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What options do I have for pre-algebra?


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My 6th grade dd is finishing up Singapore 6A and will get through a good chunk of 6B by the end of the year. Instead of moving into algebra for 7th grade, I'd like to give her a year of pre-algebra to cement all the concepts she's learned up to this point. (Side note: we tried algebra with her very mature older sister halfway through 7th grade and then tried again in 8th. I couldn't believe how much more quickly she grasped the concepts being several months older. I'd like to give my youngest dd that same opportunity for success.)

 

So...

 

What options do I have for pre-algebra? I'm looking for a curricula that explains the "why" behind the algorithm.

 

I've actually got Lial's BCM, but I'd like something that's geared more to my dd's age. I know Teaching Textbooks has a pre-algebra program, but we've used TT before, and I don't find it rigorous enough.

 

What else have you used for pre-algebra? What its strengths and weaknesses?

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My 6th grade dd is finishing up Singapore 6A and will get through a good chunk of 6B by the end of the year. Instead of moving into algebra for 7th grade, I'd like to give her a year of pre-algebra to cement all the concepts she's learned up to this point. (Side note: we tried algebra with her very mature older sister halfway through 7th grade and then tried again in 8th. I couldn't believe how much more quickly she grasped the concepts being several months older. I'd like to give my youngest dd that same opportunity for success.)

 

So...

 

What options do I have for pre-algebra? I'm looking for a curricula that explains the "why" behind the algorithm.

 

I've actually got Lial's BCM, but I'd like something that's geared more to my dd's age. I know Teaching Textbooks has a pre-algebra program, but we've used TT before, and I don't find it rigorous enough.

 

What else have you used for pre-algebra? What its strengths and weaknesses?

 

The first few chapters of NEM 1 are a continuation of arithmetic and she would learn negative numbers, order of operations, operations on hairy gigantic hairy fractions, LCM, GCM before algebra.

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is a nice follow-up to PM6. It helps solidify the concepts and introduces the US terminology. Dd finished PM6 and is working her way through Dolciani's Pre-Algebra. She takes each chapter test and if she scores 90% or higher, we skip the chapter. If not, we work on the sections she didn't score well in. There is a bit of new stuff that's not in SM such as a chapter on probability and statistics (which was on her annual FCAT test).

 

HTH,

Sandra

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We too use Dolciani's Pre-algebra, and we love it.

 

I am on my fourth time through it, and each time I end up so impressed with how thorough and challenging it is. At the same time, it explains the material well enough that my kids self-teach using it -- for the most part I'm just the grader. About once a month or so I actually answer a question!

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and I really like it. I watch the videos with my son. I like it because it was how I was taught-teacher working problems on a chalk board with a big long eraser...brings back high school. I also like that it emphasizes the step by step process and not just the right answer--which then leads to partial credit and all. So far, and we haven't been using it all that long, I have been pleased. I don't teach-I just tutor here and there. We stop the CD to work the problems and then push play to see if we were right. It's kinda fun...that would be my opinion, not my son's, but that's cuz math and fun just don't go hand in hand for him. I'm hoping that in time, that will change.

Michelle:001_smile:

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Also used Dolciani texts for pre-algebra, but since Storm was only going into 5th grade last fall, I decided on Dolciani's Mathematics Structure & Method Books 1 & 2--it's the same as the pre-algebra text, but with more problems and review in two volumes.

 

I found one text @ a second-hand store, and purchased the other off EBAY for a couple of bucks. The answers to the odd problems are in the back of the text. Also, Folett's Books sometimes has the texts & TMs for some of the Dolciani series.

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It is a solid overview of all the basics while at the same time introducing algebraic concepts early on so they are reviewed and used throughout the rest of the year.

 

The TM is excellent, provides extra examples, a few hands-on ideas at times (ie. neg/pos. numbers), and outlines 3 courses of study from the same book: struggling, average, challenging. The "challenging" track doesn't necessarily include *more* problems, but assigns fewer of the "practice the topic of the day" problems and all the "deeper" thinking problems.

 

You can see a sample of one entire chapter at BJU's website. If you don't need/want a DVD teacher, I would definitely recommend BJU's Pre-Algebra text.

 

Another suggestion for you,

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is a nice follow-up to PM6. It helps solidify the concepts and introduces the US terminology. Dd finished PM6 and is working her way through Dolciani's Pre-Algebra. She takes each chapter test and if she scores 90% or higher, we skip the chapter. If not, we work on the sections she didn't score well in. There is a bit of new stuff that's not in SM such as a chapter on probability and statistics (which was on her annual FCAT test).

 

HTH,

Sandra

 

This is almost exactly what we're doing. If he can pass the chapter test, we skip it.

 

We're also using the pre-algebra problems to go through the torturous process of teaching the dc to write. out. his. work. Correctly. Completely.

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