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A math WWYD - BA, pre-algebra or obligatory other?


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Ds is currently in 6th. We've mostly used Singapore except for that year he went to public school. Last year after having some areas I thought might be helpful to go back and strengthen, we switched to BA for a slightly different approach (and because I had it on hand). He's since worked through all of 3 and is in 4C. Switching him to BA really helped him shore up those areas he still struggled with and the BA approach was a hit. He's been enjoying it even when he gets problems wrong and has to go back and re-work it. He's also not speeding through and getting every problem correct.

 

So, 7th grade. I would like him to get through Algebra I by the end of 8th grade which means we need pre-a before that. I did have him take the AOPS pre-a "are you ready for this" test because I was considering WTMA's AOPS pre-a. He easily passed everything except the section on negative integers. Makes sense, though since the Singapore US edition is short on that. We have done some work with negative integers in addition and subtraction and he got most of those right.

 

I have BA 4D-5B on hand and had planned on continuing on with math through the summer. Is there value in having him complete the BA series before moving on to pre-a? Even if we were to do that, I think we could still make it through Algebra I before the fall of his 9th grade year. Should I focus instead on covering negative integers and then switch to pre-algebra for the school year?

 

I can see pros/cons in both and thought I had finally reached my decision except not because now I'm not so sure. Today I lean more towards covering negative integers in multiplication and division and moving on to pre-a in the fall.

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Just a thought about another path -

 

My daughter did AoPS prealgebra WHILE doing Beast - she had already done SM like your son. It was good for her to continue beast as it continued to shore up difficult areas even though she was managing Prealgebra fine.  Often, she'd find it easier to go to the prealgebra book. She has now finished the prealgebra book and is  just finishing Beast 5c and will do 5D as it just came out.

 

I think you have to figure out what works best for your child and then go down that path. Everyone is different.

 

 

Edited by Julie of KY
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There's always value in doing Beast Academy. :)  But as for does he need them before going in to Prealgebra? Probably not. Here, they were not all out yet (I think we had maybe done 4A? I don't know because we do have through 4C, but DS is like crazyforlatin's daughter and wanted them even though he had moved on) and we had no problem going directly into Prealgebra. :)

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We kept doing BA too even after we moved on to pre-algebra and algebra. We're almost done with Foerster's algebra I, and I've decided to do another year of algebra next year with AoPS algebra so just last week I got AoPS algebra and BA 5D! DD definitely would have been happier sticking with the Beasts!

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