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17yo struggling with Pre-Calc
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My 17yo son is greatly struggling with Pre-Calc.. We aren’t even half way through the book (using TT) It is taking him 3-4 hours to do a lesson and most weeks he only gets 3 lessons done per week..that is if he isn’t completely stuck in which case he needs to wait on DH to get home and try and help him.
He is so stressed out right now because of this.. DH and I have talked to him and told him sometimes you will have challenging courses in college too..you have to learn to work through them.
Now I’m trying to determine how far in the book he should go before he has earned a credit. He is set to Graduate in May.
Debbie
I’d slow him down, make him work one hour per day plus a little at night. I’d award 1/2 a credit. You can award a while credit if you get about 3/4 of the way through the book.
Another option is to switch to Life of Fred Trigonometry. I would rather have my child have a better understanding of the basics of precalculus than finish a course that is moving at a pace that doesn’t fit him.
As homeschool moms we tend to only use one textbook in a class, but every textbook and course does not cover identical topics.
Our library has Life of Fred.
Otherwise you could continue as you are, and finish it up this summer.
I hate for him to be so stressed but I also don’t want him to think it’s ok to quit something that is hard. The thing is it may be difficult but his grades are good… I am going to consider the 1/2 credit…
Debbie
I think that he has earned a full credit already, due to the amount of hours he has put in. There are two ways to figure credits. One is by finishing most of a textbook. Two is by counting hours. If he had kept an hours log, one credit could be awarded after approximately 180 forty-five minute sessions. Probably less than that, actually, because that is equivalent to perfect attendance in public school with no days taken off for assemblies, etc.
I would advise against putting a one-half credit on a transcript in pre-calculus because, in my opinion, that looks better than one-half credit. It is best to have his transcript look as typical as possible.
Is he planning to take calculus in college? If yes, then you may want him to finish the book:).
He is planning on going to community college for the degree he wants in computer programming. He has an option of 2 courses for math…pre-calc being one of them. I do agree with what you are saying as far as counting hours and I know that is one way to calculate a credit. I also agree that considering he doesn’t need higher math in college what he has learned in pre-calc is probably sufficient.
You know it could be the presentation of the topic with TT. Our son had a great experience with Math U See until we hit Algebra, and then it just didn’t make sense for him anymore.
I would be inclined to agree with the above commenter about trying Life of Fred. I would take a look at the topics he needs to know for Pre-calc, and look for him to understand those topics. Maybe also try Khan Academy videos or Aleks math as a supplement?
Has he used TT before? Has he ever had this much trouble with it? If he has used TT before, but this year is more difficult than past ones, I would say it is a roadblock with the way TT is presented. Maybe try using something different for him to finish up. There’s certainly no point in him being stressed beyond what he can bear. I do agree with you that we don’t want our kids to throw in the towel and give up when something is hard, but sometimes a different approach is needed to be successful. Just a thought.
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