Honeysuckle Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I'm thinking of using this math next year. Is it spiral or mastery? If it is mastery, do you think it will work well with a child coming from a spiral program? I'm hoping Chalk Dust has built in review. Can any of you Chalk Dust users answer this for me? Thank you in advance!:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 (edited) What level are you looking at? We came out of Saxon into Chalkdust. Ds did most of Saxon 7/6 and then we switched to Chalkdust Pre-Algebra. There are always chapter reviews at the end of each chapter. Also, some texts have integrated review problems at the beginning of each chapter. oops! should read SECTION. This was true for Algebra I. Pre-algebra was a challenging year for my ds, but well worth it. We love Chalkdust! Edited October 6, 2008 by Hoggirl error, of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I'm thinking of using this math next year. Is it spiral or mastery? If it is mastery, do you think it will work well with a child coming from a spiral program? I'm hoping Chalk Dust has built in review. Can any of you Chalk Dust users answer this for me? Thank you in advance!:001_smile: I would classify Chalkdust as mastery. There are plenty of problems for review. We are closing in on the end of Alg I. Also, completed Pre-Alg. We've been very happy with CD. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honeysuckle Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Hoggirl, it would be pre-algebra. And thanks for the replies so far! So apparently CD does have lots of review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langfam Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Last year, ds did Saxon 7/6. This year he's doing Chalkdust Prealgebra. At first, I was concerned that there would not be enough review, but there's definitely sufficient. There's the chapter review and a cumulative review at the end of every chapter. When he got a little lost with signed numbers in Chapter 2 and needed some reteaching with a few concepts, I went back over and assigned all the evens in those sections, so there's plenty to choose from. He's really liking Chalkdust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabdriver Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I noticed that at least 2 of you switched from Saxon 7/6 to chalkdust prealgebra. I am curious why you didn't continue with Saxon 8/7 and the new saxon DVD for algebra? I don't know much about Chalkdust which is why I looked at this post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 One of the main reasons we switched was that my ds was just tired of the Saxon format. He was starting to dislike math, something that had never happened before. Additionally, I really wanted a separate Geometry program. And, lastly, I had read LOTS of great things about their curriculum on this board. I am hesitant to address the amount of review since I know there is a newer Pre-Algebra program from when ds did it. My assumption is that there is plenty, and I do think the older program is still available. It is hard to break away from so much review when you are coming out of Saxon, but, I felt there was "enough." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 My 7th and 8th graders went from Saxon 7/6 into CD pre-alg and are having no trouble so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langfam Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 It was hard to give up Saxon. We had been using it for 11 years. I was afraid to let it go....because "everyone" uses and recommends it. But I was noticing some problems with Saxon especially as we got into the higher levels. So last year, I had a few dc use different programs to see how they'd do. I think Saxon is fine for the lower grades, but is weak in problem solving area, so should be supplemented with something like Singapore. In the higher grades though I think Saxon can begin to fail for some children because it jumps from topic to topic with only a few practice problems for the concept they are learning. Some dc can't "see" how the topics are related to one another. Often they don't know why they are doing a process and just memorize procedures plugging in numbers when they see key words. It's frusrating for these dc because they have to constantly refer back to previous lessons because they never mastered the concept when it was presented. As a result math becomes the most hated subject. Some dc have dreaded waking up in the morning because they had to face another Saxon math problem set. I got the courage to switch to Chalkdust after 2 dc had done average on the SAT when using Saxon, but did really well after using Chalkdust SAT Math review. My dc love learning from Dana Mosely. As a math teacher, dare I say :), he's incomparable. 3 of my dc had gone into Saxon Alg 1/2 after 7/6 and it was like pulling teeth. It's my most hated of all the Saxon books. The computations in it can be a bear. Some dc would get so lost in computations they'd forget where they were going with it. I'll have to say we are loving Chalkdust ranging from Prealgebra to Calculus. dc are definitely happier and often tell me how they "get it" now or that they never knew why they were doing something before. My eldest, when I asked how he was understanding Calculus, he said, " Great........ because Uncle Buck is awesome." Here are two interesting articles, you'll need to scroll down a litttle on both: http://www.askdrcallahan.com/articles/TheMathProblem.html http://www.taliskertutorials.com/math.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honeysuckle Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 I think we will like it. So, I will plan to use it for 7th grade. Thanks to everyone for taking time to respond. Langfam, thanks for posting those links. Those are interesting sites. I'm sure I'll have more questions later.....:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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