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Algebra 2 reviews please


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After reading through all the Algebra 2 options, in the list on this forum, I find myself wanting some more personal feedback.

If you have used Algebra 2 could you please share what you used and your overall experience?

We are interested in hearing about all options including live online courses.

 

Thanks.

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We started in Foersters with Math without Borders CD.  We got bogged down b/c ds really needed more support from a teacher and it was hard for me to jump in.  We switched to TT Algebra II, which was more straightforward and easier for me to jump in and help.  My next child will probably use Saxon b/c that is working well for her and the new edition has the added stats that are on the SAT (although, honestly, ds's SAT scores were above 700 using TT Alg. II and Pre-calc and the Khan SAT practice giving him the stats practice/review).

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I've been through Saxon algebra 2 almost twice. We couple it with the Art Reed DVDs. I think it's solid, but not flashy. Having done all the tests and lessons myself I think it's much more thorough than it gets credit for. I'm pleased with where my kids are in math and ACT scores are solid.

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Thanks FriedClams, I really appreciate your review of Saxon Algebra 2. 

I used Saxon with my older children & it was a great fit.

We chose a different path for this child & not sure how it would be to transition to Saxon at the Algebra 2 level.

Edited by BlessedMom
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My eldest just finished (well, except for Ch 12 - which she'll do in a few weeks) Foerster's Alg 2. She took a live class through Homeschool Connections to keep her on track time-wise and that worked great. (PM me for a review if you are interested in the actual class.) She liked how Foerster explained things, but definitely felt she needed a teacher to get through the material as she doesn't (yet) learn well just from a textbook. The story problems are epic and the real meat of the program, but the text is fine without them (just not as strong).

 

Time will tell how well it prepared her for Pre-Calc & up.

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We've used Holt for algebra, geometry, and algebra 2. 

 

They have a pacing schedule, which I like, and they give suggested problem sets for each day (basic, average, or advanced). 

 

We found it to be thorough preparation. 

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Thanks FriedClams, I really appreciate your review of Saxon Algebra 2. 

I used Saxon with my older children & it was a great fit.

We chose a different path for this child & not sure how it would be to transition to Saxon at the Algebra 2 level.

My oldest DD used Foerster for Algebra 1 and switched to Saxon for Algebra 2. She has had no problems at all with Saxon. I don't know what your child used for Algebra 1, but it is possible to have a seamless move to Saxon even in the advanced levels. 

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I taught dd using Lial's textbook, Intermediate Algebra, for Algebra 2. She did well on the ACT, made As in her college algebra and statistics courses, and is doing well with any math in her science courses, including chemistry. 

 

I have not used it, but I had a chance to look through the book by A Fresh Approach. It's very rigorous and aligns to common core standards, so it would be good for making sure things are covered for the SAT and such. The explanations are clear as well. I'm offering some high school math classes in my home next year and am reviewing curricula choices for those classes. I've ordered Holt to look at, too. 

 

 

 

 

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My son took Algebra II with Mr. Reini through Wilson Hill.  Mr. Reini is a fantastic teacher, I like the outside accountability for this child, and the class material is solid.  I would sign up my other kids but the timezones work against us so they will take it with Derek Owens (have done Algebra 1 and geometry so far, both are well done classes so I expect the same for Algebra II).

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Thanks Everyone for taking the time to share what you have used and your experience with each Algebra 2 course.

I so appreciate having your personal insight, it really helps me have a clearer view of each choice!!

 

For those who have used a live online course or a recorded one that included submitting work for grading, I have a few questions.

 

Was the instructor seen on the screen or was it just him/her writing on a white board?

Were students permitted to ask questions in class?

Was finished homework gone over during class?

Was homework submitted and graded? If so what was the turn around time?

 

How were tests & quiz handled?

What was the typical turn around time for test/quizzes to be turned in & grades/ feedback given?

 

Was the class somewhat relaxed or more formal?

