I generally will still buy both from the publisher. I bought a level of AAS from RR this spring and had a problem with blank pages in the book. RR did take care of it, but since they had to go through the publisher (I don't know why) it took longer than I was comfortable to get the issue corrected. SM has different books discounted than RR. It was interesting last time I was pricing them. May make most sense if you're doing large orders to get some each place. I also had an issue once with a misprinted book that I'd bought from SM. it was corrected very quickly.

Not to mention that PEMDAS messes up a number of students because multiplication and division are equal operations. You don't do multiplication first. I warn students every semester and every semester I catch a number of them messing it up. I hate FOIL too. <grump>

That's in Practice Island. (Just barely beaten by Matryoshka! ;) )

I've got my masters in arts and teaching degree, emphasis math. I've taught math at the cc for the last 15 years - lots of basic math (so I can give multiple approaches to why we work a problem in a certain way, which ways are allowed and why, which will cause trouble later). I buy and use the HiGs. :) 5A has work with fractions that isn't in earlier books. It's done well. The explanations with them are excellent. 5B has decimal multiplication and division that's essential. Also has the geometry. 6 does have some new material, but it's basically repetition with a lot more applications. I feel comfortable skipping 6 and moving on. I have found the bar model approaches to be very interesting. Definitely a different approach and really clever. It sets things up very nicely for the move to algebra. We do Standards edition: textbook, workbook, IP, CWP, iExcel. I got the tests so I'd have extra practice (the test books have significantly more practice than the Extra Practice books), but we haven't used them much at all this year. A Spectrum math workbook would also give extra practice on a topic if computation practice is all that's needed. I generally subscribe to the "overlearning" approach, especially after seeing how my students really don't have a good foundation at all. To get speed up with multiplication drills, we did flashcards and tracked his time moving through the flashcards - kept a line graph. If he got under 3 minutes for 3 weeks in a row, he got a reward. After he had that, we dropped it to 2 1/2 minutes. I'm very very pleased with the Singapore program. I still find ideas that I find useful in the HiGs too.

:iagree: We'll be leaving Singapore after 5B, but we're definitely completing 5 before leaving Singapore. Then we'll be doing either work with AoPS or (more likely) staying with the Elements of Mathematics through IMACS.

Most textbooks do a dreadful job of mentioning when you'll use material later. I've just been teaching this to my remedial students at the cc. I find naming polynomials by degree (constant, linear, quadratic, cubic) is far more helpful than by number of terms (monomial, binomial, trinomial). Degree (of polynomial in single variable) gives me a picture of the graph mentally, but terms doesn't. However terms can help with division (divide polynomial by monomial differently than polynomial by something greater than monomial) and with factoring (if binomials follow certain pattern, some special products rules can work, etc). Degree of a polynomial in several variables just doesn't appear much. When factoring, say you had x^2 - 3xy - 4y^2. Each term has degree 2, but this is the form we'd want to write the polynomial in... descending order of x, ascending order of y. Lets us factor: (x - 4y)(x + y). I don't think I've ever used a text that mentions reasons for naming polynomials or why descending order matters... until you start using leading coefficients for end behavior with graphing in college algebra...

We got to see Patrick Stewart do his one-man Christmas Carol back in 1994. It was amazing. It was the first time I enjoyed the story. So I'd say Stewart, although when I was a teenager, I'd probably have preferred the Muppets.

It also can be the age. My son is sometimes like that. I'm just back to teaching him again after being on strike for the past couple of months (dh picked up and did all the teaching). The break was good for both of us. I do have to sit with my son (10) most of the time and redirect him when his attention wanders. If it wanders too far, that's when I yell. We're using a positive reinforcement technique where he earns time each day for electronics on the weekend. He gets a marble for good behavior, good attitude, or good school work. Average is about 5 a day. Each marble can be redeemed on the weekend for 15 min of video gaming. It's helped. Hang in there...and you definitely aren't alone!

The issue here is really that degree of a polynomial in several variables isn't terribly useful. In the example you gave, the terms are written in descending order of x. In a polynomial in one variable, the degree tells general shape of the graph and along with the leading coefficient, you can tell end behavior of the graph. In a polynomial in one variable, if you're solving an equation, the degree tells how you'd solve the equation. If the equation is first degree, the equation is linear and you just isolate the variable. If the equation is second degree, the equation is quadratic and you solve by setting to zero and factoring or by using the quadratic equation. A polynomial that's third degree or higher, you solve with other methods. Hope this helps some. You really only see graphs of polynomials in several variables in calculus when you're graphing.

