Please. Tell me why you LOVE Lial for math!

[smilesonly]

I am seriously at the end of my rope. I cannot spend more high $$ on a math curriculum. Thus my consideration of trying Lial's again.

 

Somebody please rescue us!!:banghead::crying::blush::ohmy:

[Hunter's Moon]

I am seriously at the end of my rope. I cannot spend more high $$ on a math curriculum. Thus my consideration of trying Lial's again.

 

Somebody please rescue us!!:banghead::crying::blush::ohmy:

 

 

• Cheap

• Many examples

• Lots of problems to choose from

• They have Digital Tutor DVD to go along (all levels??)

 

 

I'm pretty sure their teacher manuals are good too. I just use the answers in the back of the book and do fine though.

[smilesonly]

• Cheap
  
• Many examples
  
• Lots of problems to choose from
  
• They have Digital Tutor DVD to go along (all levels??)
  

 

I'm pretty sure their teacher manuals are good too. I just use the answers in the back of the book and do fine though.

 

Stephanie,

 

I am not much help to my dd, so are the explanations clear? I really need to boost her confidence-she's just stuck and we are running out of time for her to be stuck, iykwim.

[Hunter's Moon]

Stephanie,

 

I am not much help to my dd, so are the explanations clear? I really need to boost her confidence-she's just stuck and we are running out of time for her to be stuck, iykwim.

 

Some of the explanations can be a bit tricky. But, I've found if I invest enough time (1 1/2 hours per day) then I can usually get it. I'm in Pre-Calc though and I think 1 1/2 hours is expected for Pre-Calc.

 

Khan Academy has been good help for concepts I'm having trouble grasping. His videos usually present the concept in a different way.

 

I'm pretty sure Lial's is a remedial college math text (correct me if I'm wrong??) so there are lots of examples and practice problems to help the student grasp it without much (or any) teacher interaction.

 

You also have to remember, Lial's was made for block scheduling. A section is 2 days, chapter review is 2 days, and a test is 1 day. So, you could split up the lessons by doing x amount of examples one day with the problems associated with those examples, and then x amount of examples the next day with the rest of the problems. OR you could do all examples one day and then the problems the next day. The latter might be a bit overwhelming for some students, including me, but some students need things to "marinate" before they apply it.

 

You also wouldn't need the teacher manual. There are usually about 90 problems per section, so there'd be about 45 odd-numbered problems to do with the answers in the back. There are probably about 2-3 problems in each section that are completely worked out in the back of the book. Also, the student wouldn't need to do all the odd-numbered questions. They split the problems up by example, so for me, I'll work on a 3 or 4 in each problem set and if I get 'em all right, I move on. If I get them wrong, I do all odd-numbered.

 

HTH!

[Hunter's Moon]

Here are how the sections are laid out:

 

There is an introduction. Sometimes there will be definitions within the introduction. If a formula is involved within the definition, the formula or major concept will be summarized in a blue box under the lengthly definition. So, for example, I worked on Parabolas today. It showed me how it got to the final formula, but then in the blue box underneath, they summarize all that they said above about that formula, the "meat" of the definition.

 

After that, there are examples. Sometimes between examples, there will be "notes" about the above example, like key things to remember. There are definitions and "blue box" summaries throughout the section depending on the section, and then more examples.

 

After the examples, there are the section problems. The problem sets say what to do and most say what example they correspond with. For example, problem set three says "Give the focus, directrix, and axis for each parabola. See Example 3." That makes it a lot easier when I split up examples into two days.

 

Hope this makes sense :D

[Matryoshka]

I am not much help to my dd, so are the explanations clear? I really need to boost her confidence-she's just stuck and we are running out of time for her to be stuck, iykwim.

 

This is the big reason I love Lial's. My dd's confidence has soared. She finally feels successful at math. She does the lessons and problems alone, then goes over it every few days (or as infrequently as once a week) with her dad, who helps clear up any areas it seems she still needs clarity on.

 

If you or your dh don't feel like you could do that part, there's always the DVTs and/or Khan's Academy for additional explanation.

[Brindee]

This is the big reason I love Lial's. My dd's confidence has soared. She finally feels successful at math. She does the lessons and problems alone, then goes over it every few days (or as infrequently as once a week) with her dad, who helps clear up any areas it seems she still needs clarity on.

