13 yos hitting wall w/ Algebra -- WWYD?

[Linda in NE]

My 13yos has always been very good understanding "the big picture" in math. He's intuitive and can very often solve a problem in his head using mathematical reasoning without using Algebra or touching a pencil and paper. Suddenly, however, it seems that he's hit a wall.

Around Thanksgiving we began a unit on polynomials, mostly adding, subtracting, and multiplying them. He did all right on the individual lessons, but when he came to the unit test, he failed, missing around half the questions. We backed up and reviewed the material in a general way, did more practice questions, and he seemed to gain understanding. However, when he took another unit test, he failed again with about the same score. SO, then we went through each lesson, doing the whole unit over again. He passed the unit this time at about 80%. That's what I require for him to move on, so anything less would have been another fail.

We're now at the end of the next unit -- factoring polynomials -- and the pattern seems to be repeating itself. He did fine on the individual lessons, missing a few homework questions, but doing okay after I re-taught and/or re-explained the material. He took the unit test on Friday and missed more than half. To make matters worse, he left a chunk of the questions blank which required him to factor several polynomial expressions. He told me he didn't know how to do those questions. THIS IS WHAT THE WHOLE CHAPTER WAS ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry to yell.)

We're going to go over the test today, and I need to make a decision about where we go from here. I'm thinking of putting this program on the back burner and approaching Algebra from a whole new angle. I'm looking at Life of Fred Algebra. Maybe the departure from the textbook approach will jar something loose in his brain, making him suddenly see the light.

Is this a good idea? What, if anything else, would you recommend? I'm very good at Algebra and always thought I was a good teacher, but this is driving me crazy. I don't understand how he can not understand at this point.

NOTE: He is going through some teen/hormonal issues right now. Maybe it's making him more dense than usual. Taking this into account, how does that effect your advice to me?

Thanks.

[attachedto4]

My 13 year old went through a hitting the wall phase with algebra recently also. Maybe it's a developmental/hormonal issue? What we did was back off and review some foundational concepts and just waited for a few weeks on the concept he was having problems with; actually, it might have been closer to a month. Went back to it and just like that it clicked. It's like his brain needed a little time to make some connections. Now we're sailing along again. One thing I had thought of doing was buying a Key to Algebra book that targeted the area we were having trouble with, so he could have some practice in a different way from the program we regularly use. It turned out that just the break was enough though.

[Julie in GA]

seems to be where we're all hitting a wall. My 13yo ds just failed his first algebra test, and it was mostly on factoring polynomials. We went over some things, and he took another test (yay! for Jacobs -- they give you three tests for each chapter). He got a "B" the second time.

When we looked at some standard patterns and tried to spot them in various expressions, that seemed to help. For example, with "x squared - y squared" being equal to (x+y)(x-y), he needed to remember that even the number "one" is a square, and can fit into this pattern. Then there were those tricky ones that could be simplified by factoring out a "-1". Yuk!
Okay, I'll stop. Just wanted you to know that you're not alone. Kids in school probably just have to move on (unless they get algebra tutors) and never do master this, so hang in there.

[Unicorn]

Maybe he needs a different program. I am not there yet w/ my dc, but speaking from my own personal experience. My ps used Saxon, and I just never "got it". My dm sent me to a tutor, and in her presence I would understand it, but when I got home w/ my book, I just didn't get it (again). I struggled w/ algerbra and had such an awful time of it that when I started substitute teaching, I told the school I would not sub for an algerbra teacher!

Maybe he just needs to look at it in a different way. A different program might do that for him. Good Luck, I am not looking forward to alg.