Laura in China - Galore Math

[Georgie]

If you have a chance I was wondering if you can tell me if you are happy with Galore Math. My 11 year old son just finished up with Saxon 8/7 and Hands on Equations, but I am hesitant to move him to the next level in Saxon. He struggled a bit with the last part of 8/7 and I've thought about giving him time to digest what he has.

 

I have had suggestions to use Ed Zaccharos's Challenge Math series for this year and I've thought about switching to a different curriculum this year that goes over some of the same things he had in Saxon 8/7.

 

Is the Galore Math 2 interesting to your son? Does it challenge him enough, but at the same time not overwhelm him?

 

Thank you for your time.

[Colleen]

Here's a review Laura posted on the Galore Park Yahoo loop. It dates from last July and, as you can read in the first sentence, her son wasn't far into the second book at that time. I imagine she might have more to add now, but I thought I'd go ahead and share this in the meantime.

* * * * * *

 

We have finished book one and are on the second chapter of book two.

 

Maths Prep is designed for students aged 11 to 13/14. It is divided

into chapters, each of which concentrates on a particular aspect of

maths. Each chapter has an introduction, which often links maths to

its history, then a series of exercises which build on each other. At

the end of the chapter will be a summary exercise, extension questions

(often very challenging!) for brighter pupils, and an end-of-chapter

activity. MP explains how the maths works and expects understanding,

but also practises standard algorithms.

 

The text is enlivened by cartoons but the overall look of the page is

somewhat dense. It uses a larger sans-serif font, rather than the

smaller serif font used in Latin Prep and English Prep.

 

The contents of each chapter are picked up and reviewed in the

following book, but there is no continual review during the year. The

author recommends adding in weekly review questions from the other

maths books sold by GP.

 

Pros: the explanations are logical and the exercises present

interesting word problems. The program requires the pupil to think

hard about how to apply what s/he has learned, rather than just

plugging new numbers into previous formats. The historical notes

develop nice links with history studies.

 

Cons: the lack of continual review makes MP less easy than other GP

products for a non-specialist teacher to use. You are responsible for

finding and assigning review questions - they are not a part of MP.

The alternative is a lot of forgetting and relearning between one year

and the next.

 

Recommendation: recommended for teachers who are prepared to add in

their own review to the program, or for very mathy students, who will

thrive on the extension questions and not forget much from year to year.

[Georgie]

I didn't realize there was a Galore Park yahoo group. This review helps, thanks for finding it.