Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I don't think my 11th grade son will complete all the sections in his math book before grades are due in June. (We are under an umbrella.) I'd like to eliminate a chapter or two. We might "go over" those chapters working only a few problems and not testing or we might skip a chapter or two. He is in Chapter 4 of the 5th edition of Tobey/Slater's Intermediate Algebra. Which of the following chapters would you skip? Chapter 6 Rational Expressions and Equations ( He has already covered most of this material in MUS and a Dolicani text.) Chapter 7 Rational Exponents and Radicals (covered in above books already) Chapter 9 Conic Sections Chapter 10 Additional Properties of Functions Chapter 11 Logarithmic and exponential functions If we review Chapters 6 and 7, I'm not sure we could cover Chapters9, 10, and 11 well. I want to cover the following chapters very well because I feel they are ESSENTIAL: Chapter 5 polynomials Chapter 8 Quadratic equations and inequalities By the way, we finally settled on this particular Alg 2 book in Nov. It is fantastic! He is doing GREAT! I'm just wanting to slow down the pace at this point and make sure we've covered the essentials of Alg 2 WELL. What say you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Not Jann, and not familiar with the text you're using, but all the topics you listed are typically covered in Algebra 2; I wouldn't skip any. If you need to get the grades in by June, then I would go based on what was already covered, and just continue working through the summer until the text was finished. But then again, I'm one of those hs moms who can't not finish a text. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Ok... so maybe I should not SKIP any chapter. So.... which chapters could we "quickly go over" without working a lot of problems or taking a test? I know that most schools do not cover EVERY concept well and that many schools skip the last 10% to 20% of a text. I also know that this particular student will not do his best if the grades have been turned in. Been there, done that. Maybe we should slow down and cover what we can cover WELL until May and then "quickly" cover the remaining concepts in June? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 If he has already covered and understood significant portions of chapters 6 + 7 I might eliminate many of the more basic questions that still require time -- however, if he didn't understand them then I would definitely repeat them now. I looked up the table of contents for the 5th edition from Pearson's website. Out of 9, I wouldn't have any issue skipping 9.3, 9.4, and 9.5. They'll be covered in precalculus and are less foundational anyway -- they come up less often in future math. (jmo) I really wouldn't want to skip 9.1 and 9.2 though, because the distance formula is absolutely necessary, and the parabolas will really help in understanding what's actually going on with quadratics. However, I'd try very, very hard to get as far through chapters 10 and 11 as possible after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I don't know how long he spends on math each day, but maybe you could increase that time or increase it by adding on an extra 1/2 hr or so later in the day. You may find that there's a way to get through more without it seeming too fast for him. Just a thought. I'd also suggest contacting the publisher and asking their opinion on what chapters could be dropped or gone over lightly for an algebra 2 class. Hopefully Jann will be here soon to give you some good direction. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Which of the following chapters would you skip? Chapter 6 Rational Expressions and Equations ( He has already covered most of this material in MUS and a Dolicani text.) Chapter 7 Rational Exponents and Radicals (covered in above books already) Chapter 9 Conic Sections Chapter 10 Additional Properties of Functions Chapter 11 Logarithmic and exponential functions I want to cover the following chapters very well because I feel they are ESSENTIAL: Chapter 5 polynomials Chapter 8 Quadratic equations and inequalities Did you not cover quadratic equations in your algebra 1 course??? If so, part of it might be review and could go a bit quicker. For chapters 6 and 7, see what he has already covered. The concepts are important, but it might be a but quicker because he knows some (most?) of it. I would under no circumstances skip chapter 11; logarithms and exponentials are extremely important and must be covered thoroughly. I would also not skip conics - if only, because I have seen conics problems on the SAT/ACT. (I think you might be able to omit 9.5, nonlinear systems) Edited January 31, 2012 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Ok.... thanks! I'm getting the exact information I need! Yes, we did quadratics in Algebra 1. That may turn out to be a review chapter. We've also done quite a bit of Polynomials... perhaps more review again. And, I'll mark the sections that you all suggest "could" be skipped. I'm not sure if adding an afternoon math time will work for us. He is doing ACT prep right now. He is almost done with Chapter 4 so he should be able to cover 7 chapters in 4 months. I wish we would have settled on this book in September instead of November. Thanks everyone...... I still home Jann chimes in, I'd like her opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Ok.... thanks!I'm getting the exact information I need! Yes, we did quadratics in Algebra 1. That may turn out to be a review chapter. We've also done quite a bit of Polynomials... perhaps more review again. And, I'll mark the sections that you all suggest "could" be skipped. I'm not sure if adding an afternoon math time will work for us. He is doing ACT prep right now. He is almost done with Chapter 4 so he should be able to cover 7 chapters in 4 months. I wish we would have settled on this book in September instead of November. Thanks everyone...... I still home Jann chimes in, I'd like her opinion. Yes considering that, he should easily finish without having to leave out topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Algebra 2 is foundational-- more important than a grade deadline. Call it 'done' in June where you are BUT keep going-- it will make Pre-Calc next year SO MUCH EASIER. The introduction to the more advanced concepts is 'gentle' in Algebra 2-- and it makes the Pre-Calc lessons easier to understand if you know the vocabulary they are using! DO NOT rush just to get through it... you want the material LEARNED! Possibly skip the end of chapter 9-- but again-- since your son will be taking Pre-Calc next fall-- I do not suggest it. Algebra 2 is one text that I prefer to finish. Also note-- that while some topics like quadratics were covered in Algebra 1-- do NOT expect them to be at the same level in Algebra 2--- the lessons will give a 'brief' refresher (due to Geometry's typical placement) and then they will EXPAND it-- offering more challenging problems than Algebra 1 offered. We are covering quadratics in my Algebra 2 class this week. Most students have really needed the review and have been challenged-- they also have a much much better understanding now than they did 1.5 years ago in Algebra 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) If he knows a chapter, then test it without doing the work. Is there a chapter review that he can review first? That would speed things up, doing just chapter review and test in the chapters he is familiar with. If you are not sure, then use problems from the work problems that are similar to the test as a trial run (then you won't use the test in case you need to work a little and test again). Would you be able to award 1/2 a credit, and pick it up next year? Ds had a terrible time taking Algebra 2 out of a college intermediate book, I had to start him over the next year in a true high school text. I am trying to speed dd18 up to get her ready for college algebra, we are using Lial's Intermediate (after doing BJU Algebra 2 last year), and she is on Chapter 9 (started the beginning of August). Much faster for her, but we didn't finish the text in a semester like they do in college. We did get close to 3/4 though. ETA: I just saw that you started in November, so we had a three month head start. So I changed my post a little! Edited January 31, 2012 by Susan C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Jann; Thank you for much for your wisdom. The information is exactly what I needed to hear: Don't skip! I think there will be some sections that we can review. And, I like Susan's idea of a pre-test for each chapter. We do use the interact math website. I could select problems to pre-test each section actually. I just counted each section in the book. 44 sections left and 8 chapters to test. And, I've got about 80 "school" days to do them in. I think we'll make it to the end of the book after all.:) If we do finish over the summer, I can still grade his work to add to next year's Pre-Calc. Thanks again ladies! I don't feel near as anixious about this as I did this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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