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Richelle, What is your personal choice for algebra?
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My 14 yo boy is working with algebra 1 teaching textbooks. I was wondering what your personal favorite is in algebra, please. I hope this doesn’t put you in a tight spot with regards to recommending. My son is an excellent reader, remembers many characters and details. I believe CM has cultivated this in him. He loves reading and science and sees no use in anything other than consumer math. Thanks, Martha
Hi Martha,
Okay, personal favorite: Our 14-year-old is using Harold Jacobs’ Elementary Algebra along with Ask Dr. Callahan dvd’s.
As a CM educator and a mom with leanings toward literature and the arts, I have gone with Jacobs for a few reasons. Like Charlotte Mason, Jacobs works under the principles that the “best way to learn anything is to discover it by yourself” and that the work should remain interesting. Jacobs also begins with a thorough review of operations, just as CM did, and he introduces the practical side of algebra as early as possible.
I’ve also purchased dvd’s by “Ask Dr. Callahan” that were specifically made to be used with Jacobs’ book. These provide video lessons covering each topic using real life examples and simple logic. Probably the most exciting things for me personally is that the videos were made by people that home schooled themselves –they know our particular struggles– and Algebra is presented by their daughter, Cassidy (Callahan) Cash, who was an English major. The family also worked with Harold Jacobs to provide a full solutions manual to every problem in the textbook, has a syllabus with assigned problems, and offers free homework help if your student is confused about a concept.
Jacobs’ Elementary Algebra had been out of print but a revised edition will be released again on 11/01/2016 at Christianbook.com Obviously, until we’ve been with it awhile, I won’t be able to give a full review. Dr. Callahan states that the changes in the new version do not impact the style of the book.
So, that is where we are currently here in the Baburin household, Martha.
Warmly,
Richele
I’m excited to know about the DVDs, Richelle! My oldest (now a 26yo engineer) used Jacobs so we still have it and plan to use it with the two younger boys. I didn’t know about the DVDs.
RobinP, I’m glad someone is as excited about it as I am! I should note that I didn’t push my son to go it alone here. I’m there for discussion just as with Plutarch but he does the work, making discoveries himself. I had an Algebra teacher myself as terrible as one would find in a Dickens’ novel and I’m tickled to see Cassidy’s simple explanations.
Arelis, I’ve passed your question on to Karen. I can tell you what I’d look for as a CMer but haven’t looked at any choices currently out there yet.
Best,
Richele
Keep in mind that when my children were in high school the choices for upper level math were limited. I have not looked at high school math course choices for several years now, so there may be some new options that I’m not aware of.
All of my boys completed Jacob’s geometry, but the next step of Algebra 2/trigonometry was limited to the choice of Alpha Omega, Bob Jones, Abeka, Saxon, or Math-U-See. Because I had switched to MUS when one of my boys struggled with fractions, I continued using MUS for Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus.
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