Derek Owen's Geometry ?'s

[Azalea]

I am considering having my dd take Derek Owen's Geometry class next year. I have a copy of the Jacob's textbook and it seems excellent. DD is currently taking DO's physical science class, so I have an idea what the format of his classes are like and I really appreciate his lectures and materials. My questions:

 

1. From the samples at the website, it appears that DO assigns the exercise Sets I and II from the textbook and also Set III for the honors level. In addition to that, he also has his own homework that you complete and send in to be graded. Am I understanding this correctly? Do you feel there is a lot of extra value gained from doing the extra homework?

 

2. My dd will be taking the course in 9th grade and she is an average math student. Would you recommend the regular or honors level of the course?

 

Thank you so much for any advice. Azalea

[abbeyej]

He usually assigns specific problems from each set, so that even with the additional homework it's often slightly less than the total number in the book. I also allowed my son to do some of the textbook problems orally when they were easy to solve aloud and didn't really require written work. And yes, I think both the textbook work and the turned-in homework was worthwhile.

 

I don't think the honors work is all that much more difficult. It's more about thinking through a more challenging "critical thinking" type problem that uses material (often several things pulled together) from the chapter. You don't have to be a math wiz to do them, but sometimes they do take a little time to puzzle through. Also, Derek will let you drop the honors part at any time, if you find it overwhelming. So you can start the year with "honors" and see how it goes.

[EKS]

I think you can try honors level and if it doesn't work out, revert to regular.

[Azalea]

Thank you both so much for your responses. This is exactly what I needed to know. Also did your kids enjoy this class? Azalea

[EKS]

Also did your kids enjoy this class? Azalea

 

We haven't used the geometry class. My older one did Derek Owens' precalculus class this past fall and the younger one is doing prealgebra right now.

 

If I had known about Derek Owens back when the older one was doing geometry, and I knew then what I know know (that geometry can be a pain to grade), I would have definitely give it a try. My younger son will likely be using Derek Owens for geometry.

[abbeyej]

Thank you both so much for your responses. This is exactly what I needed to know. Also did your kids enjoy this class? Azalea

 

Yes, ds thoroughly enjoyed Derek's geometry and is enjoying algebra 2 now. I'll put dd in his classes eventually.

[yinne]

Can you answer a couple of questions for me about his classes? (interested in precalculus)

 

I understand that homework and tests are sent to him and he grades it. Is that correct? How quickly does he get work back to the student?

 

Do you have a solutions manual to give help, if needed, or do you not have a solutions manual? If you don't have a solutions manual has that been a problem with helping your student?

 

How responsive is he to questions about homework problems?

 

Is the student required to correct any problems (homework/tests) that are incorrect?

 

Thanks for any information.

 

Yvonne in NE

[abbeyej]

Can you answer a couple of questions for me about his classes? (interested in precalculus)

 

I understand that homework and tests are sent to him and he grades it. Is that correct? How quickly does he get work back to the student?

 

Do you have a solutions manual to give help, if needed, or do you not have a solutions manual? If you don't have a solutions manual has that been a problem with helping your student?

 

How responsive is he to questions about homework problems?

 

Is the student required to correct any problems (homework/tests) that are incorrect?

 

Thanks for any information.

 

Yvonne in NE

 

Yes, if you pay for the online course, you'll fax (or email or mail) homework and tests in to him as you finish. (He has recently put a couple of courses up at lucideducation.com where you can buy a solutions manual and do them yourself -- I don't know if he has plans to put pre-calc up there any time soon.) He generally responds quite quickly -- often within 24 hours -- though there have been a very few times when it's been close to a week to get work back. He marks corrections directly on the page, so every time a homework is returned, it comes to my email, dh's, and ds's (you can specify who gets it) just as you would in a class, with the kid's work and corrections in red.

 

He's very accessible by email. Both ds and I have written him with questions and he usually responds quite quickly.

 

There's no solutions manual for pre-Calc that I know of, though I would suggest emailing him, if that's a big concern. So far (ds has only one geometry and algebra 2), it hasn't been a problem for us.

 

Kids aren't required to make corrections when they're doing pretty well over all. If a student has obviously just misunderstood a concept, the homework might be returned with "Redo" written across the top and an explanation of where he thinks the misunderstanding occurred. That's happened maybe twice? Both times he accepted the second homework for full credit. He also has "b" forms of each of his tests. If a student or parent is unhappy with a test grade, they can study corrections in the first test, go back over the notes, and request the second form of the test. (Or, if a student's grade is lower than usual, Mr. Owens might suggest it.) It will test the same material but with different problems. He will keep the second test grade.