Math: Teaching Textbooks VS Video Text

[saved1112]

Can anyone conpare these for me please? Or share what you/your child liked/disliked about these?

 

Thanks!!

[Guest amlsantoro]

I loved Pre-Algebra Teaching Textbooks but prefer Video Text Algebra. We went from Teaching Textbooks Algebra I to Video Text Algebra D (approximately the beginning of Algebra II).

 

Video Text starts with Module A and ends with F to cover Alegebra I and II. Teaching Textbooks has three courses to cover the same material.

[Tullia]

You'd have to go back to the old version of the boards to read some of my posts about math anxiety (mine and my son's) when we found it necessary to go back and re-do Algebra I. A friend lent us VideoText for our second try several years ago, and it was a good fit for my son. BTW, he's just finished his first algebra course at a local community college and had a couple of things happen which reassured me about our choice to go with VT:

 

1. He was exempt from the final exam because his average with extra credit was over 100.

 

2. The instructor and a fellow student (adult) asked what he'd used for high school math because he seemed to really understand what he was doing. (Part of the class requirement was to give demonstrations in class about how to solve different types of problems.)

 

My son enjoyed the variety of lesson presenters in VT algebra (Tom Clark has done all the geometry lectures published so far.) One of the things which helped my son most was the way the later modules "build in" review by adding new concepts incrementally to the problem-solving techniques introduced in the first module.

 

We both like the way VT incorporates visuals; it helped me with some things I'd learned by rote in high school but never really understood. It also helped me get the "big picture" of algebra better than either Saxon or Jacobs. That, in turn, helped me diagnose problems when my son "hit a wall" from time to time. Of course, YMMV:D!

Edited April 23, 2009 by Martha in NM
delete an extra word

[LatinTea]

A quick comparison...

 

VideoText is hard

Teaching Textbooks is easy

 

My ds did VideoText. He took one year off and did Geometry between tapes 3 and 4. He recovered enough to finish and then I sold it knowing my dd would not be able to handle the load.

 

My dd did TT Math 7. It was easy even for her (my math hater), but we ended up selling it for various reasons, one it being too easy.

 

There you have my take on it. I'm sure there will be other viewpoints. Either of these have good resale so you won't be out much if one doesn't work. Good luck in your decision.

[Brindee]

My ds17 is a senior at a Christian Boarding school this year. He did all the modules of VT Algebra. He didn't struggle until near the end where things seemed muddy to him. But he got through it fine. He went to the school the next year and got an A in Geometry, and has an A- in Pre-calc this year, so it laid a strong bse for him!

 

My younger two did TT--dd did TT Pre-Algebra in 5th grade and did fine. ds, now 15, did TT Algebra 1. It wasn't that hard, though he struggled some. They liked TT fine, but didn't like the guy's voice that did the dvd's or that it was just a hand not a person. We then moved to LoF this year. dd did the Decimals & Percents and Fractions books, and Ds did the Advanced Algebra book. Both absolutely loved it!

 

I think what the pp said is right, TT seems easier than some other curriculums, but it was a welcome relief for my kids from Saxon, which they REALLY disliked! We're sticking with LoF now, but don't regret using TT!