I'm afraid I've really messed up with math (7th grade)...

[Kim in SouthGa]

We have been using MUS for a couple of years(tried a plethora of things before that), but when we got about half way through Epsilon my son really started having trouble. He said it was confusing because he taught so many different ways to do things. So, we switched to Life of Fred fractions, and have been using Mastering Essential Math Skills, which is basically review pages on all the orders of operations. Life of Fred has been a flop...he loves the story but the questions are so few and the answers are right there on the same page! I really don't know what to do now. I was all geared up to buy Abeka 7th grade math, but I really hate to put him in a year long text at this point. But I am afraid he has missed stuff like statistics, writing checks, etc. -things my 9dd is doing now in Horizons 4 that MUS never covered. If I had a list of things like that he needed, we could just go over it, but I'm not sure what all he has missed. He tested below average on the PASS test in Sept., also. So, do I go ahead and buy a standard text and work through it all summer, or is there something else we could do? The big thing we've not covered much is decimals, which would have been the next MUS book. Will pre-Algebra cover the things I mentioned above, or is that even a big deal? I am thoroughly confused, as you can tell if you have made it this far!

[Rhondabee]

Well, you don't need statistics or check-writing to do Algebra, though BJU covered statistics toward the end of its Pre-Algebra. (It was quite hard, and some on the high school board said it was unnecessary. I'm sure they were right; there doesn't appear to be any statistics in Jacobs.)

 

You *do* need decimals, fractions and percents (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing). That's it.

 

I don't know the best thing to recommend, however.

[LadyAberlin]

My suggestion would be to get Key to's Decimal, percents and fractions series. There are 4 or 5 workbooks in each of the series. I think they are very thorough. Then after completing those I would do a pre algebra program or use Key to Algebra for your pre algebra. My brothers used Key to Algebra for their pre algebra and now they are flying through video text algebra. HTH

[Kimber]

Other options for your son would be Lial's Basic College Math and Dolciani pre-algebra.

 

My daughter is in Fred doing decimals, but she's gotten stuck. So we've moved to the Spectrum Math books. After that we'll be going back to Fred. But after the Fractions and Decimal books, I'm putting her in the Dolciani pre-algebra books for a review.

 

While Fred is great, I know that my daughter needs more reinforcement on these pre-algebra concepts, plus she's young and immature. She doesn't have the patience to work through long drawn out algebra problems.

 

So, after Fred, we're using the Dolciani pre-algebra books, then we're moving onto Dolciani algebra books. If we weren't using Dolciani long term, I'd probably go with Lial's rather than the key to books. I bought the key to fractions before Fred, and I didn't like them.

 

And I don't think that check writing and such should even be taught in math text. If you just step back and assess what skills your son needs to be independent and on his own in the real world, you won't miss anything. Check writing is one of them, but so is doing your own laundry, learning to cook, and learning to save money. Blessings!

[Dani n Monies Mom]

Check out http://www.mindsprinting.com It's a math and reading tutor program (free) that goes from basic math all the way to calculus. It's exhaustively thorough and very step-by-step along with plenty of problems to work out.

 

Ava

[Lori D.]

The "Keys To..." series. That's what I was going to recommend, too. : )

[Stacy in NJ]

I'm going to strongly suggest BJU 7th grade Fundamentals of Math. Here's a link http://www.bjupress.com/product/236083?path=3058

 

HTH, Stacy

[Lori in MS]

I second completing MUS through Zeta. I also let ds watch all of the different ways to do the problem, but we then settled on the way that he understood the best. He then completed the problems that way.

[Donna in OH]

We are using Lial's Basic College Math. I bought a used copy from Amazon for about $6. I switched my ds from Singapore this year (6th grade) to BCM and we both like the very clear instructions. I can't address the issue you may have with gaps, but I compared the contents of my Lial's with my state's standards to see how things lined up.

 

Good luck!

Donna