deerforest Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 I posted a few weeks ago about the best concept-heavy pre-algebra with concerns about the discovery method of AoPs even though DD has flourished in BA. Folks encouraged me to try AoPS anyway. I also have Lial's, Dolciani, and Jousting Armadillos. We started last week so I thought I'd share. DD is a young 5th grader and is a bright math student though I don't consider her to be gifted in math. She liked AoPS just fine, and I thought the approach was actually pretty good. It started with discovery but then wrapped everything up with explanations and definitions. DD knew the content really well so it was successful. But, I kinda felt like she might need a bit more practice when the material gets more challenging so I looked through the other books to see what might match well. - Jousting Armadillos--I really wanted to like this program, but, honestly, it's entirely too verbose for me. DD has some working memory/processing speed issues (ADD inattentive, 2e), and if I gave her this program, she'd get lost in the weeds. It never quite seems to come back and circle back to the point it's trying to make, unlike AoPS. I've decided it's not going to work for me as a teacher or her as a learner. - Dolciani--I'm going to just use it for practice problems. Looking at it made me realize how much I prefer the discovery method (rather than traditional method) so I won't use it except as a supplement. - Lial's pre-algebra--I know folks have said it's too busy (I have the 2010 edition) but we were okay with it. (And DD is notorious for complaining about page busy-ness). I actually quite liked it. It was straightforward but had a nice feel to it. We're studying neuroscience right now and the opening page had a little snippet about learning math and the brain, which I think endeared it to DD. How can a former neuroscientist and her daughter not be endeared to a math program that includes an neuron in it!? In all seriousness, we worked through a couple lessons, and I think it will work well as a follow-up to the AoPS lesson. So, I am going to work through them both. I feel like doing pre-algebra in 5th gives us time to meander a bit so I think combining AoPS and Lial is going to be a great solution for us, and I feel like it leaves the door open to travel down either the AoPS or Lial path. Just thought I'd share my thoughts so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Thanks for the update. My young 5th grader is wrapping up MM6B and then we'll move onto either MM7, Dolciani (on order from Amazon), or AOPS. Still deciding... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Thanks for the update! Updates and opinions really help me fine-tune our own decisions. My DD10 is also a young 5th grader who has repeatedly asked for Pre-Algebra, but I've waited in order to shore up her fraction work before I ordered anything. I had been leaning towards Jousting Armadillos, but if it's too verbose, she might get lost in it, too. I felt the same way with AoPS when I looked at it, but since we've never worked through it, I have to rely on others opinions at this point. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Ds just turned 10. He finished Singapore 6 and is now happily using Life of Fred Prealgebra with biology. We will finish PreAlgebra with economics before going on to Dolciani Prealgebra. Then it will be Jacobs algebra, which ds12 is using now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks for the update! Updates and opinions really help me fine-tune our own decisions. My DD10 is also a young 5th grader who has repeatedly asked for Pre-Algebra, but I've waited in order to shore up her fraction work before I ordered anything. I had been leaning towards Jousting Armadillos, but if it's too verbose, she might get lost in it, too. I felt the same way with AoPS when I looked at it, but since we've never worked through it, I have to rely on others opinions at this point. What do you think? I think AoPS has a lot of text but its presentation just works much better for me than JA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks. One of my boys - my Beast lover - is starting pre-algebra soon. Also a young fifth grader. He's excited about Jousting Armadillos, but I have some other things, like Dolciani at the ready as well. We'll see where we end up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 My DD didn't like the feel of AoPS - the verbosity of the intro sample seemed to lose her, left her feeling adrift, does that make sense? Perhaps if she had had more experience with something like BA she would have seen where it was going (the discovery "style"?) Anyway, we might have some attention issues here but she's enjoying JA (bragged on how much she liked it to another mom today). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Thanks! I've been wondering about AoPS, but I like Lial's, too. Ds is bright in math but a little immature in his work ethic, so I'm trying to hold off on Pre-Algebra until at least next year in 7th. I'm using CLE right now to try and solidify his skills and get him paying more attention to detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 We own both AoPS and Lial's and preferred Lial's as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 deerforest: I think AoPS has a lot of text but its presentation just works much better for me than JA. My DD didn't like the feel of AoPS - the verbosity of the intro sample seemed to lose her, left her feeling adrift, does that make sense? Perhaps if she had had more experience with something like BA she would have seen where it was going (the discovery "style"?) Anyway, we might have some attention issues here but she's enjoying JA (bragged on how much she liked it to another mom today). This is very interesting. I guess I'll have to show DD both and see which she likes/understands better. I'd also like to get a traditional text to pair with either if some concepts need fleshed out. After using several books of BA, she definitely has experience with its style, but I'm not sure how continuous their style is from BA to Pre-A. One nice thing about BA is that it's slowly teaching her to get past her perfectionist tendencies with math, meaning, not to melt into a puddle if she doesn't understand something at first glance. I'm sure her maturing is helping, but she also commented that BA is helping her with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in Monterey Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I used AoPS with my oldest and feel like it is a better fit for an older than 5th grade child in most cases. For a 7th or 8th grader, they can do it almost independently. I'll be using it next year with my 7th grader and will be right next to her as she works through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 I used AoPS with my oldest and feel like it is a better fit for an older than 5th grade child in most cases. For a 7th or 8th grader, they can do it almost independently. I'll be using it next year with my 7th grader and will be right next to her as she works through it. I think that it depends on the child, and I find age and grade level to be an arbitrary distinction when schooling my daughter. She is "5th grade" by age only. It tells nothing about her skill level in any subject nor her experience to this point. It also doesn't indicate my priorities for her education. I assume, universally, that no one will ever have the same experience as I will. I have no vested interest in what anyone chooses. I was just posting a follow up from my previous thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in Monterey Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I think that it depends on the child, and I find age and grade level to be an arbitrary distinction when schooling my daughter. She is "5th grade" by age only. It tells nothing about her skill level in any subject nor her experience to this point. It also doesn't indicate my priorities for her education. I assume, universally, that no one will ever have the same experience as I will. I have no vested interest in what anyone chooses. I was just posting a follow up from my previous thread. Totally agree that it depends upon the child and I certainly didn't mean to infer anything about your child. As an person with experience with this program from using it with my own daughter, I thought others may want to know our experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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