I don't think I've ever taken a university-level course where a grade over 90% was a B. (I'm not saying they don't exist, just that it's rather uncommon.) The most common grading scale at universities is 90-80-70-60.

If he ends up with a B, where he would have gotten an A under the original grading scheme, at most universities this would give him nearly ideal grounds for a grade appeal. I would consider it unlikely (but possible) for the professor to do that, but I would not worry excessively about it right now.

Frankly I do not think you can go wrong with either, but my personal choice would be the probability text. Another option you might consider, if 1.5 credits works for your son, is doing geometry and half of algebra 2. Then, next year, you could do the other half of algebra 2 and precalculus. Even if two math classes at once is difficult for him, if he really wants to get to calculus as a senior he should be able to get there by working through the summer.

But you're *trying* to figure it out. You're thinking very hard about it and working to come up with the solutions! (right?) That makes a huge, huge difference, versus someone who's just reading from the book and praying for 'math time' to get over so 'we can do something fun.' What I was really thinking about is people who hate math, fear math, and aren't willing to put in the work to figure it out.

I have come back to add: I really think that one of the strengths of Saxon is that it is usable by extremely weak teachers. There is little extraneous material, so the teacher does not have to know which parts are most important, and the incremental method together with the problem sets makes the teacher's explanation less important. With discovery learning, it is often the blind leading the blind. Even if the children do not get a conceptual understanding of mathematics, they will at least be computationally strong, and hopefully someone else can work with the concepts later. I would rather have them computationally strong than learning neither at all, and if I were running an elementary school and could not fire mathematically weak teachers (or move them to being specialists in something where they were stronger) and hire strong ones, it would be high on my list.

I really think you need to have both computational and conceptual fluency. The students I see in my noncredit remedial classes are actually pretty good at arithmetic if it doesn't involve fractions. Even if it does involve fractions, if the problem is IN ISOLATION they can handle it (that is, if I say 'what is 1/2 + 1/3?' they can usually get it, but if it comes up inside another problem they will become flustered and give me an answer like 2/5. What they haven't the faintest idea about is why, and this really hampers them when we move to algebra. If your answer to 'why is 1/2 = 2/4 = 3/6' is 'it just is', it's going to be really difficult to explain why (x+1)/(x-1) = [(x+1)(x+2)]/[(x-1)(x+2)] and why you can't just look at something like (2x+4)/(2x+3) and cross out the 2x on the top and the bottom. If you don't know that 6x8 is 6 groups of 8, whereas 6+8 is a group of 6 and a group of 8, then word problems like "John worked for 6 hours at 8 dollars an hour. How much did he make?" are going to seem like nonsense, where you just pick a random operation and put the two numbers into it and hope for the best. However, if you can't (for example) quickly write out factors of 6x8 in various orders, factoring something like 6x^2+15x+8 is going to be pretty difficult. tl;dr summary -- you need both.

I really agree that I wouldn't do it. Neither would I hold him back so that he's only doing "third grade level" curriculum next year. Unlike public school, the grade level attached to your child does not determine the level of curriculum that he receives. Certainly, give him what he needs, intellectually. But if he's just a little ahead, he's in a good position to be taking advanced classes in high school, and he also has a little slack in case he slows down later.

I don't think doing it before algebra 1 would be a very good idea -- geometry usually applies and reviews algebra 1. If you're planning on going with one publisher through high school, I would follow the intended sequence of that publisher -- i.e. if you were going to do VideoText, I'd use their sequence of alg 1/alg 2/geom. If you were going to go with Chalkdust, I'd do alg 1/geom/alg 2. I would find an algebra 1 course that you like first of all.

I don't know where she saw it, but I saw it from Hoagies.

Keys to are great pre-algebra and pre-geometry courses, but NOT a full algebra/geometry course.

I did know -- because I read about it in a Landmark (iirc) history book when I was about 10.

