DD13 12 at the time used and liked Forresters. She did it during her free time at school and didn't need any help. (She is PG though we didn't discover that until last year.) It had many more problems then we ever needed and all the odd# answers were in the back of the book so we didn't bother with a teachers manual. I don't know though if it would be the best for younger kids. It is probably more of an extended algebra though as it includes trig..