If you have used Foerster's Algebra and Trigonometry...

[Meriwether]

how long did you spend on it? Also, would the Home Study Companion replace the Teacher's Edition? If so, would I need anything other than the Student Text, HSC, Solutions Manual, and Tests?

[8filltheheart]

You don't need anything other than the SM. Do the odds and all word problems, the tests in the book, and you are good to go and finish in a school yr.

[RootAnn]

DD is using it now - alongside an online class in order to keep her on pace. They go at a good clip and finish almost the whole book, content wise. They skip one chapter (12??), but they pick only certain questions to do and skip a few sections completely.

 

If I had a kid who wouldn't procrastinate, we'd do it like 8 suggested, above. It'd probably take us longer than a usual school year, though - maybe a full calendar year - going through the summer.

[Meriwether]

Thank you. Algebra II is about the top of what I would feel comfortable teaching, so I might need something like the HSC. I can spend some time with the text and solutions manual before next year and see.

[8filltheheart]

Fwiw, we do 1sec/day with the exception of the word problems. They can take up to 4-5. Last couple of word problems, review. 1 day for the test. We have always finished the entire book in a school yr.

[RootAnn]

The book, in general, is really easy to understand. We're halfway through Chapter 7 right now & almost everything has been straight-forward. It could be self-teaching for kids who learn well from a textbook. (I didn't learn well straight from a math text & so far, my kids haven't been able to, either. But, it really is an easy-to-follow text.)

[MorningGlory]

My son began it in March of 8th grade and finished it in early May of 9th grade, but he did not work through the summer, so I would say it took him (us) around 11 calendar months to complete the book. We did not do every odd or every word problem; we followed a syllabus that I found online. This syllabus may skip a chapter or two because it adds in some other material. When we got to those chapters, I just assigned what I felt was appropriate. 

 

I say "us" because I did the problems, too, and then checked my work with the solutions manual. My son checked his work using my work. 

 

In retrospect, we could have probably spent less time on the trig chapters in Algebra II. My son's precalculus course (Derek Owens) repeated most of that material, but on the other hand, ds liked having that "previous knowledge" in precalculus. 

 

ETA: Scroll down to page 22 on the syllabus linked above to find the Alg II one.

 

Edited December 27, 2016 by MorningGlory

[madteaparty]

DD is using it now - alongside an online class in order to keep her on pace. They go at a good clip and finish almost the whole book, content wise. They skip one chapter (12??), but they pick only certain questions to do and skip a few sections completely.

 

If I had a kid who wouldn't procrastinate, we'd do it like 8 suggested, above. It'd probably take us longer than a usual school year, though - maybe a full calendar year - going through the summer.

May I ask what online class uses Foerster Algebra and Trigonometry, and how you like it? We are halfway through the first book now but I'm looking to the future :)

[MarkT]

We used it for after-schooling (mostly summer).  I covered a fair amount of the chapters because DS had just completed Alg2 in 9th at his B&M but it was woefully short of good word problems and they missed some topics.  We did only odd problems (answers in back) and did not get any solution manual or teacher edition.

Some folks use:

https://mathwithoutborders.com/algebra-2-trigonometry

 

 

(For Precalc I got solutions manual).

[RootAnn]

There are a couple of online classes that use the book. Kolbe (Catholic provider) uses it for its regular and Honors classes, covering more of the book, but not even close to all of it, in the Honors class. Veritas Press, I believe, covers half in Alg 2 and half in Pre-Calc.

 

We are using Homeschool Connections, another Catholic provider. There is a prayer at the beginning of class. They use it for their non-honors Alg 2 class.

 

I don't know that I can recommend it because while they get through almost the whole book, the coverage is shallow. If I didn't need the outside accountability for this kid, I wouldn't be using the class. There is one live class and one recorded lecture each week.

[madteaparty]

Thank you. It's not accountability that's lacking here as much as parental knowledge ;) I will look into these, thanks again.

[MarkT]

There are a couple of online classes that use the book. Kolbe (Catholic provider) uses it for its regular and Honors classes, covering more of the book, but not even close to all of it, in the Honors class. Veritas Press, I believe, covers half in Alg 2 and half in Pre-Calc.

 

We are using Homeschool Connections, another Catholic provider. There is a prayer at the beginning of class. They use it for their non-honors Alg 2 class.

 

I don't know that I can recommend it because while they get through almost the whole book, the coverage is shallow. If I didn't need the outside accountability for this kid, I wouldn't be using the class. There is one live class and one recorded lecture each week.

I think they dropped using the "Honors" name

this is the 2nd semester line-up

Foerster Algebra 2, Part Two  High School Level

Tuesday, January 10, 2017-Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Meets 12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST on Tue  

Instructor: Hoeft, Jean     Subject: Math     Level: High School Level

Tuition: $215.00

Status: Available

---------------------------------------------------------

Holt-McDougal-Larson Algebra 2, Part Two (formerly called Honors Algebra 2)  High School Level

Tuesday, January 10, 2017-Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Meets 4:00 PM-5:00 PM EST on Tue  

Instructor: Frederick, Thomas     Subject: Math     Level: High School Level

Tuition: $215.00

Status: Available

 

Holt-McDougal-Larson Algebra 2 as an honors text versus Foerster - no way in my book!

[RootAnn]

Holt-McDougal-Larson Algebra 2 as an honors text versus Foerster - no way in my book!

 

I know; I had the same thought! I have a friend whose child is using the Homeschool Connections Alg 2 class with the Holt/McD/Larson text (recorded, not live) and seems to have a LOT more homework and problems per day than my daughter in the live Foerster class. I haven't seen the problem sets, so my impression could be wrong. 

 

Interesting about them dropping the honors title. I hadn't seen that change.

