Jenn in Mo Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 I finally have the Dolciani I've wanted for years and my son is enjoying it. We're only on chapter 2 at the moment, but he says it is very easy. It will pick up soon though, right? The beginnings of textbooks are often gentle like that before getting down to business. He has used Singapore up to now and enjoyed the challenge. I hesitated to go on to NEM because I'd heard it explains concepts without using the math vocabulary and that this could stump him later. Now I keep reading about Art of Problem Solving and it just sounds so good. In my curriculum-junkie brain it is the perfect combination of NEM challenge with the proofy vocabulary of Dolciani all blended together. Someone tell me to stick with the Dolciani and stop looking at other people's green grass. Please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 We got through 6 before my son needed more help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn in Mo Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 Tina, do you mean more help with NEM? Is it a big leap from the Singapore we were used to with 6? Maybe the Dolciani is best if that is the case. While he enjoyed the challenge of 6, I'm afraid more challenging than that would be more frustrating than challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Tina, do you mean more help with NEM? Is it a big leap from the Singapore we were used to with 6? Maybe the Dolciani is best if that is the case. While he enjoyed the challenge of 6, I'm afraid more challenging than that would be more frustrating than challenging. Here's my circle of algebra.....not pretty! Not ds's fault, but really my poor planning and my decision Not to teach Algebra. Everybody under him will follow their own path, which will eliminate Dolciani. He finished Singapore 6B, then did MUS pre-algebra. From there he went to Dolciani. He got through (without me) chapters 1-6, then he needed help, but since I was not working along with him, I was unable to help (it's been a long time since I did algebra). I put him through MUS Alg (no tomatoes, but I consider MUS to be a "primer" and not rigorous enough for this student, who adores math). He finished that. I bought the Chalkdust (generic version) and we looked through that determining there will be 3 chapters that are "new" to him. Now he'll finish those three up, then head to Chalkdust Alg. 2 (generic version) via DVD instruction. I would love to continue with NEM, but my family size dictates there are not enough hours for me to continue teaching higher level maths, as I would have to teach, and also prepare and practice in order to do so. We love the look of NEM, but no DVD's is now a problem for us. For the math lovers to follow, I'll let them finish MUS pre-alg, then skip right over to Chalkdust. For my non-mathy dc, they'll hit up Life of Fred. Once I've "tested" that (on the first dc to use it right now), then we'll see where we'll go from there :) Sorry for rambling. ps. it appears that a leap from 6B to NEW is right on target. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 (edited) My son is finishing up Modern Algebra I by Dolciani (copyright 1965). His last 3 assignments were on the Sine and Cosine of an Angle, Function Values, and Numerical Trigonometry. Believe me, it gets VERY challenging, but it's very, very thorough. This book is my oldest son's favorite textbook, but he thinks he'll like the Modern Geometry text next year even more. ETA: The first four chapters are somewhat easy, but very foundational. The following chapters build on the terms and axioms introduced, so I made sure that the information was solid in my son's mind before we moved forward. It's easy to gloss over sets, subsets, order of operations, variables, negative numbers etc, but this information is critical when you get to inequalities, polynomials, factoring, graphs, etc. The logical organization and clear presentation of the information in Modern Algebra I is what makes this program so successful in our homeschool. In my opinion there's no need to supplement. at. all. Especially if you use the maximum course assignment guide located in the teacher's manual. Edited May 3, 2010 by Beth in Central TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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