 

If you or your dh don't feel like you could do that part, there's always the DVTs and/or Khan's Academy for additional explanation.

:iagree: Exactly the same answer here! :D

[Clover11]

I bought this for my ds to do this year for pre-algebra. He decided he liked Saxon better and switched back (which I'm ok with). But- I love Lial's for myself! :lol: I'm currently using it to learn/re-learn math concepts. Math is not my strong subject, but I find their explanations are easy to follow. I also LOVE the price.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Clover11

[Margo out of lurking]

My math-phobic dd used Life of Fred for algebra in 9th grade and got stuck part way through. We repeated the chapter several times, and while she could do the work, she had no idea what she was doing or why. I decided to stop and use Lial's for 10th grade.

 

She has little confidence in math and wanted/needed me to sit with her for each lesson. I'm a math idiot (taking one year of high school algebra 30 years ago) and had little difficulty understanding the lessons.

 

We would work through a couple of examples and their corresponding problems. The number of examples depended on the difficulty of the concept and the amount of work. It was not unusual to take four days to get through one lesson. Dd rarely spent an hour a day at math; maybe 3-4 times all year.

 

The explanations are VERY clear, and it's easy to find information. I can't imagine using a teacher's manual; I don't have that kind of time to spend teaching my dd. Going over the examples and practice problems is sufficient. When a particularly difficult concept came up, I would spend 10 mins. or so ahead of time figuring out the explanations to know what I would be teaching her.

 

Khan Academy went way too quickly in explanations for us. IF I understood, I could keep up (but then why would I watch?) Otherwise, I was lost.

 

The biggest secret, imo, of Lial's is the online help. Go to http://www.interactmath.com; select Lial's Introductory Algebra 8e (or whatever edition you have). You can search for any odd-numbered lesson, and it will give you a identical problem (with different numbers), and walk you through how to solve the problem. You can then apply that to your own work. And it's free!

 

We made it to the second to last chapter and will spend the summer reviewing and working on problem solving skills to prepare her for the PSAT. Lial's was great!

 

I would only suggest that you use the editions/ISBNs recommended by Jann in TX, and confirm the ISBN with the seller before purchasing.

[krstbrwn]

Just to let you know - my daughter just finished dual enrollment college algebra at a local private university. They used Lial's College Algebra for the text. She did fine and made an A (we have used Saxon at home), but I'm sure it would have been even easier for her if we had used Lial's, as she would have been familiar with the layout and terminology. I don't know how many universities use Lials' textbooks, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[EKS]

The teaching is all in the text. Most books assume that a teacher will be doing the explaining but Lial does not, so it is much clearer.

 

There are practice problems woven carefully into the lessons. If you get the paperback version, the answers to these problems are right there.

 

The problem sets are directly relevant to the teaching. There is no conceptual gap that must be leapt across to do the harder problems.

 

It is obvious where to look in the book to get help if a problem is incorrect.

 

There are excellent review sets at the end of each chapter.

 

There is a practice test at the end of each chapter that is relevant to the actual test.

 

It is possible to buy a book of tests that have multiple forms for each chapter. That way if you need to repeat a test it's no problem.

 

The solutions manual is thorough and easy to follow.

 

The material is presented in an order so that the concepts build logically. After a while my son kept saying that it kept repeating itself. That sounds like a criticism of the book, but it was really a good thing because he was able to see the connections between concepts with Lial that he didn't with other books.

 

There are cumulative review problems after every chapter.

 

There is a DVD with explanations (we haven't used it, but it was nice to know it was there.)

 

And, finally, it's inexpensive (used) so that if it turns out to be a mistake, then at least it's not an expensive mistake.

[smilesonly]

Thanks so much for sharing and explaining! We will continue on with Saxon 1/2 for now, and give Lial's a try.

 

I need the book in my hands to really understand how it is organized.

 

Another question-are the test and answers in the book also? And would I be able to have dd test out of the stuff she already knows?

 

Thanks for your help!:grouphug:

[smilesonly]

Here are how the sections are laid out:

 

There is an introduction. Sometimes there will be definitions within the introduction. If a formula is involved within the definition, the formula or major concept will be summarized in a blue box under the lengthly definition. So, for example, I worked on Parabolas today. It showed me how it got to the final formula, but then in the blue box underneath, they summarize all that they said above about that formula, the "meat" of the definition.

