Has anyone used Jacob's Algebra?

[Shelly in IL]

Reviews? And comparisons to others like Lial's and Dolciani? Thanks.

[AngieW in Texas]

I liked Jacobs Algebra. I used it with my oldest and fully intended to use it with my middle dd as well.

Things I like about Jacobs Algebra:

Set 1 is always review

Sets 2 and 3 are virtually identical, just use different numbers/equations, so if your dc has difficulty with one of the problems, you can work through it together and then assign the equivalent problem from the other set.

The comic at the beginning is always good.

The set 4 problem is often fun. This is intended to be a bonus section. My oldest often did these problems just for fun.

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When my middle dd was ready for Algebra, she thought Jacobs looked very intimidating. After the skinny little Singapore books, it did look rather hefty. She asked me to find something else for her to try. Fortunately, I had gotten a link for a free download of Kinetic Books Algebra I earlier that week. She liked the idea of a computer-based program.

She ended up doing both Kinetic Books and Jacobs her entire 7th grade year. That got her halfway through both programs. At that point, she decided that she liked the immediate feedback and instructions in Kinetic Books better, so she dropped Jacobs. It took her all of 8th grade to finish KB Algebra I.

KB has their algebra programs on sale until the end of September. A one-year online subscription is $34.95. A single-user cd-rom that won't time out is just $39.95.

Both of these programs are solid.

[Sharon in MD]

We used Jacobs for both Al I and Geometry. I love these books! I think that they were a great set up for my ds to move on to higher maths. I can't compare to Dolciani and Lials because I have not used them, but it is absolutely comparable to Foerster.

We used Jacobs for Al I and Geometry (love the AL I reviews in the Geometry text), the Foerster for Al II and Pre-Calculus with Trig and Chalkdust for Calculus because I wimped out.

HTH

[SS in MD]

Just wanted to ask a Jacobs Alg & Geometry question -

Do either books have worked out solutions or only the answers?

Thanks!

[Ruth in Canada]

with the Kinetic Books? I've thought about using one of their physics books--but I don't really want to work all of the problems to check dd's work.

[EKS]

Loved it!

The only thing I have to compare it with is VideoText. We did the first module of VT and hated it. Jacobs was a breath of fresh air.

[EKS]

Jacobs Algebra only has answers but we did ok with that. Geometry 3ed has solutions. Geometry 2ed has answers.

[AngieW in Texas]

I am not using KB Physics because it isn't set up like their Algebra programs. I love the way their algebra programs are set up.

The practice problems within each chapter give immediate feedback. Most of them even have stepped help that will take you through the problem step-by-step to get to the solution.

The end-of-unit problems are the only ones you need an answer key for. Answers are provided for the odd problems. I just assigned the odd problems. Sometimes I even assigned every-other-odd. There were still more than enough problems. There wasn't a solution guide for these problems, but Jacobs Algebra doesn't have a solution guide either.