Workbook algebra 1?

[SilverMoon]

I've searched the boards already and most of the threads are pretty old. Anyone know of newer options? Whole courses, not supplements. Not MUS. 

I'm shopping for a 12yo with dysgraphia. He's completed Beast Academy through level 5 and will complete prealgebra this school year. With coaching he can just manage keeping a notebook in order but it slows him down significantly compared to worksheets. 

[HomeAgain]

I think Summit Math has a workbook set at the algebra level.  The pages look like they are meant to be written in: https://www.summitmathbooks.com/algebra-1-series

[Green Bean]

CLE has a Light Unit version of Alg 1

Alpha Omega Life Pacs

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Green Bean

[mathmarm]

Keys to Algebra is a series of 10 workbooks that I think goes over Algebra 1
No Nonsense Algebra is a workbook that goes through much of Algebra 1

[cintinative]

We only used Derek Owens for Physics, but that had workbooks. Do his math classes have workbooks?

[Alte Veste Academy]

Thinkwell has great companion books that you can add on to their online courses. You can look inside here.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Alte Veste Academy

[Guest]

4 hours ago, cintinative said:

We only used Derek Owens for Physics, but that had workbooks. Do his math classes have workbooks?

Yes, the math classes have work books. You can buy them preprinted or you can print your own.

[smfmommy]

Critical Thinking Press has an Algebra workbook.  If he has done Beast Academy I think Key to Algebra would be too easy. 

MEP year 9 is Algebra.  While the pages aren't exactly set up to do the problems on the page, there is plenty of white space to work.  

 

[wisdomandtreasures]

What about CLE?

[8filltheheart]

You can buy the loose leaf Lial's alg for cheap and just have your student write in it.  (I just looked and I pd $12.99 for a copy to use for review.  Odd answers included.)

[EKS]

Derek Owens has a workbook.  If you don't want him to spend his writing energy taking notes, you can do that part for him (ask me how I know!).  

The Lial text with "room" doesn't have enough room, IMO.

Then there are the Keys, which I can't stand.

[8filltheheart]

2 hours ago, EKS said:

Derek Owens has a workbook.  If you don't want him to spend his writing energy taking notes, you can do that part for him (ask me how I know!).  

The Lial text with "room" doesn't have enough room, IMO.

Then there are the Keys, which I can't stand.

The loose leaf text I bought has plenty of space for most problems.  This is a snip from Amazon from the pre-alg section of the pre-alg and introductory alg text.  My student hasn't had any problem fitting her work on the pages other than for the odd problem.  This example is representative of the amt of space found throughout (there text has something like 1300 pages.  

 

[EKS]

10 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

The loose leaf text I bought has plenty of space for most problems.  This is a snip from Amazon from the pre-alg section of the pre-alg and introductory alg text.

I guess I was thinking of the Algebra 2 text, which I what I most recently used, which leaves the same amount of "room" as you show in your scan regardless of the complexity of the problem.

[SilverMoon]

Thank you! I'll pull up some samples for all of these. He's not totally opposed to online, but his dance schedule is hefty and school needs to be self-placed. 

He recently did some problems like that sample, doing the work in his head and just writing the answer, which would take half that vertical space. But it would probably be legible! 🙃 For more difficult problems he scratches in a notebook that has no tidiness expectations beyond starting a new page for each lesson. 

I have the Key to Alg books from the pre-CurrClick place but I really don't see that as a whole course. It is a nice supplement though. 

Loose leaf options would never have occurred to me! If I cross out the evens he might be okay with Lial. 

If writing notes is a requirement they'd need written for him or sent to the printer. That's not happening. 

[EKS]

9 hours ago, SilverMoon said:

I'll pull up some samples for all of these. He's not totally opposed to online, but his dance schedule is hefty and school needs to be self-placed.

If you're talking about Derek Owens, it is self paced which is one of the things I love about it.

9 hours ago, SilverMoon said:

He recently did some problems like that sample, doing the work in his head and just writing the answer, which would take half that vertical space. But it would probably be legible!

