christielee7278 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 My 7th grader will finish up 76 in a few weeks. I'm not sure if he should then go into 87 or Algebra 1/2. He has done very well with 76, mostly independent without any real struggles. We have 87 already so I wonder if it is much different than Algebra 1/2 and if he will miss something going from 87 to Algebra. I don't mind at all purchasing Algebra 1/2 if it is better than 87. Can anyone compare the two for me? Thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Which edition? The newer editions recommend using 87 and then algebra, but the old edition recommended using algebra 1/2. Personally, I prefer to use both 87 and algebra 1/2. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I'm wondering the same thing as my 6th grader is moving in that direction. My oldest did 1/2 quite successfully, but it was a winding path from Saxon, to TT, and back to Saxon. A friend of mine locally described 87 as "a slow stroll through the meadow pausing to look at the flowers" and 1/2 as "a quick paced walk on the path". I think what she meant by that was 87 has lots of review and gives a dc time to mature. 1/2 moves at at good steady pace which is perfect if you don't need review or time to mature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheryl h Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 It's been explained to me much like HollyDay describes...8/7 for those who need the review, and Alg.1/2 for those that breezed through 7/6. According to Art Reed, both will prepare you for Algebra 1. It sounds like your dc would do fine with Alg.1/2. I have one dc doing 8/7 now, and I am so glad we chose that route. However, my ds that is doing 7/6 now will probably do Alg. 1/2 next year. We have been using the teacher CD's with both books and it is going really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RENEEinVA Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Saxon 8/7 worked well for my younger dd. She went straight from that to Chalk Dust Alg. I without any trouble whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 The latest edition of 87 is pretty meaty. The old one is remedial. So don't consider the old one at all. 87 has skills practice, and 1/2 does not. If you think your child needs facts and computation speed practice, 87 is better. 1/2 is slightly more theoretical and just a bit harder than 87. Both cover much the same ground. I ended up going with 87 because DD was not mathy and I thought that this would give us the space to possibly do 1/2 before Algebra 1 if it seemed necessary. 87 was hard, but at the end of it she was very well-prepared for Algebra 1. Also, Saxon now recommends 87 as the default, with 1/2 the stop gap for a student who is not ready to tackle Algebra. So I went with their recommendation, and it worked out quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori in MS Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 With the newest edition 87 includes prealgebra. If they struggled in 87, do Algebra 1/2 than Algrebra 1. If they did not struggle in 87, go straight to Algebra 1. Algebra 1/2 is the optional one that you can skip, not 87. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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