Has anyone used Archi-Math?

[EmilyGF]

I'd be interested in your experience. Did the books seem solid? Did you supplement? Was there enough practice?

I have a strong math background. I'd be using these with DS11 and DD14. DD14 has been doing geometry and algebra in parallel for two years and I really prefer that approach to the American approach.

Emily

[Ting Tang]

Last year, I scoured and scoured for information on this series of books!  I really like the idea of integrated math, but I found it very difficult to communicate with the company.  What I really wanted to know is if my children went from this series to a more traditional path, where would they be placed after completing certain years of math?  Some pointed out to me that there were some errors in the writing, and I caught a few, so that turned them off.  I feel like the text and workbook should be enough.  But ultimately, I decided against using it.   The publisher has excellent credentials. I love the color and appearance.  If I could just know whether or not grade 8 would get someone through enough of Algebra I, that'd be great, lol.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Ting Tang

[stripe]

I became interested as well last year and ended up ordering 6A, workbook and textbook, based on feeling that the sample pages and table of contents looked promising. I have been them with my child and ordered 6B separately. I haven’t seen other years beyond the website samples. I am using these books as an alternative to MEP.

The graphics are very low budget and look exactly like the samples on their website. I dislike that the first 40 pages or so are a screed statement about their philosophy (with liberal use of both clip art, especially scrolls and scales, and an Italics font for emphasis). You can find it online in their year 7A sample. It does include a helpful chart of the topics in the books and how they relate. They say that you MUST USE the system IN ITS ENTIRETY and in order with no supplementation or deviation to achieve proper results. (I understand their point but I disagree.)

I like the progression of ideas and logical development in the text. The content feels very similar, and they both feel carefully scaffolded. I did change the order of a few  lessons despite the dire warnings. My child (who found MEP frustrating) has made unprompted positive remarks about the way concepts are presented in these books. Overall they have proven very positive for my needs.

I have found some errors in the text, mostly sloppy errors and typos of the sort that I regularly see in other texts that should have been caught; I emailed them about one but received no response. They mailed the books out very promptly.

The workbooks are divided into two halves, the W and the L sections. The W section is apparently supplemental problems for those who need more review, so there are two different sets of (almost always) one page spreads per lesson. A lot of the L section is just space for working out the problems in the chapter body of the textbook. There are additional problems at the end of each page/topic in the textbook that do not appear in the workbook. The workbooks also include section tests. The textbooks are on glossy, colored pages, and the workbooks are on thinner, newsprint type paper. They are bound with soft covers. They have e-book rental and print options.

It looks to me like finishing year 8 would cover what’s normally included in Algebra 1. Here are the contents and descriptions of all the books currently listed on the website:

6A

In geometry, students begin by carefully defining geometric objects and build to discussions on area and perimeter of plane figures, plus volumes of simple solids. Students get a taste of number theory in their work with prime factorization and divisibility rules.

This introduction to the series invites students to become confident mathematics enthusiasts by introducing basic facts, explaining the not-so-basic operations that we use in our number system, and modeling excellent solutions.

1. Natural Numbers

2. Decimals

3. Geometric figures in the plane

4. Divisibility 

5. Rectangular Parallelepiped

6B:

In algebra, fractions are introduced – students learn to correctly and efficiently add, subtract, multiply, and divide proper and improper fractions, along with mixed numbers. They explore applications of fractions to geometry and elementary data science, presenting and analyzing information given in tables, charts, and diagrams.

Students also begin to work with negative numbers and exponents. In further geometric study, they expand their knowledge on plane figures, adding circles and regular polygons to the mix. The books close with yearly review, reminding students just how far they have come..

6. Common fractions

7. Applications of fractions (including percents)

8. Exponentiation

9. Part 1. Rational Numbers: modulus, addition, subtraction

9. Part 2. Rational numbers: multiplication, division, powers

10. Circles and polygons 

11. Graphing and data

12. Review

7A

The geometry journey moves on to more complicated polyhedral and round solids, making good use of the algebraic skills built up in 6 grade . In algebra, students also see a step up in sophistication. They encounter ratios and proportions and a few of their many applications, including more experience with representing and analyzing data and practical problems such as recipe and map scaling. They wrap up the year with an intense study of polynomials and familiar factoring formulas, building skills that will prove invaluable for years to come.

1. Review 

2. Polyhedral solids

3. Round solids

4. Proportion

5. Integer expressions. Polynomials.

6. Algebra on polynomials

7B

In algebra, students learn to solve linear equations, as well as equations that reduce to linear ones: reducible quadratics, the absolute value of linear and factored quadratics. The modeling and applications are more advanced, and students learn methods for clearly organizing their thoughts and work as they solve word problems on motion, work, mixtures and alloys, along with basic finance.

7. Foundations of geometry

8. Equations. Part 1: Linear equations

8. Equations. Part 2: Modeling and applications

9. Congruent triangles. Part 1: Criteria for congruence

9. Congruent triangles. Part 2: Euclidean constructions

10. Review
8A

After a brief review of polynomials, triangle congruence, and constructions, the textbook opens with a systematic treatment of linear inequalities, moving on to the triangle inequality and other classic inequalities in triangles. Students continue their axiomatic study of geometry with the classification of quadrilaterals and careful study of their properties.