Did the instructor tend to stay on topic or often get side tracked with non related topics?

 

I would appreciate any other information you think might be helpful for us to understand the working of that class.

 

Thank you!!

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Thanks Everyone for taking the time to share what you have used and your experience with each Algebra 2 course.

I so appreciate having your personal insight, it really helps me have a clearer view of each choice!!

 

For those who have used a live online course or a recorded one that included submitting work for grading, I have a few questions.

 

Alg II WHA w/ Mr. Reini

Was the instructor seen on the screen or was it just him/her writing on a white board? Watch him on video - he's very funny + a whiteboard to see the work written out

Were students permitted to ask questions in class? Yes, by chat and voice

Was finished homework gone over during class? I think so - not sure

Was homework submitted and graded? If so what was the turn around time? Homework is not submitted. Students buy a solutions guide and check their own answers. Any that are wrong, they are to correct themselves and then turn in a HW grade every couple weeks. Questions on HW are then answered in class.

 

How were tests & quiz handled? Quizzes are taken during class - usually 4-5 questions to make sure you're doing the HW timely. DS always got 100% - but keeps him accountable on the HW front. Tests are printed out the day-of and due by a certain hour. Parents need to sign as official procter. Then scan in and submit. All tests are then graded with written feedback/edits and uploaded back into the Canvas console.

What was the typical turn around time for test/quizzes to be turned in & grades/ feedback given? Quizzes same moment. Tests, about 1- 1/2 weeks or so. 

 

Was the class somewhat relaxed or more formal? Very relaxed

Did the instructor tend to stay on topic or often get side tracked with non related topics? Not sure, have to ask my ds.

 

We're big proponents of WHA for Math. Taken Geometry (w/ Leslie Smith), now Alg II (w/ Reini) and signed up for Pre-Calc (w/ Anne Stublen). It is very thorough, good teaching. It works really well for my very mathy son. Can't say how it would work for a less mathy kid. We're choosing Jann in TX's Alg I for our younger dd for that reason.

 

I would appreciate any other information you think might be helpful for us to understand the working of that class.

 

Thank you!!

 

Email them - they might have a sample class you can see in action.

 

Edited by mirabillis
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Mirabillis,

 

Thank you for the very detailed response to my many questions!

WHA is one class I am considering and really appreciate the information you provided.

 

You mentioned that you will be using Jann in Tx for you dd. What do you feel makes that option a better fit for a less

mathy child?

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Both my mathy and non-mathy kids have used Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2. Straightforward and gets the job done! The mathy kid went on to Derek Owens precalc and university calc courses, got an 800 on the math section of her SAT, and is currently an engineering major. The non-mathy kid made it through university pre-calc and calc, though with tutoring needed, and then never took math again! :-)

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I will also highly recommend WHA for Algebra II (Anne Stublen) as well as Geometry (Leslie Smith) and Pre-Calculus (Anne Stublen). Our son is strong in math and this has been a great fit. He will be finishing up with AP Calculus (Anne Stublen) this Fall. I agree with everything Mirabillis has said above.

 

For our middle dd (13) who is not strong in math, we used Derek Owens for Pre-Algebra. This was sort of an experiment to see how she would respond to an outside teacher. It has been the best decision we have even made for her. This has been a transformational year as we approach the finish line. While considering live options for her next year, she practically begged us to stay with DO. Since she has worked so hard and done so well, we found it hard to argue with something that is working. As a result, she and our youngest dd will be taking DO classes in the Fall.

 

From our experience, I find you get a lot more with live, interactive courses. So eventually I would like our dds to benefit from that experience as well. But DO is a great alternative for those where live courses will not fit in the schedule, the student needs to move at a different pace, etc... 

