Homeschool World Forum

[teacup]

I realize this post is well past the original question date, however it caught my eye and I just felt the need to share my thoughts on SAXON MATH.

First, let me say that math was never one of my better subjects. When I began homeschooling, it was the one subject that I did not feel confident about teaching. After looking at Horizon Math, Math-U-See, and A Beka, I determined that Saxon would provide me with the tools that I needed to teach my son.

Since we had never used another program, the lack of colorful pages was not an issue. Did we do every single thing in each lesson? No. We did the lessons until my son grasped the concept, then moved on to the next lesson.
Their incremental approach and the use of manipulatives taught my son not only the "hows", but "whys" of math.

From first grade to third, we never spent more than three hours a day on ALL of our subjects! Math normally took about 45 minutes. Every day we did the timed test (it kind of became a beat the clock thing with my son).

We continued with Saxon, skipping 87, and stopping at Advanced Math, which my son completed in 10th grade. For 11th grade he took Pre-Calculus at our community college. His entry test score in Math for college was 97%. Many students who graduate from public school are required to take remedial math courses right away.

The main reason I wanted to write this post and give support to those considering Saxon Math, is because of the success we found with the program. From a mom who still does her muliplication of 9's with the finger trick, came a son who considered majoring in Mathematics. I know it won't work for every child, but it is an excellent program

Sorry if I have spelling errors, but for some reason my font is very tiny!
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Married 20 yrs, 2 boys, homeschooled 12 years, Director of a Christian Home School Umbrella since 2001, living with MS

[Theodore]

Somewhat off-topic - you can probably make your text bigger by going into the View menu of your browser. On the Mac I just hit Command+ or Command-
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The Farming Game - Software Edition for Mac and PC
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[Besthomeschoolbuys]

With all 5 children we have mostly used Saxon Math and have been happy with it overall. With all of the children, we have had some trouble with Algebra 2. I don't think it gives enough practice of the new concepts and new concepts are added in every lesson, so it is easy to get behind. With each of my students, we have had to drop back in the book to go over lessons a second time, because the children would end up being lost with not enough understanding. Now it could have been their own slackness in their study habits, which we have to deal with some each year, but it seems that there is a definite decrease in their comprehension of the new concepts in the Algebra 2 book versus all the Saxon books before. This is our family's experience. We didn't abandon Saxon, but struggled through Algebra 2 and less than half of Advanced Math. Even so, our two oldest sons went on to study engineering in college and both recently received their degrees, one with honors. Now there are some other good options for high school math like Chalkbox and Teaching Textbooks. If I had it to do over, I'd probably give them a try.
Julie
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Julie Simmons, married 35 years to Tim, homeschool mom of 5 children for 24 years (from K - 12 grades)...
http://besthomeschoolbuys.com

[ardeur]

I haven't read all of the responses yet...

I studied Saxon math from Math 54 up through Calculus and Physics. I LOVED it and I eventually got my degree in mathematics. It was excellent preparation for my college-level math classes.

Having said that, my mom did find Saxon to be overwhelming for the younger grades and she alwas used something else that moved at a faster pace. Saxon requires a lot of time, patience and self-motivation. While my personality and learning style was well-suited for the Saxon curriculum, some of my other siblings struggled with it and needed a different approach. The Saxon MATERIAL is excellent, but the approach isn't a one-size-fits-all.