Blue Hen Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 DS is really struggling with Foerster's. He hasn't understood or been able to follow Foerster's explanations either. I thought we would breeze through Ch 1 since he saw the material last spring in Dolciani but that certainly didn't happen. My older son didn't care for Foerster's Calc book but really liked Larson for Calc, thought the explanations were far easier to understand and follow. I see Larson has a pre-calc book and was wondering what it might be like? How does Lials PreCalculus compare to Foerster's Pre-Calc? As for background DS used Singapore in Elementary and Dolciani for pre-alg, alg 1 and 2 w/trig. He's not a math person but with explanation and work from me gets it, eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I looked over Barnett's College Algebra with Trigonometry last spring and liked it. I was looking at an older version (7 I think and the lastest is 9 or 10), so am not sure what the difference is between the editions. I liked the explanations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Carole, Why not have him do the PreCalc book in the Dolciani series called "Advanced Mathematics" by Brown? That's what my younger ds used, and the format is similar to the other books in the Dolciani series. My older son used the Larson PreCalc text (which was through Chalkdust so it included the lectures by Dana Mosely). He switched to this after using Saxon for many years, and much preferred the Larson/Mosely combination. Personally, I didn't care for the Larson book that much. I didn't think the examples were explained all that well, but the videos seemed to make up for most of the deficiencies. The content of the Larson book was good, and it matched up with the content of the Math Level II, SAT2 (if that matters). HTH, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Hen Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Carole, Why not have him do the PreCalc book in the Dolciani series called "Advanced Mathematics" by Brown? That's what my younger ds used, and the format is similar to the other books in the Dolciani series. How did I not know about this book? And I consider myself a Dolciani fan. Good to know about the Larson text. DS does need clear examples and explanations. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 My older son used the Larson PreCalc text (which was through Chalkdust so it included the lectures by Dana Mosely). He switched to this after using Saxon for many years, and much preferred the Larson/Mosely combination. Personally, I didn't care for the Larson book that much. I didn't think the examples were explained all that well, but the videos seemed to make up for most of the deficiencies. The content of the Larson book was good, and it matched up with the content of the Math Level II, SAT2 (if that matters). Agreeing with Brenda ... I thought the Larson book had a rather cluttered feel. We started out loving the videos, but after a few months my boys rebelled, not wanting to watch an hour's worth of video every day or so, so I let them stop. I think they may have watched Ed Burger's Thinkwell videos instead, after that. But yes, the Larson book got the job done, and both of my boys learned precalc well using it. Carole, your question was amusing because I really wanted to use Foerster for precalc (in fact, it's still sitting on my shelf), or AoPS if it had been around then, but I thought we needed the video support from Chalkdust! BTW my younger son is in your AP Statistics class and LOVES it. He had just asked to take AP Stats to have more APs this year :001_huh:, but it is his favorite AP class right now! Thank you for making it so interesting and engaging. :001_smile: ~Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Based on our high school math experience (through Alg 2) If my eldest had done pre-calc at home I'd have probably gone with the Dolciani series Advanced Math combined with LOF Trigonometry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Hen Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 BTW my younger son is in your AP Statistics class and LOVES it. He had just asked to take AP Stats to have more APs this year :001_huh:, but it is his favorite AP class right now! Thank you for making it so interesting and engaging. :001_smile: ~Laura Ahhhhh that's good to know I do hope he continues to enjoy it. It's so nice to make the connection between here and the student too. My son's in his class too and keeps suggesting food activities :lol: DS can't take the cluttered look so it's good to know that about Larson. Adv Math is on order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Ahhhhh that's good to know I do hope he continues to enjoy it. It's so nice to make the connection between here and the student too. My son's in his class too and keeps suggesting food activities :lol: :lol: We both loved the first activity with M&Ms :D Now we know whom to thank!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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