One used Teaching Textbooks for the upper grades (7th on up to Algebra 1) Here's my experience with it:
- The 7th grade set is a great tool for those who may have gaps in their early elementary education (1-6th). It's a great program for catching up a student and preparing them for pre-algebra. I highly recommend it for those who think that they missed stuff in the early years. It covers everything that should have been covered before 7th grade. And then consider it takes one year to get through everything. Loved this.
- Not so happy with the rest of the program, but others are loving that it is hands off for the parent. I felt that my homeschooler was not retaining the info and had to keep going back to relearn stuff in order to progress in the algebra program. That means to me that deep learning is not happening.
- I didn't like that the lessons are so long.
- We switched this year to ACE for Geometry per request of my homeschooler. I'll let you know how it went.
One used Life of Fred Elementary last year. Here's my experience with that:
- It's a great program for those who learn math quickly and it does really do deeper thinking. I would recommend that this be used alongside of basic fact drills in the very least.
- The upper programs are now coming with an option for extra practice -that's why we are sticking with it.
- This homeschooler loved Life of Fred. We will be using it again this year (kidneys-liver) and I am adding Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmatics.
There are many programs out there, and I'm not going to get into that (I'll leave that to your time). What I am going to talk about is Strayer Upton:
- WOW! Did you know that in the early 1900's maths wasn't taught until 3rd grade.
- Practical Arithmetics covers 3-8th grade in three books. I've heard great success stories with it. It teaches math systematically, orally, and it's mastery based. It talks about stocks, bonds, geometry, percents, etc.
- It has the answers in the back, and is written to the student (yeah!)
- If you want a solid, no fuss, affordable program, look no further.
- We will be using this with Life of Fred until 9th grade. then we will be moving straight into Life of Fred Algebra because there is no need for any other program if you combine the two. No need for prealgebra, and junk because Upton even has accounting and budgeting, metrics.
- I wish I had known about it for my other two. *sad face.
Sometimes it's the simpler programs that deserve the stars: 8 stars to Life of Fred and 10 Stars to Strayer Upton Practical Mathematics.
I included a link to see what they look like for your convenience:
Enjoy!