zenjenn Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Has anyone used this? My DD is currently in 6th grade and just completed Teaching Textbooks 7. Frankly, I am not a huge fan of Teaching Textbooks, but she has dyslexia/dyscalculia AND a tendency to get hyperemotional with parents explaining math - AND she has top-notch listening skills and is a strong visual learner as well. For all these reasons, Teaching Textbooks was a temporary solution. However I feel it's time to wean her off of this format while still giving her something audio/visual to use. Husband (who also has dyslexia/dyscalculia but as an adult is a successful physicist/research engineer) feels she will be much happier with math if we get her to pre-algebra sooner than later. I, however, feel her dyscalculia has her still floundering too much with arithmetic to jump right into pre-algebra (I'm sure she'd be fine with TT "pre-algebra", but TT seems pretty shallow to me.) Her standardized test math scores are just *barely* scarping the bottom of 'average', but are strong in every other area, so she's in an odd gray area. I'm attracted to Thinkwell as it appears that 7th and 8th grade is really a slow-moving 2-year pre-algebra course. (The expectation seems to be you can either go right from Grade 8 to Algebra, OR use their Pre-Algebra course as a 3rd year of review.) Wondering if this might make both of us happy - it's basically "pre-algebra" but can be more paced to her? But then I see some of the reviews that Thinkwell has some problems, but all the posts I find here are at least a couple years old and none I can find specifically address the 7th/8th grade courses. She is in Mathnasium now - a recent addition, to help her shore up her arithmetic weaknesses. She understands all k-6 arithmetic concepts entirely fine but continues to make errors so I figure I'm paying them to hover over her and pound in the repetition (because it doesn't end well when I try to do it.) I'm wondering if Thinkwell 7th Grade + 2x a week Mathnasium will get her where we both think she should be. Any other recommendation for a program that might work for this situation? What WON'T work at ALL is parents doing the teaching. Not due to lack of knowledge or ability, but due to hormones and drama. It's just not working. It's ONLY a problem with math. Screaming, tears, self-loathing, slamming doors, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Thinkwell, as far as I know, is based of the Holt 2007 middle school math series (courses 1-3). The complaints I've seen about thinkwell is that the problems given aren't enough to really master the material. I like the videos, but you can access them yourself via the Holt website. So for the past two years I have bought the books on Amazon as well a the TM and the ones-stop planner. The CD gives all the worksheets, quizzes, tests, etc. It has worksheets for re teaching, problem solving, extra challenge, and my favorite: the cumulative reviews after each chapter. We used course 1 in 6th, course 2 in 7th, and will use course 3 in 8th. There is overlap between the courses but they do gradually get harder, and about half of the book is geometry and statistics, so it is more than strictly prealgebra. I will come back and add links to show you what I buy. I plan to stay with the series through high school. All of the math teachers at our correspondence school love the program and think it is solid, so that is reassuring. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Holt Course 1 (2007) Teacher's Edtion One-Stop Planner Online Videos Holt Course 2 (2007) Teacher's Edition One-Stop Planner Online Videos Holt Course 3 (2007) Teacher's Edition One-Stop Planner Online Videos This has been a great series for my son. I had thought about skipping course 2 and going from 1 to 3, but 3 assumes you need only a brief refresher before moving on and I knew my son needed a slower pace to learn new topics. I am confident that he will be very prepared for Algebra after course 3 (8th grade math). 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Holt Course 1 (2007) Teacher's Edtion One-Stop Planner Online Videos Holt Course 2 (2007) Teacher's Edition One-Stop Planner Online Videos Holt Course 3 (2007) Teacher's Edition One-Stop Planner Online Videos This has been a great series for my son. I had thought about skipping course 2 and going from 1 to 3, but 3 assumes you need only a brief refresher before moving on and I knew my son needed a slower pace to learn new topics. I am confident that he will be very prepared for Algebra after course 3 (8th grade math). I'm not the OP, but just wanted to say THANK YOU! for taking the time to post this and share your experience. Awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted May 11, 2015 Author Share Posted May 11, 2015 Ondreeuh - first of all, THANK you for posting. I thought I posted that earlier but I guess not! I've been mulling over your post and looking at the materials and think probably starting my daughter on Course 2 is the way to go. I'm wondering if you (or anyone) has tried using the Holt books WITH Thinkwell, or if they think that would work. I know you linked to all the videos free, but Thinkwell looks like they have them presented in an intuitive format along with some online problems she could do to "self-test" to assure her comprehension before doing book work. As mentioned, she can get super emotional when asking math questions of us and the abillity to "self check" practice problems automatically might be worth the $125 a year to avoid the drama. But maybe that's just adding another layer of complication... