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Aargh! Can't decide on prealgebra after SM6B!!!


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I posted this on the K-8 Board but someone suggested that I post this here.

 

My dd, 9 almost 10, is finishing up 6B. I want this coming to year to be "prealgebra" and maturing before we start Foerster algebra when she is 11.

 

I am considering NEM, have read about the new SM Discovering Mathematics program and many others. I'm wondering what you would fit in between 6B and Foerster. Should I use a more traditional prealgebra program to transition to Foerster or would NEM be OK for a 10 y.o. pre-Foerster? What should I use??? HELP!!

 

TIA!

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I'm planning on one year of Discovering Mathematics between 6B and Foerster's, along with LOF in the summers - hopefully up through the Pre-Algebra with Biology book I heard rumor he's currently writing! I'm also planning on getting through Zaccaro's Challenge Math somewhere in there.

 

I already have the DM in my hot little hands, and I really like the look of it!

 

I know Russian Math 6 or Lial's BCM are other popular choices for that gap year after 6B. I also considered tossing RS Geometry into the mix, but I think my plate is full.

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Thanks for your input. I have read about Russian Math 6 and Lial's BCM, but I haven't been able to get the books on interlibrary loan which makes me indecisive about them.

 

What do you think about Discovering Mathematics? Are you just doing level 1 as "prealgebra"? Did you get the teacher's guide and the textbook and the workbook? Is it A LOT to do in one year do you think or easily done in one year?

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Thanks for your input. I have read about Russian Math 6 and Lial's BCM, but I haven't been able to get the books on interlibrary loan which makes me indecisive about them.

 

Yes - I know I have so much of an easier time deciding when I can hold the books in my hand.

 

What do you think about Discovering Mathematics?

 

I really like the look of it - of course, I haven't started it yet. But it "looks" a lot like Primary Math, just bigger and more colorful. I liked that it shows bar diagrams alongside when introducing formulae with variables - seemed like a natural progression for kids who've been in Singapore all along.

 

Are you just doing level 1 as "prealgebra"?

 

Yes, that's exactly my plan. :001_smile:

 

Did you get the teacher's guide and the textbook and the workbook?

 

I got the textbooks and the teacher's guides. (Like PM but I tihnk unlike NEM there are two books per grade). There is no workbook - you have to do the problems on separate paper, which is another thing I thought would be a good transition to traditional Algebra books and up.

 

The teacher's guide seems mainly useful for the solutions to the problems. There is a grid laying out what to do when, but it's pretty much the book in order, and it has some related websites for each topic. There's no play-by-play teaching instructions.

 

Is it A LOT to do in one year do you think or easily done in one year?

 

Well, my kids zipped through 5a/b pretty quickly after LOF Fractions, and 6a/b is even shorter, and they'll have done LOF Decimals/Percents first (and we should be done with that before the end of summer). I'll be very surprised if we don't get to DM before the end of 6th grade (although I'd like to put the next LOF Pre-Algebra book inbetween if it's done by then). DM 1a/b (there are two halves, just like PM, which also makes the books seem less intimidating) looks doable to me in a year, but I'm thinking we can definitely finish it up by the end of 7th, if not before, unless we hit some kind of wall.

 

Then my plan is to start one kid in Foerster's and the other in LOF Beginning Algebra - they're very different kids, and I think this will be a good idea, and I can always use the other one's book for reinforcement when needed. If we finish the Algebra books before the end of 8th, I've been thinking I might want to get the AoPS Intro Algebra book to go deeper before moving on to Geometry in 9th.

 

This is all subject to change if anything blows up in my face! :D

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We're doing this for the second time. With my first, we went right into Algebra. With my second, we're doing Russian Math and are loving it. Okay, I'm loving it. Dd just wants to fool around because it's June. Have you gone to Perpendicular Press to see if there are sample pages of their book? http://www.perpendicularpress.com Actually, I just went there, and if you scroll down you'll see a sample on this page http://www.perpendicularpress.com/math6.html

 

Another option is to do Life of Fred Fractions & Decimals; these are the pre-Algebra books for LoF.

 

To do Algebra, your dc needs to have the maturity and patience to work long problems.

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Another option is to do Life of Fred Fractions & Decimals; these are the pre-Algebra books for LoF.