 

After that, there are examples. Sometimes between examples, there will be "notes" about the above example, like key things to remember. There are definitions and "blue box" summaries throughout the section depending on the section, and then more examples.

 

After the examples, there are the section problems. The problem sets say what to do and most say what example they correspond with. For example, problem set three says "Give the focus, directrix, and axis for each parabola. See Example 3." That makes it a lot easier when I split up examples into two days.

 

Hope this makes sense :D

 

Thanks, Stephanie!! You are a sweetheart for taking the time to post so much!!:grouphug:

 

My math-phobic dd used Life of Fred for algebra in 9th grade and got stuck part way through. We repeated the chapter several times, and while she could do the work, she had no idea what she was doing or why. I decided to stop and use Lial's for 10th grade.

 

She has little confidence in math and wanted/needed me to sit with her for each lesson. I'm a math idiot (taking one year of high school algebra 30 years ago) and had little difficulty understanding the lessons.

 

We would work through a couple of examples and their corresponding problems. The number of examples depended on the difficulty of the concept and the amount of work. It was not unusual to take four days to get through one lesson. Dd rarely spent an hour a day at math; maybe 3-4 times all year.

 

The explanations are VERY clear, and it's easy to find information. I can't imagine using a teacher's manual; I don't have that kind of time to spend teaching my dd. Going over the examples and practice problems is sufficient. When a particularly difficult concept came up, I would spend 10 mins. or so ahead of time figuring out the explanations to know what I would be teaching her.

 

Khan Academy went way too quickly in explanations for us. IF I understood, I could keep up (but then why would I watch?) Otherwise, I was lost.

 

The biggest secret, imo, of Lial's is the online help. Go to www.interactmath.com; select Lial's Introductory Algebra 8e (or whatever edition you have). You can search for any odd-numbered lesson, and it will give you a identical problem (with different numbers), and walk you through how to solve the problem. You can then apply that to your own work. And it's free!

 

We made it to the second to last chapter and will spend the summer reviewing and working on problem solving skills to prepare her for the PSAT. Lial's was great!

 

I would only suggest that you use the editions/ISBNs recommended by Jann in TX, and confirm the ISBN with the seller before purchasing.

 

Thanks! I've marked the site you give.

 

Just to let you know - my daughter just finished dual enrollment college algebra at a local private university. They used Lial's College Algebra for the text. She did fine and made an A (we have used Saxon at home), but I'm sure it would have been even easier for her if we had used Lial's, as she would have been familiar with the layout and terminology. I don't know how many universities use Lials' textbooks, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

That's good to know. Thanks!

 

The teaching is all in the text. Most books assume that a teacher will be doing the explaining but Lial does not, so it is much clearer.

 

There are practice problems woven carefully into the lessons. If you get the paperback version, the answers to these problems are right there.

 

The problem sets are directly relevant to the teaching. There is no conceptual gap that must be leapt across to do the harder problems.

 

It is obvious where to look in the book to get help if a problem is incorrect.

 

There are excellent review sets at the end of each chapter.

 

There is a practice test at the end of each chapter that is relevant to the actual test.

 

It is possible to buy a book of tests that have multiple forms for each chapter. That way if you need to repeat a test it's no problem.

 

The solutions manual is thorough and easy to follow.

 

The material is presented in an order so that the concepts build logically. After a while my son kept saying that it kept repeating itself. That sounds like a criticism of the book, but it was really a good thing because he was able to see the connections between concepts with Lial that he didn't with other books.

 

There are cumulative review problems after every chapter.

 

There is a DVD with explanations (we haven't used it, but it was nice to know it was there.)

 

And, finally, it's inexpensive (used) so that if it turns out to be a mistake, then at least it's not an expensive mistake.

 

Thank you!! This has greatly relieved my hesitations. I appreciate that you say this text doesn't assume conceptual leaps. I see this happening in every single math curriculum and it drives us nuts!;)

[EKS]

Thanks so much for sharing and explaining! We will continue on with Saxon 1/2 for now, and give Lial's a try.

 

I need the book in my hands to really understand how it is organized.

 

Another question-are the test and answers in the book also? And would I be able to have dd test out of the stuff she already knows?

