Chalkdust PreAlbebra or BCM for 5th Grader

[kprow5]

Hi,

 

I had a question. My daughter, who is going into the 5th grade just finished Math U See Zeta in the Spring. I was looking at a couple of PreAlgebra courses for her for the Fall. She is very good at Math, she doesn't have any trouble picking up new Math concepts.

 

I was wondering which program would be better for a young PreAlgebra student. I showed her both Lial's BCM and Chalkdust PreAlgebra. She seems to like them both and they both seem to cover the same concepts but in a different order. I like her to stay in the same program for rest of her Math classes.

 

Also, does Lial's BCM and PreAlgebra cover the same topics but PreAlgebra book cover them at a faster pace or do they cover a little bit different topics? I wasn't sure if it would be best to do BCM and then PreAlgebra book and then go into Introductory Algebra or just skip PreAlgebra and go straight into the Algebra book.

 

Which book covers Math topics in the Algebra and beyond better, Chalkdust or Lial?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Karen

[Pongo]

Hi,

 

I had a question. My daughter, who is going into the 5th grade just finished Math U See Zeta in the Spring. I was looking at a couple of PreAlgebra courses for her for the Fall. She is very good at Math, she doesn't have any trouble picking up new Math concepts.

 

I was wondering which program would be better for a young PreAlgebra student. I showed her both Lial's BCM and Chalkdust PreAlgebra. She seems to like them both and they both seem to cover the same concepts but in a different order. I like her to stay in the same program for rest of her Math classes.

 

Also, does Lial's BCM and PreAlgebra cover the same topics but PreAlgebra book cover them at a faster pace or do they cover a little bit different topics? I wasn't sure if it would be best to do BCM and then PreAlgebra book and then go into Introductory Algebra or just skip PreAlgebra and go straight into the Algebra book.

 

Which book covers Math topics in the Algebra and beyond better, Chalkdust or Lial?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Karen

 

 

CD Pre-Alg moves quite fast. My dd used Singapore to 6B and then went into CD pre-algebra, it was a tough course. She is now 11-7th grade in CD Algebra and we will most likely take more than a year to get through it, but I'm okay with that. My ds used MUS and I would not even attempt going into a the CD Pre-Algebra text, he placed into the CD 6th, so I decided to use BJU 7th because it really has everthing he'll need to solidify those important concepts, and we will take our time, he's only 10.5 gojng into 5th.

I don't think MUS is behind, but the depth of the problems would not prepare him for a text like CD Pre-Algebra, I think if I were to stay with MUS Prealg- thin I think to follow up with Pre-alg CD moving through it and testing out of chapters would have been my choice. Have you tried testing her into a few different math texts, it will help you to gage wether or not she is REALLY ready.

I tend to do the Saxon and Singapore one. My dd coming out of 6B tested into Algebra for Saxon and NEM1 for Singapore. My ds using MUS through Zeta came out placing in Singapore 6A and Saxon 5/4. That's how we decided he really wasn't ready for CD pre-alg. I don't know anything much about Lials, other than its a remideial college text.

Edited June 21, 2010 by Pongo

[christine in al]

We are going to do that in 6th, then PreAlgebra in 7th.

( thanks to Pongo the ISBN goddess)

 

I have Lial's and the Houghton-Mifflin that Chalkdust uses for Basic Math. both are remedial college texts.

~christine in al

[kprow5]

Hi Christine,

 

We have Lial's Basic College Math at home, we could use. Do you think it would be better to go from Lial BCM and then go into Chalkdust PreAlgebra? We have both because I wanted to compare them side by side and I got them pretty cheap. They almost look idential, that is why I wanted to make sure that I am using the right book first.

 

Thank you for your help. Also Thank you Pongo for your help, too.

 

Karen

[Country Girl]

Karen,

 

One thing I thought I'd mention about the CD Basic math program in case you are considering that... the book Chalkdust uses is specially formatted for Chalkdust and leaves out some of the chapters that are in the original Houghton Mifflin version of the book. So in that respect.... Lials BCM seems to cover more than the CD Basic Math book. However, my guess is that the HM version of the CD book and Lials are probably nearly identical in scope.

[kprow5]

Thank you for your help. I will use the Lial Basic Math first. And see how she does with it.

 

I read from alot of forums that alot of younger student might not have a hard time with PreAlgebra but when they get to Algebra they have a harder time with it. Their thinking skills might not be ready for abstract thinking needed for Algebra.

 

Would it be best to go from: Lial Basic College Math to Lial PreAlgebra and then to Lial Introductory Algebra?

 

or just go from Basic College Math to Introductory Algebra and do the book slowly. When I bought the Lial Introductory Algebra, I got the DVT, Math Lab cd and password to use for one year to use for help, if she needed it.

 

If anyone has used Lial, do you find their books past Algebra I to have clear instructions or would you switch to something else for Geometry and Algebra II?

 

Thanks,

 

Karen

[christine in al]

We have been out of town and are leaving again soon.

 

The HM book I got using Pongo's ISBN , seems a TEENY bit more thorough than Lial's, but only just and in some ways I like the way Lial's looks and feels on the page. I am eager to see how the video instruction with Dana Mosely and the HM sinc up. If they don't sinc up easliy, I'm keeping Lial's as a back-up. I do prefer Dana Mosely to the Lial's video instruction. just personal preference.

 

I am still finishing Rigth Start E , Galore Park and working in Key to.. series this year, so I haven't looked at how the two materials work together.

 

I think Lial's will be fine though.

~c.

[Country Girl]

 

The HM book I got using Pongo's ISBN , seems a TEENY bit more thorough than Lial's, but only just and in some ways I like the way Lial's looks and feels on the page.

 

Thanks, it is nice to hear how these two compare. Like I said, I have the CD version but I've actually been thinking of getting the HM version to compare it to Lials.

 

I'm keeping Lial's as a back-up. I do prefer Dana Mosely to the Lial's video instruction. just personal preference.

 

Is there a sample somewhere to see the Lials' video instruction?