kristamaranatha Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 (edited) I actually have a couple questions about how you do Saxon Math: How many problems do you give each day for schoolwork? How long do you spend in a day/week on math? Do you include correcting their work in that time? I have kids doing 8/7, 7/6 and 5/4. Thanks! Edited September 12, 2011 by kristamaranatha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahm99 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Ever single problem in every single lesson. My kids spend 1h a day max, which equals one lesson, drill and corrections included. I really believe that skipping problems is an invitation for trouble further down the road. If my kids are flying through the lessons, good for them! If it takes them ages, well, apparently they need every single problem in this lesson:tongue_smilie:. Long story short, either way, skipping problems does not make sense to me. Saxon is meant to be drilled, it is supposed to "work" through repetition, doing the same thing over and over and over again... If, for one reason or another, doing every single problem was not possible for one of my kids, I would look for a different math-program for that child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanie Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I assigned all of them. At that point, the time spent really depended on the attitude of that particular child on that particular day. One lesson could take 45 minutes on a good day, and two hours on a bad day! And yes, that included corrections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We do every single lesson in Algebra 1/2. It takes ds around 40 minutes to do them. Saxon is designed to have the student do every problem in the exercises. If they don't, you are asking for problems further down the road. Art Reed has a bunch of newsletters that tell how to do Saxon successfully including how much time it should take and why they need to do all the problems. I highly suggest reading some of those articles. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVNA Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We also assign every single problem from every lesson. If my son focuses on his work, he can usually be done in less than 45 minutes. If not....well it can take a lot longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 (edited) All problems in every lesson. Math takes 45-90 minutes, depending on the boy and the level. This does include corrections. My boys are in 8/7, 7/6, 5/4, 3, and 1. My oldest became very frustrated with 8/7 (he understands math and cannot wait to get to Algebra). I signed him up for the 2 month trial of Aleks Pre-Algebra, and told him he could attempt to test out of the end of 8/7 after he finished Aleks (we didn't finish the books last year, so we're about 1/2way through each of the levels I listed). Edited September 12, 2011 by JudoMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Yep. Every single problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Math 54 and above: all problems in all lessons, always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Ditto here - if it takes a long time, the problem is dawdling 90% of the time :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Saxon 5/4 We do mental math, then I assign all odds or evens, but I look at the Mixed Review set and add extra problems based on what I know my son needs more practice with. For instance his assignment might be: Lesson 74 odds plus 13, 27, and 29. We did that up to lesson 75. Now that it's getting harder and there is more to review my son does all the Mixed Review. I read Art Reed's book and have spoken with him on the phone and I really like him a lot. In general I agree with him but in each Saxon book there's a sweet spot that's super easy for my son. I don't see the need for all the extra review until later on. My son used to take 40 minutes on math when we were doing half the Mixed Review. Now that we are doing all of the review it's more like a full hour. This is a lot of tIme for a 9 year old in my opinion. Therefore, I Will either have him scale back to half a lesson per day or go Back to doing it the way I did before. It's too much, IMO to expect a kid this age to spend a full hour on just math. But we have always made it work one way it another, and we love Saxon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in SEVA Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I posted a poll asking this same question: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293116&highlight=saxon For my 1 kid doing Saxon, he is doing every single problems since the whole reason I switched him to Saxon is because he needs a year of drill and review before moving into Algebra. IMO, that is the point of Saxon -- drill and review, drill and review, but end up with a SOLID base to build on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I would add my own caveat: mental skill doesn't always match physical skill. My ds started 8/7 in 6th grade and finished in 7th grade. If problems can be done orally, we do them orally. If a problem set contains many long problems, I'll write as he dictates. It took a post from another board member to make me realize that some of the challenge we faced came from cramped hands, not cramped minds. Also, if you look at threads on Saxon that don't include the die-hards,;) you will find many, many posters who cite between one and two hours or more for their child to complete all of the problems in Saxon and do corrections. We did not do all of the problems all of the time. I just figured if it didn't work out, I couldn't complain because I had not used Saxon as it was intended. But it is all good.