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Suggestions for self directed Pre-Algebra Curriculum


fairfarmhand
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I've finally come to the realization that my dd 13 is going to need to repeat pre algebra. She is passing, but she's really struggling with the concepts.

 

So that gives me a tremendous sense of relief, but I need to figure out what to do next. Currently she is using Saxon, Algebra 1/2. I really like this program, and the cheapskate in me wants to reuse it, but I honestly feel like she would do better with a different approach.

 

It needs to be self directed because according to my dd I am an idiot who doesn't have the sense to breathe, much less teach algebra. (slight exaggeration, but my teaching leads to constant conflict with her, as her frustration with math overrides her good sense)

 

So, I've looked at teaching textbooks, and I like what I saw, but I need some opinions....

 

help please...

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Would life of fred pre algebra work for her?

 

and I am not sure if this would be helpful but there is this:

 

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/menus/resources.htm

 

It is the homepage for the people that provide MEP math. MEP is K-6 but there is math for older kids. If you look on the right you will see "MEP resource picker" That lets you access 7a/7b, 8a/8b, 9a/9b. I am guessing at least one of those is pre-algebra.

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Kinetic Books has more challenging problems than TT, but (IMO) fewer explanations. One advantage of KB is that it's totally independent and everything is done on the computer (including grading), whereas with TT the student works the problems on paper and you need to correct the work yourself (unless you trust your DD to check/correct her own). The advantage of TT is that it includes worked solutions for all the problems, whereas KB only provides answers for the odd problems, and no worked solutions at all.

 

Life of Fred is fabulous and very funny, but the problems are often presented with little explanation up front; the student is supposed to connect the dots themselves and puzzle out the answer, and then the explanation is often provided with the answer immediately after the problem. For kids who enjoy puzzling things out for themselves and "get" that way of doing math, LoF can be a terrific stand-alone program, but I think that kids who need more explanation up front would do better to use a more traditional program to cover the concepts first, and then do LoF to make sure they can apply what they've learned.

 

IMHO, TT plus LoF would be a good combination, because TT would provide a gentle introduction to the concepts, and then LoF would provide the challenging word problems that TT lacks.

 

Jackie

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I've finally come to the realization that my dd 13 is going to need to repeat pre algebra. She is passing, but she's really struggling with the concepts.

 

So that gives me a tremendous sense of relief, but I need to figure out what to do next. Currently she is using Saxon, Algebra 1/2. I really like this program, and the cheapskate in me wants to reuse it, but I honestly feel like she would do better with a different approach.

 

It needs to be self directed because according to my dd I am an idiot who doesn't have the sense to breathe, much less teach algebra. (slight exaggeration, but my teaching leads to constant conflict with her, as her frustration with math overrides her good sense)

 

So, I've looked at teaching textbooks, and I like what I saw, but I need some opinions....

 

help please...

 

We haven't used Algebra 1/2 yet, but Saxon offer teacher CD-ROMs which might help:

 

http://www.mcdougallittell.com/store/ProductCatalogController?cmd=ProductDetail&recordReference=1433862&nextPage=McDougal/Product.jsp&division=M01&frontOrBack=F&sortEntriesBy=SEQ_NAME&sortProductsBy=SEQ_TITLE&hierarchyID=1007500000077017

 

You can probably get them other places too.

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we have the dive dv-roms and I still don't know what the hang up is...

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