math suggestions/reviews

[servin]

HI!

I have a 7th grade 12 year old (young 12 year old if he was in school class) that just finished NEM 1 with little problem. He self taught as well and only required help on those insane challenger/investigation problems. :tongue_smilie:

SInce we are way ahead of the curve here in my state and can't count any of this as work for high school yet and since I want to make sure he has the concepts solid, what other advanced challenging math books are there? I've heard of Jacob's, Docleni, Forrester's, russian math but have no clue if they are easy, hard, application based or theory based. He takes the SAT next month and that should help me decide just where he is in math. He wants to attend MIT for college if htat makes a difference.

Any suggestions/reviews on math books???
TIA

[Jen3boys]

I highly suggest you search the board for some of Myrtle and Charon's posts.
My kids are younger, but with NEM I've also looked at Kiselev's Geometry, AOPS, and Gelfand.

[Testimony]

How about an SAT prep book?

I am curious what others suggest too. :bigear:

Blessing in your homeschooling journey!

Sincerely,
Karen
www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Crimson Wife]

Haven't used them yet for obvious reasons, but I've had my eye on Art of Problem Solving for when the time comes. Those are the kind of math books I wish *I* had had growing up.

[KAR120C]

Gelfand makes a good series for Algebra -- very challenging, and requires a lot of the student. There are three books: Algebra, Functions and Graphs, and The Method of Coordinates. The three of them together were meant to constitute a correspondence course. I think they'd still be challenging after Singapore, although he might move very quickly through the beginning of each book...

AoPS (Art of Problem Solving) has both their own "regular" courses (Algebra, Geometry, Precalculus, etc.) and extra stuff - Counting and Probability, Number Theory, and Problem Solving.

My only warning is that if you pick up either of these and then go back to Singapore for credit, NEM 2 may seen extremely easy by comparison.... even boring. I think what I would do is finish NEM 2 before you move programs. That gives you a good basis in both Algebra and Geometry, but leaves room for expanding.

Then if the high school credit is an issue, either Gelfand or AoPS Algebra "for credit" (either of which would still be challenging after NEM 2... Gelfand more than AoPS I think, but I've not used AoPS Algebra myself...)

One thing to think about, though, is whether you only have to have four high school credits in math (and it doesn't matter what they are) or if you have to have four specific credits (Algebra, Geometry, Precalculus, Calculus). If the specific courses don't matter, then you can finish NEM 2 without worrying about whether it counts for high school credit or not, and do your four years with whatever extras you need to add so you land at Calculus for 12th grade.

[lgm]

My 12 yr old found NEM1 and Dolciani Pre_Algebra: An Accelerated Course to be very easy after finishing Singapore Primary Math. In hindsight, it would not have been a great leap to skip pre-algebra and just go to Dolciani Algebra I. He enjoys selected Math Counts problems.

I have Dolciani and Foerster Alg. I; like Dol. better for him b/c it is more graphical IMHO and he has the mind to discern and absorb all the info on the page as well as make the connections necessary to do the B and C problems with no sweat. Foerster I use for my child who needs more practice in using words to describe the symbols he uses, needs some of the connections pointed out in the text, some of the pre-alg review, and finds the word problems appealing. Math brain boy finds the Foerster word problems boring as he can see how to do them instantly.

I'm not through Gelfand & Shen yet,but so far not a huge difference from Dolciani in terms of insight that will be generated.

I had Dolciani from 7th grade through Math Analysis myself, and found it excellent preparation for the SAT and college math courses. Geo was the only class I took from a teacher; everything else was independent with teacher consultation as needed.

How is your state set up for high school credit? Here it seems they can't credit anything to the high school transcript until 8th grade begins, but the district is fine with Calc I being the first course on the high school transcript.

