Carrie or Julie does this sound right?

[gotpeace91]

My 13 yo son is going into 8th grade. We are going to do RTR. In Math he has had a combination of ACE and CLP up to 6th grade and then we did Math Essentials Book 1 last year for 7th grade. I'm thinking about doing this:
8th grade: Math Essentials Pre-Algebra
9th grade: Video Text Algebra Modules A B C
10th grade: Video Text Algebra Modules D E F
11th grade: TT Geometry
12th grade: Pre-Calculus in TT or some other curriculum
What do you think? I'm open to suggestions.

Also, I noticed that Math Essentials has a new Algebra book now. Have you had a chance to look into that?

One more thing, should he be doing extra in Science like I see in this post------> viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9860 ? Will his Science and Math line up OK? Meaning, will he get to stuff in Science that he hasn't learned in Math yet if I go forward with this plan?

ETA: I went ahead and ordered the AIG Science and he is enjoying doing it on the 5th day each week. As far as Pre-Calculus goes, does Video Text Modules A-F cover that already? If so then I could do A B for 9th, C D for 10th, E F for 11th, and then Geometry for 12th. I don't know... One thing I do know is that my son responds very well to Richard Fisher! I would love to just use his books all the way through if that were possible.

[my3sons]

Leah - I have read and read this, and I think this progression seems to be just fine. I do wonder about just doing Math Essentials Pre Algebra for eighth grade - is there enough there? I am not certain, as I have only glanced at it, but I was thinking it was just 20 minutes a day. Would doing Math Essentials Pre Algebra and Math Essentials Algebra in a year be overkill? I always feel reluctant to give advice about something I have not yet taught myself. But looking through what you have shared, I think your plan overall makes good sense. I did find this thread where Carrie mentions high school math that may be helpful...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6571http://www.hear ... f=6&t=6571
I know Carrie is planning for her oldest now too, and is in the middle of that, but when she is able, I know she'll try to help. I'm sorry I am not able to be of more help, but I do take giving advice very seriously, and unless I feel I can be quite certain of what I am sharing, I try not to behave as if I am. I am very familiar with Singapore's Primary Math up through 6B, and Singapore's Discovering Math 1A/1B, as well as quite familiar with Discovering Math 2A/2B. I have looked at Videotext, and I really do like what I see. I know Tom Clark, the author of Videotext, quite well, and his wife and he would be more than willing to answer any of your questions if you give them a call. They are wonderful people! I am sorry this is disjointed, and not all that helpful, but it is what I can say so far.

In Christ,
Julie

[gotpeace91]

Thank you Julie for your answer it was helpful. I appreciate your choosing to share only where you are certain of your advice.

I wish, wiSH, WISH we would have come to HOD in time to do Singapore but when we first came to HOD the children tested so far back in Singapore that we were advised to continue through in other math curriculum.

We have been doing 2 pages a day of Math Essentials Book 1 and keeping it under 40 minutes. We have 5 more weeks left of Math Essentials Book 1. I think it may be possible to do Math Essentials Pre-algebra and Algebra this year and that is what I have been leaning towards. I just needed a little support to see if this would be a good thing.

While I was in the process of finishing this post I found this page which I'm going to study before I decide. http://www.videotext.com/FAQGeometry.html It has some information about pre-calculus, which looks like it will be in Video Text's Geometry course. uggh. I may be back to square 1 in my planning phase. I will also go back and look at that link which you posted, thanks.

[Carrie]

Leah,

Thanks so much for your patience in hearing back from me! I am knee-deep in planning my older son's sophomore year, as I haven't had much time to do that until I finished the new guide first!

In the math plan you shared, you will indeed be done with Pre-Algebra quite quickly. It is a short introduction course. I can't remember exactly but was thinking it took us about 6 or 7 weeks. If a student isn't a very quick worker it may 9-10 weeks at the most. We just set our timer for 45 minutes a day and did as many of the lessons that fit well within that time frame.

Then, once we finished Pre-Algebra, we headed right into Videotext. This worked well, as Module A of Videotext is also Pre-Algebra (but done in a different way). Don't be surprised if the beginning of Module A seems heavy. Just keep on going and it gets easier. There is MUCH content in Module A.

The shorter burst of Pre-Algebra Math Essentials will help jump start your son's year without pulling him too far back so that he is behind schedule in the math he needs for science.

As far as Teaching Textbooks goes, you could easily do as you scheduled above with TT Geometry and Pre-Calc. If you did choose to use Videotext instead of TT, then it is true that the geometry and pre-calc. and trig. are somewhat interwoven in the modules. So, you'll need to decide whether to go the TT or VT route for junior and senior year. You could easily wait to decide until you get there, after seeing how well you like VT for Algebra.

We did see the new Algebra by Math Essentials. We actually took a detour from VT and did much of the pilot version of Math Essential's Algebra online last year. We really liked Rick Fisher's step by step presentations, but there wasn't nearly enough practice or any review. Being in the pilot stages, there were also some errors in the answer keys in Math Essentials and no fully worked solutions. These things may have been corrected in the final version they're offering now. Over time, I really missed a full-text answer key with step-by-step solutions for every problem like we had in VT, the course notes from VT, and the daily quiz format with VT. The online Algebra didn't feel nearly as full or thorough as VT. Needless to say, we ended up back at VT the last quarter of last school year and really flew along with it, just picking back up where we left off. I was glad to be back to it and so was my son. We won't detour again in Algebra. If your son likes Rick Fisher's presentations, then a look at the finished product may be worth your while, to see if review and more practice have been added.

Blessings,
Carrie

[gotpeace91]

Thanks so much for getting to my question, Carrie! I knew it might be a while because of the new guide, so I just figured I'd type up my question and let it float around a while until you were able to get to it.

I think I will do as you mentioned starting with Math Essentials Pre-Algebra and then moving into Video Text. Should we be trying to finish Module A before 9th grade or just try to get a head start on it? I have to give myself definite goals otherwise I wind up wallowing around and not getting very far.

I think we will cross the Geometry bridge when we come to it as you advise. I am definitely scared about doing algebra. I never finished Algebra so I hope Video Text will really help us. My son is already much quicker at figuring out math than I am, so I have high hopes for him being able to catch on. We may be making good use of that help hotline. If we start Algebra now in grade 8 will it still count for his high school credits?

There's no rush on you getting back to me. I know you are busy with making plans for your son. We will be beginning with ME Pre-Alg. so we have some time to figure it all out. Thank you so much for everything you do for all of us. We are thoroughly enjoying RTR and Preparing this year.