AOPS PreA independently?

[Esse Quam Videri]

DD11 is just beginning AOPS PreA. I bought it, but I haven't had time time to work with her so it's just been sitting on the shelf while she worked through MM. Well, she really wants to do it and thinks she can do it mostly independently. Is this likely? Also, would it be detrimental for her to check her own answers in the solutions manual?

 

She's a strong math student, really motivated/hard-working, and can stay on task for extended periods of time. I am available to help some, but not one on one every day. She loves the way it's written to her and feels she's understanding it well, but again she's just starting and I know it's tough.

[zarabellesmom]

As you say, it's written to the student. There is no harm in trying and if she is motivated like you say she is then she may very well do a good job. If it were me, I'd let her give it a shot and then I would check for understanding with an occasional quiz.

 

ETA: Wish my kid felt a little more independent.

Edited February 5, 2016 by ZaraBellesMom

[Julie of KY]

None of my kids could do it independently, but that was either due to learning disability such as dyslexia or needing help with the math.

 

If your daughter is asking to try it independently, I say go for it. At worse you just set it back on the shelf. She may take off and fly as it is written to the student. Also introduce her to Alcumus on the AoPS website.

[Sahamamama]

We haven't used AOPS yet (and we may not, as I don't think it's a fit for my oldest). However, Erin E posted a detailed review of AOPS that I have found helpful.

 

HTH.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/536672-aops-pre-algebra-detailed-review/?hl=%20erin%20%20aops%20%20pre%20%20algebra

[AEC]

IME, this totally depends on the student.  I had one who absolutely couldn't do it independently.

DD sometimes can and sometimes can't - depending more on where she is RIGHT NOW on the spectrum between <super focused & very thorough> and <kind of lazy and highly emotional>.  Doing it independently will require two things, IME...

-> fairly solid math ability

-> maturity to read and work through the text & example problems

 

When it doesn't work for DD it's usually because she got lazy and mostly skimmed the text, jumping right to the problems...but then gets stuck and feels overwhelmed and...queue the downward spiral.

 

If DC is diligent enough to not just skip to the problems she'll probably do fine.

 

[Alice]

My oldest did it mostly independently and is doing Algebra the same way. 

 

Our basic routine was that he would do the problems and read the chapter and then work the exercises. I would then check the exercises and he would correct any that he didn't get. If he couldn't figure out what was wrong or if he had trouble then we would work those problems together. 

 

I didn't really know about the videos until late in the year so we didn't use them much for Pre-A. But now he does the same basic routine but will watch the videos for those chapters/sections where he feels he needs to. He does problems, reads chapter, then watches videos, then does the exercises, then corrects exercises. 

 

You could have her check her own answers in the solutions guide, the solutions themselves are part of the instruction. I usually have my son read through the solutions after I have checked them. I check first though because he makes a lot of careless mistakes and I want him to get used to going back and figuring out where he went wrong rather than just look at the answer. 

 

 

[daijobu]

I do the Problems with my kids, and they do the Exercises independent of me.  They also check their own answers in the solution manual and then finally consult me on any solution they don't understand.  

[SanDiegoMom]

Mine did it basically independently- if you don't count me calling from the other room to look at his paper, write down the next problem and solve it. He used the videos first if he didn't understand the section at all. I will say, though, the first two chapters are hard. It gets easier after that.

 

It's a hard book in general. For some reason my son is breezing through Intro to A much faster than PreA. We'll see how long that lasts!