Algebra 1 help needed--please!--Larson not working

[Mary in MN]

We're in chapter 5 of Larson's elementary/intermediate algebra book (planning to stop at chapter 10 this year) My ds is getting more and more confused by Algebra...entering a "can't see the forest for the trees' muddle in which he gets so caught up in rules and formulas that he's losing sight of why he's doing what he's doing.

 

He's not doing badly with Larson--gets low A's or high B's on most of his chapter tests--but I get the feeling it's all not clicking and that he's forgetting what he's learned as soon as he's done with the chapter (though, again, he did fine on the cumulative 1-3 test; but that material was mostly review from last year). He hates the textbook--the sheer number of problems on the page, I suspect, get to him, even though we only do every fourth. It also takes him FOREVER to get his tests done because he's so worried about getting things wrong and overthinks everything.

 

In short, the math anxiety monster has struck big time...what to do?!

 

He's a humanities oriented kid--not particularly math-oriented but does fine normally. We used Singapore through 6B, which he loved, then TT Algebra 1 last year which was so-so. Is there an algebra text out there that works well with kids who like the Singapore approach? Or should we just keep muddling through, and expect it all to come together at some point? (That has happened before).

 

Also--while he dislikes the math textbook, he likes the chalkdust videos--it would be ideal if we could pair them with a different style textbook.

 

TIA,

 

Mary

[AngieW in Texas]

My dd loved Kinetic Books Algebra I after Singapore. Many of the problems had immediate feedback and stepped help, so she didn't do a bunch of problems wrong and then have to redo them all.

 

There isn't a solution manual. The end-of-unit problems only have answers for the odds, but the odds are plenty to assign. I sometimes assigned every-other-odd like is typical for Larson's texts. My dd rarely missed problems in the end-of-unit section because she had so many problems with immediate feedback before getting to the end of the unit that she was very clear on what she was to do.

[Julie in MN]

I'm a big fan of Math Relief for algebra. I tried a lot of things before discovering it. They have sample videos on their website, if you'd like to have a peek.

 

Julie

[Susan C.]

Chalkdust didn't work with either of my kids..... the books are college, which was too much. The DVDs (and book) moved too quickly, and neither of my kids could keep up. Both of my kids are good students BTW.

 

We have ended up with BJU with dvds. It moves slower, has way more instruction, and breaks the tasks into more steps. Also, the dvds tell you which problems to do in the book, and then quizzes, tests, and keys come with them. So you are not guessing which problems need to be done so your kids do well on the test (a big problem with Chalkdust for us). I don't have to teach the math either, and to be honest, I'm ready for a break!! :)