Cam943 Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 Hi everyone :laugh: I am a teenager in the public school system, but I also teach myself ahead at home. I am currently in 8th grade and I am using "Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra." I was wondering if it would be wise to purchase the Saxon Advanced Math book. I was looking within the Life of Fred series and I was afraid that it might not cover everything there is to know. I have heard rumours about Saxon and I was wondering if it would help me learn better. I have found Life of Fred a great fit with me already, but I am cruising really, really fast through it and I am wondering if it is everything there is. Another thing I want to know is if Saxon will also be a good fit for me. An example from my above wonderings is that Saxon covers Sinusoids (Sine Waves) and equations, but Life of Fred does not really. I also have a few questions on it. Is it good? Is it complete, or more complete than Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra + Life of Fred: Trigonometry? Is it worth it if I am doing Life of Fred already? Are Life of Fred and Saxon Math contradictory in any ways? Thanks! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Saxon will give you practice and cover far more than Fred. For very few people, Alfred is a complete curriculum. More often than not it is used as a supplement. However, if you are going to public school, you might not want to add in the level of drill and kill Saxon requires. Saxon is solid. It always has been; it always will be. Some students just cannot stomach the approach. Fred is silly and fun, presents information in an interesting and engaging way getting many people through the hurdles of math issues. However, many students find me selves unable to perform enough problems for them to do well on standardized testing necessary at the upper levels of school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam943 Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Make sure you do Fred with pencil and paper in your hand as you read; do the math in the chapters as you read it (or on a second pass) rather than just doing the cities, and take the time to do all of the cities, and the problems in the Home Companion book as well, if you have it. Fred is very complete, particularly if you take it slowly enough to take it all in (one mistake I see from some folks who post is blasting through it too fast-- my own son will sometimes tell me something wasn't in there, but when I tell him to go back through with a pencil in his hand, he comes back and says, "Oh, guess what, it was in there." My husband is a math professor and he loves the Fred books he has seen our son working through so far (currently Advanced Algebra, with a preview of the trig book). The problems in Fred will make you think and ensure you have digested the material enough to understand it, rather than simply repeating an example seen earlier in the book, because the problems, as you know, are not just like an example. If you were not already doing math in public school, I'd say sure, go ahead and get another math text if you can pick one up cheap, just so you are exposed to more traditionally formatted problems and other language used to set up problems; however, since you already have that, I'm not sure Saxon would be the best use of your time. Done carefully, with attention to detail, Fred should be fine for you. In your shoes, I'd try to do either statistics, probability, or number theory (AoPS, Art of Problem Solving has Probability and Number Theory books that get good reviews, although I have not seen them myself) or learn a programming language, rather than adding yet another math book. Good luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 I don't think that self-teaching Saxon when you've already got math from the public school would be a good use of your time. I also don't think that switching INTO it at the advanced math level is a good idea. Sinusoids and equations *should* be in LOF trig, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam943 Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 Sinusoids and equations *should* be in LOF trig, isn't it? Unfortunately I do not see it in the index. I thought it would be, but I don't think that Life of Fred covers Sinusoidal Equations and sketching based on equations. Also about learning Number Theory and stuff, that sounds like a good idea because it would be useful information in the math competitions that are coming up in my school. I've been preparing and stuff, but I'm not sure if I'm reviewing the right concepts :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Unfortunately I do not see it in the index. I thought it would be, but I don't think that Life of Fred covers Sinusoidal Equations and sketching based on equations. Also about learning Number Theory and stuff, that sounds like a good idea because it would be useful information in the math competitions that are coming up in my school. I've been preparing and stuff, but I'm not sure if I'm reviewing the right concepts :huh: Ok, I've just gone and looked at the index. There's "Graphing a s in (bx + c)" -- this is graphing sinusoids, it's just not called that. If you're looking at competitions I think the AOPS discrete math books and problem solving books would be much better for you than either Saxon or Fred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam943 Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 Sinusoids and equations *should* be in LOF trig, isn't it? Unfortunately I do not see it in the index. I thought it would be, but I don't think that Life of Fred covers Sinusoidal Equations and sketching based on equations. Also about learning Number Theory and stuff, that sounds like a good idea because it would be useful information in the math competitions that are coming up in my school. I've been preparing and stuff, but I'm not sure if I'm reviewing the right concepts :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3XBlessed Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 My homeschool son taught himself most of his math using Life of Fred from Pre-Algebra thru Calculus and Linear Algebra. He started with the LoF books in 6th grade and finished Linear Algebra Fall semester of this year, 10th grade. He scored a 5 on the AP Calculus BC last year. And he scored very well on the SAT Math L2. He passed a placement test to place into a proof-based Multivariable Calculus course. He has been successful with calculus-based physics this year. So I believe Life of Fred is an excellent math program for some students. If you feel you are learning and understanding it, it is probably the right book for you. You can always go back to review if you need to, or maybe you can find a teacher or tutor for when you have questions. My son even emailed the author of the book once with a question, and he replied back right away. The key to being successful with Life of Fred is to work through all of the problems, because Life of Fred teaches concepts quickly, without much review. Or if you choose to race through it, you must be willing to review a second time to do the problems you skipped. I used to use Saxon with my son, but he was so bored and frustrated with Saxon's incremental method, and countless repeated problems and review. He is the type of student who wanted to learn everything quickly to get the whole picture of mathematics, so he raced through the Life of Fred books, and felt he had a good general grasp of everything. Then he struggled a bit in 7th grade when he tried to teach himself Calculus. But it was no problem for him, because he simply returned to the previous book to review some concepts and practice more problems. He also had the chance to take a Precalculus class in 8th grade for more review. He took up the LoF Calculus book again in 9th grade, read it for the second time, worked through all of the problems this time, and finished within 6 months. Then I hired a math tutor to confirm he learned everything. There were a couple of minor concepts that the tutor needed to clarify. The tutor and Princeton Review test prep book helped him prepare for AP Calculus BC. My son also attends Math Circle, which supplements his math learning. Since you already have a math program you are using at your school, you probably do not need Saxon. My experience with my children is that the type of student who prefers Life of Fred would hate Saxon. However, my daughter chose Saxon over Life of Fred. You might also want to use some Art of Problem Solving books. If I had known about AOPS when my son was younger, I would have bought him some of those books. All the best to you in your math studies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam943 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks guys. :) I don't know if I can get AoPS books right now, but they sound pretty good. I just did my math contest today and it turns out that most of it is number theory and discrete mathematics, as opposed to the Algebra U am studying right now. So I will see if I can get AoPS for discrete mathematics, but is there a certain book that teaches number theory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Yes, the introductory number theory book. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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