 

One last thing to keep in mind is that as much as each provider would like to accommodate 'all' students, there is typically a leaning in terms of rigor along a spectrum of easiest to the more challenging. So that is something to take into account when considering best fit. Quite honestly, I was concerned DO may be too hard for our math struggling dd. But so far so good. Time will tell as she moves into the more advanced courses. One of the nice things Derek offers is the ability to take as long as a student needs without charging more. So, for example, if our middle dd needs two years with Algebra 1, she can simply continue at her own pace.

Edited by dereksurfs
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Both my mathy and non-mathy kids have used Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2. Straightforward and gets the job done! The mathy kid went on to Derek Owens precalc and university calc courses, got an 800 on the math section of her SAT, and is currently an engineering major. The non-mathy kid made it through university pre-calc and calc, though with tutoring needed, and then never took math again! :-)

 

So nice to hear a good report about TT.  :)

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I don't know if this has been mentioned, but part of the success in learning depends on what context your student learns best in.  Live classes are great for some students, not others. They are too slow for some, too fast for others etc..  Some have onerous participation requirements that some kids think waste their time, etc. DS15 had a live class at a "prestigious" school, which stunk. Same kid along with his twin sister did exceedingly well with Derek Owens approach.  Oldest DD18 did most of her math with me until Calc and beyond.  Foerster's worked great for oldest DD and DS 15--only problem with DS15 is he needed accountability to someone beside me.  DD15 thrived with Derek Owens materials.  None of my kids like Lial's texts. However, there are great schools (JHU, Jann in Texas) who use it effectively and have students who like it.

 

I'm just throwing this out there because one person's experience with a school may be vastly different than another's for a myriad of reasons.  Same goes for the books.  There are a lot of potentially great books and programs. We loved Foerster and Derek Owens materials here, and got great results.

 

 

 

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Mirabillis,

Thanks you for posting the links above, I am thankful for the opportunity to read through those threads.

 

 

 

Gr8lander,

Thank you for sharing your experience with Teaching Textbooks and how well it prepared your students!

 

 

 

 

Derek,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with WHA and DO.  It is helpful to have more insight into both those options!

I appreciate hearing your thoughts on the value of live classes. But the reality that they can provide scheduling challenges.

 

 

 

 

Gratia271,

You made some valuable points about the importance of finding what fits for each individual student.  It has always been my first priority to 

find what meets the learning style of each of my students.  Thank you for sharing what has worked and not worked for your students! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BlessedMom,

 

I think it would help if you provided a little background about you dc and what goals you have for him/her. Will this be a first online class if you go this route? What are you looking for in a course? Do you have certain concerns?

 

I do agree with Gratia271 that the answer will vary child to child based upon their learning bent. However, sometimes you don't know until you give something new a try. Its a bit of a leap of faith. This was the case for us and outsourcing. We had no idea our son would flourish when working with other classmates and his teacher directly. We began to see a whole new side of him, a dynamic that seemed to be lying dormant simply waiting for the opportunity to come out. But as I'm sure you're aware, not all courses are created equal whether home based textbooks, computerized, recorded or live. That is also why it can seem daunting when considering all of the options. If you start with the tried and true for outsourcing like WHA, Derek Owens, Jann in TX, etc... chances are higher that it will be a positive overall learning experience, IMO. 

Edited by dereksurfs
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Hi Derek,

 

Thank you for your response.

 

How wonderful that you were able to see a whole new side of your ds through live classes!  I am always so thrilled when we find just the right fit!!

 

We did our first live online class this year for Geometry. The overall experience has been a mixed one.  Since we have nothing to compare it with, it is hard to know where to go from here.

The experience your ds had with his class at WHA  sounds closer to what I think my dc was hoping for and expecting from a live online class.

Although my dc did very well grade wise in the class my dc does not want to continue to take Algebra 2 from the same provider. 

I am very willing to find another provider.  My goal has been to ask questions and try to get as much insight into potential options as possible hoping to find a better fit. 

 

I appreciate your input very much! Thank you!