 

Mr. Schmidt is planning to write 3 pre-algebra books for Life of Fred. The Fractions/Decimals aren't technically pre-algebra compared to other programs I have seen.

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Mr. Schmidt is planning to write 3 pre-algebra books for Life of Fred. The Fractions/Decimals aren't technically pre-algebra compared to other programs I have seen.
He's said that most of the material in these new books will merely require application of the concepts learned in LoF: Fractions and LoF: Decimals and Percents. I don't know what concepts will be introduced in the new books, but we can hardly wait to find out. :) As it currently stands, if one is going on with the series, not much will be missed of traditional pre-algebra fare because concepts are introduced as needed in the more advanced books. Those that aren't going on with the series would do well to either to combine LoF with, or cover missing concepts using, Mathematics 6 (prime factoring, negative numbers, etc.).
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We're doing this for the second time. With my first, we went right into Algebra. With my second, we're doing Russian Math and are loving it. Okay, I'm loving it. Dd just wants to fool around because it's June. Have you gone to Perpendicular Press to see if there are sample pages of their book? http://www.perpendicularpress.com Actually, I just went there, and if you scroll down you'll see a sample on this page http://www.perpendicularpress.com/math6.html

 

Another option is to do Life of Fred Fractions & Decimals; these are the pre-Algebra books for LoF.

 

To do Algebra, your dc needs to have the maturity and patience to work long problems.

 

Thanks for the input. What exactly do you like, I mean love, about Russian Math? I have been on the website but I still don't get a good sense of the program without holding the book in my hands.

 

My ds. did Lial's BCM after Singapore and before continuing on to Foerster's Algebra I.

 

Here is another program that I have been unable to see. Did you like Lial's BCM? What did you like about it? How old was your ds and did the transition go smoothly?

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My son was 10 when we began Lial's BCM. They provide a prediagnostic test at the beginning of the book to see where your child can begin. We didn't do a couple of chapters in the beginning. It was a very smooth transition. I purchased BCM used very inexpensively. My younger son who is 11 is finishing up with BCM this year and will be moving on to Foerster's I in the fall.

BCM is used in community colleges as remedial Math and so it is designed to cover every standard US math concept (and US terminology) your child needs to know before proceeding on to Algebra. My children were able to fill in all the gaps of knowledge they had in Math because of using Singapore Math and both have tested very well relieving me of all my fears. Once we started Foerster's Algebra I we also used Art of Problem solving texts like Number Theory and Art of Problem Solving vol. I , Math Counts, AMC 8 contests, etc. So we took almost a year and a half to complete Algebra I.

HTH!

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Thanks for the input. What exactly do you like, I mean love, about Russian Math? I have been on the website but I still don't get a good sense of the program without holding the book in my hands.

 

I like the language of the lessons. I think the way it's written helps clarify things and also to present them in a different way. For my dd that is helpful. I like the challenging word problems (the ones with asterisks) because they are different than the kind she's had with SM/CWP. I like the problems where she is given some information (eg 2 towns are a certain distance apart, one vehicle leaves town A at a certain speed & another leaves the other one at a different speed (each at such and such a time) but the student has to come up with a math problem using the information; mine has to go out of her comfort zone to do this. Dd likes the way the problems are numbered thoughout the book so she can figure out what fraction of the book she's done.

 

The sample didn't show some of the independent learning things, such as the fun one on prime numbers. I bought this book on the recommendation of someone on these forums (who hasn't been here since last fall due to health issues) whose math opinion I respect and whose suggestions have always been particularly helpful to us. She actually gave me the link to Perpendicular Press and a link to Mathematical Circles. I simply chose the less expensive one. I want to get the other one sometime, too, because it doesn't cover all the same things.

 

Mostly, I like my dc to experience math in more than one approach. This dd, after a relatively brief time with Saxon, had done MUS & SM only for several years. The Russian Math is helping her approach some things in a new way and is also presenting some things she hadn't yet done (at least, she'll be getting to those once she's done multiplying fractions. I'm not sure if the sample showed it, but there are also questions relating to the explanations themselves where they basically have to reword what they've learned and this helps a lot with her understanding of what's going on behind the calculations.

 

That said, I can't tell who will like it and who won't. We haven't "known" each other long on this forum, so it's hard to say how close our dc are with good curricula choices.

