MamaSprout Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I'm frazzled. I need more hours in my week. The easiest place for me to outsource DD's homeschooling, I think, is math. She likes Derek Owens videos over something like Khan because she can follow along in a book. I'm looking at the samples, and they really look more 6th grade than PreAlgebra. Is there more to it than it appears? Are there story problems? She's done SM standards through 5b and is beginning MM6b. I don't want to spend the money and discover she knows it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Derek Owens prealgebra is a big review of arithmetic coupled with a bit of introductory algebra. He uses the arithmetic he's reviewing to introduce the algebra (he does a fabulous job with this, BTW). If she is solid in arithmetic and has done easy solve for x type problems, she might be ready for DO's Algebra I instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I can honestly that you can't go wrong with Derek Owen's pre-algebra. For students who possess strong math skills, they can move through the program quickly. The homework which has to be turned in and graded are typically 10 -12 problems long. The strongest students can fly through the first few chapters and slow down on some of the challenging lessons. Since you pay monthly, rather than for the program; it can be economical, but of course the opposite can be true... There are word problems and lots of work on equations which include complex fractions and negative numbers (tricky for most 6th graders) and many multi-step problems. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 We bought the DO pre-alg program(cheaper than the monthly option) and while it has good review, it is also a great program. DS is doing Jacob's Alg now and doing that pre-alg year was good for his confidence. DD is now doing it and we have found she needed more solidifying in some areas. I highly recommend DO pre-alg!! There are word problems, but not tons. Easy to supplement. I found the program did well at offering examples in everything but not tons of work. I think if a child was struggling you could add a word problem supplement. My kids were a little upset about the # of videos some days had, but time wise it wasn't too much. And the pages have plenty of white space so it doesn't feel like too much work. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 We bought the DO pre-alg program(cheaper than the monthly option) and while it has good review, it is also a great program. DS is doing Jacob's Alg now and doing that pre-alg year was good for his confidence. DD is now doing it and we have found she needed more solidifying in some areas. I highly recommend DO pre-alg!! There are word problems, but not tons. Easy to supplement. I found the program did well at offering examples in everything but not tons of work. I think if a child was struggling you could add a word problem supplement. My kids were a little upset about the # of videos some days had, but time wise it wasn't too much. And the pages have plenty of white space so it doesn't feel like too much work. What is on the Parent flash drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 When I bought it 2 years ago I got a disk. So I guess they do the flash drive now. It has everything on it. I bought the student books(spiral binding) instead of printing myself, but the info was on the parent disk. It also has the homework/tests/exam solutions as well. I just copied it to my computer and open up when I need the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 Thanks! Dd is not a fan of the coil bound books, and it's less expensive for me to print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 When I bought it 2 years ago I got a disk. So I guess they do the flash drive now. It has everything on it. I bought the student books(spiral binding) instead of printing myself, but the info was on the parent disk. It also has the homework/tests/exam solutions as well. I just copied it to my computer and open up when I need the info. I just bought the parent flash drive. The student books are not on it. Just the homework, exams, and tests. Debating what to do... I really don't want to spend another $44. I guess I should have emailed DO before I ordered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Wizards Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I just bought the parent flash drive. The student books are not on it. Just the homework, exams, and tests. Debating what to do... I really don't want to spend another $44. I guess I should have emailed DO before I ordered. I would email DO now and explain your situation to him. He has excellent customer service and has worked with me on several issues in the past. It doesn't hurt to ask. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 I'm not sure it makes any difference. Even if he were to let me return it (which as digital content would be well within his rights to refuse), I'd still want an independent PreAlgebra course. I do like the layout of the homework pages. As far as the cost goes, there is no penalty to buying the books and parent materials separately since he includes shipping in the cost. I just really didn't plan to spend more money on math this year. It seems like I'm spending $100 every time I turn around. ack. I guess I need to remind myself what my time is worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama2two Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 We bought the DO pre-alg program(cheaper than the monthly option) and while it has good review, it is also a great program. DS is doing Jacob's Alg now and doing that pre-alg year was good for his confidence. DD is now doing it and we have found she needed more solidifying in some areas. I highly recommend DO pre-alg!! There are word problems, but not tons. Easy to supplement. I found the program did well at offering examples in everything but not tons of work. I think if a child was struggling you could add a word problem supplement. My kids were a little upset about the # of videos some days had, but time wise it wasn't too much. And the pages have plenty of white space so it doesn't feel like too much work. Tess, I know this is an old thread, but wondering if you had a suggestion for a word problem book to use to supplement with DO pre-algebra? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 (edited) There's no [edited to add textbook] textbook to follow along with though FYI for most of DO's current courses. He wrote his own program based on books but he tells you in the course description whether you can use a text to follow along or not. (As Tn mom points out below there is a useful companion student workbook though) Edited March 28, 2016 by Calming Tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 There's no book to follow along with though FYI for most of DO's current courses. He wrote his own program based on books but he tells you in the course description whether you can use a text to follow along or not. There is a student text for his courses, though the instruction is not in the text. It is to take notes during lectures and to work practice problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Tess, I know this is an old thread, but wondering if you had a suggestion for a word problem book to use to supplement with DO pre-algebra? With my daughter, I've used strickly DO because that's what she needed without supplementing harder until she was done. We've now moved on to AoPS Prealgebra, supplementing with Alcumus and Mathcounts materials. Things you might consider using to supplement Prealgebra - Alcumus (free on the AoPS website) or one of Ed Zaccarro's books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 There is a student text for his courses, though the instruction is not in the text. It is to take notes during lectures and to work practice problems. The student text is not a textbook but more of a companion workbook. I love the student text but it's important for the OP to know that only two of his courses use and follow a textbook. The rest rely only the videos for teaching. .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 PS we supplement with Zacarros and it's perfect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 The student text is not a textbook but more of a companion workbook. I love the student text but it's important for the OP to know that only two of his courses use and follow a textbook. The rest rely only the videos for teaching. .. LOL- OP is well into Algebra. We bought it and didn't start it...puttered around with other stuff. When we finally did it, it was really almost too late. Fearing holes, we did it start to finish in a few months. I think it laid a great foundation for Algebra. Supplementing wouldn't hurt- maybe just a couple days in each chapter. We're using an old school Dolciani for Algebra and DC is very well prepared. We also did MM7a and parts of Dolciani PreA . All were good, but we should have just picked DO or the Dolciani (MM wasn't done yet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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