YEARS LATER NOTE: Since using these programs, the kids described here graduated Magna Cum Laude in Statistics (Kelly) and Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Applied Mathematics (Christian) from a large state university. At the writing of this note (June 30, 2016), they are both midway through PhD programs at national research universities here in the United States. You can read more about that here.
In the last post about math, I wrote about why we switched from Singapore Math to Teaching Textbooks when the kids started Algebra at the request of a friend. We are huge fans of both of those programs. They served us well with both Kelly and Christian who learn in very different ways. We planned to stick with Teaching Textbooks through Precalculus. The kids understand the system, like it, and performed well on standardized tests after using it. At this writing, Precalculus is a relatively new program for Teaching Textbooks. We had previously purchased Thinkwell Precalculus because it was so highly recommended by Sonlight, the company from which we have purchased the vast bulk of our homeschool materials.
The Thinkwell Precalculus program sat on a shelf for about six months while Kelly finished Teaching Textbooks Geometry. Like all the other Teaching Textbooks programs we had tried so far, their Geometry program is stellar. Kelly could listen to a lecture, read the same material in a textbook, and get help with exercises she did not understand well. She knows how to use the system and now has a thorough understanding of Geometry. The Teaching Textbooks system works so well for us that I got to wondering whether or not I should have switched to Thinkwell for Precalculus. The upshot is that I went ahead and bought the Teaching Textbooks Precalculus program, too. At this point, there are no video lectures with the program like in the previous ones. We thought that would not be too much of an impediment.
Kelly started the Teaching Textbooks program several weeks ago. Some of the lessons went very well, but about a third of the lessons required a significant amount of explanation on my part. Kelly and I like to work together and I do math for a living so that is not such a big deal. Still, she was frustrated because she felt like she understood the material when she read the text, but was often unable to answer the exercise questions correctly. Kelly gets math. She performed very well in previous math oriented materials and on standardized tests. Last night she did Lesson 16 and struggled again. This is exactly the wrong time for her to get a bad taste in her mouth for math just because the materials are not well suited for the way she learns.
I did not know what to do because I did not want her to be frustrated with this important material. Then, I remembered that we have a completely different system that is highly recommended by Sonlight. They sell Saxon Advanced Math, the program that covers Precalculus, but say this at the bottom of the page the describes that product:
Sonlight is happy to sell you this product. We want to make sure, however, that you are familiar with the Thinkwell Pre-Calculus, which we recommend as “Best in Category.”
After correcting Kelly’s assignment last night and talking to her about it, I thought we might go ahead and crack open the Thinkwell materials and take a look. We were amazed. It really looks like a wonderful program. Not only did we look at the introductory materials, but we watched the instructional video that describes the material with which Kelly was struggling in Lesson 16 of Teaching Textbooks. It was presented with a level of clarity with which we had previously come to expect from Teaching Textbooks. We decidee to switch systems starting today. I watched her go through the tutorial on how to do the exercises, then do some of the exercise questions. The whole program is very well thought out and has what we believe is a better record keeping system than Teaching Textbooks. The one area where Teaching Textbooks appears to be superior is in the way that they provides such clear explanations on how to work the problems when a student gets stuck. We have not used Thinkwell long enough, though, to make too strong of a statement on that.
Since we have so little experience with Thinkwell to say that it will be better than the Teaching Textbooks in its final incarnation we will reserve judgement for now. Still, the Thinkwell Precalculus certainly looks better for us now than the current state of the Teaching Textbooks Precalculus. I will write about this more when we have a few months experience with the program, and then again after Kelly does some more standardized testing.
Links:
Teaching Textbooks Precalculus
Thinkwell Precalculus
Saxon Advanced Math
Thanks for the review and comparison [smile].
And if it is any consolation for Kelly, I understood every lesson in Calculus–and even helped my fellow classmates–but I still got Cs on most of my tests. Not sure what happened. I just couldn’t get myself to write down the correct answer even though, when I got the test back, I knew all the answers and couldn’t believe I had marked D instead of B.
May this new program continue to be a perfect fit!
~Luke
Thanks for the note Luke. I feel for you on that C’s in Calculus thing. I felt like I understood the material, but somehow got more answers wrong than necessary. Our family is genuinely excited about math and things mathematical, so not getting it is very painful. My ninth grade Algebra teacher, Mr. Reiling, was an absolutely stellar teacher who somehow transmitted the joy of math to his students. I really want my kids to have that same love. It is like when Christian learned to read. Not “getting it” kills the joy. It is pretty humbling when you do something for a living and realize that you are not such a great evangelist for the subject you love and do every day. We are very thankful we live in a time when there are so many homeschool options available to make up for our teaching deficiencies. We are hoping and working for a joyful math experience and we think these materials could very well get us over the hump.
Oh, the JOYs of homeschooling! To be able to switch from something that doesn’t work for you at the moment to something that does.
I will be awaiting your opinion since Tisse is close on Kelly’s heels having a month or more left in TT Algebra 2. She still needs to complete Geometry, but since Kelly will be done with pre-cal about the same time that Tisse the time TC starts it, a thorough evaluation of Thinkwell should be completed. Yeah! You go before us!
As I had said before, Emma too struggled a bit with TT Pre-cal and it WAS different and harder than the others, but I believe that it was good for her to struggle with it. She is glad she stuck with it. I do remember that at about the same spot where Kelly is (16), Emma had particular troubles, but was able to get the help she needed – the TT guys are available by phone. Do you happen to know when TT is going to come out with the lectures for Pre-Cal? I believe they are in the works.
I remember the time we switched midstream from Jacob’s Geometry (way too teacher intensive for me but a great Geometry curriculum) to TT Geometry. We were very relieved to have come across this great program.
These are absolutely great points Ruthie. We have been homeschooling long enough now (not as long as you, of course), that we forget that something as important as being able to switch from a program your kid does not get to one that invigorates them is almost impossible in government and private school settings. While this change will be somewhat painful for us in terms of money, lost time, and the need to learn a new system, it will be WAY less painful then suffering through a year in a system that does not work for the particular way our kids learn.
One additional reason that might work for us with respect to this change is that we really need a program for Calculus next year, too. Teaching Textbooks does not have a Calculus program yet either, so maybe the transition from Precalculus to calculus will be a little smoother than if we switched now. I have not heard anything about when Teaching Textbooks might come out with a lecture program, it would be very interesting to compare the two systems when they do. The only think that gives me pause is that, by the time they have the lecture CD’s out, I will not have the same vested interest or sense of urgency to get it right that I have right now.
The only question I have in my mind now is the one that arises due to the fact that, after about lesson 16, things started going well with you in Teaching Textbooks. Oh well, part of the fun of this is having made the discovery of something we currently perceive to be good (Thinkwell)!
P.S. Isn’t it great that your dad is an engineer. It is very cool to have at least one math person in the family.
Speaking of engineers, it will be very interesting to get Eric and Audrey’s take on all this as there kids pass through all this math stuff after us.
My two older daughters used the Thinkwell Calculus in conjunction with the AP test prep materials. Both took the AP calculus BC exam and both got scores of 5. I did not help them one little bit! The oldest one went on to Cornell University majoring in Biological engineering. This is a great program! Although I have no experience as a home school mom about precalculus, at least I know that Ed Berger teaches both.