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Algebra Options


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As I see it, here are my Algebra I options:

 

Saxon

Lial's

Forester's

Art of Problem Solving

Teaching Textbooks

Math U See

 

While SO INCREDIBLY teacher-friendly, my daughter has had horrible, horrible retention with Teaching Textbooks. I'm guessing that means that she needs spiral Algebra, which leads me to Saxon. Saxon 5/4 produced many tears, so I'm thinking that I should stay away from that. I'd like to choose something that I can stick with through high school. I'm an engineer and have not trouble teaching higher math, but I do have four total kids I'm homeschooling and I need to think of my schedule.

 

Thoughts greatly appreciated,

Staci

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I was able to borrow several Algebra texts through the library or inter-library loan. It was helpful to see them in person. Is that a possibility?

 

We used Foerster's and ds used it fairly independently (I have a degree in math and ds is math-oriented). Solutions manual makes it easy to check, though I enjoyed the challenge of trying it myself first.

 

Lial's would have been my 2nd choice, and I probably would have used it if my student was not quite as strong in math.

 

We used MUS for K-Algebra. I would not use it at the high school level for an above average math student. Ds completed MUS Algebra 1 in 7th grade. It was easy peasy. He also completed Life of Fred Algebra in 7th grade. It was much more challenging.

 

Add Jacob's and Life of Fred to your list - they seems to work well for more language-oriented students, imo.

 

HTH!

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You can't use it for all of high school, but my girls really liked Kinetic Books and thought their presentation was better than any other program they had used. My oldest was a beta-tester for Algebra II. My middle was a beta tester for Algebra I and also used their Algebra II. If they had a precalculus, we would have used them again, but they stop at Algebra II right now.

 

If you want to stick with the same publisher all the way through, I would go with Lial's. If you need a lot of review, you can get a copy of the student workbook for MUS and have your dd work through the review problems. MUS is not one of my favorite programs, but it is actually working for my youngest when nothing else has.

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I saw another high school math program at our recent homeschool convention and I'll include the link below.

 

A Fresh Approach. They offer Algebra I, Algebra II & Geometry (so far).

 

The books are designed for self-study and are in workbook format (instead of having to write everything out on paper). The explanations were very thorough!

 

They looked really good. Someone here posted that you can also find them on Rainbow Resource, but you can view samples on the website below.

 

http://www.aplusses.com

 

Click on "Textbooks" at the top.

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Thanks for the additional suggestions. Can anyone tell me which of these options are spiral (other than Saxon), or have continuous review built in them. I guess I'm leaning towards the Lial text...can anyone tell me if that continuously reviews previously learned concepts?

 

Thanks.

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If it is retaintion problem. I will try Key to algebra, it is very gentle. However, if your DD is seeking a STEM major, you will need another algebra program after Key to.

I uses Key to as "warm up" for my son just to get him proficiently solving x's and operating polynomials so when he solve word problems later on, he won't have to worry about the operation parts.. There is not a lot word problem in key to ,which is what I wanted. We are doing another algebra program after that

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We're using Singapore Discovering Mathematics for AlgebraI, Algebra II, Trig, and Geometry. We're still in the first of the four sets of books (designed for four years), and there is plenty of integration of old material into the new lessons and work. It's an integrated math program, meaning the topics aren't separated out by year. This is another way of spiraling, IMO. My son is quite happy with it.

 

My older loved Jacob's Algebra, and I found it easy to teach and quite thorough.

Here's my review on that one: Jacobs Elementary Algebra.

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