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For those who picked Videotext or Chalkdust. Which one and why?


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My dd will be in 7th. She has completed Singapore 6B and Horizons 6. She 'tested out' of the Key to..Fractions, Percents, and Decimals. I feel she has a very good understanding of concepts and is quick to pick them up.

 

I think she would prefer the short lessons of Videotext, but she is young and I'm in no hurry to push her along.

 

Does Videotext really accomplish pre-algebra through pre-calc in 4 years (for $1300) what Chalkdust covers in 6 years (for $2400)?

 

Does Chalkdust develop concepts and critical thinking like VideoText claims to do?

 

So, which one did you choose?

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I, and my ds, liked Dana Mosely's presentation skills better than the other presenters. We also watched some of the Lial's BCM video tutor examples, but didn't like them as well.

 

Also, we had ds take the Chalkdust placement test which they offer for an additional fee--worth every penny to know that we were starting in the right place.

 

And, it has worked. It has been a good year for math, too.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Pat

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I, and my ds, liked Dana Mosely's presentation skills better than the other presenters.
This is why we went with Chalkdust as well. After our disasterous outing with the Latina Christiana DVD's, I've learned the value of asking Bean's opinion of the teacher *before* I buy.
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As far as the DVD instruction is concerned. Dana Mosely is a superb teacher, in my opinion. I like that he's very organized in his presentation. I like that he's very thorough and does not make assumptions about what a student might/might not understand and therefore does not make leaps in teaching a concept. He's very methodical. He does not skip steps. I like that he might review a concept a little before teaching a new one to refresh the student's memory. He can be quite animated and is therefore not boring. He almost teaches with his whole body.

 

My kids love him and call him "Uncle Buck". Two DC scored in the 600s for math section of SAT after using his SAT review.

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my math hater liked Videotext. My math lover liked Chalkdust. I had purchased the chalkdust for the older (math hater) It didn't work for him.

I then purchased Videotext. He likes the short lessons and he is learning.

 

My younger ds like math and likes Chalkdust. His only complaint is "all you see is the back of his head the whole time." The teacher is always writing on the board.

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I used to tutor upper math (taught only 1 years worth in the public school) and really really did not like Videotext. I liked Chalkdust a lot. Videotext is more of a terminal math program. The customer service is not very good and it does not do the best job of preparing a child for upper level classes. Chalkdust, in the other hand, is very thorough and prepares a student well for college and such.

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I used to tutor upper math (taught only 1 years worth in the public school) and really really did not like Videotext. I liked Chalkdust a lot. Videotext is more of a terminal math program. The customer service is not very good and it does not do the best job of preparing a child for upper level classes. Chalkdust, in the other hand, is very thorough and prepares a student well for college and such.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by VideoText being a terminal program. Also, how does it not prepare a child for upper level classes?

 

Thanks.

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I don't know anything about videotext and what book they use. I just wanted to add about the CD textbooks.

 

For prealgebra, at the end of each chapter there's a chapter review and cumulative review.

 

For Algebra 1, each problem set begins with a review section ( about 11 questions). There's a mid-chapter quiz, and at the end of each chapter, there's a chapter review and cumulative review.

 

I really like the CD texts too, besides the DVDs.

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We looked at both and went with CD for these reasons:

1. CD follows a conventional progression--pre-algebra, Alg. I, Geometry, Alg. II, etc. If it didn't work out, I figured it would be easier to switch to another program or back into school.

2. The CD textbooks are good and have more problems than you are ever likely to need. As noted above, the cumulative review at the beginning of each section's problems is excellent.

3. I don't know how this compares to VT, but CD has an excellent resale value. I've resold mine without ever actually having to list them anywhere.

4. CD emphasizes writing out all of the steps of the problem, which is so important for higher-level math, physics and chemistry.

We've now used pre-algebra and Alg. I and have Alg. II and geometry ready (doing them concurrently over 2 years) to go when school starts back.

Hope that helps.

Terri

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because Dana Mosely is a very good teacher. Like someone said, you do tend to see the back of his head a lot, but that is because he's writing on the board. He does try to talk to the student as much as possible, and he tries very hard not to cover up what he's writing on the board. My oldest listens to his lessons twice the first day of a new lesson: once to just watch and listen, and once to take notes.

 

I can't compare Chalkdust with Videotext, but I would say that the instruction is better than Lial's DVT's. However, I prefer the Lial's algebra books over the little that I saw of Chalkdust's algebra text---very thorough. For geometry, though, Chalkdust has been very good, and I've learned to accept the differences in the texts.

 

The one thing I would "question" gently about Videotext, and this is asked without my ever having reviewed the program, is how they can really go from pre-algebra to calculus in four years? That may be possible---but is it preferable? I can see how this would be possible for a stellar math student, but is it preferable for most math students? I wonder if the student would really learn all that they're supposed to learn? Are important concepts skipped in order to cover that much material? I personally would rather that my kids progress more slowly through math and really understand what they're learning. Of course, it might be entirely possible that Videotext can do this---but I'd check into it carefully.

 

Good luck in choosing the best program!

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The one thing I would "question" gently about Videotext, and this is asked without my ever having reviewed the program, is how they can really go from pre-algebra to calculus in four years? That may be possible---but is it preferable? I can see how this would be possible for a stellar math student, but is it preferable for most math students? I wonder if the student would really learn all that they're supposed to learn? Are important concepts skipped in order to cover that much material? I personally would rather that my kids progress more slowly through math and really understand what they're learning. Of course, it might be entirely possible that Videotext can do this---but I'd check into it carefully.

 

Good luck in choosing the best program!

 

Setting aside 'pre-algebra,' which I think is really just a firming up of the concepts and processes of arithmetic, with a gentle introduction to the early concepts of Algebra 1, aren't there just the following courses which normally take 4 years?

 

Algebra 1

Algebra 2

Geometry

Trig/Precalc

 

The common order of these courses puts Geometry in between Algebra 1 and 2, thus a substantial portion of the beginning of Algebra 2 is repeating what they learned over a year previously in Algebra 2. By having Algebra 1 and 2 as a single long course, that 're-teaching' of Alg. 1 is eleminated and replaced with pre-Algebra 1.

 

Though we're only starting Geometry this year, and I remember nothing of Trig from high school, I imagine it's somewhat the same, when students who haven't had Geometry in over a year need some review before starting Trig, which would also shorten the timeline of VT.

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