[MarkT]

I know; I had the same thought! I have a friend whose child is using the Homeschool Connections Alg 2 class with the Holt/McD/Larson text (recorded, not live) and seems to have a LOT more homework and problems per day than my daughter in the live Foerster class. I haven't seen the problem sets, so my impression could be wrong. 

 

Interesting about them dropping the honors title. I hadn't seen that change.

probably an instructor versus textbook thing -  Larson certainly has plenty of problems to choose from

 

I guess you can't judge a course by its textbook.

Maybe you could ask the teacher to give a few more challenging problems per week - I'm not a big believer in doing a lot of busywork problems.

[Ms Brooks]

We are currently using Foerster's Algebra I with the HSC. DD reads the chapter, does even problems, and corrects with HSC. I review the corrections. If there are too many missed problems, DD reviews the video part of HSC and reworks the problems. DD find Foerster's a piece of cake compared to our slog through Singapore Dimensions Math 7A & B. The word problems are not as challenging as Singapore; however, the explanations are much better in Foerster's. DD will finishing the book this year. Problem set vary in the amount of time they take. It really depends on the material. We do math 5 days a week, one section a day plus corrections. 1-1.5 hrs a day. I found that having DD watch the corrections helped her recognizer her mistakes going forward. I think watching someone who knows how to solve a problem is much better than me trying to lamely explain why she got the problem wrong. I also create reviews pulling both odd and even problems from completed chapters. 

[madteaparty]

We are currently using Foerster's Algebra I with the HSC. DD reads the chapter, does even problems, and corrects with HSC. I review the corrections. If there are too many missed problems, DD reviews the video part of HSC and reworks the problems. DD find Foerster's a piece of cake compared to our slog through Singapore Dimensions Math 7A & B. The word problems are not as challenging as Singapore; however, the explanations are much better in Foerster's. DD will finishing the book this year. Problem set vary in the amount of time they take. It really depends on the material. We do math 5 days a week, one section a day plus corrections. 1-1.5 hrs a day. I found that having DD watch the corrections helped her recognizer her mistakes going forward. I think watching someone who knows how to solve a problem is much better than me trying to lamely explain why she got the problem wrong. I also create reviews pulling both odd and even problems from completed chapters.

I just pulled out our flash drive for this (bought years ago) and silly me did not realize there are worked problems in those videos, I thought it was just the lesson part. I'll have to see how that works--I can't imagine all problems are solved are they?

Eta that I have the solutions manual, but the HSC videos, while not strictly neccesary, do help DS. We also circle back a few chapters (so I save problems for that), the review is essential here.

We do math 1 hr a day, 45 min a day on holidays, but 2 hours a week are taken by the AOPS class DS is still auditing (don't ask). It will take us less than the school year to go through Foerster Algebra 1 but to be fair, a lot of it was review from AOPS (we've been wallowing in algebra a long time).

Edited December 27, 2016 by madteaparty

[Ms Brooks]

I just pulled out our flash drive for this (bought years ago) and silly me did not realize there are worked problems in those videos, I thought it was just the lesson part. I'll have to see how that works--I can't imagine all problems are solved are they?

Eta that I have the solutions manual, but the HSC videos, while not strictly neccesary, do help DS. We also circle back a few chapters (so I save problems for that), the review is essential here.

We do math 1 hr a day, 45 min a day on holidays, but 2 hours a week are taken by the AOPS class DS is still auditing (don't ask). It will take us less than the school year to go through Foerster Algebra 1 but to be fair, a lot of it was review from AOPS (we've been wallowing in algebra a long time).

 

On the HSC I bought last year, there is a suggested assignment for each section, e.g., "All even  1-60." Those problems are then worked out in a video via whiteboard. I've done the solution manuals for years, but in this case I think listening and watching the problems being solved is much better than going over problem sets with a solution manual.

[MamaSprout]

Thank you. It's not accountability that's lacking here as much as parental knowledge ;) I will look into these, thanks again.

 

I hear you- but Foerster is very friendly for Mom learners too. We're about 1/2 way through Algebra 1, and use Math Without Borders. I prefer it to dd being in an online class because I can help her when she gets stuck. She's on the young side, like I think your dc is.

 

Dd mostly uses the book, and "I" watch the videos in the mornings on the treadmill. The videos have solutions to the evens, so that's what I assign, unless dd doesn't show complete mastery, then we do everything (rarely). I do have and use the solutions manual. I work, and dd comes with me and does her school work there sometimes. I can take a moment to help her without having to come up to speed because I've already seen the solutions.

 

As for what to schedule, if you know you are using Foerster for PreCalc, the author himself suggests moving to that book around chapter 12 of Algebra and Trig because so much of the content is the same. David Chandler suggests doing all the chapters in both, but there really is a lot of overlap.

 

HTH

[MamaSprout]

how long did you spend on it? Also, would the Home Study Companion replace the Teacher's Edition? If so, would I need anything other than the Student Text, HSC, Solutions Manual, and Tests?

 

You don't need the tests. The solutions manual is nice to have. See my post above for how we do it- ymmv.

 

Good luck!

[Penelope]

I have a ninth grader using it. We have the Kolbe plans because I like having their tests. The Kolbe honors plans cover the entire book minus one trig chapter, but they do skip around a little once you hit chapter 7, I think it is. They also include a manual on learning to use the graphing calculator. We haven't done as much of that, but may spend some time on it in the summer. We are definitely spending more time on the alg two content vs. the trig content, since a lot will be repeated in precalc.

 

I did end up getting the Math Without Borders videos, and have found them useful. My child prefers just watching the video to having mom explain it, when he's stuck. Fine with me! But usually doesn't need the video. I think this book is even easier to use for self teaching than the algebra one book.

[Meriwether]

Thank you everyone. This has helped so much.