AoPS Pre-alg1 users.....

[Capt_Uhura]

I'm wondering if most of you are having DC do AoPS pre-alg1 independently? It's written to the student, but I feel DS11 will more out of it if we go through the text together. He will be starting the class next week but we had already started before the class opened up. We're not quite finished w/ chapter 1. He will do the exercises on his own and correct his work and then explain to me what he got wrong. He does the exercises within the text alone for the most part and then we go over it together and read through the explanation. For instance, he can always get the answer, but I want him to write in the steps of the "proof" and explain it to me w/ proper terminology (I used the definition of subtraction followed by negation of a negation to get to XYZ and then I used the associative property....). That often takes a few leading questions. I'm wondering if our pace will be fast enough for this course or would it be better to wait a year. He is enjoying it and doesn't cry, stall, run when I say it's time to do math.

 

Capt Uhura

[freesia]

My ds really likes me to work through the section with him. I read it, he works the problems--orally at this point, then we read the solutions. He does the exercises independently and I check them and have him redo the ones he missed. I haven't been having him say the definitions but that is a great idea. He tends to rush things so I am having him write things out more as we go along--too many careless mistakes.

[Deniseibase]

We're doing it together - she likes me to read the problem to her and then she gives me the solution, and then if she is wrong I can just say 'try again' and she hasn't SEEN the answer yet, so she gets another stab at it. She much prefers to NOT see the answer until she has truly solved it, so I'm fine with this. I figure EVENTUALLY she'll work on her own or start taking the online classes - she'll have to, because in about another year she's going to be passing the limits of MY math knowledge, LOL!! :D

[wapiti]

Like the others, we tend to go through the lesson problems somewhat together. I have her try them by herself, and I stay nearby. To the extent that she gets stuck, I ask some leading questions. I try very hard not to give it away, and she has shown that the more she figures out by herself, the better she understands. By the time we get to the solutions to the lesson problems, she usually knows all the right answers, so we mainly go through to see whether the book did it differently (it's hard to get her attention for that) and to go over any special rules that were learned. The exercises she does by herself, and then we go through the solutions together. She tends to ask for confirmation part-way through the exercises on whether she's right or wrong, which I don't mind; if she's wrong, I have her start over. We're having to build a little confidence by getting them right by herself.

 

FWIW, I think the book gets more fun once you get into chapter 2.

[matilda]

Our method is similar to yours. DD does the lesson problems on her own, and then we go through them. Then she does the exercises and we go through those together.

 

 

FWIW, I think the book gets more fun once you get into chapter 2.

 

I am glad to hear this, because we just finished chapter 1 today.

[melmichigan]

My DD and I do the problems together, she solves and then we discuss her answer before reviewing the books answer, she likes the immediate feedback. She does the exercises by herself, although I usually work through them on my own during that time. Depending on the topic she will ask if they are correct every few problems. Looking at the class schedule the most you seem to cover in a week is four sections and alcumus. The only thing we have come across so far is that the weeks you finish the chapter are more packed because of the review and challenge problems. The online class reviews any of the new rules and terminology used in solving the problems so we don't spend a large amount of time on that beyond the discovery.

[Capt_Uhura]

Thanks everyone. I'm doing pretty much doing the same. I like for him to explain to me how he got his answer. He's getting much better writing out the steps like the book does as opposed to just doing the answer in his head. He really enjoyed the class last week and is looking forward to next Tuesday. He also likes doing Alcumus. He has hated math so I'm happy w/ these turn of events. For the last few sections, he has done the section problems on his own, calls me if he gets stuck, I remind him to look at any previous rules or re-read, he usually gets it. Then we read through the explanations again, making note of the proper terminology etc. He will be on his own for the Review questions at the end. I'll check the answers and give him a 2nd shot at any wrong ones before handing over the solutions manual for him then to explain to me why he got it wrong.