How long did it take for your kid to finish Chalkdust Algebra I?

[teacalm]

Just curious. Ds is averaging 3-4 days per section. He's an average math student.

Do you do the review exercises and test?

Thanks so much.

Lyn

[Amy in CO]

My dd does a lesson or review in 2 days. Then 1 day on the quiz or test.

Do you do all the problems? For the lessons, we only do 20-30 problems. At least one from each section, if she has difficulties with it, I have her do more. Otherwise that is it.

[Susan C.]

You might be bogging down, we did in Chalkdust Algebra 2.....had to move to an easier program, one that breaks things down into smaller chunks. A few lessons can easily be a chapter in a high school level book (Chalkdust uses college books). I borrowed an older CD Algebra 1, it had only 9 chapters that needed to be done, which would be one chapter a month. If you are keeping that pace, you are probably ok, be sure to do the easier problems and don't feel like you have to do the harder ones (just one here and there).

[teacalm]

Thank you, Amy and Susan. Whew, that's a relief that I don't have to make ds do all the problems. I'm giving ds all the odd#; the problem with me is I don't know what to leave out or to give myself permission that it is okay not to do everything if ds is going through those topics fast. I notice with ds that he hits a wall with a certain topics like when he in did chap. 1. He couldn't get the base/exponent multip. After that portion, he went through the other problems fast.

I think I'm making it unnecessarily hard for ds. I still make him do all the odd word problems. Is that overboard?

Thanks so much.

Lyn

[MomsintheGarden]

Thank you, Amy and Susan. Whew, that's a relief that I don't have to make ds do all the problems. I'm giving ds all the odd#; the problem with me is I don't know what to leave out or to give myself permission that it is okay not to do everything if ds is going through those topics fast. I notice with ds that he hits a wall with a certain topics like when he in did chap. 1. He couldn't get the base/exponent multip. After that portion, he went through the other problems fast.

I think I'm making it unnecessarily hard for ds. I still make him do all the odd word problems. Is that overboard?

Thanks so much.

Lyn

Chalkdust recommends that students do every fourth problem (except for Geometry, which has fewer problems), so that's what we've done. I usually have my student do #s 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, etc. One of my dc did CD Alg I several years ago; currently she's doing Calculus, and it's going well.

My next dc is 1/2 way through chapter 6. He started it young (1/2 way through 5th grade) so I am not hurrying him. Here's what he's doing:
Day 1: Read the section, then watch the movie
Day 2: Do the Integrated Review problems & whatever section problems he can fit in for a total time of 1 hour
Day 3: Finish the section problems

Review sections take him 1-2 days and tests take 1 day. He also did math about 2 days a week during the summer, so he wouldn't forget.

He started this immediately after ABeka 6th grade Arithmetic - he didn't do Prealgebra. I want to make sure he really understands the concepts. If he were older, I might have him skip the integrated review, but even at this leisurely pace he will finish in just a bit more than a year.

If your child is spending about 1 hour a day of focused, productive attention on Algebra, that is probably enough. I also recommend doing a little through the summer, if possible.

GardenMom

[transientChris]

My dd is doing ALg 2 and we do every fourth or fifth problem depending on how well she knows the material. If she is having troubles, she gets more problems.

[teacalm]

Hello Momsinthegarden and Transient Chris,

It's going to be very hard for me to do this, to have ds answered every 4th question, but I'm going to do this. If this is what Chalkdust recommended, then who am I to question Dr. Mosely?:tongue_smilie:

I bought Chalkdust Algebra 1 set used. Would it be worth it to buy the $50 Chalkdust consultation fee just in case I need the consulting? I'm thinking though that this wonderful board will rescue me if that happens.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. This is one more thing scratched from list of worries, and prevent me from going "mental". Homeschooling is soooo hard. Lots of pain, lots and lots of pain.

Lyn

[z2_mom]

I did every 4 problem with dd. I would go back through and make sure that she at least covered two problems from each section. If I added in a problem from a section then I would take away a problem from a larger section. I also tried to have her do mix of the word problems from lesson to lesson.

We spent 2 days on each lesson,
day 1 --watch DVD, read lesson if needed, do what problems could to equal an hour
day 2 --work on lesson for an hour ---later in the day she went over corrections and problems missed with me

we did quiz and tests in one day and the chapter reviews usually took 2 days.

Lynda

[Susan C.]

I bought Chalkdust Algebra 1 set used. Would it be worth it to buy the $50 Chalkdust consultation fee just in case I need the consulting? I'm thinking though that this wonderful board will rescue me if that happens.



Try something like Algebra for Dummies first, then the board, here and in K-8, then maybe the fee. We do like emailing DM but didn't need to for Algebra 1.