Algebra questions

[LillianinAL]

I am trying to decide on Algebra 1 for ds, who'll be in 8th next year. He's done MUS from 3rd (Gamma) - Pre-Algebra now and has done well. I am looking at MUS, Jacob's, and wondering what else I should look at. I can help him, as can dh (who's an engineer), but I need for ds to be almost completely independent. We'll have a lot going on next year! He is very good at math, but doesn't work quickly and is much more of a history/ literary guy. Are there any sites where I can see a sample of Jacob's Algebra? What would you recommend? Thanks, Lillian

[flmochamom]

I would recommend Art of Problem Solving Intro to Algebra, especially if he likes math. There is not much history/literature (ok, none), but the math aspect is great.

[EKS]

My son did very well with Jacobs Algebra. It is an excellent text. I was able to get it through our library, but if you can't do this, one thing I have done is buy really cheap used copies to review and then I buy a new copy when I decide to use it if the used one is in horrible condition. Unfortunately, I just checked on Amazon and the used copies are almost as much as a new one.

[AngieW in Texas]

For almost completely independent, I would look at Kinetic Books Algebra I. You won't get solution manuals, just answers, but as long as that works for you, it's a good program. The reason it works well for mostly independent is that many of the problems are done on the computer with immediate feedback.

[sbaloue]

You might want to consider Math Relief. You can check it out at www.mathrelief.com. I am planning to use this with my 8th grader in the fall.

[langfam]

DS 8th grade is using Foerster's this year. This is my favorite Algebra 1 text. It is very straight forward text and has many challenging word problems. We had used Jacob's with another DS and it did not work well for us....not our learning style.

[AlmiraGulch]

My 8th grade DD has had tremendous success with VideoText Algebra this year. She is a "mathy" kid anyway, but honeslty...the way the material is presented makes so much sense (to us) that I think she would have done well even if she weren't.

 

We do utilize the unit tests, and even though they cover A LOT of material and she doesn't have the tests very often she still has mastered the concepts enough to remember how to do the work and has done very well on them.

 

I highly recommend this program.

[4wildberrys]

Why are you not considering just continuing on with MUS? Sorry if I missed if you said why ;) My kids, 8th and 11th, are using the MUS Algebra and we LOVE it! The graphing is taught so incrementally and logically that even my dd got it!!! Anyways---I just want to give a plug for MUS in the upper levels.

[Storm Bay]

Life of Fred might be just what you're looking for. It's very independent; all I do is grade some of the cities and help if they have trouble, which isn't very often.

 

My middle dd did MUS Alpha-Zeta, minus Delta. However, she did other math, too, because we're a two-math-program-at-a-time types here.