 

Here is another program that I have been unable to see. Did you like Lial's BCM? What did you like about it? How old was your ds and did the transition go smoothly?

 

 

I've only used Lial's Beginning Algebra; or should I say that my eldest dd did. She learns math by reading the book, so wasn't interested in my getting the lectures you can get to go with it. She liked it, but finally hit a point where she really needed a teacher as the explanations really do beg for a teacher and hates to do Algebra my way. We switched to a 1965 Dolciani and she is doing well with it for the most part (but not so well with one of the "Extra for Experts" areas at first, but those are optional.)

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My son was 10 when we began Lial's BCM. They provide a prediagnostic test at the beginning of the book to see where your child can begin. We didn't do a couple of chapters in the beginning. It was a very smooth transition. I purchased BCM used very inexpensively. My younger son who is 11 is finishing up with BCM this year and will be moving on to Foerster's I in the fall.

BCM is used in community colleges as remedial Math and so it is designed to cover every standard US math concept (and US terminology) your child needs to know before proceeding on to Algebra. My children were able to fill in all the gaps of knowledge they had in Math because of using Singapore Math and both have tested very well relieving me of all my fears. Once we started Foerster's Algebra I we also used Art of Problem solving texts like Number Theory and Art of Problem Solving vol. I , Math Counts, AMC 8 contests, etc. So we took almost a year and a half to complete Algebra I.

HTH!

 

I like the language of the lessons. I think the way it's written helps clarify things and also to present them in a different way. For my dd that is helpful. I like the challenging word problems (the ones with asterisks) because they are different than the kind she's had with SM/CWP. I like the problems where she is given some information (eg 2 towns are a certain distance apart, one vehicle leaves town A at a certain speed & another leaves the other one at a different speed (each at such and such a time) but the student has to come up with a math problem using the information; mine has to go out of her comfort zone to do this. Dd likes the way the problems are numbered thoughout the book so she can figure out what fraction of the book she's done.

 

The sample didn't show some of the independent learning things, such as the fun one on prime numbers. I bought this book on the recommendation of someone on these forums (who hasn't been here since last fall due to health issues) whose math opinion I respect and whose suggestions have always been particularly helpful to us. She actually gave me the link to Perpendicular Press and a link to Mathematical Circles. I simply chose the less expensive one. I want to get the other one sometime, too, because it doesn't cover all the same things.

 

Mostly, I like my dc to experience math in more than one approach. This dd, after a relatively brief time with Saxon, had done MUS & SM only for several years. The Russian Math is helping her approach some things in a new way and is also presenting some things she hadn't yet done (at least, she'll be getting to those once she's done multiplying fractions. I'm not sure if the sample showed it, but there are also questions relating to the explanations themselves where they basically have to reword what they've learned and this helps a lot with her understanding of what's going on behind the calculations.

 

That said, I can't tell who will like it and who won't. We haven't "known" each other long on this forum, so it's hard to say how close our dc are with good curricula choices.

 

 

 

 

I've only used Lial's Beginning Algebra; or should I say that my eldest dd did. She learns math by reading the book, so wasn't interested in my getting the lectures you can get to go with it. She liked it, but finally hit a point where she really needed a teacher as the explanations really do beg for a teacher and hates to do Algebra my way. We switched to a 1965 Dolciani and she is doing well with it for the most part (but not so well with one of the "Extra for Experts" areas at first, but those are optional.)

 

Thanks! This helps! I tried to get both Russian Math 6 and Lial's BCM via interlibrary loan but no such luck. I may try to find inexpensive used copies online. Today, I received Dolciani Pre-algebra: An Accelerated Course used from Amazon for less than $10. Any experience with this? It seems good; I like it. Something tells me that I am going to end up with so many math books on my shelves!

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Thanks! This helps! I tried to get both Russian Math 6 and Lial's BCM via interlibrary loan but no such luck. I may try to find inexpensive used copies online. Today, I received Dolciani Pre-algebra: An Accelerated Course used from Amazon for less than $10. Any experience with this? It seems good; I like it. Something tells me that I am going to end up with so many math books on my shelves!

 

 

What year is it? We love the 1965 Dolciani Structure and Method Algebra 1 book here. The prime years for Dolciani are 1965-1975. My eldest is finishing this up in the next couple of months.

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