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Where in MM Blue do you start Pre-Algebra?


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Generally, I'd say after all of fractions, decimals and percents. It depends on what text you intend to move to next. Ratios in MM are quite good but that's also often covered in prealgebra. Negative numbers would be useful to know before prealgebra.

 

Alternatively, you could use all the Blue topics you have, and then skip/skim/review those topics when you encounter them in your prealgebra text.

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While I know some will disagree, my husband is confident that MM6 by itself is a strong prealgebra program (and given his line of work, I'm inclined to trust him on this one, lol). On that note, I'm not sure about the blue series - does it have all the same units as the light blue series, just "out of order"?

If you want, I could write out the sequence in the light blue MM6 and you could "match them" with your blue series.

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We're planning on using a heavily supplemented MM6 as our PreAlgebra, then moving into Jacobs and, if necessary, doing Algebra over 2 years.

 

I like this plan :)

 

Not that this addresses your question, but yeah, I agree that MM6 in the light blue is pretty darn close to PreAlgebra!

 

I agree that it's close. I'd add a little more depth on a few things and add a few extra topics. Won't it be nice when she finishes her alignment with CCS - I know not everyone's happy about the moving around of topics, but MM7 should be a nice prealgebra when she's finished.

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We're planning on using a heavily supplemented MM6 as our PreAlgebra, then moving into Jacobs and, if necessary, doing Algebra over 2 years.

 

Not that this addresses your question, but yeah, I agree that MM6 in the light blue is pretty darn close to PreAlgebra!

 

We're doing similar. I'll use Horizons PreA when I notice MM6 is missing anything.

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I suddenly feel like I'm out of the loop. I should see what math looks like in older grades because I don't have any kind of plan right now. Your replies have been interesting. My 5th grader is in MM5 right now, and I just assumed we'd go to MM6 next year. Is the 6th grade year supposed to be a preAlgebra year? Do you start Algebra in 7th? Anyhow, she is not zooming through MM5. It takes her an hour to do one page sometimes (partly due to her not focusing, but also because she just isn't catching on quickly). So some days we get only 1 page done, although most days it is 2. I'm interested to see what else you supplement MM6 with.

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I suddenly feel like I'm out of the loop. I should see what math looks like in older grades because I don't have any kind of plan right now. Your replies have been interesting. My 5th grader is in MM5 right now, and I just assumed we'd go to MM6 next year. Is the 6th grade year supposed to be a preAlgebra year? Do you start Algebra in 7th? Anyhow, she is not zooming through MM5. It takes her an hour to do one page sometimes (partly due to her not focusing, but also because she just isn't catching on quickly). So some days we get only 1 page done, although most days it is 2. I'm interested to see what else you supplement MM6 with.

 

I'm sure you aren't asking me directly, but I'll answer anyway, lol.

 

MM6 wasn't *meant* to be prealgebra, but it works well as the spine for a preA year (look at the contents and you'll know what I mean). Most preA subjects are covered well in MM6 (pre realignment for CCS, that is; I'm not sure what it'll look like once it's aligned to meet CCS).

We will start Algebra in grade 7, likely with a text that has heavy preA review incorporated at the beginning (like Jacob's).

We supplement MM6 with DragonBox, Hands on Equations (app), and when I eventually come across something that needs to be covered before Algebra but isn't in MM6 (I'm sure there's something...), I have Horizons PreA on standby. Honestly, I think the Dragonbox and HOE are enough supplement without Horizons, heading in to an Algebra text like Jacobs.

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Right now I'm wanting to use either AoPS or Jacobs as pre-alg., but I have both on order, so I haven't actually read through them yet to see which would be a better fit. It is kind of hard to line up the topics to light blue though because they just have workbook names like Fractions and Decimals 3 in the 5th-7th lineup. That makes it hard to tell if Fractions 1 & 2 contains all the concepts for pre-alg. or not.

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I suddenly feel like I'm out of the loop. I should see what math looks like in older grades because I don't have any kind of plan right now. Your replies have been interesting. My 5th grader is in MM5 right now, and I just assumed we'd go to MM6 next year. Is the 6th grade year supposed to be a preAlgebra year? Do you start Algebra in 7th? Anyhow, she is not zooming through MM5. It takes her an hour to do one page sometimes (partly due to her not focusing, but also because she just isn't catching on quickly). So some days we get only 1 page done, although most days it is 2. I'm interested to see what else you supplement MM6 with.

 

 

Oh, don't let us make you feel bad! Going from MM5 to MM6 is an excellent plan. I was originally going to do MM6 in 6th and AoPS PreA in 7th and then Algebra in 8th, but after months of obsessively researching this, and actually looking at all the different texts I'm considering, I've concluded several things: First, that AoPS PreA might not be the best fit for my dd (although I do plan on supplementing next year with Alcumus, the videos, and the Geometry chapters from AoPS), and second, that if I'm going to spend 2 years on something, I'd rather it be Algebra than PreAlgebra. Jacobs has been reported as a good, gentle Algebra for young students, that starts with a good PreA review, and now that I have a copy, I think it will be perfect for dd.

 

And, while I love (love!) MM, dd has really taken off since January and is moving through it quickly. She's not needing as much practice to cement the concepts, or all the incremental steps, so we've been able to skip a lot of the Fractions and Decimals sections (having done both LOF books). Assuming that hormones don't melt the rest of her brain cells, MM6 won't take all of 6th grade to get through, so we have room for a slew of supplements that will turn it into PreA. And since Jacobs starts with review of PreA, I don't worry about moving straight into that in 7th. My fantasy is that we'll do Jacobs in 7th and then AoPS Algebra in 8th, but we'll see how it goes.

 

Some of the things I have on deck to use, or that we're using now to supplement MM6 for a PreA year:

LOF PreA books (plus Physics, but we'll do that with Science)

Zaccaro Challenge Math

Zaccaro Real-World Algebra

Kiss My Math

Math for Real Kids

Hands-On Equations

Khan Academy

AoPS PreA, Alcumus, and Richard's videos :001_tt1:

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I Iike the idea of using Jacobs and then following it with AOPS Algebra. I've been searching for a cheap Jacobs set, but no luck. There seems to be two answer books.

 

OP, I do think MM5 is enough to head into Pre-A. We have been using AOPS Pre-A, and so far, I feel that Maria has given DD an excellent foundation. But I do use MM6 on those days when AOPS seems overwhelming and I assign a corresponding MM section. I don't always try to align it.

 

Like Rose, I'm supplementing heavily - it's looking like a soft Algebra, heavy Pre-A year for us.

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