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 If you click on the links for the videos, there are problems to answer online and check your work. Click on the pencil icon that says "practice." I cannot compare the scope of those problems to Thinkwell's, but it might be enough for your DD to see if she is on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcornersacademy Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Holt Course 1 (2007) Teacher's Edtion One-Stop Planner Online Videos Holt Course 2 (2007) Teacher's Edition One-Stop Planner Online Videos Holt Course 3 (2007) Teacher's Edition One-Stop Planner Online Videos This has been a great series for my son. I had thought about skipping course 2 and going from 1 to 3, but 3 assumes you need only a brief refresher before moving on and I knew my son needed a slower pace to learn new topics. I am confident that he will be very prepared for Algebra after course 3 (8th grade math). Ondreeuh, thank you so much for sharing this! I was in much the same position as the OP when I stumbled onto your conversation! So this has been very helpful! I had a question tho... I notice there are student workbooks available on amazon in addition to the student textbook. Do you happen to know if the One-Stop planner has the same stuff as the student workbook? I was halfway considering just purchasing the workbook so I didn't have to print a bunch of stuff off... but maybe the one stop planner gives more flexibility or has addtional material?? Do you have any input? TIA! ~Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 The one stop planner has a lot more material. It has the homework/practice workbook pages for levels A (simplified), B (on-level,) and C (challenging). It also has the problem solving workbook pages, reteach, extra challenge, are you ready (quiz/.test reviews) and probably other stuff I can't remember offhand. I print the homework/.practice page on one side and the problem solving page on the other for each lesson. I did level B for courses 1 & 2, but I am using level C for Course 3. We are halfway through chapter 3 and everything is working so smoothly. It's soooo worth it to me to have it printed ahead of time. Also, the workbook is thin newprint so my printed pages are much nicer to use. I plan to keep using this program through Algebra 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasien7 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 My son (13) used Thinkwell 7 last year. Prior to that we had used MM as our main math and supplemented elsewhere (Khan, etc). Thinkwell worked great for him (aka was fairly painless, much fewer tears than the year before.) Just as a frame of reference, Khan did not work well for him, so it's not as simple as a computerized program vs a mom-taught program. Thinkwell seemed to be the right amount of teaching and a manageable amount of practice questions. The teaching is not as dry as it is with TT. There were times when I felt that he needed more practice, so I would have him do additional practice from other sources. You can try a sample of Thinkwell and see if you think it would be a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjgarner Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Ondreeuh, thank you so very much for sharing and posting this Holt/Thinkwell course info here. That is incredibly helpful informaiton! Our daughter is finishing up Singapore Math 6B, and Thinkwell will most likely be our next step. We'll take the placements tests on Thinkwell's website to determine her placement. Do you think it would work well to do Thinkwell online, and then use the One Stop Planners you mentioned to print off extra problems when/if needed? Would the One Stop Planners correspond well to the way the lessons are arranged in the Thinkwell program? Also, are there answer keys and worked out problems on the One Stop Planners? I truly appreciate your advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Ondreeuh, thank you so very much for sharing and posting this Holt/Thinkwell course info here. That is incredibly helpful informaiton! Our daughter is finishing up Singapore Math 6B, and Thinkwell will most likely be our next step. We'll take the placements tests on Thinkwell's website to determine her placement. Do you think it would work well to do Thinkwell online, and then use the One Stop Planners you mentioned to print off extra problems when/if needed? Would the One Stop Planners correspond well to the way the lessons are arranged in the Thinkwell program? Also, are there answer keys and worked out problems on the One Stop Planners? I truly appreciate your advice! I have compared the TOC for Thinkwell's grade 8 math to the TOC for Holt Course 3, and they are slightly different. I assume that most of the content is the same and the CD could be helpful, but you would need to do a little work to correlate things. The One-Stop Planner has answer keys but not worked out solutions. For middle school math, it has all been very straightforward to me, but I have been very involved in teaching/correcting his math so I have kept up. Back in 2011, my daughter did Alg. 2 my way with the 2007 edition and at that time Thinkwell's TOC was identical. So I assume that they recently updated their courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjgarner Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Thank you again, ondreeuh! Your information and suggestions have been quite helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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