Chat about Math 7

Let’s talk about Math 7 PACES

The Fourth Edition math PACES have been out for a while now and are beautifully designed and illustrated. The explanations are clear, the “bugs” have been worked out, and it is a solid math course for 7th graders. However, many students in junior high struggle a bit with math, especially as new and more abstract concepts are introduced. Students at this level will do more with operations with fractions, decimals, percents, and unit conversions. I could easily make the argument that these are very important life-skill math concepts, but I daresay many parents would be hard-pressed to remember when to line up decimals and when to count and move decimals, and when fractions need a common denominator and when they don’t. Most adults probably rely on their calculator if they encounter these types of math problems!

This level also introduces some very basic algebra, like order of operations, using formulas, and solving for unknowns. Extensive unit conversions and ratio problems will prepare these young teens for science courses they will have in high school.

I had a mom recently email me a list the PACES and even pages in this series that gave her daughter the most tears and frustration. I then took that list and created a series of specific videos to explain and hopefully clarify and simplify the concepts covered that might be confusing. All those videos are linked on the Math Page from the Student Menu above.

But we need to chat about 1075.

I have been a math teacher for over 30 years, teaching 7th-12th grade math. This is a really tough PACE for young teens to do for several reasons:

  • The content is almost all new and very different
  • Most of the problems involve multiple steps
  • Many of the problems involve a lot of calculations

Probability and Statistics are the main topics for this PACE. These are topics that many of us adults did NOT learn when we were back in school. However, in the past couple of decades mathematicians and educators have determined that they should be introduced earlier and covered more thoroughly as part of a high school education. The Algebra 2 course covers these topics again, so this is an introduction in Math 1075.

I have 7 recommendations for parents and school supervisors regarding this PACE. I also have a video explanation if you’d rather view that on the same page.

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