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrself Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We're odd man out apparently. I've got one in 3rd and one in 5/4. I work through each math lesson with each kid. We do some of everything, mental math, facts practice, etc. We work through the lesson and all of the lesson practice. I get out manipulatives when he needs it. We work extra problems I make up. Then I pick and choose which mixed practice problems for him to do based on what I know he needs to practice. I don't make him write down the problems if he can do them in his head. But he does have to explain out loud what he's doing. Of course this may all change when my oldest gets further along. ;) Nicole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We only used 8/7. Kids did one lesson in one sitting, all of the lesson practice problems, and only a carefully selected assortment of mixed practice problems - the ones pertaining to the current lesson, and to a few topics for which they needed practice. They were able to master the material without doing all the problems (yes, I know, contrary to the recommendations - but the results show that it worked very well for them). So, count us among the heretics. Not every child needs all the drill Saxon provides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowimscrappin Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We didn't do the facts practice or the mental math. All Lesson practice and then for Mixed Practice, I would go through and circle problems that I know they needed more practice on, based on previous corrections. That would usually take about 45 minutes, including watching the Dive CD. I imagine doing all of everything would have taken 2 hours. It seemed to have worked ok - my daughter did 7/6, 8/7 and then went to public school and got As in Algebra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 All of them, here. We've used K-3, 6/5, and part of 7/6. (Dd was in third grade in ps, so we skipped 5/4). The problem with skipping problems in the problem set that I've heard is that, in the upper grades (5/4 and above), there is content taught thru the problem set. And, even the "review" is designed to be not just repetition but also learning. I'm not sure, frankly, if that is always necessary for every kid, but I'd rather not risk it. :001_smile: I did let dd start the problem set during our "math time" and then complete it later in the day. She also got a chance to go over her problems the next morning before I looked them over, in order for her to catch any computation problems. This was because she had a few weeks of having 4 or 5 computation errors--"careless errors"--. It seemed to work well for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I posted a poll asking this same question:http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293116&highlight=saxon For my 1 kid doing Saxon, he is doing every single problems since the whole reason I switched him to Saxon is because he needs a year of drill and review before moving into Algebra. IMO, that is the point of Saxon -- drill and review, drill and review, but end up with a SOLID base to build on. Similar reasoning here. My DD is in Saxon 7/6. She is not mathy, which is the reason she is doing Saxon. Doing every problem has really made her much more solid in math. To me that's the whole purpose of Saxon. On the other hand, my mathy ds's are doing Singapore, and I don't assign every problem. Some of them I never assign, and others I save to throw in some review from previous levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristamaranatha Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 Thanks for your input. We are only into our second week, but I'm finding it hard to keep my ds12 on task with 8/7. My other two are doing great and stay on task pretty well, but he seems bored with it. He is very math smart, and so I have wondered if I should put him into Algebra 1/2 already. But this is our first year homeschooling as well, and so I don't want to push too hard when we're just getting into things and trying to find our groove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I actually have a couple questions about how you do Saxon Math: How many problems do you give each day for schoolwork? How long do you spend in a day/week on math? Do you include correcting their work in that time? I have kids doing 8/7, 7/6 and 5/4. Thanks! I have 2 dc, both doing 6/5. One is slightly ahead of the other. They always do the timed Fact Test, the Mental Math with me, then I go through the teaching part with my younger dc (older dc does this alone). They both do the Lesson Practice, but the Mixed Practice is done alternately (older does MP for odd lessons, younger does MP for even lessons). We do Saxon 4 days/week, and it takes between 30mins and 1hr to complete for either kid. I correct math as I'm teaching the younger one. They are expected to do their corrections either within their Math time (they have an hour scheduled for Math) or in their own time (eve or w/e). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymotherof4 Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 My daughter is doing 87. Right now she is trying to earn fewer problems. When she has a good lesson meaning only an error or 2 I cut back the # of problems by one or two. She is hoping to only need to do 1/2 the mixed practice problems. Right now she does it all but she has had a few lessons that I cut back 1 or 2. Different kids need different amounts of problems to learn and retain math. The key is watching your child. My daughter takes more then an hour to get a math lesson done. I go over the materials with her and give her the mental math problems and the timed test and then set her off on her own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All4one Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Every problem in the mixed practice section. Sometimes I let them skip some problems in the investigations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyTN Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 DD is in 5/4. I agree with the PP that said if Saxon has too many problems then my child should be using a different program. My dd is very very unmathy. :) We started doing Saxon and it has really helped her improve. We do it as written. The only exception is that I have her do last lesson's corrections before she does the drill or warm-up. It takes her at least an hour, sometimes more. She definitely needs all of the practice though and it has helped her immensely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 ...Kids did one lesson in one sitting, all of the lesson practice problems, and only a carefully selected assortment of mixed practice problems - the ones pertaining to the current lesson, and to a few topics for which they needed practice. They were able to master the material without doing all the problems (yes, I know, contrary to the recommendations - but the results show that it worked very well for them). So, count us among the heretics.Not every child needs all the drill Saxon provides. :iagree: Making your dc do ALL the problems can cause mental burn-out and HATRED of math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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