Unfortunately not enough room encourages doing work in one's head, skipping steps, and squeezing things in illegible ways.  That's great if he can do easy prealgebra problems in his head, but in algebra he may encounter things that he needs to (or should) write out properly.  Frankly, I'd save his writing energy for those problems and have him do any problem that it's appropriate to do in his head orally.   

Here is a sample from Lial's Algebra 1.  The paper is 8' x 11" and a bit is cut off at the top.  The amount of room they give is a joke.

 

And here's my solution to problem 26.  There may be more compact ways to write it, but frankly, there is only room enough for the answer on the page in the book.

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by EKS

[EKS]

I also wanted to mention that solving that problem above made me remember one of my issues with the Lial series.  It is focused on getting students to do somewhat messy problems by hand.  For example, the problem I did above does not have a satisfying finish.  Of course, not every problem needs to be satisfying, but Jacobs does way better with these, and I suspect DO does too (I haven't used his Algebra 1 course though so I don't actually know).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Lial is overly focused on technique, on parsing terms if that makes sense, with no attention paid to math appreciation.  With Jacobs especially, but also with DO, the appreciation is also there.

[8filltheheart]

The space hasn't been an issue for my student bc she is only doing odds or every other odds, so she just writes down or across where the even problems would be worked out.  I certainly do not like it as well as Foerster's.  It is not as thorough nor does it require as much understanding to solve the problems.  For us it is strictly for review.  But compared to MUS, TT, Keys it is definitely a step above.

I have never used DO for anything below precal, so I am not sure how it compares.  

[EKS]

59 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

But compared to MUS, TT, Keys it is definitely a step above.

I definitely agree with this.

[SilverMoon]

Those critiques of Lial are another consideration. 🙃 This is a kid who gets irritated by procedural only instructions, which has ruled out some of the samples we've gone over. But the loose leaf tip was a good one. A PDF that could be stretched to print on larger paper would be fabulous.😄 He's simply not a MUS/TT kid, though the writing space in MUS would be great.

He still writes pretty large. Larger than wide rule paper size. If I make him try writing smaller it takes so much focus that the lesson is lost. We don't do oral math everyday anymore, but fairly often. If there's a set he's not 100% sure he's doing right he'll set it aside until I can do it with him and I'll usually do a big chunk of the writing. 

[Guest]

My child sounds similar to yours. With Derek Owens, we are doing the “print your own” option. So I can always print two copies and have him do only odds on one copy, only evens on the other. I also end up just copying the problem onto a sheet of graph paper if I know he will need alot of writing space for it.

 The notes are mostly prepopulated, so there is very little actual writing he has to do in the note taking part.

[Janeway]

We are using MEP and are happy with it.

[Alex Joujan]

Hi everyone! My name is Alex Joujan and I am the author of the Summit Math Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 Series (www.summitmathbooks.com). I just discovered this discussion board so I thought I'd chime in to help with math questions. I'm a private school math teacher and also dad to homeschoolers who now attend a public school so I've experienced a lot of school contexts. I am familiar with a lot of homeschool curricula and each has a different style and many are good. Summit Math is one option among many.

The Summit Math textbooks are a product of how I teach math in my classes. I want my students to stay in that sweet spot where they understand math, feel confident, and keep trying to learn more. To keep them in that zone, I start with simple concepts and gradually build on those ideas in small steps. The layout of each Summit Math book mirrors how I teach my classes in school. Each book is a sequence of 100 to 150 problems that gradually get more complex. Students should start at the beginning, try each problem on their own first, check the answer key to see if they got it right and then move on if they are ready. If they need help, they should get help from a teacher or parent. The books work well in a school context with a teacher in the room, or in a homeschool context where the parent understands the math well enough to answer questions when the child needs extra guidance. In cases where a teacher or parent is not able to help out, families can subscribe to step-by-step videos on the Summit Math website that clearly explain how to solve each problem. These videos give students access to direct teaching when they need it. 

I want learning math to feel like taking a hike. One step at a time, you gradually make progress.

I hope this is helpful! I want every kid to feel confident that they can learn math. Whatever curriculum you choose, I hope they enjoy it.