catz Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Anyone else teaching AoPS Algebra this year? We just started this week. We came from a background of Singapore through 6B and then last year we did the pre-alg/early algebra portions of NEM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 I'm in a very similar position! My 10 year old ds is also using AoPS pre-algebra offline. We also went through Singapore 6B, except we did Thinkwell 6 (and EPGY) last year. :D We'll see how it goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 I'm in a very similar position! My 10 year old ds is also using AoPS pre-algebra offline. We also went through Singapore 6B, except we did Thinkwell 6 (and EPGY) last year. :D We'll see how it goes! My dd10 is using the pre-algebra offline, but I'm starting to get sold on the on-line course :D, the one that starts in October. I haven't decided yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 DS is continuing with Intro to Algebra this year - he started last school year. We just use the book, not the online class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted September 8, 2011 Author Share Posted September 8, 2011 Great to hear from a few folks! Look forward to bouncing thoughts around this year. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 We just finished ch. 1 of the Intro to Algebra book. We also did Singapore through 6b and then the first chapters of NEM. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diviya Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 We are almost through the first chapter of Algebra. We went through SM 6B and did the first four books of Keys to Algebra and the first four chapters of Sinagapore's New Math Counts last year. I am cautiously optimistic, but we are having to go pretty slowly. I had hoped she could get through one section a day, but it is more like 2 to 3 days per section. I really wish their pre algebra book had come out last year - it would have been perfect! I was getting worried and second guessing myself because she is not the type to try to figure out something she doesn't know at all. I was ready to drop it and then I reread the introduction and they said that that approach doesn't work for all students, and so those students could go ahead and read the explanations without first working it out on their own. That gave me some peace of mind, and it is going better that way. We will see. I'm hoping as she gains confidence that she will be willing to play around with it more. I'm still keeping the pre algebra book in reserve, but I hate to do a whole other year of pre algebra when she already knows the stuff! Looking forward to seeing how it goes for everybody :001_smile: and getting some tips! Oh, I did also toy with doing Discovering Mathematics instead, but the format didn't appeal to her at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 We just finished ch. 1 of the Intro to Algebra book. We also did Singapore through 6b and then the first chapters of NEM. :001_smile: We are just finishing chapter 1 too and did a little more than half of NEM. This is seeming MUCH easier than NEM to us and even up to chapter 5 and 6, I think it's going to be smooth sailing! Working through NEM was a little bit of torture for a while there but I think it really paid off. NEM seemed quite challenging. Are you finding the same thing? Really curious how other people would compare AoPS Intro to Alg to NEM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 We are just finishing chapter 1 too and did a little more than half of NEM. This is seeming MUCH easier than NEM to us and even up to chapter 5 and 6, I think it's going to be smooth sailing! Working through NEM was a little bit of torture for a while there but I think it really paid off. NEM seemed quite challenging. Are you finding the same thing? Really curious how other people would compare AoPS Intro to Alg to NEM. We felt the same about NEM... I really, really wanted a teacher's manual at first, but then we did fine without one. I remember reading a post about NEM1 and someone said the first few chapters will 'kill you with numbers' lol. I think we prefer AoPS discovery format....my dc's immediate reaction was very positive. We'll see how the next chapters go....right now I am having them do some extra problems from Alcumus because I gave them a quiz on chapter 1 and they didn't do as well as I thought they should have (for having done so well on the exercises in the book) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 We felt the same about NEM... I really, really wanted a teacher's manual at first, but then we did fine without one. I remember reading a post about NEM1 and someone said the first few chapters will 'kill you with numbers' lol. I think we prefer AoPS discovery format....my dc's immediate reaction was very positive. We'll see how the next chapters go....right now I am having them do some extra problems from Alcumus because I gave them a quiz on chapter 1 and they didn't do as well as I thought they should have (for having done so well on the exercises in the book) My DS's reaction was very positive right away too. Things seem laid out in a more user friendly way in AoPS over NEM. NEM did kill you with the computation but didn't seem to lay out the concepts quite as clearly as AoPS. Anyway, very pleasant surprise! I was worried we'd not be ready for it, but we're more than ready. Woo hoo! :D I just set up an Alcumus account too, so I'm going to schedule some of that into our school day. My DS is a little sloppy yet with