No reason to get the most recent -- putting out editions every year is really just a way for publishers to kill the used-book market for university students, and going a few editions back will save you a TON of money. Example: Newest edition is 144.90 new and 80.73 used. 2007 edition is 20.00 new and 0.01 used. Here's the link. http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Algebra-Developmental-Mathematics-Series/dp/0321437268/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1360932366&sr=8-4&keywords=lial+beginning+algebra+10th+edition There is absolutely no substantive difference between these editions, so you might as well save your money here. Just, if you buy the solution manual, make sure that the editions MATCH. :)

I did not learn as a chain of falling dominoes, but my instructor used the analogy of teaching a robot to climb a ladder. You teach it to put its foot on the first rung. Then you teach it to move from one rung to the next. Then, no matter how high the ladder is, the robot can climb it. :)

Partial fractions are needed in calc 2 and diffeq but I think it'd be fine to skip them for her. I think when your older dd sees them in those classes she'll be like 'oohhhh, yeah, THOSE' after a brief reminder. Personally I would prefer to cover the proof by induction in an open-book manner but omit it from any exams. IOW, stress for an 'appreciation' and not complete understanding. It is occasionally (VERY occasionally) taught in college algebra or precalculus, but most usually in an intro to proofs class for math majors. However, I think it's one of the few chances for a high school student to see what mathematicians actually do.

Lial's geometry is here: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Essentials-of-Geometry-for-College-Students/9780201748826.page Lial's geometry is used a lot less frequently than the algebra, because many developmental math students (students who had high school math, but failed to master it) skip geometry and just do beginning algebra/intermediate algebra/college algebra/precalculus. It is more difficult to find cheap used copies. jcmi: Depending on your dd's interests, she might do a course in mathematics for liberal arts with a significant art, history, or literature component, do statistics, or do finite/discrete math as a senior-year course. There are many options and I expect them to increase, so I would wait until later to pick the specific course. Whichever senior-year course you choose, you'll still be doing algebra 1, 2, and geometry first. I personally wouldn't switch away from Lial's until and unless it stops working for your dd -- they're very standard books which will prepare her well for university.

No, IP is intensive practice.

The alg 1/geometry/alg2trig/calculus sequence was a lot more common when it was nearly unheard of for students to take algebra before 9th grade. Postponing algebra until 9th grade or later allowed for more breadth and depth of coverage in the high school courses, so that calculus could legitimately follow algebra 2/trig. In most cases now, the algebra courses do not cover what they did then (foerster's is an exception, but many places do not use the whole book) and so needed information may be missed.

I second this recommendation.

I think you are thinking of a different sequence than they are. The sequence that they are talking about is: Algebra 1 Geometry Algebra 2/Trig (one course) Precalculus Calculus Whereas you seem to be talking about: Algebra 1 Geometry Algebra 2 Trig Calculus Both of these sequences have the same number of courses in them, and contain the same amount of material -- it's just divided differently.

I would probably start at the beginning of the book -- if it is too easy, he can accelerate. I would also get the CWP (challenging word problems) book for 2nd grade and work through those. That will lead him into the word problems at an easier level, and the book is only $11.

I think that the BA 3rd grade would still have plenty of interest and work for him. The problems can be unexpectedly challenging. The intended progression is 2-3-4-5-preAlgebra, so even if he were using it a year "behind" that would still put him doing a rigorous, honors pre-algebra in 7th grade. He would also be doing pre-algebra in 7th if he did Saxon (54-65-76-87). If he completes more than four books per year (each year, if I understand correctly, will have books A-D) he may be ready earlier.

Did you do a placement test before switching to Singapore? Singapore's scope and sequence is different so he may have been misplaced, which would make it very hard for him. I would definitely do the placement test and see where they put him -- if it was lower than 3A that would be why it was so hard.

Do the right thing for your dd and ignore the turkeys. It's perfectly possible for a PS'd child to get moved down a track midyear. Why shouldn't it be possible for a HS'd child?

I think it sounds like a really great opportunity, with very clearly defined work. I don't think the germs will be a big issue.

I notice she doesn't have a social science course listed as a senior. She might look into taking an interesting one-semester social studies course at the CC that will transfer to the university, lightening her gen ed courseload. Psych was a great, fun, and relatively "light" course for me, and the intro course is fairly standardized. American Government is another fairly standard one, or there are many other options.