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My ninth grader had been using Life of Fred Advanced Algebra for math and doing relatively well (7 or 8 out of 10 on most Cities), but when we did Stanford 10 testing, he barely scored 50% on the math section. He just couldn't apply what he'd learned in LoF to the problems on the S10. Testing poorly in math is new for him this year. I've decided to spend the summer brushing up on Alg 1/early geometry concepts and then do Saxon Alg 2 starting in the fall. My question is, can I even give him credit for the work he did in LOF this year if I'm having him re-do with a different curriculum? Saxon Alg 2 also covers the second half of geometry, which is new material for him, so I plan to give him 1 geometry credit for the combined summer and academic year's work. Should I count the LoF work this year as his Alg 2 credit, and the Saxon work next year as geometry, and leave it at that?

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Based on what you are planning, I would give him, for high school,

1.0 credit for Algebra 1,

1.0 credit for Algebra 2 (once he completes the Saxon Alg. 2),

and 1.0 credit for Geometry (once he completes the brush up on Geometry and the Geometry in the Saxon -- which I am not familiar with and assume you are basically providing a complete Geometry course).

 

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On 6/11/2020 at 5:27 PM, perkybunch said:

Based on what you are planning, I would give him, for high school,

1.0 credit for Algebra 1,

1.0 credit for Algebra 2 (once he completes the Saxon Alg. 2),

and 1.0 credit for Geometry (once he completes the brush up on Geometry and the Geometry in the Saxon -- which I am not familiar with and assume you are basically providing a complete Geometry course).

 

On 6/11/2020 at 5:44 PM, Melissa B said:

To get the full credit of Geometry through Saxon you are supposed to complete the first half of Advanced Math as well. 

 

oooooh. I guess I misunderstood and thought that the full credit of Geometry was Alg 1+ Alg 2. Thank you so much for the clarification, that really helps!

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Did you actually look at the problems on the Stanford?  If it's anything like the ITED (Iowa test for high schoolers), it will be mostly arithmetic problems, with just a few very basic algebra and geometry problems thrown in.

Edited by EKS
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7 minutes ago, EKS said:

Did you actually look at the problems on the Stanford?  If it's anything like the ITED (Iowa test for high schoolers), it will be mostly arithmetic problems, with just a few very basic algebra and geometry problems thrown in.

Good question--I didn't, but my son did say that it was mostly Alg 1 stuff that he didn't really remember how to do. He's decent at arithmetic and pre-algebra material, but has never really studied geometry at all, so anything that had to do with geometry (more complicated than area of a quadilateral) he probably just guessed.

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I think your plan to revisit algebra is a good one because he needs that foundation. I think your plan is a good one to count the Saxon geometry after he is done for geometry. Some students like one one mine used 3 different algebra books before we found one that sticks and she also used 2 books for geometry. It’s a good thing most of them were available for cheap. 

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Oh my goodness, yes.  We also had to use several algebra books to pull problems from - even Khan Academy.  Has he ever taken a standardized test before?  Because we had a strange experience with dd18's first standardized test.  It may be that he just got nervous, didn't test well, etc.  

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1 hour ago, Evanthe said:

Oh my goodness, yes.  We also had to use several algebra books to pull problems from - even Khan Academy.  Has he ever taken a standardized test before?  Because we had a strange experience with dd18's first standardized test.  It may be that he just got nervous, didn't test well, etc.  


We Stanford-10 'em every year because DH was nervous when we pulled them out of the charter. They both kinda like testing days... DS in particular has always tested in 80th-90th percentile on the math portion of this test, so it was startling to have him land solidly in the 50th. It was actually DD's first year testing above grade level in every subject, and DS' first year not doing so. I know it's possible he just had a bad day, but he admitted himself that he simply couldn't remember how to do a lot of the procedural questions because the LoF book he used this year didn't really review the procedures. That suggests to me that he hasn't grasped the concepts well either, because if you understand the concept, you can do the procedure, right? In theory?

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I feel like LOF is a fun book, but not worth High School Algebra credit.  I would consider it more of a fun math supplement, so I am not surprised a student might struggle with standardized testing after using the book only.   So I think your plan to repeat Algebra is a good one.   Algebra is really important for future math and science success, so it is a good thing to have a firm foundation.  

Edited by TheAttachedMama
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