[Karin]

Well, what I would do, and am going to do, in your situation is LoF followed by or combined with Gelfand's Algebra and/or an old Dolciani, and I'll explain why later. I have a dd who self teaches herself math and she greatly benefited from doing Algebra 1 twice. She's doing Geometry for her freshman year, and it was the second time around that she really began to think Algebraically, which is different than just reading problems and solving them. She started seeing things IRL and making Algebra problems up about them in her head. That's when I knew that she really understood it. Gelfand's has some very long and some very challenging problems, and Charon generally suggested those of us how use it to wait until our dc is 13 (I remember one exception off hand, but not where to find that link.) The answers are no longer posted, but some of us have copies. Charon kindly wrote them out for us and used to have the posted online as public domain.

Someone suggested Charon's & Myrtle's posts, but since neither of them has been posting, you may want to look them up along with some of the newer threads on the high school forum. At least one of the math gurus there teaches math and has had some very interesting insights on this (she is pg and still didn't really understand how to do Geometric proofs until she was teaching--logic skill development isn't necessarily early in those who are gifted). The most important thing it to really understand what you're doing.

We have about 5-6 different Algebra 1 programs here, plus the one we bought and sold.

Gelfand & Shen: Better on the theory than Dolciani and longer problems, pus some harder ones and definitely some long ones.

Dolciani: The best ones are from 1965-1975. This is new math at it's best, and for arguments on why new math, I'd look that up in Charon's posts (you'll find others discussing it, of course, but he sold me on that. Jane in NC sold me on older Dolciani, and I've been very happy with it. Both of them are math majors as are a few other posters on the high school forum.)

Foerster's: We have one, but I haven't been that impressed by it. My understanding is that man's gift is teaching. What I remember Charon writing was (I may be paraphrasing --note: he had very strong opinions) "at least it doesn't tell any lies." There are many ardent Foerster's fans, and I'm keeping ours as reference at the moment, but may combine it with something else for one of my other dc if necessary.

Life of Fred: We love these book. It's not as as rigourous as Gelfand, but that's not where the brilliance of this author lies. The drawback is that your dc has to like or at least not mind the story. But it does the best job of all the math books we've seen at bringing math to life in real life, at explaining things and showing how to do it the simple way or the complicated way. By simple, I don't mean easy. He does a fabulous job of summing things up, clarifying things. You need the Home Companion Book with it if you want an answer key and/or extra problems.

NEM 1 isn't exactly the same as Algebra 1 here, as I recall. For one thing, I think there's a somewhat different scope and sequence.

One final point: Doing Geometry with proofs can be difficult to do well young since it depends on when a dc is ready for that type of logic. At what age this develops appears to be unrelated to IQ based on a number of posts on this forum and the high school forum. I'd be sure that your ds is ready for that. Also, most dc, even gifted ones, won't be truly ready for Calculus early, although there are some exceptions of course. The number I've heard is no more than 10 percent of math students should be taking Calculus in their senior/grade 12 year of high school. Most people do Geometry in between Algebra 1 & Algebra 2, but I don't think it has to be done in that order.

[jlovebaker]

is using Video Text Algebra - altho he did pre-Algebra in 6th (with lots of great prep by his former ps), it consists of pre-Algebra (repeat I guess but VT has different terms and a way of looking at things), Alg 1 and Alg 2. Fast moving with short DVD lessons and a workbook, quizzes and unit tests. Fairly independent for a very independent worker ... he started it toward the end of last year and did well on the Calif STAR testing in early spring for 7th grade (he was in 6th) before we got too far in the program - 85% - (Caveat: I just gave him an old one at home so not quite the same as a classroom setting as you probably know).

Another Caveat: my oldest son and I can learn anything from a book (without a lecture) - so take that into account ... this does has DVD lessons but just want you to know.

Also - this is a two year program so Alg 1 and 2 are covered before Geometry ... and since other posters think that it's important to wait on that ... this program does provide for that. I don't have experience with a child taking Geo - when I took Geometry in the old days it was in 10th grade! I think that is behind the curve today - but my son still won't be taking it til probably toward the middle of 8th. I'm just gonna go with the flow ... if it doesn't work, we'll change the plan then.

[StephanieZ]

I chose Art of Problem Solving. . . My dd will go into AoPS Counting & Probability this spring after completing Intermediate Algebra.

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/AoPS_R_A_Calculus.php

Check it out!!!