Elementary Algebra (Teacher Guide - Revised)

Required book- Elementary Algebra by Harold Jacobs
Includes a detailed 180-day/36-week schedule, tests, test solutions, and sets one, two, and four solutions from the Elementary Algebra book.

I got this Algebra course because our children will be needing it in a few years and we were excited to see Master Books offer an Algebra course. My husband recently completed a few college degrees (business related), and his toughest courses were pre-reqs - namely, biology and algebra. He thinks he would have done better on his CLEP if he had worked through this course first.

Overall, the course looks good and does a good job explaining the concepts of Algebra. The reason I’m giving 4 stars is because I was a bit disappointed that the biblical worldview is not incorporated into this course the way it is in most other Master Books courses, including Principles of Mathematics. In this Algebra course, there are some comics and funny stories sprinkled in, but they are simply fun little doodles and are not designed to point us to God. I think it is key for our children to remember that math is thinking God’s thoughts after Him, not man creating these facts and formulas. Having watched the preview of the Master Books Academy video supplement for this course taught by Katherine Hannon (author of Principles of Mathematics), I am sure we will want to add that when we use this course. While it will provide additional explanation and instruction, I like it primarily because she does so well at constantly reminding the student that math shouts out the faithfulness of God. These formulas all work because God designed His creation with order and consistency, and because He is faithful, the formulas are reliable and consistent!

Elementary Algebra is a math course is designed for grades 9-12, receiving 1 credit after completion. It is set up to be completed over 180 days (36 weeks) with a time commitment of 45-60 minutes a day.

I actually grabbed this set in order to brush up on my math skills before my kids get to this level of math - and I am impressed with this course and can’t wait to use it with my kids! The lessons are short and direct. Not really any fluff, though I know my kids will love the comics included. I found that just enough examples were given to be able to complete the exercises. Set I, II, and IV assignments are right in the student text, making it a good grab and go course.

The Teacher Guide is essential to successfully completing Elementary Algebra (Algebra I), as it contains full solutions to all of the exercises in the student text (for Sets I, II, and IV). It also contains the chapter tests, midterm, and final assessment as well as all the answers for each. The Teacher Guide also includes a recommended daily schedule to complete the course in one year.

The course itself is very flexible in the assignments given. Set I reviews previous lessons, Set II allows the student to practice the new concepts in the lesson, and Set IV is an optional challenge set. There is a separate, optional download available for purchase which contains Set III (additional problems to practice new concepts) and additional assessments. I would recommend using Elementary Algebra - I believe it to be just the right amount of work and appropriate for independent learning with or without the optional supplemental online Academy course!

Elementary Algebra is a great curriculum for our family. Each lesson is short and to the point, but includes fun facts, cartoons, or other fun additions that my son enjoys. I like how easily the lessons are laid out for the student and teacher. My son really enjoys how brief the lessons are, and how they are to the point without a lot of fluff.

The student textbook is written to the student and easy to understand. The student textbook includes all the lessons and assignments. Each lesson includes review questions from previous lessons to help with ongoing mastery. There are also additional questions for each lesson that can be downloaded if your student needs some extra practice.

The Teacher’s Guide includes a suggested daily schedule, quizzes and tests (with answer key), and the answer key for the student textbook. There is also information on how to use the course and grading guidelines. It’s well organized and makes everything easy to keep up with.

Our family is very excited to be continuing math with masterbooks. We have done all levels of MLFLE, POM 1 and 2 and are now stepping into algebra. I am very thankful for the revised edition with everything available to me as a teacher inside the teachers guide. I have also chosen to use MB online course through the MB academy along with the books since they worked so well with my daughter through POM 2. I also can tell by looking through the material that having my daughter do both levels of POM in her 7-8th year is really going to help her with this course. She was able to get a start on a lot of the material that is in this book and I am thankful that it is not going to be overwhelming for us. We have already gone through it and enjoy the little stories and did bits at the beginning of each lesson that bring the topic to the real world. I am so pleased that she is not dreading getting started with this course!