Regarding Alcumus: this week I assigned my daughter 30 minutes on it. How do you all handle it--daily, weekly, specific assignments, etc.?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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My daughter switches back and forth through all three. I wanted her to do Alcumus on Fridays for review but she actually likes learning it through the computer and uses the book as sort of a practice/test/reinforcemt. She uses the videos when she gets stuck. currently prime factorization is her nemesis. LOL

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DD works on 2 pages of Math Minutes (Grade 8) a day.  It has proved to be a perfect supplement for her. 

 

I just ordered Simple Solutions for when she is done with Math Minutes.

 

If your daughter needs spiral review, these two will provide it.

 

If your dd needs certain topics to be covered, Dolciani and MEP and Kuta Software may be good options.

 

My dd is not a math whiz.  She does well with AoPS and really likes it, but she is not interested in going as deep as my boys did.  

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We did AoPS Pre A in grade 7&8 in combination with Understanding Geometry from CTC.

We have an integrated math approach here, but it worked pretty well to be able to switch to something else.

Our AoPS pattern looked like:

Grey Block + explanations

Video's + White Block.

(Geometry Lesson)

Grey Block + Explanations...

 

We skipped the * problems and the challenging problems as dd is in a Language track, not in a Math track.

We did not use Alcumus (computerbased learning is not daughters strength)

but I own old math texts with plenty of exercises, so if she got stuck we practised that way.

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You know, just because she's good at math doesn't mean AoPS specifically click for her. Dolciani is a great program (and there are others as well, of course). I read an article about a teacher who coaches math teams who has hung on to his set for years and still uses it with students. Also, I haven't used the AoPS Pre-A, but I've heard it has a different vibe from the rest of the AoPS books. I would listen to the good words of advice above from the experienced AoPS Pre-A folks, but if she keeps being frustrated, it's okay to give yourselves permission to try another solid program and then to come back to AoPS for algebra or just continue on another good math path.

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You also have the option of teaching the problem section yourself, or going through it with dd together, and making sure she has understanding before doing the exercises.

 

I think also as you get past chapter two, there will be a lot more familiar material, and it might go more smoothly. That's what happened here. And we found there was plenty of practice for prealgebra, but when we got to algebra, not enough for my child, and we ended up following up with another textbook for rote practice and different word problems (Foerster).

 

It seems like people at WTM boards either love or hate the prealgebra book, regardless of what they think of the later books. I am one who really likes this book and plan to at least try it and at least use some of the exercises for all my kids, regardless of whether they want to continue with AoPS. But not everyone is a fan.

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Try Jousting Armadilos or Dolciani.

 

 

AoPS preA is the easiest text in the series. The first chapter is a bit over implicated, but the book is much, much easier than subsequent series. While the beginning of Intro Algebra seems easier at first glance, the text really ramps up and gets much, much harder in the second half.

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