Rod and Staff math...pre algebra??

[krystal70]

With DS going into 8th grade next year I am wondering about R&S and if it is a good pre algebra book? I was considering Saxon 1/2 with DIVE for him but just had this question about R&S before I take the dive. :) If you have another suggestion please feel free to send me a link.

 

Thanks! Krystal

[Ellie]

With DS going into 8th grade next year I am wondering about R&S and if it is a good pre algebra book? I was considering Saxon 1/2 with DIVE for him but just had this question about R&S before I take the dive. :) If you have another suggestion please feel free to send me a link.

 

Thanks! Krystal

Most people report that their dc are able to finish the 8th grade book (sometimes even 7th) and go into algebra from any publisher. I say stick with it.

[Lolly]

First, what exactly is pre-algebra? It is a year of review of all the basic math skills with a little bit of algebra tossed in at the end. To be quite honest, it is the algebra that is really, really easy to understand. Back in the olden days, pre-algebra did not exist. Students learned their basic math and then started algebra. A child with a good grasp of basic math and logic can go straight from elementary math into algebra. Rod and Staff math is not a pre-algebra program. It does not have as much algebra in it as a pre-algebra book would cover. But, it is an excellent basic math skills book. I think you will find that your ds would be able to handle algebra about the same if you stick with R&S or use 1/2 Saxon. Feel confident about using either option. (Especially if you are planning on sticking with Saxon for the upper maths. I've found jumping around to different publishers to be the biggest mistake I've made with maths.) If you decide to stay with R&S, you will find that it covers a lot of real world math skills that most math programs do not these days.

 

Anyway, that is my long way of saying that I would probably go ahead and switch if I was going the long haul with the next publisher, but would stick with R&S if I were planning on changing to another publisher for algebra.:D

[MIch elle]

move onto Saxon 1/2.

 

My older ds used R&S math 8 and it wasn't enough, imho.

[Jann in TX]

If you are sold on using Saxon for high school math then please move into Saxon NOW.

 

I also suggest that you use the 8/7 text instead of the 1/2 text. Both are Pre-Algebra but the 8/7 is much more fluid. The 1/2 text is around just in case a student needs an extra year of Pre-Algebra (in other words if they struggle through 8/7 you still have one more year to firm things up before Algebra if needed).

 

The first 35 or so lessons will be the 'honeymoon' time--after that the pace picks up and you will quickly find out if the Saxon method is the right one for your student. Unlike other texts, Saxon is unique and is not for every student...it cannot be adapted for different learning styles. It is also VERY VERY important that the student work EVERY PROBLEM ==much of the teaching is in the problem set...just the simple/innocent placement of a negative sign my be the only visible difference between problems 24 and 25--but that TINY difference makes a HUGE difference in the way the problem is worked out...

 

Also those tiny reference numbers can be of some help--but you can't rely on them too much--if you are on lesson 70 and one of the 'review' problems is difficult if you go back to the problem set the reference number says to you will most likely find that the current problem as MORPHED so much that the reference lesson is of little help...