Maryam Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 My daughter is starting Algebra 1 in 7th, so my concern is that has not had any video or online instruction yet (though her older siblings have). Any experiences (good or bad) with the above after MM7? My three options are: I teach her Foerster’s Algebra 1, she does Foerster’s with Math without Borders videos, or Derek Owens? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) My son used Math Mammoth for several years and then when he started Alg 1, we used Math Without Borders for about half the course. It wasn't a good fit. DS struggled with the teaching in the videos. He did fine for the first several chapters but then the trouble started. (I had read here that some kids are able to effectively self-teach with Foerster, because the text is so clear. Even with my help, that didn't work here either. And I needed to not be the teacher anyway.) So we switched to Derek Owens, starting over at the beginning of Alg 1, which was great for solidifying the basics. DO seemed expensive at the time, but we have stuck with DO ever since, and it has been a great investment for us. DS is finishing DO's AP Calc AB course now. I wish he offered BC too. Anyway, we are Derek Owens believers. He's a talented instructor and provides a great service to HSers. 😊 (As an aside, I signed up DS for Mr. D.'s (a different online math instructor) ACT Math review course and DS didn't care for it. He finished the course but he said he just really prefers DO's teaching style, his manner, the way he explains things.) Are you already familiar with Foerster? What's your plan for math after Alg 1? MWB geo did not get good reviews either, as I recall from back then. In your shoes, I would consider what your plan would be for after Alg 1 and geo, no matter what program you use. The best part of MWB is that it is inexpensive, so if you try it and it doesn't work for your student, you're not out too much. DO can be started at any time and is a month-to-month payment, so there's a lot of flexibility there too. In case the cost of DO is an issue, you may already know this, but just in case you don't, you can use DO's course at half-price if you do the grading yourself. Edited March 7, 2020 by TarynB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryam Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 Thank you so much for sharing your experience. No, I’ve never tried Foerster’s but alive read some good reviews. My older kids have had different experiences with DO. My son did very well in DO Geometry to Precalculus and is now second year software engineering at Penn State. My daughter did well in DO Algebra 1 and really struggled with DO Geometry and needed live help so switched to MyHomeschoolMathClass for Algebra 2 and did very well. She’ll likely return to DO for Pre-Calculus though because it might not be offered live next year. However, my question for my youngest dd (who likes math and does well in it) is because I don’t know what the best transition is from MM7 and if there is any advantage to Foerster’s to DO (since MM recommends it). Also, I don’t know how to assess her readiness to transition from me as a teacher to asynchronous online classes as a younger Algebra student, if that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) OK, I understand. Yeah, I do recall that MM recommends Foerster next, but I never really understood why. I mean, it is a well-respected textbook, but there are lots of other really good textbook options out there. Supposedly it is good for self-teaching but that didn't work for us either, and I don't think it is a good idea anyway. (Seems kind of cruel to tell a kid to teach him/herself algebra, LOL). But I think if you're game to work with her, Foerster would be a good place to start. Is she ready to start now, mid-school year? Is that why you're only considering Foerster/MWB vs. DO right now and not looking at live online options (since you mentioned MyHomeschoolMathClass)? I'm not sure about assessing readiness . . . so much depends on the individual kid, whether they do their work without dawdling, motivation, adolescent hormones/brain fog, etc. Have you asked her what she'd prefer to use for Alg? Maybe if she got to choose it would work out even better. Edited March 7, 2020 by TarynB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryam Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 Did your son do well with DO Geometry? There are a lot of mixed reviews and my kids’ own experiences are quite mixed too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) Yes, he did well with DO Geometry. I had read multiple poor reviews from one poster here, but we did not share that negative experience. (The one I'm thinking of was a student who was much younger than the typical geometry student and needed additional support.) DS is a good math student, but not a math genius, if you know what I mean. He had to put in the work, but he did well. I do think geometry is a different beast, no matter which provider you use - requires a different type of thinking. If he had struggled a lot, we would have used something else for geo, and then gone back to DO for alg 2 and forward. Edited March 7, 2020 by TarynB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) Foerster was a good book for us (me?), but I watched the MWB videos and taught it to dd with the book, but she was also early to Algebra. We had used Singapore mostly with MM6. MM7 was only partially available, so used DO for PreAlgebra. If I had it to do again, though, I probably would have just used Derek Owens. After we did Foerster, We used Holt Geometry with the Thinkwell videos I had found online on a teacher's website. Dd did not love the videos, so I know Edward Burger is not an option of Calc BC, lol. She did get 100% on the ACT Geometry lessons. We tried a different book + video for Algebra 2, but then followed up with the second half of DO Algebra 2 (which introduces trig). DO for Precalculus. Looks like DO for Calculus. We, too, really will DO had a BC. Edited March 7, 2020 by MamaSprout 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryam Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 Ok, so on hindsight would you have preferred moving from MM7 to DO Algebra 1 instead of Foerster’s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 I have used Foersters with 7 kids. I purchased the MWB videos once upon a time. I didn't think they added anything. The book is "self-teaching" in that it teaches the information very well. I go over the sections with my students. I don't leave them to read the book and do it alone. I love Foersters. The program has served my kids well. (We us Chalkdust for geometry and back to Foersters for alg 2. We have switched to DO for precal and then Thinkwell for cal.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, Maryam said: Ok, so on hindsight would you have preferred moving from MM7 to DO Algebra 1 instead of Foerster’s? For us, yes, definitely. Math skills and writing skills are the things we've invested in most heavily in our homeschool (in both time and money), and those two subjects, for us, needed to be taught by an outside teacher instead of by me. (It has paid off in many ways, including coming back to us financially many times over in the form of merit scholarships.) No regrets. ☺️ Edited March 7, 2020 by TarynB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, Maryam said: Ok, so on hindsight would you have preferred moving from MM7 to DO Algebra 1 instead of Foerster’s? Maybe. We both loved the Foerster book, but DO just works so well for Dd. She really didn't master working into a notebook/ on to paper until this year. We did most of Algebra-Geometry-Algebra 2 on a whiteboard and I think DO is part of what helped that transition. Edited March 7, 2020 by MamaSprout 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted March 13, 2020 Share Posted March 13, 2020 We tried the MWB videos with Foerster's and didn't like them. I also thought Foerster's was best if you wanted to do a ton of word problems. There's nothing else as strong in that I don't think (and they're kinda humorous) but it got old for us. We just didn't need that much practice with them so I was selective. We were coming out of BA and didn't want to do AoPS algebra yet. I actually followed Foerster's algebra with AoPS because she was young and I missed much of the heavy conceptual understanding in AoPS. We then switched to DO Geometry and after she got the hang of taking a math test, she never got anything wrong that year. Same with Algebra 2 this year which she's already finished. DO is much easier for her than AoPS (which I think she should be in but she doesn't care about math enough). We're just planning to continue to use DO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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