Since I'm also seriously considering Video Text, I got pretty excited when I found the following information on the Chalk Dust website. (Chalk Dust FAQ).
"Is your program best for my child?
Perhaps; the "best" program for your child is the one that matches the learning style of your child with the teaching style (and learning support) provided by whatever program you use.
Please compare Video Text with Chalk Dust Prealgebra.
"Video Text has B/W module booklets that are not detailed enough, no application word problems, and usually less than 30 problems per lesson."
S. Ackerman (former Video Text Prealgebra customer and current Chalk Dust customer)
Also, in our opinion, Video Text Algebra 2 is not nearly as comprehensive as Chalk Dust Algebra 2.
Chalk Dust Company has accredited Houghton Mifflin (now Cengage Learning) derived color textbooks, step-by-step solutions guides (Basic Math, Prealgebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Precalculus, and Calculus I), numerous application problems, and more than 100 problems per section (ie lesson) on average from which to choose. Chalk Dust uses one professional on-camera math instructor (Dana Mosely) who provides high-quality technical support directly to your student. The comprehensive DVDs correlate to each textbook and focus upon teaching concepts with numerous sample problems.
How do your math programs compare to Saxon, or ABeka, or Math-U-See?
Chalk Dust textbooks are in color and are derived from Houghton Mifflin (now Cengage Learning) textbooks which meet math standards in all states, and are used in colleges. The chapters are divided into sections that include numerous problems (often 75-150) many of which are "real-life applications" that are scarce in other programs. Tests are built into every text (Basic Math through Calculus I).
Solution Guides are very detailed whereby a textbook problem is repeated and a step-by-step solution is given. In general, we feel that a student should work about 25 problems at the end of each section, but the exact number of problems that are worked is per the discretion of the parent. It's not about memorizing problems but it is about understanding concepts.
Chalk Dust makes no attempt to train the parent to become a teacher. Our goal is to connect the learning style of your child with the teaching style of Dana Mosely and to support that directly."
When your child gets "stuck", or experiences learning difficulty, technical support directly from Dana Mosely is available.
I came across this review and know that it is possible you have already made a decision, but I definitely want to comment about the review. I would have to disagree with their review about VideoText Algebra. The booklets, in my opinion don't need to be in color. What would be the reasoning behind that? The videos themselves is what the course is really all about. Those videos really show the student how algebra works and makes a 2D problem in a book really come to life visually. The program itself is also created in a way that it builds on itself, so there is no way to pull apart the Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 course for comparison. The WHOLE program is ALL the Algebra you would ever need to know. Traditional books would start over in Algebra 2 anyway. There are plenty of problems to work because every lesson builds on the one before so the students will be working problems for that concept throughout the rest of the program. Plus, if you REALLY need more problems, their website has a link for every lesson and more problems. The answers to the problems are in great detail in the solutions manual. It is better for the student to compare their work with the answers to discover for themselves what they did wrong. That is the power of learning. If for some reason the student and teacher are having difficulty with a concept, their is a help-line that you can call for one-on-one help. But the KEY to VideoText Algebra is that they teach the WHY behind the math. There are so many tricks that we learned in school that we have no idea WHY we did them, but there is actual reasons behind it and knowing those reasons makes the math so much more understandable and that empowers the student.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with VideoText with me and anyone else who happens to read this. I haven't made my decision yet but am leaning towards VideoText at this point. THANK YOU!
DeleteGREAT info... thank you!! Have you decided what you will be using??
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting Mama Lee! I'm sorry for my delay in responding. I had a long comment typed out and then my computer suddenly shut down. So this response may not be as detailed as my first one that got lost in cyberspace! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI decided not to use Chalk Dust. A friend of mine with experience in science and math told me that Chalk Dust is a good program but very rigorous and that they give you lots and lots of problems to do. The problem is you have to pick which problems to do (and not do) and this task can be overwhelming and even maddening for the parent.
She told me that if she had it to do over again she would pick a traditional program with a good pedagogy such as BJU or ABeka. Since I'm using BJU this year, I'm going to give their math a try and see how it goes. It looks pretty rigorous, but there are three different math tracks to choose from within the 7th grade math itself. They are: 1. Minimum 2. Standard and 3. Honors. With each track they tell you exactly which problems your child needs to do. This seems doable to me. We'll be using the DVD teacher as well.
Have you decided on a Math curriculum yet?