HollyDay Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Geometry is my weakest math to teach. How easy is Jacobs geometry to teach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 just my opinion but we just dropped it because dh (who used to teach geometry in public school) was frustrated by it. He handles the high school math but I kept hearing him say "I really don't understand what they are looking for here" and things like that. My ds is not gifted in math and needs a straightforward approach. I really wanted it to work but it was not for us. Others like it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2twoWTM Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 teachermom2834, would you mind sharing what you switched to? I have Jacobs Geometry on the shelf for consideration for next year. Bought it cheap at a used book sale. Math is not DDs' strongest subject. We need straightforward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 I tried to teach both the 3rd edition and the 2nd edition. I found the 3rd edition to be impossible to teach and the 2nd to be more doable. But we still moved to Teaching Textbooks Geometry because I wasn't strong enough in geometry to teach from Jacobs. It's not just the teaching that is difficult--it is the grading. Grading proofs is very difficult because the answer key only gives one possible version. If I had it to do over again, I'd farm out geometry to Derek Owens. Mr Owens uses Jacobs (3rd) *and* he does all the grading. I would not use TT Geometry again, though I do think it is a solid course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 teachermom2834, would you mind sharing what you switched to? I have Jacobs Geometry on the shelf for consideration for next year. Bought it cheap at a used book sale. Math is not DDs' strongest subject. We need straightforward. We switched to Teaching Textbooks but we are only 2 chapters into it. I know alot here say that it is not in depth enough but my dh looked at it and feels comfortable with it. So far, everyone is happy and a load has been taken off by switching. Jury still out on it, though. I felt like the switch to TT was the best I could do right now. I do plan to use some assignments from Jacobs to test understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Jacobs is a great course, but no, I wouldn't call it easy to teach at all. My dh has a masters in math, and uses a combination of Jacobs and Life of Fred because he finds the LOF easier to teach from, but he does add in some examples of different concepts and additional practice from Jacobs as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 (edited) One of our kids loved it. One of our kids hated it. So the 3rd kid did Saxon Geometry. It teaches progressively through the daily problems. So you work Problems #1-3, which help you know how to work Problems #4-6. However, there are FAR too many problems for a student to complete in a single day. So you can look online for the author's suggested problems for each lesson. Bottom line, the kid who loved puzzles, loved this. Every problem is a real-life story problem. Absolutely rooted in real life. Lots of M. C. Escher drawings. It really stretches your mind, even if you already know geometry. I just kept the Teacher's Solution Guide nearby, to help them when they got stuck. A lot of it was the typical obstacle of transferring the "story problem" into a math problem. And yes, there are a wide variety of "correct" answers in a multi-step proof. Most homeschoolers that use Saxon just skip Geometry, but for our family, we really thought it was important. I was an active teacher. In the end, when Saxon introduced a Geometry text, it made sense just to continue with their sequence and style of teaching. (And from my perspective, the Saxon series without the Geometry year is weak.) HTH! But as they say, "Your Mileage May Vary"! Edited October 16, 2012 by Beth S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I have a degree in math and ds is strong in math. However, geometry was the only math class I ever hated. We are Jacob dropouts. For more information, see this thread. We switched to and completed Discovering Geometry. See my review here. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I never took Geometry in high school (long story) but we've loved Jacob's Geometry so far (we're in chapter 5). But dh helps out out when we get stuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Thank you ladies. This has been my concern about geometry. I find it a difficult subject anyway, so I need straightforward and direct. If I can find TT for a good price, I think that would be my first choice. We'll just have to see..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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