Well, sometimes you fail. Some of my college students remind me an awful lot of the student in the video. One-on-one definitely works better. And multiple approaches. And manipulatives. And breaks. And chocolate. And amaretto. And the occasional tantrum. Although I haven't threatened defenestration to my son in a year or so, so there's progress :) And then you try again!

I did US edition for 1 A and B with my son and then moved to standards for 2A and on. It's been fine.

Diagramming: Rex Barks. Available on amazon. It'll do what you need for diagramming and answers are in the back. Grammar: seriously, MCT books are GREAT! My son (10) does his work in level 3 (Practice Voyage now) and he can easily identify parts of speech, parts of sentence, direct objects, etc. When we talk about grammar around my husband, he hears the adults from Peanuts :D If you work alongside your kids (or in advance), you'll really get grammar.

There's business calculus that doesn't use trig. College algebra will let you then take bus. calc. Traditional calculus does require a knowledge of trig, so you'd do college algebra - trig - calc I Some schools have both college algebra, trig, and precalc. At those schools, typically precalc is equivalent to college algebra AND trig. The precalc course is for those students who just need to brush up before calculus. Weaker students would take college algebra, trig, then calc 1. So the precalc course is there for more options for the students (accelerated work for those who can, otherwise take two courses). Again, this will vary from school to school, and most math departments will have more info listed. Also, look at prereqs in course catalog. That's where ours would state the difference between the courses.

You had to put a bag in a place to block a drain and manage to get the dispensing machine to shoot the fish out, but a robot would scoop the fish up for disposal before you could get it. It was one of the most frustrating bits! (as evidenced by me complaining about I decades later...) Automapping and graphics based adventure games seemed like cheats when they first started coming out.

Generally algebra 1. Most cc math departments will also have a flowchart showing how the prereq courses go and which course leads to the next. General rule... Basic math or introductory math or prealgebra. Introduction or beginning algebra (solving linear equations, operations with polynomials, graphing lines, factoring) Intermediate algebra (systems of equations, quadratic equations, rationals, maybe exponents and logs, functions) College algebra (depending on school, this is the first one that you may get transfer credit for...inverses, rational roots theorem, exponents and logs) Trig Calculus A precalc course will often include college algebra and trig together.

We used WWE 2, 3, and ran through the textbook for 4, and we're now in WWS. I think it's been good. I really like WWS and I think the practice through WWE helped a lot.

Our local art museum does a homeschool art class once a month. It's been great. You may want to check if there's something available near you. For us, it's a once a month class. We get art history when we tour the works (including traveling exhibits) and the kids get to do a project.

We got IQ testing done through the local university. A grad student did the testing under the supervision of a faculty member. Prices were much cheaper than private testing. May be worth checking out...

Standards edition has US and metric measurements. I've been very pleased with it.

That would be really nice....

Leather Goddesses of Phobos :) Here's a list of Infocom games :)

From main page: 504 users are online (in the past 15 minutes) 111 members, 378 guests, 15 anonymous users There are currently only 66 in the general board. So it may be that you're used to seeing the people online in the main board (only place I was aware of it on old boards) and it looks like fewer people here. They may just be on other boards at the moment :) Or maybe a grue got them... I dislike parts of the new board, but I'm not getting delays much anymore. They've said they'll try to get the hover feature back, so that'll be good. I also really like being able to ignore just individual signatures. It makes a big difference with white space, although I can only see to turn sigs off individually when on the computer and not on the iPad. Oh well. :)

With us, it's my husband's allergies that are worse than our son's. Dh gets hives if he pets a cat or a dog. We had cats for a while and he'd adapt to them, but since we've been pet free, his asthma has been under complete control. My folks don't have pets, so he can stay in their house when we visit. His family smokes and has cats and dogs. The last time he stayed with them (7 years ago), they had the house cleaned and boarded the pets. He still was only able to be in the house a couple of days before an asthma attack. He doesn't see his family often (we live across country), but if he goes out, he has to stay in a hotel. He was in the area last year when his mother was in the hospital, went by their house for under an hour, and had a reaction from it. It is hard, especially if you find the extended relationships very important. You've got to make the choice of whether health is more important or the relationships. Due to long term lung damage, I'll go with health. I'm sorry. It is tough.

I completed Zork 2. Learned the definition of "menhir" because of that game. I hated the carousel room. Drew a LOT of maps for it. I liked the old Infocom games. I can't read Hitchhiker's anymore without thinking of how in the game you had to really maneuver to get the Babel fish in your ear.