 

 

 

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Both of my kids used Math-U-See throughout highschool (including Alg. 2, and one also did Pre-calculus). We really liked it and felt the videos and text combined did a good job of teaching the concepts (the textbook would sometimes have additional info or examples, so if questions came up, we always checked that, and/or watched the video again). I also liked that the answer keys had fully-worked out the problems (which made it easier to see where my kids got off-track if they had a wrong answer). The first 2 modules in Alg. 2 do a whirl-wind review of Alg. 1, and those segments got long--but otherwise the videos and pacing was very doable. 

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I've been happy with two different algebra 2 programs -- Lials's and Derek Owens.

 

My dd switched from Saxon to DO's last year and it was a great fit. The course is self-paced and all the instruction is online. There is a workbook that you purchase through Lulu and that has all the problems Derek works online during the class time, so that your student can follow along and take notes. It also contains practice problems for each lesson/section. There are additional homework problems and tests that you print from Derek's website. Those are the items that he grades, if you have him do the grading. We went with the half-price self-grading option and that has worked wonderfully for us. There is also a mid-term and a final exam and there are review sheets to help prepare for those. Derek is an incredibly kind person and my dd has really enjoyed the way that he teaches math. He puts a strong emphasis on not only understanding how to do the calculations, but also on what the calculations mean. My dd's understanding and enjoyment of math really skyrocketed with Derek. She has continued on with his precalculus this year and is wrapping it up this week.

 

My son used Lial's for algebra 2. I ordered the videos to go with the lessons and we would watch the video on day one, pausing to complete the margin exercises as we watched. On day two, he did the exercises for that section, odds only. Then, he would complete all the problems in the chapter review. The videos are kind of dry and the program is computation-based vs. conceptual, but it has been very good for my son. There are many practice problems in Lial's and that is something we needed. Lial's algebra 2 does not cover trig, or sequences and series, so you should be aware of that. Derek gives a lighter intro to trig in algebra 2 and then goes deeper in precalculus and that seems to be the more typical progression from what I've seen. One of the things that I like about Lial's is that it starts each section back at the beginning to makes sure your student has all the foundational knowledge they need from algebra 1 before taking things further. I also really like the cumulative chapter reviews. Instead of using them all at once at the end of each chapter, I used them for 10 minutes a day and did most of them multiple times with my son. This really helped his retention. My son did very well with R&S and then CLE and Lial's felt like the next right step for him. He's doing Lial's precalculus now and will take applied calculus at the community college in the fall.

 

ETA: Jann in Tx has been using Lial's to teach her algebra 2 classes with success for years. Here's a link, if you are interested. http://myhomeschoolmathclass.com/index.html

Edited by OnMyOwn
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We've been very happy this year with Derek Owens, other than a few grading delays at busy times.

Will continue with him for pre calc

 

My dd did Algebra 2 with Derek Owens and really enjoyed it and did well. I'd definitely recommend it.

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I've used three Algebra II programs.

 

Foerster with Math Without Borders lectures--stopped after the first 6 chapters because there was too big of a gap between instruction and what was expected to do the problems (son was using independently--which was a mistake).

 

Lial's Intermediate Algebra--This is what we switched to when Foerster/MWB didn't work out.  I did the teaching.  It is an excellent book, but incomplete as an Algebra II course, IMO.  It is more like a beefed up Algebra I course.  But I didn't know that when my son was using it.

 

Derek Owens Algebra II--My younger son used Lial's Intermediate Algebra to review Algebra I (after a dismal experience in Algebra I at a b&m school) and then moved on to Derek Owens Algebra II.  I thought it was excellent.  It is rigorous and thoroughly prepares the student to succeed in precalculus.  Highly recommended.

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EKS,

Thanks for sharing your experiences with Foersters, Lial's & DO. Your information was very helpful! J

 

 

Brenda,

Thank you for the glowing review of DO! I have been looking into his program.

 

 

Cindy,

Thanks for sharing your experience with DO.

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