the accuracy sometimes so a little extra practice won't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 We are almost through the first chapter of Algebra. We went through SM 6B and did the first four books of Keys to Algebra and the first four chapters of Sinagapore's New Math Counts last year. I am cautiously optimistic, but we are having to go pretty slowly. I had hoped she could get through one section a day, but it is more like 2 to 3 days per section. I really wish their pre algebra book had come out last year - it would have been perfect!I was getting worried and second guessing myself because she is not the type to try to figure out something she doesn't know at all. I was ready to drop it and then I reread the introduction and they said that that approach doesn't work for all students, and so those students could go ahead and read the explanations without first working it out on their own. That gave me some peace of mind, and it is going better that way. We will see. I'm hoping as she gains confidence that she will be willing to play around with it more. I'm still keeping the pre algebra book in reserve, but I hate to do a whole other year of pre algebra when she already knows the stuff! Looking forward to seeing how it goes for everybody :001_smile: and getting some tips! Oh, I did also toy with doing Discovering Mathematics instead, but the format didn't appeal to her at all. I've sat down with my DS the last couple days to just show him how the discovery piece works. He's really tempted to just skip the discovery part and go over to the exercises, but I LOVE how the discovery problems are laid out so I don't want him to skip it. Even if it takes longer to get through a section. This has been review for us so far, so he's still moving well. I am nervous about how long it might take to get through that monster of a book! I keep to needing to remind myself it's much more than a typical Alg 1 class. Anyway - love to hear how people are progressing and finding it! Keep in touch newbie AoPS folks. :001_smile: Just for the record, I do have a math degree so yes, I am a math geek. Talking math makes my day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 ds(11) is doing the 2nd half this year. He does the problems one day and the exercises one day. He works for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours 4 days per week. As an aside, after reading about the difficult optimization problem in the other thread, I thought that perhaps he had not gotten to it yet, because I didn't remember him discussing it with me (he self-teaches). But then I saw it was in chapter 9, and got a bit worried that he was skipping the difficult stuff. So I asked him if he remembered this problem from about 4 months ago. He said "sure, it was so much fun, I think I will do it again." And off he went for an hour. :001_smile: Isn't that a great recommendation for the program?!?! Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I am nervous about how long it might take to get through that monster of a book! I keep to needing to remind myself it's much more than a typical Alg 1 class. My DD took about 220 hours to complete the book; she did it in 7th grade and finished over the summer. DS started in 6th grade and went through chapters 1 -11, which is pretty much the content of a standard algebra 1 course. He will continue to work on it this year and be done by the end of 7th grade. Take your time. The book is too good to be rushed through -the problems are meant to be savored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diviya Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Embarrassing to admit after my long speech earlier in the thread, but threw in the towel yesterday. We are going to do the pre algebra book. At least that's the plan for now. My poor guinea pig. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 (edited) Embarrassing to admit after my long speech earlier in the thread, but threw in the towel yesterday. We are going to do the pre algebra book. At least that's the plan for now. My poor guinea pig. :D I just want to encourage you to not feel like your dd is not strong in math or that she will be gypped if the AoPS approach is not a good fit for her. It really is not the way all kids learn and if she needs to go back to a more traditional instructional method, she will be fine. My 15 yos loves AoPS. My 12 yod doesn't. The way my 15 yos learns, thinks, and processes math is distinctly different from my dd. I have put her back into Foersters and she is thriving. This is my take on it......ds had no learning curve when jumping from traditional texts into AoPS. He had already completed math through alg 2 when I first learned about AoPS. He used Foersters for both. However, he never thought about the problems the way Foerster instructed. His older sister was still doing math w/him at that point and when he woud attempt to help his sister understand something, his explanations never resembled the way the books taught. When he took AoPS's alg 3 course, it was like the meeting of the minds. He felt like he was home and that the text was speaking the same language as him. In speaking w/Kathy in Richmond (a wonderful poster on the high school board) she helped me start to see the differences in the approaches. Ds sees the big picture and he automatically arrives at the details on his own and not necessarily the way books instruct. For example, this yr he is taking calculus w/ a traditional text (the AoPS text isn't really a good match for the AP exam). As he has been working