Jousting Armadillos after Beast Academy?

[klaw]

My two oldest are just finishing up Beast Academy (sob!), and I'm looking for what comes next.  I like the looks of the Arbor Algebra, but it seems that much of what is covered in Jousting Armadillos was covered very well in BA.  Has anyone transitioned from BA to Arbor?  

Thanks!

 

[Farrar]

We did, more or less. There was less Beast out then though, so we did a few other things in between.

Yes, it covers some of the same stuff (less for us since we couldn't do all of 5). However, it's done in a really different way. I think it is a good follow up from Beast. However, the idea behind Beast is that you then go into AoPS Pre-Algebra. So that's your other option. We only chose JA because I was pretty sure AoPS was wrong for this particular kid. JA was good in some ways for him, but not in others. We didn't continue the series and now he's nearly done with Jacobs's Algebra.

[Jackie]

I was trying to do that transition, but working with BA5 and JA concurrently. Unfortunately, DD is finding the JA far too easy and too much of a repeat from BA, so it’s mostly a flop for us. I am pulling out specific pieces that aren’t covered in BA.

If I were planning on using the rest of the JA series, I would complete the book as a transition into the series. But mine is a kid who I expect to thrive with AOPS, so JA was more of a quick stop along the way for us. I do like the book and wish I had picked it up earlier. She is a kid who kinda breathes math, though. If she had struggled a bit with BA, then JA would likely be a great review/refresher from another point of view.

[Farrar]

That's interesting, Jackie. We didn't get to finish Beast Academy, so maybe it would have been like a review if we had. For us, the way of approaching math by writing about it had very mixed results. It did not turn out to be ds's thing at all. It might work better for him now, actually. But a couple of years ago, it was really hard. So, the math wasn't that hard, but the approach was. I still think it's a great series. It worked okay for ds... but in the end it wasn't right.

[Targhee]

I’m not familiar with Arbor.  I think after BA 5 you might find JA too easy? Is AOPS preA an option?

[zarabellesmom]

After finishing through 5C, JA was much too easy for my daughter. AoPS prealgebra is a fantastic text. She had a love/hate relationship with it. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by zarabellesmom
Edited to add: She's 12. She has a love hate relationship with most things.

[klaw]

Thanks so much for all of your replies!  I was debating between Jacobs and Arbor; I think we will jump in to Jacobs with my eldest.  She needs something a bit more linear than AoPS I think.  

 

 

 

[LMD]

Pretty similar story here, we were out of sync with the BA5 release schedule. Dd spent 6th grade dabbling through BA5, Jousting Armadillos, Russian Math, Life of Fred Pre A, Khan. I pretty much left it up to her day to day what she wanted to work on. She got a good understanding of negative numbers with Jousting and liked the style. She now aces prime factors from Russian Math. 

We started Aops Pre A in January for 7th grade and it has been great, still a challenge.

[SanDiegoMom]

12 hours ago, klaw said:

Thanks so much for all of your replies!  I was debating between Jacobs and Arbor; I think we will jump in to Jacobs with my eldest.  She needs something a bit more linear than AoPS I think.  

 

 

I have both Aops Pre-A and Jacobs for just in case... my daughter who worked through BA (with me to help her) is doing very well with Aops. We don't do the challenge problems and she uses Alcumus a LOT and watches all the videos.  Its been a big hit so far, once we got past the first two chapters:-) I really chose to stick with Aops for her because the videos are so well done and Richard Rusczyk is extremely engaging and clear. It helps tremendously.  So for a kid that is a fast learner, doesn't need much repetition, but still isn't super intuitive with math, it's a good fit - albeit modified as stated above.

[zarabellesmom]

4 hours ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

 

I have both Aops Pre-A and Jacobs for just in case... my daughter who worked through BA (with me to help her) is doing very well with Aops. We don't do the challenge problems and she uses Alcumus a LOT and watches all the videos.  Its been a big hit so far, once we got past the first two chapters:-) I really chose to stick with Aops for her because the videos are so well done and Richard Rusczyk is extremely engaging and clear. It helps tremendously.  So for a kid that is a fast learner, doesn't need much repetition, but still isn't super intuitive with math, it's a good fit - albeit modified as stated above.

 

I love the videos. I'm scared thinking about Geometry because there are no videos for that text. ? I'm geometry phobic. I had a bad experience. Ok, I'm not really phobic but i am going to need some help with that text. My husband, the engineer could teach it well, but works so many hours. I may outsource that one to Well Trained Mind Academy or AoPs.

[SanDiegoMom]

1 hour ago, zarabellesmom said:

 

I love the videos. I'm scared thinking about Geometry because there are no videos for that text. ? I'm geometry phobic. I had a bad experience. Ok, I'm not really phobic but i am going to need some help with that text. My husband, the engineer could teach it well, but works so many hours. I may outsource that one to Well Trained Mind Academy or AoPs.

Yes, once we were done with the videos my son went into the online class:-) I think going through the Pre-A and Algebra A by himself at a slower pace was great -- he learned the Aops method and learned how to handle the level of challenging problems.  He flew through the online Alg B class and Geometry he hit a few rough patches in the beginning but now is flying through as well. I help with almost nothing!

For my daughter, she will probably switch after Pre-A or Intro to Alg A. She is not the student for Aops long term and has no wish to be! 

[SoCal_Bear]

It was a stop gap for us, my son actually chose not to finish BA5 after doing 5A. He did finish already finish SM5. JA was a pretty quick run through for us, and we've moved on to AOPS. It was a good transition from no cute illustrations to straight up textbook without quite being so text heavy as AOPS. He actually really likes Linus' tone and style. So far, so good. though we aren't doing it with any class so we can move at our own pace. It's up to him how fast or slow that will be.