 In algebra, students learn to work efficiently with square roots and solve quadratic equations, giving a proof of the quadratic formula along the way. This semester concludes with vector geometry and isometries in the plane.

1. Review

2. Inequalities: Pt 1: Algebraic

2. Inequalities Pt 2: Geometric (optional)

3. Parallelograms and trapezoids

4. Square roots

5. Quadratic Equations & Quadratic Formula

6. Vector geometry Pt 1: Vectors and operations

6. Vector geometry Pt 2: Midsegments and centroids (optional)

7. Transformations in the plane: Isometries

8B:

Their study of advanced geometry continues with a rigorous development of classic theorems on circles and their inscribed angles and polygons. In the final chapter, students get an introduction to combinatorics, a field often used to provide bridges between other branches of mathematics. Once again, the year’s curriculum ends with a summary of the ideas and techniques students have added to their personal mathematica toolboxes.

8. Functions

9. Systems of Linear Equations

10. Systems of Linear Equations With one unknown

11. Circles and geometry Pt 1: Circles and angles

11. Circles and geometry Pt 2: Circles and polygons (optional)

12. Equations and roots

13. Rational expressions

14. Combinatorics

15. Review

 

For year 9: In 9th grade algebra, book A, students continue their study of functions, master systems of quadratic equations, and learn a crystal clear method for solving inequalities involving polynomials, rational expressions, and/or absolute value. In geometry, students revisit the theorems from prior years and find that they can solve harder problems with less effort. 

They move on with a unit on similar triangles, making heavy use of algebra they learned early on and setting the stage for trigonometry, which will be studied in 9B. Finally, students use their combinatorics knowledge from 8th grade part B to develop basic probability results.

Edited April 17, 2023 by stripe

[EmilyGF]

Thanks, @stripe!

I am glad to hear they don't encourage supplementing. 

DD14 has been doing Russion School of Math and, while I think it is awesome, it is incredibly expensive. I'd like to do something Russian-math-like and complete without the outside class, which she doesn't even like.

[stripe]

You’re welcome! So just to go back to your question, the textbook shows working through 4 or so problems per topic, and then there are (approximately) five to ten practice problems on the bottom of the page. Generally each of the topics listed in the table of contents gets a two page textbook spread and one page in each of the two workbook sections. Occasionally two topics are rolled into one set of practice, OR a section only gets a portion of a page worth of practice, but this is under 20% of the time in my rough estimate. There is a review and then a test for each chapter.  I think this is fairly depicted if you go through the samples, so if you take a look at that, you get a sense of how much there is. Overall we’ve found the number of problems sufficient; I don’t always have my kid do them all, and I also make up my own for more practice when required or to emphasize some other point. (However, we are using the year 6 book and not everything is new or very complicated, so I don’t have experience with the higher level books.) I think the expectation is that not every kid will need to do W pages. I think it is potentially too much to work through the textbook problems, the bottom of the page problems, and both of the workbook pages (although note these usually comprise the L section of the workbook). I definitely do not think you’d need to add in an entire other program on top of this, but as I mentioned, I have done other more hands on and/or fun math activities in addition to what’s in these books.

[Ting Tang]

@stripe  Thank you so much for sharing your experience.  I'm sorry if I missed this detail; do you plan to continue with this sequence?  Do you think your average homeschool mom would find this math very "teachable" from the student book itself?  I usually like teacher manuals.  Right now we are using CLE for my oldest in 5th grade. The others are using Singapore Math.  

[stripe]

On 4/18/2023 at 9:04 AM, Ting Tang said:

@stripe  Thank you so much for sharing your experience.  I'm sorry if I missed this detail; do you plan to continue with this sequence?  Do you think your average homeschool mom would find this math very "teachable" from the student book itself?  I usually like teacher manuals.  

I don’t believe there are any teacher manuals for this series; there are answers at the back of the textbook to the exercises, but I don’t think there are answers anywhere for what’s in the workbook (exercises or tests). I’ll double check though.

I would not be opposed to using this series in the future, but I would also look more carefully at what future levels contain and what would be best for my child. I have found it reasonable to use, because I am comfortable with the math being covered and I like the method (at least so far).

I would strongly encourage people to look at the samples; they are a very accurate representation of what is in the books, and the entire table of contents is available. MEP and Singapore have much more extensive teaching materials available, as well as other programs, so if that’s very important, I would be hesitant to suggest switching to Archi Math. I ordered one semester at a time because I didn’t want to overcommit. 

[Malam]

How does this compare to AoPS?

[stripe]

Archi Math is quite different from AOPS in the structure of the program including length of chapters, number of problems, and layout. AOPS is written to the student, and I feel the expectation with Archi Math is that there is a qualified teacher. Further, topics (algebra, geometry, number theory, etc) are integrated in Archi Math and separated in AOPS. AOPS is its own creation generally seen as pitched to high achieving math students often completing these as an after school supplement, whereas Archi Math is based on the traditional methods of Bulgarian instruction aimed at all students. How these factors impact the contents of the books is a matter of opinion.

Happily, both have generous samples of each available book online and a complete table of contents, plus the overall plan I found and posted earlier.