Highschool Algebra

Momo, does the school have a program where she can do Algebra over two years so it is at a slower pace. My ds is taking his algebra over two years, it is the same course as algebra I but taught over 2 years. The concepets are taught and then reinforced through a variety of activities. His teacher has them use dry earase boards at their desk so there is not alot of erease marks on the paper. They play games kind of like a jeapordy and other various hands on activities, it is a very interactive course. The course started out with a basic math review and moved on at each individuals class pace. The kids seem to be grouped at ability level and the program has been working well. The students have the chance to be moved up or down the math circulium path based on needs. Some of the kids that started out in the class moved up to regular algebra and some had to move down to pre-algebra. If your school has a program like this it might be worth giving it a try.

Momo—If you are inclined to supplement on your own, have you taken a look at the reading and math board over at the homeschooling forum on vegsource.com? There’s been a fair amount of traffic over there recently on algebra. I’ve seen a lot of positive comments about Videotext Albegra (taught by watching videos—includes accompanying workbooks). Someone posted about having a “lot of lightbulb moments” while watching it. Saxon could be another good choice—its approach of continually going over past concepts might be helpful in your daughter’s case. Some also recommend Math-U-See.

Yes! I was going to mention VideoText algebra as well! I have heard such positive comments about it that I would try it especially if I were to homeschool at that point. It’s expensive due to the fact that it covers pre-algebra, alg I and alg II. But it might be more handy that a math tutor!

http://www.videotext.com/index.htm

Janis

I serve students w/LD in a high school setting. Helping them through Algebra is one of my jobs. I use white boards every day and our school is a work-at-your-own-pace environment. Students also are required to retake tests to 85% mastery or better. The only restriction is that one must complete 1/2 of a semester course in one year.

Students can do more practice problems and re-take tests in this format.

That program sounds pretty student friendly! I like my sons program because I think I prefer my son master and understand the concepts he is exposed to then to learn them for a test then dump them. Actually I think in his case if he took it at the “normal pace” with his slow speed he just would not pick it up. He is doing really well in this enviroment, maintaining a 88 average and able to remember all concepts and tell you when to apply them. He will be at a disadvatage in that he will not be able to get in as much math as the kids in the “regular” track but I think he will maintain more. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a lot.

Thanks to all who have shared ideas with me. It’s greatly appreciated!

When homeschooling, I had looked at the Videotext Algebra and thought it would be worthwhile to purchase. Of course now that we are no longer homeschooling, it will be difficult to implement this in addition to what my dd is already doing though I will take a look at this program again. The toughest thing will be persuading her to use it!

Saxon math was a total washout for my dd. Math-U-See was okay but not great. This past year we used Singapore Math which we really liked but my dd would have been better off combining it with Miquon Math for more repetition as suggested by other HSers.

Ideally, the public school would offer the 2yr Algebra program and/or the “work at your own pace environment”. I will suggest this to the LC teacher for consideration.

Thanks again for the help!

Blessings, momo

http://www.borenson.com — it uses a great analogy as its base — that equations are balances, on a scale. (So… whatever you do to one side, you gotta do to the other or it doesn’t balance.)

I think you are right to be concerned that she really may just be imitating a model, *not* comprehending the material. (She may understand the “recipe” but not have that one step further in understnading — why those steps work). She may have number comprehension problems going deeper than algebra, too. Lots of times, though, students will understand the concept — just not as it’s represented in the numebrs and letters. So they know that if I”m 5 years older than you, and I’m 43, you’re 38… but they don’t realize that “Jane is 5 years older than Rhonda” could be written “Jane - 5 = Rhonda.”
Another example: I’ve been spending lots of time this week explaining those “three consecutive numbers that add up to …” problems. The folks say “oh, yes, I know what consecutive numbers are — I just don’t know how to do the problem!” — and they are right.
So I say “okay, what are consecutive numbers?”
“The numebrs right after the other.”
“Okay, how would you say that in math?”
“what do you mean?”
“What do you do to figure out the next number?”
(depending on the person, I’ll bring in examples)
“It’s just the next number”
“Okay… what math do you do to the first one to get to the next one?”
“ummm…. you add one.”
“Okay, how do you say that in math?”
“Plus one.”
“Now, what did you call the first number?”
“X”
“So what would the second one be?” (usually they’d started with this idea… and the second one was “y”)
and here’s where the light bulb slowly starts to glow…
“X plus 1!”

… then I suggest putting “consecutive integers” on one side of an index card, and “X, X+1, X + 2” on the other side — and studying the card and being able to explain why it’s x and x + 1, but mainly being able to get to those questions on the test and thinking “oh, yea! the x and x plus one problems!” instead of “oh, ***! The consecutive integer problems!”

The equation as a balance is THE best analogy — it’s also old as the hills, not original to this program, but hey, it works.