michaeljenn Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Hi, My son has been using Rod and Staff grade 6 math, and has expressed how her really, really, wants to go on to Algebra. Well, we have decided to go on to Teaching Textbooks after he finished the R&S series. We went ahead and let him take the TT pre-algebra placement test, just to see if he was really ready. He made a 100 on it. Also, it only took him about 35 minutes to complete it. We were very shocked. Is TT not that advanced, or has R&S really prepared him??? I am now concerned about TT not being up to standards. Also, I am wondering if I should go ahead and give him the Algebra placement test. Is there quite a bit of review in Algebra 1? Any advice would be great.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Good Morning, Teaching Textbooks certainly has developed a reputation of not being as advanced as its competitiors. I questioned them on this and they told me that some people confuse "ease of learining with rigor." I have used TT 6 and 7, however, went with Chalkdust Prealgebra. The TT Algebra 2 covers about 1/2 the material of a Saxon text. It sounds like you may have a mathy kid, you probably want too keep him challenged. I did a bit of research before I jumped ship with TT and at the end of the day it appeared to me that TT could get you resonable math scores on the standard tests, but was probably not enough if you have a kid headed towards a career where the knowledge of advanced math will be crucial. Hope that helps. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kisa in CA Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 And Julie's assesment struck me as a very good summary of TT. It may be my choice since my son is NOT a math kid, but it is important to go into it realizing it does not have the same depth as other programs. Just a thought from someone who has never used the program, only read reviews. Kisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeljenn Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 Julie... Do you think the reason TT has 1/2 the material than that of Saxon Alg 2 is because Saxon includes Geometry and TT doesn't? This is very interesting. I sure wish I could just buy all these texts and compare!!! I have got to make a decision soon, because he is a chapter away from finishing R&S 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stirsmommy Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 We are using TT with my daughter. She is younger (barely 12) and starting their alg II. (She loves the conversational style). What our plan is to do TT through Geometry to get through middle school. Then when she is a freshman she will do a more in depth Alg II (maybe will test to see if she needs a repeat) then we will head to precal. As to ease of learning it is definitely there. Dd is doing remarkably well. She loves the cd because he has a "fun" voice so math sounds fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeljenn Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 I recommend searching the high school board for posts regarding TT. We've had many discussions regarding TT there in the last couple months. Jann in TX has some great perspective on this topic, as she is a math tutor. We used TT following Saxon. We will use Chalkdust for the Algebra series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susie in tx Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 I've read a lot of these conversations with interest. I'm quite math phobic. I just purchased Lial's BCM for me, to possibly use with my 12 yo. In looking at TT and Videotext and CD, I've decided that one must include TT's Pre-Calc as part of algebra 2 in order to get a good comparison between all of the programs. They do go a bit more slowly than some of the other programs, and I do believe that a more fair comparison could be made if TT's Pre-Calc was included in the comparisons. FWIW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeljenn Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 Thanks for the replies... I have done a few searches on TT on other boards, and it does seem that TT does go slower. However, it does seem that children using this program are excelling. Maybe this is because they have time to learn and grasp each concept?? I don't know. What I do know is that I would much rather my child really "know" the concept, than just plod on through an "advanced" text, and be totally lost. SIGH... I am seeing more positives that negatives thus far on TT. More comments are appreciated. Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmsch4me Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I have a ds in 8th and a dd in 7th. TT Pre-Alg. drove my ds crazy. There was too much explaination - he really just wanted to get on with it. I think TT breaks things down more for understanding - not so good if you have a child that can jump steps (or do those in their head). He found in frustrating - so is using Abeka Pre-Alg. this year and loves it. My dd loves TT. We started off doing it on the computer, but she now prefers having me teach the lesson and we work through the lesson together. For perspective: this is the first year my dd has been on "grade level" math. I've looked at other programs and didn't feel she could yet handle some of them. TT eases into topics and has enough review to keep concepts fresh. JMO: if I had a child in which math came easily I would opt for Chalkdust, Videotext, or Jacobs. I think all these programs to a great job explaining the why's and how's of math, but challenges a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 We switched to TT for math for my highschoolers two years ago so I had my current 9th grader using TT Alg 1 during 8th. At the end of the year( after finishing TT Alg 1) we decided to switch math again so I had my son then take the Saxon Alg 1 pretest and he bombed it. He only got 1-2 things right. I felt like we wasted an entire year using TT. I have him in Saxon Alg 1 this year and he is consistantly scoring in the 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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