ciyates Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) DS is in the 10th grade using Chalkdust Algebra 2. His PSAT in math was terrible and his latest SAT was 520. He is struggling so much with Algebra 2 right now. His average is about a 70. I had him complete a few placement test (Teaching Textbook and Math U seee) and he could not place into Algebra 2. I am so frustrated and so is he. If it isn't a problem he is very very familiar with he can't figure out how to do it. My instinct is to start over at the beginning of Algebra with something like TT. I have always stayed away from TT because I thought it was too light. Now I realize he is missing some of the fundamentals. How did we get this far along and I not realize it? By the way we used MUS for Algebra 1 and his grade was a 91. What do I do? P.S. If you show him how to do the problem he can work it fine. He is currently doing Apologia Physics and once he knows which formula to use he doesn't have a problem. The real problem seems to be analyzing the problem to figure out what to do. Edited December 16, 2011 by ciyates additional information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I'm using Lial's Intermediate Algebra to tutor a student who struggled through algebra 1. She's made HUGE gains using this book, which is generally used as remedial alg 2 in colleges. It's very inexpensive to buy used, which is always a plus. She started in August and is finishing chapter 8- nice progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 My dd13 used MUS for Algebra 1 and did very well. Because we use an accredited high school program, I chose to have her repeat Algebra rather than ask them to give her credit for the MUS. I'm glad I did. There are things in that traditional textbook that she didn't cover in MUS. She obviously didn't have as great a foundation as I thought she had. But she will do the traditional path like my ds15 did. After Algebra 1 we do Geometry and then go into Algebra 2. My ds15 is doing well in Algebra 2 but it isn't coming as easily as Algebra 1 and Geometry did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciyates Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Annie, Which edition should I get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 We are using Foerster's Algebra 1 right now and loving his clear ways of explaining things. He has an Algebra 2 book out.... You may want to get Algebra 1 (Foerster), and go through the chapter reviews. Wherever DS has issues, stop and go over that chapter. Then move on to the Algebra 2 book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Yes, I think you should scrap it. I don't have much to offer in the way of advice. We struggle here at times with math, and my dd took a second year of Alg 1, using Lial's (Introductory, I think). Lial's was great. She's using something else this year for geometry but will go back to Lial's for Alg 2. I kept hoping dd's first year of algebra would click (she used Life of Fred), but it never did. I don't want to say it was a wasted year, but I should have stopped and switched early on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I am hugely in love with Art of Problem Solving (AOPS) algebra. Not only does it really work through the whys of how algebra works, but the problem sets require the student to really consider what a problem is asking and use all of his math brain tools to solve them. I don't think that AOPS would feel repetitious because it is so different. And don't feel bad if he covers chapter 1, then hits 2 and realizes that he didn't understand 1 nearly as well as he needed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 VideoText is another program you may want to consider. We've loved it and my kids scored well on the ACT in math. Neither of them are particularly "mathy" kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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