![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neversremedy8Greetings,
My daughter and I are working through the FlashKids 5th Grade workbook, "Math for the Gifted Student." We really enjoyed the 4th grade book and thought this would be of equal quality when we bought it. However, over the last two weeks, as we were going through the last half of the book together (I homeschool her, and we discuss her math when she's stuck), we've found at least four instances wherein the formula, wording, or numbers given did not fit the problem, nor did they create answers that matched those in the back of the book.
For instance, on page 120's "Recipe Converter" the inaccurate temperature formula is given as C=(9/5)F + 32, when in fact, the proper formula should have been F=(9/5)C + 32. The answer in the back of the book matches the proper formula, but how is a child supposed to be able to identify when the writers of the book erred in their stated formulae? So too have there been issues where a "1" was left off "15" in a problem so that instead, my daughter thought she needed to use "5," but couldn't get the right answer, which needed to be a whole number.
Homeschooling is an adventure, and my daughter adores math just as much as I did at her age. I find it very frustrating when she comes to me because she's stuck, sometimes near to tears about it, and I keep getting the answer she does only to discover that the "experts" were sloppy. With this current book almost completed, I am wary of purchasing the next in the series precisely because of the difficulties we have had with this one.
What guarantees can you offer me that our next purchase in the series will eliminate these headaches and speed bumps in her progress? At this point, I am researching companies that offer workbooks that provide well-edited, fact-checked materials even if they are not as fun and entertaining as these FlashKids books appeared to be (and had been before).
Sincerely,
Raven Demers
P.S.
To be honest, I have to wonder about the state of editing in general, considering I found sixteen grammatical and syntax errors in the last Tad Williams novel I read. Being I writer, I would be mortified if my own editors let something like that slip through, especially if my name already garnered such respect in the science-fiction and fantasy community as his does.
My daughter and I are working through the FlashKids 5th Grade workbook, "Math for the Gifted Student." We really enjoyed the 4th grade book and thought this would be of equal quality when we bought it. However, over the last two weeks, as we were going through the last half of the book together (I homeschool her, and we discuss her math when she's stuck), we've found at least four instances wherein the formula, wording, or numbers given did not fit the problem, nor did they create answers that matched those in the back of the book.
For instance, on page 120's "Recipe Converter" the inaccurate temperature formula is given as C=(9/5)F + 32, when in fact, the proper formula should have been F=(9/5)C + 32. The answer in the back of the book matches the proper formula, but how is a child supposed to be able to identify when the writers of the book erred in their stated formulae? So too have there been issues where a "1" was left off "15" in a problem so that instead, my daughter thought she needed to use "5," but couldn't get the right answer, which needed to be a whole number.
Homeschooling is an adventure, and my daughter adores math just as much as I did at her age. I find it very frustrating when she comes to me because she's stuck, sometimes near to tears about it, and I keep getting the answer she does only to discover that the "experts" were sloppy. With this current book almost completed, I am wary of purchasing the next in the series precisely because of the difficulties we have had with this one.
What guarantees can you offer me that our next purchase in the series will eliminate these headaches and speed bumps in her progress? At this point, I am researching companies that offer workbooks that provide well-edited, fact-checked materials even if they are not as fun and entertaining as these FlashKids books appeared to be (and had been before).
Sincerely,
Raven Demers
P.S.
To be honest, I have to wonder about the state of editing in general, considering I found sixteen grammatical and syntax errors in the last Tad Williams novel I read. Being I writer, I would be mortified if my own editors let something like that slip through, especially if my name already garnered such respect in the science-fiction and fantasy community as his does.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-04-04 10:21 pm (UTC)