 

Thanks for your help!:grouphug:

 

There are answers to the odd problems in the back of the book.

 

There are practice tests in the book that you could use as tests (and I think all the answers are in the back of the book) but I chose to get the printed test bank instead so that my son would be able to do the practice test first and so he wouldn't have access to the test questions.

 

I would recommend getting a solution manual.

 

As for testing out of things, the short answer is yes. When we switched from Foerster (had completed half of the book) to Lial, I had initially thought this is what we would do. Instead, what we ended up doing is that I would write a problem on the whiteboard (usually the example in the book) and ask my son if he could do it. If he could easily, we moved to the next example, if he couldn't, I would show him how to do it and then he would do the corresponding practice problems. Then I would assign problems from the section based on what he needed practice with.

[Clover11]

 

Another question-are the test and answers in the book also?

 

 

 

The answers are in the back of the book. The pages are perforated, and we tore them out for me to keep separately.

 

The tests have all the answers printed in the back, but the lessons only have answers to the odd problems. We were told to only work the odd problems on daily work, so this wasn't an issue.

 

I think someone else also mentioned Interact Math ( http://www.interactmath.com/ ) I LOVE having this feature. The problems match up with the types you're working on in the book, and they help you though it step-by-step.

[DarlaS]

The teaching is all in the text. Most books assume that a teacher will be doing the explaining but Lial does not, so it is much clearer.

 

There are practice problems woven carefully into the lessons. If you get the paperback version, the answers to these problems are right there.

 

The problem sets are directly relevant to the teaching. There is no conceptual gap that must be leapt across to do the harder problems.

 

It is obvious where to look in the book to get help if a problem is incorrect.

 

There are excellent review sets at the end of each chapter.

 

There is a practice test at the end of each chapter that is relevant to the actual test.

 

It is possible to buy a book of tests that have multiple forms for each chapter. That way if you need to repeat a test it's no problem.

 

The solutions manual is thorough and easy to follow.

 

The material is presented in an order so that the concepts build logically. After a while my son kept saying that it kept repeating itself. That sounds like a criticism of the book, but it was really a good thing because he was able to see the connections between concepts with Lial that he didn't with other books.

 

There are cumulative review problems after every chapter.

 

There is a DVD with explanations (we haven't used it, but it was nice to know it was there.)

 

And, finally, it's inexpensive (used) so that if it turns out to be a mistake, then at least it's not an expensive mistake.

 

Well, you've all convinced me. I just ordered a used copy off amazon--and I wasn't even looking for another Algebra book. :tongue_smilie:

 

It IS cheap. I really should have ordered a solutions manual too.

[Brindee]

Well, you've all convinced me. I just ordered a used copy off amazon--and I wasn't even looking for another Algebra book. :tongue_smilie:

 

It IS cheap. I really should have ordered a solutions manual too.

Which one did you get? Hopefully you got a paperback edition, as they have the extra problems on the sides of the pages and the answers in the back for odd problems.

 

We didn't get a TE either, and haven't found a need for one. I'm really liking Lial's! :001_smile:

[Denise Allen]

My son (12) likes that the application problems are real life- not made up silly things. The explanations are extremely clear.

 

I got Lial's Basic College Math and Algebra I last year for 99 cents each off Amazon.

[Brindee]

My son (12) likes that the application problems are real life- not made up silly things. The explanations are extremely clear.

 

I got Lial's Basic College Math and Algebra I last year for 99 cents each off Amazon.

Yep, that's how much mine were. Can't beat $5.00 (with shipping) for a great Algebra book!

[DarlaS]

Which one did you get? Hopefully you got a paperback edition, as they have the extra problems on the sides of the pages and the answers in the back for odd problems.

 

We didn't get a TE either, and haven't found a need for one. I'm really liking Lial's! :001_smile:

 

I got the hardcover 8th edition. I am going to go ahead and order the solutions manual asap. (Like now.)

[Pamela in VA]

My son (12) likes that the application problems are real life- not made up silly things. The explanations are extremely clear.

 

I got Lial's Basic College Math and Algebra I last year for 99 cents each off Amazon.

 

I agree with what everyone has said. We recently re-started Algebra with Lial's and are loving it. I really like the real-life applications also. Today we did the one about decimalization of stock prices and I was amazed to understand it because I never did before. Ds even got it!

 

PameLA in VA