LatinTea Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 My dd is at the beginning of Saxon Advanced Math and I'm starting to wonder if this will get way too hard for her pretty soon and too light on reviewing algebra. She has done Saxon Algebra 1 and 2, but with this book I was hoping for the kind of review every day of what she's already learned, but it looks like that kind of algebra fades at about Lesson 40. I do want her to keep it fresh until she tests sometime in the late spring of next year. My question is do I need to supplement this book with maybe some of Algebra 2 again? Or do the heavier concepts in this book use what she learned in Algebra 2 and reinforce it that way? I'm not a math person and so I'm just not sure. I have Teaching Textbooks Geometry in case we have to bail, but I don't want to if at all possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinTea Posted October 7, 2011 Author Share Posted October 7, 2011 Anyone? Any thoughts on this? I looked at Teaching Textbook just now and it looks way easier. I see a couple big differences. In Saxon, what my dd has learned already is all over the board as to the contents of TT Geometry. And there is no algebra, of course, and it seems there are gobs of proofs that the student does in every lesson. Is Saxon different in regards to writing out proofs? The solution manual doesn't look at all like TT as I don't see any proofs detailed, but maybe it's just written differently? Please help if you can; I'm in foreign territory with this stuff as my son did upper level math by himself. But my dd and I are doing this together and I don't want to get in over our heads. Algebra 2 was a stretch for us and I had hoped Advanced Math would just gel everything, but instead, it looks like a big complicated ordeal. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Well, I'm not certain what you are asking in regards to test. The Advanced Math book is a pre-calculus book. We never did any other math while we were doing Advanced Math -- the book is hard enough on its own. It has been awhile since I did the book. For the PSAT/SAT tests you don't need anymore geometry than is found in the Saxon books. I did have my children go through some practice test books for those tests before taking those tests. We did not spend much time on the practice tests though. Hope this helps. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Anyone? Any thoughts on this? I looked at Teaching Textbook just now and it looks way easier. I see a couple big differences. In Saxon, what my dd has learned already is all over the board as to the contents of TT Geometry. And there is no algebra, of course, and it seems there are gobs of proofs that the student does in every lesson. Is Saxon different in regards to writing out proofs? The solution manual doesn't look at all like TT as I don't see any proofs detailed, but maybe it's just written differently? Please help if you can; I'm in foreign territory with this stuff as my son did upper level math by himself. But my dd and I are doing this together and I don't want to get in over our heads. Algebra 2 was a stretch for us and I had hoped Advanced Math would just gel everything, but instead, it looks like a big complicated ordeal. :glare: IMO Advanced Math is much more challenging than Algebra 2. I wouldn't suggest starting it if someone struggled with algebra 2, but instead to take a month or two to really nail down algebra 1 and 2 as those concepts will be built upon. Then move onto Advanced Math. You can take two years to complete the book as the lesson problems, while only 25 instead of 30, are involved and time consuming. As far as keeping the algebra work fresh for standardized tests, this would have to be separate work. They could just do some of the old Saxon tests here and there, or better yet, do test prep work. Any of the SAT, PSAT, ACT prep books should be fine for that. There's little review in Advanced Math as it's assumed that the student already know the previous material well. Even the few beginning chapters. which are review, take the material up a notch. We found this Saxon text to be an awesome pre-calculus text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinTea Posted October 7, 2011 Author Share Posted October 7, 2011 Yes, sorry, my posts are a bit vague. I was speaking of the ACT test. I did look through the book a bit more and do see that proofs are done in Advanced Math, just not every lesson like TT does. My ds just told me that proofs are very annoying to do and to avoid them at all costs. ;) Anyway, I know that Saxon has enough, that's for sure. I think we will stick with Advanced Math for now. I don't really want to learn a different way; we have always liked the review in Saxon. Not sure if TT has enough of that. And I don't like their bumpy looking lines they use for the geometric shapes in the textbook. I like the clear, crisp looking lines in Saxon. :) Thanks for your post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinTea Posted October 7, 2011 Author Share Posted October 7, 2011 IMO Advanced Math is much more challenging than Algebra 2. I wouldn't suggest starting it if someone struggled with algebra 2' date=' but instead to take a month or two to really nail down algebra 1 and 2 as those concepts will be built upon. Then move onto Advanced Math. You can take two years to complete the book as the lesson problems, while only 25 instead of 30, are involved and time consuming. As far as keeping the algebra work fresh for standardized tests, this would have to be separate work. They could just do some of the old Saxon tests here and there, or better yet, do test prep work. Any of the SAT, PSAT, ACT prep books should be fine for that. There's little review in Advanced Math as it's assumed that the student already know the previous material well. Even the few beginning chapters. which are review, take the material up a notch. We found this Saxon text to be an awesome pre-calculus text.[/quote'] I must have missed your post somehow. Thanks for that advice about stepping back and making sure my dd has her Algebra 2 down pat. She doesn't. So, we will take some time to go over quite a bit of that and then give Advanced Math a try again. I gotta remember this isn't a race. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 (edited) I must have missed your post somehow. Thanks for that advice about stepping back and making sure my dd has her Algebra 2 down pat. She doesn't. So, we will take some time to go over quite a bit of that and then give Advanced Math a try again. I gotta remember this isn't a race. :001_smile: You're welcome. :001_smile: Remember it's the tortoise that wins. :001_smile: When you do get to Advanced Math, don't rush through the first few review chapters even though you've just done some of that in algebra 2; they take it up a notch and introduce a few twists on what's already been covered. And there's nothing wrong with taking two days, or more if needed, to do a lesson. Edited October 8, 2011 by Teachin'Mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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