<p>There was a mix up at my daughter's school last year, and now she is no longer on track to take algebra in the eighth grade. She needs to take algebra in the eighth grade to be admitted into a magnet program she wants to attend for high school. The school has agreed that if she takes pre-algebra before the beginning of the next school year she can take algebra in eighth grade.</p>
<p>The problem is that I can't find a reputable looking online pre-algebra class. Does anyone have any suggestions?</p>
<p>I'd ask the school district what they will accept. </p>
<p>If there is a home school organization, they might be able to give good suggestions. </p>
<p>I've been told that our school will accept BYU online classes, so you might want to look at their website. We may be in a similar situation in September, so I am also starting to look at online courses.</p>
<p>EPGY and CTY are the first places I would look. Personally as near as I could make out in our district there was virtually no difference between what they learned in 6th grade math and what they learned in 7th grade pre-algebra math. I had the two books side by side when I was preparing to argue for a grade skip for my son.</p>
<p>Both of my sons have taken Stanford EPGY math courses, and they are superb. Johns Hopkins CTY offers the Stanford courses, and I believe some other math courses as well. S1 has gone to CTY summer courses, and they are also superb. I would think that your D's school would accept either of these options for credit.</p>
<p>S1 said, when he was in 8th grade, that he learned math in depth through the EPGY math courses, while the school courses only taught him how to solve problems.</p>
<p>You might find a community college to teach pre-algebra.</p>
<p>If you want to do it on your own, my guess is that you could get a textbook, maybe some video lectures off of iTunes and problem sets from a site in the UK which has online texts and problem sets for K-College.</p>
<p>My second son is taking the prealgebra course right now. It's good and thorough and less expensive than the other brand names mentioned above. You can take a free trial to see how you like it.</p>
<p>I would absolutely second ALEKS as the least expensive and a very thorough (though sometimes hidiously repetitive) option. People at Aleks will help you figure out how the course aligns with your state's specific requirements.
The free trial is excellent before you make any commitements. But it is only $20 a month if you want to go with the most expensive payment option, and you can cancel any time. My daughter is actually also working on prealgebra with Aleks :)</p>
<p>Another vote for CTY online, and by extension EPGY. S did their Honors Algebra 1 course, which was, according to my understanding, basically EPGY plus access to a tutor. (Not certain which program they offer now, though.) I've heard good things about ALEKS, also.</p>
<p>I'd ask the school if they will accept any of these.</p>
<p>Google your state name + virtual school. You can see if your state has a virtual school that is recognized by the state board of education. My D took a class in high school through ours, it was $600 for the one course. She did have access to talk to either on line or over the phone to a "live teacher".</p>
<p>Consolation, Just for the record, EPGY courses come with tutors, too. Someone is assigned to each student, and they send out friendly emails every week or so with comments on progress, and suggestions about missed problems. We never really needed to use them, but I imagine for some of the higher-level courses they are valuable. The tutors are their justification for the high cost. Some people choose between JHU and Stanford for EPGY software on that basis of time-zone compatibility if they need tutors.</p>
<p>I should mention that my oldest son took BOTH prealgebra courses mentioned in other posts, the one from EPGY (which I think is still the same as it always was) and the one from Johns Hopkins CTY (which may be a different course today from what it was when he took it). I like to double up a lot in math.</p>
<p>"Saxon Math" is very popular with homeschoolers. You can buy it online or in a local store that carries homeschool textbooks. They have an "Algebra 1/2" course(that is, Algebra One-half, or pre-algebra)--the courses include tests and answer keys for all lessons. My older kids were homeschooled and they did this program. I currently have a 7th grader who takes Algebra I at school and it doesn't seem as rigorous. (Those homeschoolers who don't like Saxon Math complain that it is "boring" or "repetitive" or "too hard"--but it definitely worked for my kids and I'd recommend it). It isn't that expensive--you can find used copies of these books online. It's been awhile since I bought a course, but I think it is in the $60-$80 range new--a bargain for a strong course.</p>
<p>11M and 12M are two semesters of (high school) pre-algebra. My daughter did high school health through this college. She faxed in her homework assignments and the midterm and final were proctored locally. It worked out well.</p>
<p>Indiana University high school courses are reputable. Sound, solid classes.</p>
<p>I really appreciate all of these excellent answers. I now have a list of classes to research so that I can bring options into the district office.</p>
<p>This is a slightly separate rant, but now I'm unsure that my daughter ISN'T already taking pre-algebra. When this whole mess started last year, I was teaching in another district. I asked the head of our math department if this would mess D up, and he said no. D would take pre-algebra this year, algebra in eighth grade, and be perfectly on track for her magnet program. This year I was talking to her math teacher who said no, that was no longer true because of the way our county has rejiggered the math classes. Today I went onto the county's webpage to see if they had links to any online classes (or any useful information) and checked out their scope and sequence page. Looking at that page, you would think that all mainstreamed seventh graders were either taking pre-algebra or algebra this year and all eighth graders take either algebra or geometry. However, they had yet another scope and sequence for middle school math that painted a very confusing and slightly different story. I found out who is in charge of math curriculum for the county and emailed her. This is ridiculous!</p>
<p>I am a person who taught for years, who has multiple degrees, and I am completely confused by this. How are parents in the community without those kind of supports supposed to navigate the system and understand what their child is taking and how to best help them? It is insane.</p>