BlsdMama Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Would this be insane or doable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moira in MA Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 It may be doable. I no longer have the text so I can't say for sure. But one of things I really liked about Jacobs -- I used the 2nd edition, the one with proofs -- is that it it includes Algebra review so that it is not totally forgotten while a student spends time learning geometry. ~Moira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 The review is one of the strengths of his book. I also don't know if there would be a maturity level issue, although every kid is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Here is why I ask: DD has struggled consistently with Algebra I. We were thinking that it might be a good idea to take some time off from Algebra I. In an effort to stay on target and task, we thought we'd do Geometry. So, bottom line, if we want to do Jacob's Geometry, am I creating a problem for my Algebra challenged DD because of the review and her lack of Algebra success/experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Jacobs assumes that the student has had Algebra I prior to doing geometry. I specifically remember some problems that required that the student know how to factor polynomials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Here is why I ask: DD has struggled consistently with Algebra I. We were thinking that it might be a good idea to take some time off from Algebra I. In an effort to stay on target and task, we thought we'd do Geometry. So, bottom line, if we want to do Jacob's Geometry, am I creating a problem for my Algebra challenged DD because of the review and her lack of Algebra success/experience? TT Geometry assumes that the student has less algebra than Jacobs does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I pulled down my Jacob's Geometry, and you do need some algebra to do the geometry problems in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Ds is finishing Jacobs this week. Even aside from the algebra review sections (which you could skip), plenty of other problems assume a basic understanding of algebraic principles. I think you might be able to get by with less than a full algebra 1 course prior to Jacobs Geometry, but I doubt you'd have enough background with just pre-algebra... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 Ds is finishing Jacobs this week. Even aside from the algebra review sections (which you could skip), plenty of other problems assume a basic understanding of algebraic principles. I think you might be able to get by with less than a full algebra 1 course prior to Jacobs Geometry, but I doubt you'd have enough background with just pre-algebra... Hmmm... Okay. Let me ask this question then... If Mom knew and was comfortable with Algebra, would the Jacobs Geometry make sense to the DD *if* Mom taught her what she needed when she needed it. For example to find the missing side of this shape, you use this formula... Could you learn what you needed as you went or would it be unnecessarily complicated? I want her to have one ENJOYABLE year of math as the past year and a half has been very frustrating for her. Sigh. I thought perhaps stopping Algebra and switching over to Geometry for one year would keep us from falling behind *and* help her to enjoy math again. Maybe not. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Are you wanting to use the 2nd or 3rd edition of Jacobs Geometry? If you're planning to use the 3rd, I would take a very close look at it prior to using it, as it is not a typical geometry book. My son is great at math and my algebra skills are pretty strong, but the 3rd edition of Jacobs threw both of us for a loop (and this was after thoroughly enjoying Jacobs Algebra). The 2nd edition is much more straightforward (but not straightforward enough for us, apparently, because we ended up moving to TT Geometry). FWIW, I got an A in geometry in high school. Here's an example of a problem you might find in Jacobs that requires knowledge of algebra: The area of a rectangle is 6x^2 + x - 35. What are the length and width? I just made this one up, but I know problems of this type are in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinTea Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 (edited) My ds did Jacob's Geometry after one year of Algebra with VideoText. He took some time off of Algebra because he was getting tired of it. I did not know at the time that VT was not the right program to use and wish we had done Saxon for him. Ugh. Oh well, back to the question at hand. Although he's a bright student, Jacob's was difficult for him. It's not only the geometry involved, but the lessons are long with lots of focus on just geometry. We use Saxon now and love that there is a bit of geometry in each lesson, but not so much to make your head explode. My dd would crash with ALL geometry every day. Since your dd is not that old yet, maybe you could try another Algebra course that might work for her. My dd did not like math much, did not understand it, and doing TT 7 did not help at all. We went to Saxon finally and I can say that she still doesn't love math, but she is understanding it, does not feel overwhelmed, and is looking forward to Advanced Math next year. If you want an easier year, then consider Jacob's Mathematics, A Human Endeavor. I have that book and if we were floundering still with Algebra, I would give that a go. There's also the Key To books. I had those once and they looked promising. If there had been a roadblock, I was prepared to use them. All in all, I would be very apprehensive in going from not so hard (TT Algebra) to very hard (Jacob's Geometry). Edited May 17, 2011 by LatinTea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 We've done Saxon. (1 1/2 years.) We did TT for about 3 months. We gave Lial's a try, but it wasn't an EARNEST try. I'm considering giving it another shot. I'm not very happy in the Algebra homeschooling dept. this week. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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