through the text, in his mind he has already generated the proofs that the book goes on to teach a few pages later. He has come and told me that a couple of times now. This is a much different way of thinking than my dd. She likes/needs the small details to stack and build. She takes those details and then generates the big picture. She fully understands what she is doing once she has put all the pieces together and sees it all together. There is not necessarily a "right" or "wrong" way to learn. They are different. I think it exemplifies more how they think/process than anything else. Edited September 10, 2011 by 8FillTheHeart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beck Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 My ds & dd are doing AoPS this year with just the book (& me teaching it). They were both in a charter school last year - ds took Algebra 1 & dd took pre-algebra. We are going to be adding Alcumus (thanks to whoever recommended it!) to provide some extra practice. We're 5 weeks in - so far so good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I completely agree with 8filltheheart. I personally would hate to learn math the way AoPS teaches it, and I was very good in math taking Algebra in 6th as a child. But my ds does NOT want to be told how to do math. In Singapore Math he would not look at the textbook or let me teach him, because he told me it was "cheating." So obviously the discovery method of AoPS is perfect for him. The down side is that it is taking sooooo long (2+ years for AoPS intro algebra). It would be much faster to just tell him how to do the problems. He tells me that he understands it better by having to figure it out for himself, and he definitely loves math using this book, but please know that there are other very good programs out there. Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 Embarrassing to admit after my long speech earlier in the thread, but threw in the towel yesterday. We are going to do the pre algebra book. At least that's the plan for now. My poor guinea pig. :D LOL - I can't tell you how many times we almost threw in the towel last year on Singapore NEM. I think it's such a balancing act with young mathy kids between their ability to output what they know and just being able to focus on math an hour or more per day. Even though we did 1/2 of NEM last year, DS could have never have done it with timed tests in a classroom environment. Who knows - we're only 1 week into AoPS algebra. We may yet need to make a change. :tongue_smilie: I completely agree with 8filltheheart. I personally would hate to learn math the way AoPS teaches it, and I was very good in math taking Algebra in 6th as a child. But my ds does NOT want to be told how to do math. In Singapore Math he would not look at the textbook or let me teach him, because he told me it was "cheating." So obviously the discovery method of AoPS is perfect for him. The down side is that it is taking sooooo long (2+ years for AoPS intro algebra). It would be much faster to just tell him how to do the problems. He tells me that he understands it better by having to figure it out for himself, and he definitely loves math using this book, but please know that there are other very good programs out there. Ruth My kids rarely use the textbooks in Singapore as well. Hmmm ... interesting! I actually did not so well in elementary math (using a very kill/drill/procedural curriculum). I should say I did fine, but I hated it. It wasn't until I hit teachers that loved math and taught in a more conceptual way did I start to love it and excel. I would have LOVED AoPS! And I definitely see how it might not be the right approach for every child, or even necessarily every "mathy" kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 We started AoPS Algebra last week, and we finished the first chapter today. We did most of LOF Beginning Algebra last year, but I wasn't very happy with it. DS and I are both really liking the AoPS book so far. DH and I have been particularly happy to see the complexity level that they work up to, even right at the beginning. We both feel like after one week of AoPS, DS has a better grasp of radicals and how to simplify and manipulate them than we did when taking calculus. I'm excited to start the second chapter tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Anyone else still using this? We're working on the third chapter here, and DS and I are both really enjoying it. I've been thinking that I should make up some review pages to keep up DS's proficiency in fractional exponents, negative exponents, and simplifying radicals. Has anyone else needed to do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarahillmom Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 My eldest just started with AoPS Algebra off-line. We are also on Chap 8 of NEM. AoPS is his reward to himself. It is soooo much easier for him to digest. I really think NEM was a very good preparation for this. I am going to continue in both (we do a section in both every day). I am hopeful it continues to be seen as a reward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I decided to move back to AoPs Prealgebra. So far it is review for my dc (they have done the first three chapter in the last week) but they are having to really think and work on the challenging problems and some of the competition problems. I think this book is a MUCH better prep for AoPS algebra than Singapore 6a/b. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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