steppingstonemomma Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My son is finishing up Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra this year for 7th grade. He is doing well and is mathmatically inclined except for those darn middle school boy hormones that tell him not to work on anything at all! LOL! So, next year, for 8th, I'm trying to figure out what will be best for him. He wants to go into engineering so I am thinking that I want to stop using TT and use something more rigorous starting in Algebra 1 (I plan to use another curr to get him up to speed over the summer since TT Pre-alg is about a year behind- any suggestions?). I am NOT math minded AT ALL so I need a dvd or cd program that has a good teacher to explain concepts to him. Also, I am very pressed for time so I need something that is easy for me to check or help him with if he gets stuck. I have looked at Chalkdust, but it is mastery and I kind-of think that he needs more review built into his daily work. Also, from reading other posts about it, I sounds like I need to do some prep work each day in choosing what problems I assign him. THAT is not going to work! How will I know what he is needing extra practice with if I am not going through each lesson with him! And, it would take me too much extra time. That said, we looked at the sample videos and he really liked that teacher the best.... sigh...Any words of advice as to how to make this program work in my situation? OR, I've looked into Saxon. We used Saxon 5/4 and 7/6 before switching to TT and honestly he hated it. BUT, I'm willing to take a stalwart approach and just MAKE him do it if it is good for him. However, I need to know if Saxon teaches the concepts thoroughly or just the algorithms (That's been my frustration on TT.) Is Saxon rigorous enough for an engineering career? I would like him to get to Calculus by 12th. If he is doing Algebra 1 in 8th, would we get through Calc by 12th? OR, is there something else out there that would be good to look at? Independent study with a good dvd or cd teacher Easy for mom to help if he gets stuck (I don't have time to watch a dvd!) Rigorous Won't make me cry- I'm not so worried about him...again, he's in middle school so that happens regardless. May as well have a good reason! LOL! Thanks for any advice or help! Tiffany Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 (edited) I don't think you can go wrong with either of those programs. :D I can also recommend the Ask Dr. Callahan materials (for Alg 1, they use Jacobs Algebra). DD18 used the calculus program this year and I was impressed with the quality of the lectures and also with the responsiveness from their staff (we had a problem figuring out one of the test problems and they emailed us a step-by-step walk thru with explanations the same day and said to have DD call if she still didn't understand). I have been considering having younger DD use this program for Geometry next year because it also uses the Jacobs book, even though we have been happy with TT Algebra 1 this year. ETA: here is the progression we follow: Alg 1, Geometry, Alg 2, Precalc/Trig, Calc 1. So if he is doing Algebra 1 in 8th, he would get thru Calc 1 in his senior year. Edited February 24, 2012 by AK_Mom4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nynyny Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 There really is no prep work for us with the Chalkdust program. Just decide how many math problems your son will complete on a daily basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 DS is doing CD algebra now, and I'm finding he needs a bit more review. I happen to have the MUS algebra dvds, so I'm having him watch those occasionally when he stumbles (which he just did for the first time). Prior to CD he did Saxon, but hated it. Not that he likes CD, he just dislikes it less than Saxon. You could also use Khan Academy if necessary to add in some review. Personally I prefer Saxon b/c it's easier for me to understand what is going on in each lesson. I bought both the Teacher CDs and Art Reed's dvds. It is much easier to watch Art Reed for about 5-10 mins. daily, than to watch the much longer CD dvds once a week. We're going to stick w/CD for now b/c I don't want to switch midstream. As a pp mentioned, to limit the # of questions in a section, I just randomly circle x# of problems to do per section until he does about 25 problems. On days he watches the dvds, he doesn't do as many. My dd will do Saxon Alg. 1 very shortly. I don't see her liking the CD approach that doesn't contain as much review as Saxon. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 OR, is there something else out there that would be good to look at? Independent study with a good dvd or cd teacher Easy for mom to help if he gets stuck (I don't have time to watch a dvd!) Rigorous Won't make me cry- I'm not so worried about him...again, he's in middle school so that happens regardless. May as well have a good reason! LOL! I'm a fan of Math Relief for algebra. I think it fits all your requirements. You can watch a sample video here or on YouTube: http://www.mathrelief.com/ Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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