Have questions about Algebra II and Geometry

[Rachel]

We have been using Saxon for math and we are coming up on needing to get either Algebra II or Geometry. As I understand it, Saxon's 3rd edition has the Geometry integrated and the 4th edition Geometry is a separate book. There is a facebook page for local homeschoolers and some moms are saying that colleges are now saying that the integrated Geometry isn't enough to count as a credit. Has anyone found that to be true? What did you use for high school math or Algebra II or Geometry?

[Paige P]

Well, my kids have been doing the combined Saxon. I haven't had any questions in regards to Katie's transcript, BUT, she's only applying at the Univ. of AL, and they're much more concerned about your ACT score than anything else, so I don't know that I'd bank on that

I'd considered that if they need additional Geometry that I might add Teaching Textbooks as a supplement because I think it would go faster and would have the videos to watch. We've used the Art Reed DVDs for Saxon (along with the Saxon Teacher dvds for answers and showing how to solve the problems you miss). It's my understanding that Art Reed won't do the videos for the Geometry because he doesn't think it's necessary And my kids NEED the videos So I need something with video lessons, thus my consideration of TT.

BY the way, you may think that Saxon Teacher *does* include video lessons, and it DOES, THROUGH Alg. 1. When you get to Alg. 2, it doesn't, thus the necessity of Art Reed (who is fabulous, btw!).

[Heather W]

We use Life of Fred in high school and that scope and sequence calls for Algebra II before Geometry. I much prefer this because math maturation wise Geometry is harder if you are younger. Also, you get the two years of Algebra in without skipping a year.

I have one kid who needs something to bolster his Fred work and we are using CTC Math which goes through Calculus. It's straight forward enough, but he has not done Geometry yet. The only downside to CTC is that it sometimes uses terms I'm not familiar with- that could be the result of being an Australian company (though they have US version) or it could be more modern conventions.

Have you considered Mr.D math? He is fantastic with the kids. His lessons are low risk and engaging and they are affordable. If you need a link, let me know! My older two kids took his ACT math boot camp.

[Kendra AU]

I think each curriculum has their own path. Many do A2 before Geometry, I think MUS is one who does Geo before A2. For the higher levels of math we've moved to Teaching Text books. Math is totally not my strongest subject, and I needed something that didn't leave the kids in need of help until Hubs came home to answer all their questions. One excels very well with TT where as the other one despises it. FWIW, the despising has little to do with the curriculum, and much more to do with his Irlen.

[Leslie Nelsen]

I've used MUS for Geometry with all of mine. I did use TT for Alg 2 with my oldest as struggling with it and just needed a different approach. I've heard that TT is very heavy on proofs for Geo as an fyi. None of mine have had any problems getting into college with using the MUS approach to math. I've got my 4th in Geo now and its going smoothly. MUS does do Geo before Alg 2 and it would be hard to switch the order of the books in this curriculum due to the repetition built in.

[Rachel]

We use Life of Fred in high school and that scope and sequence calls for Algebra II before Geometry. I much prefer this because math maturation wise Geometry is harder if you are younger. Also, you get the two years of Algebra in without skipping a year.

I have one kid who needs something to bolster his Fred work and we are using CTC Math which goes through Calculus. It's straight forward enough, but he has not done Geometry yet. The only downside to CTC is that it sometimes uses terms I'm not familiar with- that could be the result of being an Australian company (though they have US version) or it could be more modern conventions.

Have you considered Mr.D math? He is fantastic with the kids. His lessons are low risk and engaging and they are affordable. If you need a link, let me know! My older two kids took his ACT math boot camp.

We have the elementary Life of Fred books and while all of my kids have used them in some capacity, I don't know that we will use them for high school. The highest level I have is Fractions.

I have heard about Mr. D math but my husband is a math major and has been teaching math. Unless he can't handle this time-wise (which may come up, I don't know) we probably won't outsource it. But if there are problems with attitudes, etc., I will definitely consider outsourcing math. But I am interested in hearing more about the ACT math boot camp. So far the kids have been using Khan Academy to work on standardized testing. They just took the ACT this past Saturday but I'm not opposed to them taking the SAT as I've heard some kids do better with one test over the other.

- - - Updated - - -

I've used MUS for Geometry with all of mine. I did use TT for Alg 2 with my oldest as struggling with it and just needed a different approach. I've heard that TT is very heavy on proofs for Geo as an fyi. None of mine have had any problems getting into college with using the MUS approach to math. I've got my 4th in Geo now and its going smoothly. MUS does do Geo before Alg 2 and it would be hard to switch the order of the books in this curriculum due to the repetition built in.

So it worked o.k. for your kids to switch back and forth between curricula? What did you use for Algebra 1?

- - - Updated - - -

I think each curriculum has their own path. Many do A2 before Geometry, I think MUS is one who does Geo before A2. For the higher levels of math we've moved to Teaching Text books. Math is totally not my strongest subject, and I needed something that didn't leave the kids in need of help until Hubs came home to answer all their questions. One excels very well with TT where as the other one despises it. FWIW, the despising has little to do with the curriculum, and much more to do with his Irlen.

Yes I don't excel in the higher level math either and I'm so glad my husband is strong in this area. This is his thing and he's good at it. However he does use a curriculum, a book for the kids to work through. I'm just trying to make sure that the kids are set up the best they can for college tests and for college in the future.

[Rachel]

Well, my kids have been doing the combined Saxon. I haven't had any questions in regards to Katie's transcript, BUT, she's only applying at the Univ. of AL, and they're much more concerned about your ACT score than anything else, so I don't know that I'd bank on that

I'd considered that if they need additional Geometry that I might add Teaching Textbooks as a supplement because I think it would go faster and would have the videos to watch. We've used the Art Reed DVDs for Saxon (along with the Saxon Teacher dvds for answers and showing how to solve the problems you miss). It's my understanding that Art Reed won't do the videos for the Geometry because he doesn't think it's necessary And my kids NEED the videos So I need something with video lessons, thus my consideration of TT.

BY the way, you may think that Saxon Teacher *does* include video lessons, and it DOES, THROUGH Alg. 1. When you get to Alg. 2, it doesn't, thus the necessity of Art Reed (who is fabulous, btw!).

I have not heard of Art Reed. I am not opposed to outsourcing if my husband cannot handle the teaching load. So far he's just working with our twins and I am still working with our younger two so we still have time to do this.

I thought that the combined lessons with Saxon would be good enough as well however now I'm reading that some colleges don't count that so I started to get concerned when I saw that. We are "behind" (I hate saying that because I think we've done the best we can with who we are and who my kids are and what has happened in our lives, etc, etc.) in math meaning that behind what is usually done. I wanted them to do the combined to get the Geometry information and get through Algebra 2 as soon as possible. There's just not enough time to get through it all if we do separate levels but we will if we have to.

[Leslie Nelsen]

Rachel - I have had 4 of mine go through Algebra 1 with MUS. 3 of them went to college and this foundation was good for them. I'm getting ready to start my 5th in Alg 1 this week.

[Rachel]

Update:
We purchased the Saxon Geometry. My husband is going to to try to work through this as quickly as possible. It sure does seem like a lot but it will all be o.k. My ds did o.k his first time taking the ACT but it would help if he could get a few more points before applying to colleges so hopefully this will help.