Please help me with a PreAlgebra decision...

[Emma]

I have an upcoming 7th grader(boy) who will be 13 in October.  We have always used Saxon, and until this year using 8/7 he's done well.  We made it through 1/2 of 8/7 and he just stalled out.  I know the concepts in it are a bit more advanced, more on the line with algebra 1, but he really struggled there at the end.  He definitely needs a prealgebra year to just solidify all those concepts.  Problem is, I'm not sure I'm super comfortable teaching him math anymore.  He is a "math- in -my -head- don't -you -see- how -I -did -that, Mom" kinda kid. Percents, decimals, fractions, long division... all in his head with a 95% accuracy rate.  He's also very shy and very reluctant to a live online class.  I'm so stuck.  I could probably manage 1 more year, but then I'm not confident enough to teach him. Do I stay with Saxon? Is there something with less drudgery?  AOP?  Something self paced?   I have lost my mind... I was up at 3am looking at math curriculum! Please help!

[SanDiegoMom]

If he loves math, Aops PreAlgebra is written to the student, and has videos online that supplement the chapters (Free). Definitely challenging. I am considering using Singapore 6A and B with my dd going into sixth as a pre-algebra, and just supplementing with the topics that aren't covered, and using the Intensive Practice for more challenge.  It seems like the samples show the textbook doing a lot of the teaching, but I could be wrong -- I haven't purchased it yet. 

 

I do love the Singapore method as it is very concrete to begin and then goes into the abstract -- I learned a lot when my son used it a few years earlier.  I even used the bar model when taking a practice SAT with my oldest dd! 

 

 

[Farrar]

If his writing skills are strong and he basically understands it but needs to get the expressing about it solidified, maybe Jousting Armadillos would help? It's focused on students writing "notes to self" explaining the math and concepts. And the problems and style is creative and fun. It's also relatively short so he could solidify and move on. Or there are plenty of other pre-algebra options. Math Mammoth would probably be easy to teach. One of my boys used Dolciani and I liked it a great deal.

 

I wasn't totally confident about teaching algebra and geometry so I reviewed it for myself and got more confident. Maybe you could do that and that would open up the possibilities to other textbooks. Of course, there are computer based programs and online courses too.

[Pen]

Have him look at online video lessons from Alcumus/AoPS; Khan Academy for free.   And samples of other such that would cost something and see if some thing or group of things appeal to him and seem like things he can learn from.  Chalkdust has books plus videos, plus human support available if it would be something that he felt comfortable with as neither online, nor you needing to do the teaching.

 

We had several books available (including AoPS, Jousting Armadillos, and Saxon), and ds worked through Khan Academy problems for "mastery."  I don't recall what the end half of Saxon had.  My ds's favorite book was AoPS, but he needed assistance with it. He did not (unlike many people) like the alcumus video lessons though. He thought Richard R's goofing around was distracting and silly and preferred Sal Khan's way with no face showing and no silliness. 

[Pen]

Btw, my ds is similar to yours in terms of math in his head, even at a few points worked out better ways to do things than what I had known or what his program showed. But one thing that happened at some point  is that mine had to start using paper because math was getting too complicated to keep it all in his head.  And mine hates using paper, showing his work, etc.  

 

That might not be issue for yours now, but could be a part of the stuck issue.

[Another Lynn]

Have you looked at Derek Owens?  His courses are self-paced with videos online and a workbook to take notes in and do practice problems in, then homework and tests that he grades.  

[HollyDay]

Horizon's Pre-Algrebra is an excellent program and would help solidify those concepts.  Lial's has an Introduction to Algebra that is also excellent.  I particularly liked Lial's word problems.

[MerryAtHope]

If you are looking for a program to teach him, Math-U-See worked well for us. However, I strongly urge you to make him show his work for at least one or two of every type of problem he's doing. It's great that he can do mental math, but he needs to be able to show his work--this is going to seriously trip him up when he gets further along in math. After years of telling my son he had to show his work (and him hating being told that), it cracked me up to one day hear him tell his younger sister she needed to show her work or she'd regret it later--he had learned it was important!

[TCB]

My dd has used Dolciani Pre-Algebra this year and I really like it. Derek Owens math classes are great too. We haven't used his Pre-Algebra one but all the others we have used have been fantastic. I don't know if Jann in Tx does a Pre-Algebra class but her Geometry class was  good and she does live classes.