Amy in CO Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I got the Elementary Algebra book listed in the Chalkdust for less thread. I wrote out a schedule for dd that will give her 2 days per objective, 2 days for review, and 1 day each for tests and quizes. Math is not her strongest subject. We only do math 4 days a week, so setting it up this way takes 36 weeks to complete. My plan for the lessons is to watch the dvd with her, go over the examples, and then have her work on the problems. And then have her fix her mistakes. But I have no idea how many problems to give her. Some lessons have over 180 problems. Is it reasonable to pick one even and one odd from each type of problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 You might want to pick either all evens or all odds, due to the way the answers are set up. I like your thinking about how long it should take. I just go through my son's exercise, and circle the problems for him to complete. Usually, I pick 2-3 from a section I think he knows well, and 4-5 from a more shaky topic. Clear as mud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kRenee Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I have my dd do 20-25 problems per section. I think the recommendation is 25-30. I usually make sure she does at least 2 of each type of problem and usually just odds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in CO Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 I didn't want to pick just odd, because those answers are all in the back. I don't want the temptation there for her to look. That was a problem with LoF this summer. I like the idea to pick 2-3 if she is comfortable with it and 4-5 if it is something new or she is struggling with it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z2_mom Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Make sure to do the problems that are designated with the little calculator sign. This will give them more work with the graphing calculators and help them get familiar with them for later SAT testing etc. Also make sure that you include the word problems not all but a good amount----some of them in the text are great life skill problems. My dd just did one on the decreasing value of a car over time. There was one she did on loan interest rates over a period of time. All the problems used algebra to solve but it helps one realize how we really do use it in daily life. Chalkdust is a great math program and we are loving it for Algebra 1! This is coming from someone who purchased it just before all the threads appeared how on to get it cheaper.... I paid the full price and I don't regret it at all!!!! Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in CO Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 thanks for the tip for calculators. What kind of calculator would you recommend? We have one that 15-20 yrs old that dh and I used in college. I think it is a T81. Is that good enough, or do we need to update? One of the other planning threads I saw for prealgebra, was to do the first 15 odd. And in the algebra book, that wouldn't be enough to get you to story problems. Which is why I asked what other people were doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I didn't want to pick just odd, because those answers are all in the back. I don't want the temptation there for her to look. That was a problem with LoF this summer. I like the idea to pick 2-3 if she is comfortable with it and 4-5 if it is something new or she is struggling with it. Thanks. I fixed the "answers in the back of the book" problem with my straight edge. I cut them out...3 hole punched and put into my binder...no temptation. ~~Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Those answers in the back are put there on purpose-FOR THE STUDENTS TO USE AS THEY PRACTICE! The students are practicing 'new' concepts when they do a homework assignment. They should NOT be graded on how well they practiced--but a completion grade is acceptable. If you suspect 'cheating' then you can always give a short quiz using some of the even problems... I have always allowed my students access to the answers by assigning the ODD problems. If more help is needed, or if I need a tutoring example I will use the evens. This is suggested in almost every TM I have ever had-and I've been teaching high school math for nearly 25 years! In my current online Math classes I have my students check their own work after every section of similar homework problems. I do not want them practicing a problem type incorrectly and then trying to move on. If they miss a problem they MUST go back and work it out correctly. Usually it is a simple error that they are able to 'discover'. If they get stuck they can e-mail me (talk with the teacher) or look it up in the solutions manual. Then they go back and re-work/practice the problem correctly. This allows the student to take responsibility for their mistakes--and more importantly, it makes the students aware of the types of mistakes they tend to make. The number of mistakes made on each lesson actually goes DOWN with this method. If a student just hands in a paper--and scores an 'OK' grade they will tend to NOT look back at the problems they missed---and those missed concepts WILL snowball... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 This is what CD recommends as a general guideline, and it has worked for my daughter. We're on our 3rd and 4th CD program now and have used this pattern for everything except geometry. For geometry, she does every other odd, as per CD's recommendation (there are fewer geometry problems). As for the calculator, the text recommends one in particular, and we used either that one or the next newer model. I highly recommend using one that is within a version or two of the model they use, as the keystrokes are set out very specifically. Keeps us from having to read the owner's manual. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in CO Posted August 24, 2009 Author Share Posted August 24, 2009 I will have to look and see which calculator is mentioned in the book. I saw that there was a unit in the back. As for the oddd answers in the back, that is why I want to make sure to include some odd, so she can check to see if the answer is right, and make sure she is on the right track. But we found with LoF, that she would look at the answers and just shrug if the answer was wrong. She figured the answer was close enough, or she saw the answer so what good would it do to actually correct the problem. Whereas in other math programs we have done, if she couldn't see the answers beforehand, she tried harder to get them right, and would not complain to badly if she had to fix them so they were correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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