http://www.rocksolidinc.com/cgi-bin/VirtualCatalog/CatalogMgr.pl

I’ve used Lifepacs but not their algebra. While we were using Lifepacs, my daughter was using videotext in a teaching co-op. She really liked it and it has detailed solutions manuals which really helped with finding trouble spots.

The co-op didn’t use the videos or dvd’s just the workbooks.

Don’t know if this helps, but it is the one thing I did not like about Saxon. Once you get in to Algebra and higher I think it is important to be able to see each step of a problem, not just the answer.

EDIT TO ADD: “someone” (you know who you are, thanks!)

pointed out that saxon alg and up have the detailed solutions manuals. I used it for three years and stopped before beginning in alg because of the switch to videotext with our teaching co-op.

haha see what happens when you don’t research before hitting send!

my bad on that! 🙂

I feel it is a great program that would work well for you.

Good luck………..

We use MathUSee, so far for pre-alg, alg 1, and geometry, and really like it. For my family it was a lot better than Saxon, which is what we switched from, but a lot of people like Saxon – you won’t go wrong by using it.

I have also heard wonderful things about Teaching Textbooks.

You might also consider looking into Teaching Textbooks, I haven’t tried them, but a lot of former Saxon users are “jumping ship” and going to Teaching Textbooks, from what I understand, they have a similar incremental method, but give much better explanations of concepts and procedures.

If you use Saxon there are two products you might want to look at to make it more understandable, the DIVE CD’s (which I feel are okay) or Mathetes Solutions DVD’s (which I think are great!)

You can find info about DIVE from http://www.DiveIntoMath.com

You can find info about Mathetes Solutions from

http://www.mathetessolutions.com

LifePacs do not give as much step by step instructions as Saxon.

I would advice to buy the solution manuals with the books, since this makes it a bit easier to study independently.

To have the complete package, buy it as a home school package; these include everything but not the DIVE CD.

Depending on what field you are planning to go into, you may want to check what it is you have to do to qualify, and what math courses it requires.

Edit:

The DIVE Cd’s are available @ http://www.diveintomath.com/

You can preview them there as well.

Or, if you prefer using Saxon, make sure to buy the DIVE CD.

I can’t say anything about AO LifePacs because I haven’t used them or even looked at them.

I haven’t used it myself, but I have heard great things about Teaching Textbooks upper-level courses. They were designed for students to teach themselves, with all the necessary support complete in the package. Cathy Duffy raves about them on her website – said she would have included them in her 100 Top Picks (at number one), but she didn’t find out about it until after her book went to print.

All that said, the *best* program is the one that allows the student to learn in their own style as quickly and easily as possible, and that will be different for each student.

Hope that helps! You can check it out at www.videotextinteractive.com, they’ll send you a free sampler DVD.