Any advice for after SM 6?

[Laura in STL]

Ds 11 is finishing SM 6A/B this year in 6th grade. We are planning to move on to Video Text for AlgI/II. Right now I'm considering giving him another year between SM 6 and VT. His problem solving skills are pretty good, but he needs to work on attention to detail and writing his work in a logical order, etc. Even though he makes 100% on fact drills, he still makes computation errors in his work occasionally. I basically think another year of maturity couldn't hurt him, and he will still have time to get through calculus in high school.

 

My question is what to use? Here are some ideas from previous threads: Lial's BCM or Pre-Algebra, Saxon 8/7, NEM 1, or DM 1. Other suggestions welcome, but I'm looking for a secular text.

[yvonne]

My 11yo boys are finishing SM 6 this year, too, (along with Horizons 6.) I've been so happy with Singapore, and I'm not in a rush to push them through Algebra I and Geometry before high school. So, we're going to stick with Singapore DM 1 & 2 for 7th & 8th, I think.

 

I'll refer to a Dolciani algebra text to be sure DM 1 & 2 cover everything an Algebra 1 course would cover. I want them to be able to go into Geometry in 9th. If I have to supplement DM to cover algebra 1 topics by end of 8th grade, we'll do that.

[jennynd]

DS finished 6B about a month ago. we are finishing up all CWP/IP questions that we skip earlier and after that, we are going with NEM and might add AOPS depends on how DS work independently

 

also, DS add key to algebra since he started 5 but on very slow path. Maybe you can use key to algebra as bridge before VT?

Edited March 3, 2012 by jennynd

[Brenda in MA]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure what to recommend specifically, but I can tell you what I would not recommend -- Saxon 87. My son used that the year after he had finished Singapore 6, and he hated the format because it was so different than Singapore. He also didn't find very much new material in it, and he was confused because its approach to problem solving was so different than what he had learned in Singapore PM.

 

Brenda

[Halcyon]

Dolcian Pre-A An Accelerated Text looks great, and I know others here have used it to great success.

[AngieW in Texas]

I really liked Kinetic Books as a followup to Singapore.

http://www.kineticbooks.com

[SkateLeft]

My son finished SM 6A/6B last year, and I also felt he needed a little more maturity before moving on. This year, we opted for AoPS pre-algebra. He's thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

My younger dd used Kinetic Books pre-algebra after finishing SM 6B and rolled easily into Jacob's Algebra.

[Laura in STL]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I've decided to go with AoPS Pre-Algebra. I love the look of the program from the website. I started a new thread looking for advice about it. Can anyone tell I'm desperately trying get everything figured out before I go to a convention in a few weeks?:D

[ThisIsTheDay]

Last year, my then-12yods finished SM 6A/B. While he may have been ready for algebra, I was not. I considered Lial's BCM, which I already had, but in the end, I opted for Life of Fred's re-Algebra 1 and 2. At that time, I was undecided what he'd use for Algebra--either Lial's or Fred.

 

He flew through the two Fred books. While I'd honestly believed they would just reinforce what he already knew, he told me this morning that it was the subject he learned the most from this school year.

 

Although I had a less-than-great experience using Fred's algebra with my older dd, at this point, my ds will continue with Fred. He started Fred's algebra last month. I figure we have some time to see how it goes before I finalize his plans for 9th grade.

 

ETA: Oops, I see you've already decided. This has been on my screen all day, lol.

[Blue Hen]

Dolciani Pre-A An Accelerated Text looks great, and I know others here have used it to great success.

 

Dolciani Pre-Algrebra book is what I moved my youngest into after Singapore 6B. He also did the first 6 books of Keys to Algebra before moving into Dolciani Algrebra I. He's in 10th now, working through Alg 2 w/ trig and not having any difficulties. He's not a math-whiz-kid either and really struggled with grasping math in the elementary and middle school years. I attribute the ease he is now having with making sure that his foundation was solid in the pre-algrebra and algrebra I skills, not moving on until he really could do the task at hand and felt very comfortable with it too.

 

Carole

[Candid]

I can't say enough about just moving on to the next level in Singapore. You can chose either NEM or DM. DM, however has more teacher guidance is probably the way to go.

 

As for the sloppy computational errors, I'd ignore them unless they were happening a lot or he is talking about being a mathematician. I did great in math all the way up even into college where I once found myself one of 2 undergrads in a class otherwise filled with PhD students (not math PhD's but those taking this class as a stat class to aid in their dissertation) AND I am absolutely horrible with detail. (I make sloppy errors. Do not hire me as a typist or any other thing that requires unrelenting attention to detail.)