Rigorous, college-bound high school math

[hollyhillhomeschool]

Best high school math prep for college-bound students?

Saxon?
Jacob's?
Dolciani?
Other?

:confused:

[hollyhillhomeschool]

WOuld you please just write in POST REPLY your choice of "Other" if you voted for that category? Many thanks!:001_smile:

[LUV2EDU]

I did a thread on this. Maybe this will help. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94618

[ciyates]

I think Chalkdust is the best for a rigorous college bound teen.

[mooooom]

nt

[Jann in TX]

Lial, Foerster and Larson (ChalkDust) are my 3 top picks. They are all written to the same standards and are solid programs--close enough that you can change between programs.

I really don't like to call these programs 'rigorous' because they are STANDARD for high school/ college level texts. Other programs may not go as deep and may provide just the basics. I prefer a program that I can adapt for multiple levels of students...with an 'easier' text the students can only progress so far...

I have an older Dolciani (Structure and Method) text in my collection that I tutored from YEARS ago... I like it, but it can be difficult to find support materials like solution manuals (plus there are no video lessons).

[hollyhillhomeschool]

Thanks LUV2EDU...this helps tremendously! Sorry, new to the boards...appreciate your previous thread info....

[Quiver0f10]

Chalkdust.

[Gwen in VA]

One person's rigorous may be another person's "easy as pie" curriculum and somebody else's "absolutely impossible" curriculum. How difficult a text is depends so much on student and teacher ability and motivation.

You might try to figure out how strong your kid is in math and what are his/her math goals.

Possible answers --

1) Weak. Goal of survival. Will do algebra 2 and some business math.
2) Okay. Goal of getting through pre-calculus by the end of senior year.
3) Pretty strong. Goal of getting through one semester of calculus. Plan on taking SAT2 level 2 math test.
4) Math rocks. Goal of getting through as many semesters of college math as humanly possible. Will do level 2 math SAT2 sophomore year.

Different programs cater to different styles of learning, different abilities of the teacher, and different student abilities.

A different question to ask -- figure out what you want your child to accomplish in math in high school and then ask who has had a child who did this and what program did they use? And even saying "rigorous math for the college-bound student" isn't that precise. There will be a HUGE difference in the math expectations of Cal Tech or MIT and Podunk U. And English majors don't need to be as strong in math as future engineers.

We love the modern Dolciani books and have had great success with them, but many others don't.