Matryoshka Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I was reading on the other thread about DO Algebra 2 being fairly challenging/advanced (compared to Lial's, anyway), and that DO Precalculus has a lot of the same topics. I'm about to sign dd up for DO Algebra 2, and I'm just pondering what would be the right thing to do next - is DO Precalculus enough of a step up? She'd like to finish up Alg2 over the summer and start Precalc in the fall, so this question isn't as premature as it may seem... ;) And how have people fared with DO Calc AB - is it good, solid prep for the test? I keep going back and forth as to whether to switch her into math at the CC at some point, and if I did, at what point in the sequence. Overall, she doesn't tend to do well with big high-stakes tests, but math is the easiest thing to do at home (she's good at and likes math, and it's relatively easy to find a program that doesn't require me to teach or hand-hold), and if she did do well on the AP, she'd still get college credit. That would be her only AP if we went that route. And anyone know why DO switches math series with every level? Looks like Dolciani for Alg I, Jacobs for Geo, Larson for Alg II, some school text for Precalc, and Foerster's for Calc. That's part of what's raising these questions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I'm just following, as ds is about to start DO Alg 2 also. Thought it would be last month, but robotics season wound up taking a lot of time this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 I'm just following, as ds is about to start DO Alg 2 also. Thought it would be last month, but robotics season wound up taking a lot of time this year! LOL - Dd's robotics team is also just winding down, and that's also why it seemed a good time to start the extra math... Is your ds also doing FRC? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 We do FTC, no FRC teams nearby. The kids wanted an FRC team, but we didn't think we could fundraise that much;) Our competition was yesterday, they've been putting in 12 hour days (lots of last minute parts failures this year, sadly, that they were trying to fix & redo code). I decided to give him this week coming up off for an unplanned break ( except for his Bravewriter class). I'm burnt out, he must be too. He went to bed last night right when we got home at 7:15!!! Goodluck with DO:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Had to join in this thread because we have been crazy busy with robotics too! We are an FTC team and have State final comp next weekend. My dd is doing DO Alg 2 this year. We really like it. She does it independently, which is good for me. We plan to carry on through precalc and calc with him. It works really well for us. She had a great geometry teacher last year ( Jann in Tx) but her courses only go through Alg 2 so we decided to switch over to DO this year and it has been going well for us. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I was the one who mentioned the thing about the differences between DO Algebra II and the Lial book. My opinion is that the DO Algebra II class is great preparation for his precalculus class. There is some repetition of the Algebra II material, but I see that as a good thing--it reminds the student of where she has been and gives her someplace to hang the new information. In contrast, the Lial book is *not* good preparation for DO precalculus, but since you are not using the Lial book, that should not be an issue! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 We do FTC, no FRC teams nearby. The kids wanted an FRC team, but we didn't think we could fundraise that much;) Had to join in this thread because we have been crazy busy with robotics too! We are an FTC team and have State final comp next weekend. :) My other dd does FTC, but her competition season is over as her high school's team kinda fell apart this year. She was the only programmer, and the builders didn't finish the robot in a timely manner, and they also had I think a new programming language this year, and had to buy all new equipment, and some piece of hardware wasn't working properly at the last competition... they did much better in previous years! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 And anyone know why DO switches math series with every level? Looks like Dolciani for Alg I, Jacobs for Geo, Larson for Alg II, some school text for Precalc, and Foerster's for Calc. That's part of what's raising these questions... I don't have any problem with how DO does things. The classes were originally based on certain books, but no longer look like that book. They are DO classes and teach what is typically taught at different levels of math. I might "teach" algebra 2 from different books to different kids, but ultimately I know what I want to teach and have a standard that must be met. I think of DO as the same way - he knows what material he needs to cover, how he teaches it and has practice problems and homework that meet those goals. His classes no longer look like the book they were originally based on other than it's the same topic. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 :) My other dd does FTC, but her competition season is over as her high school's team kinda fell apart this year. She was the only programmer, and the builders didn't finish the robot in a timely manner, and they also had I think a new programming language this year, and had to buy all new equipment, and some piece of hardware wasn't working properly at the last competition... they did much better in previous years! It has been a very challenging year in FTC - new technology and a challenging game - I think almost all teams have found it difficult, but a good learning experience in how to persevere lol! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodGrief Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 My daughter did DO precalc and Calc AB. She actually did Teaching Textbooks for prealg through Algebra 2. They seem to have been decent prep for tests and upper level classes. She got a 750 on the Math 2 exam after the year of precalc and a 5 on the AP Calc AB test. She got an 800 on the math portion of her SAT. She went on to do Calc 2 and 3 at the local university and received a high A for each class. I really like Derek Owens. Communication is easy when there are questions, and there does not seem to be an exceptional amount of busywork. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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