Is there a thread comparing and discussing different Algebra I currics?

[cintinative]

I have found a bunch of different threads that mention these and others (plus WTM) but I was wondering if I have missed a thread that discusses each and what kind of kid they are best used for. 

 

AOPS Algebra I

Dolciani

Foerster's
Jacobs

Saxon

 

TIA!!

[Farrar]

This is the old thread I remember that had a lot of the options discussed:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/442409-algebra-fence-straddlers-master-thread/

 

 

[wapiti]

See also the pinned thread on the high school board: Homeschool High School Math

[Farrar]

I have experience with a couple of those...

 

AoPS is very thorough, has well written solutions, has a lot of really challenging problems that are meant to be really difficult... best for kids who are "mathy" or gifted or do competitive math or are better when being really pushed to think... I used this myself awhile back to brush up on algebra so I never taught with it, but it's clearly written to the student, not to the teacher, which is fine, but it's different from a program that has suggestions to you about how to present tricky information.

 

Dolciani has great problem sets and lots of great word problems, is pretty straightforward - at least for me, it reminded me of my own algebra book as a kid (I keep thinking it may have been my algebra book... I still am not sure)... it works well for my ds who is decent at math but is more of a get it done kid - it challenges him but not too much - I like the way the TM is laid out for me too because it's easy to check, though there aren't full solutions, which is usually fine, but occasionally annoying... The word problems really are great. I like the way the problems are broken up into A, B, and C parts, with A being easy and C being hard. The text part is mostly example solutions and those are really well done.

 

Jacob's is a bit... I don't know... thinky. It's not more challenging, it's just more thoughtful. I can see the discovery aspect in every bit of how the problem sets are laid out. The TM is harder to use for me because the layout is annoying, though it's super filled with good teaching ideas. The writing in the intro to each section is very conversational and engaging, but there are rarely lots of examples. I like the way the sets are done - Set I is easy, Sets II and III get harder, Set IV is always a sort of brain teaser or tricky problem. Jacobs is working well for my ds who is more thoughtful about math but isn't really up to the challenge of AoPS.

[cintinative]

Thanks so much! I figured there had to be a thread on here somewhere!

[MamaSprout]

I like Dolciani for it's clean layout and mathematical thinking. For me it works better to have a TE b/c there is some information in there that isn't always in the student edition. The C problems do take logical leaps. The TE has three assignment paths scheduled, which is helpful. This went beautifully when I had a few minutes to teach the lessons, not so well if I let her just jump in and go. This re-enforces math skills within the problems.

 

We used the first part of Jacobs for the space in-between prealgebra and algebra (along with DO PreAlgebra) as youngest dd was still pretty young. It's playful and the logic problems are interesting. The first few chapters are prealgebra review.

 

Foerster is well-suited for budding engineers. We settled on this one for dd (even though she's done half each of the above books) because, for her, it's independent and she likes the word problems. The layout is nice for a younger kiddo b/c it's easy to assign just evens or just odds because they are often in rows. This one relies more on technology. This is a plus for her. She's strong with mental math, so she gets a kick out using the big calculator and some of the software MWB uses. I generally encourage her to do a lot in her head (and she does), but for her, the technology is a bonus.

 

My dd spends hours doing art and making things, reads non-fiction unless directed otherwise, generally likes math, loves science, and is on the young side for algebra (if that helps with what kind of kid).

Edited February 19, 2017 by elladarcy

[deerforest]

I have to admit that I don't see a relationship between Foerster's and engineering. We like it because it does a great job of explaining concepts but I think they will often give you the high level goal of a chapter and then each section builds on the skills you ultimately need to reach that goal. It has excellent word problems which DD needed (with humorous names). It goes in a somewhat nonstandard order because you get to polynomials quite early but then it does weird things like not talk about GCF factoring with the other factoring (ch 5) but picks it up again in ch 10. It just makes it hard to find supplemental things to use to reinforce some concepts. I do wish they had fewer problems that were nuts to solve without a calculator. But asking DD to take the square root of some crazy numbers in her head isn't fair either. I do miss that about AoPS...there was that reassurance that if you've set it up right, you'll be able to do the calculations without a calculator.

 

We used some Dolciani for pre-alg and it was too dry. AoPS just wasn't the right fit either but we sometimes flip back to it for deeper understanding.

[Elizabeth 2]

I miss that about AoPS...there was that reassurance that if you've set it up right, you'll be able to do the calculations without a calculator.

 

We used some Dolciani for pre-alg and it was too dry. AoPS just wasn't the right fit either but we sometimes flip back to it for deeper understanding.

That right there is exactly what I needed to know about AoPS. Thank you for that one detail! I am a strong believer in no calculator for as long as possible, especially for one of my boys. Now I'll know which one to get when we finish math 6 at the end of the calendar year.

[thegeyser]

http://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/algebra_1.php