Just curious...Saxon, CLE, or Abeka for 1st grade Math

[cam112198]

I was just wondering which Math program you would choose for a 1st grader? We are using Saxon right now. I think it's a great program, but don't enjoy teaching it. I do love the spiral approach.

I ordered CLE to take a look at it and tried a few lessons....I enjoyed teaching it but an hesitant to give Saxon the boot.

I have a few friends that use Abeka and like it. I love that the worksheets are colorful ( I know that is silly!), but have heard that it can move pretty fast.

What would you do? Any advice from people that have used these Math programs? Thank you!

[Chris in VA]

You will get opinions all over the place on this one. I used Saxon K-3, but used it a year ahead with dd. We had to slow down for a few weeks in the middle of 3, but had a grand time, other than that.

Some things that helped me like it more--

 

I wished it was more visually appealing, also. I like "pretty." For the meeting, I ditched the books, and used a poster-sized classroom calendar on the wall, and we wrote the numbers on post-it notes (coordinating the shape of the note with the season! lol). For K and 1, we used index cards to write the number of the day, and hung them in a line on the top of the wall--went almost all the way around the room by the end. I made a "book" of colored sentence strips by hole-punching them and binding with a ring, and I wrote the daily patterns on them, then hung them next to the calendar on the wall. I also wrote out the days of the week, seasons and months of the year on sstrips and hung them up. In Saxon 3, we changed to a regular calendar--I let dd pick one from the dollar store (horses!).

The other "visual appeal" came from the manipulatives. I didn't mind the plain workbook pages because we had often just used colorful blocks or whatever. I also used colored markers on the white board.

 

For the meeting, which can feel like drudgery, I was pretty careful not to skip over everything, because I saw how (cleverly) many concepts were introduced there, by repetition (think skip counting) and then later were incorporated into the lessons. This, to me, was similar to introducing other information in the classical way--facts that provided pegs for further and future understanding. It builds beautifully, and I've come to admire how cleverly Saxon is done. So, I'd say do the meeting, but you can shorten it slightly if you skim, but don't skip, iykwim! :001_smile:

 

IN a nutshell, I'd stick with Saxon. Find ways to make it a little more enjoyable for yourself, but if it's not broken, don't fix it. If your kiddos are doing well with the explanations and the work, just find a way to satisfy your needs as a teacher.

[iamrachelle]

I have used both Horizons 3 and CLE. I liked Horizons (it was bright and colorful too) but thought that the TM didn't offer any help whatsoever in offering teaching helps. We switched to CLE a few weeks ago and are both liking it better. IMHO, is is just as rigorous as Horizons but the simplified format and teaching helps offered make it a much better fit for us. I haven't used Saxon so I can't really offer any insight on that.

 

Have your DC offered any opinions on which one they prefer?

[Lizzie in Ma]

I have always disliked Saxon and once we found CLE, we stayed with it. I think it is rigorous and well done. It is made for home schools so there is no figuring out how much to do or skip. I very much like the format and both my girls learned math well with this program.

[Tiramisu]

My dd8 did ABeka in 2nd and part of third grade. She loved the color and it was instrumental for her at that time. She seemed to lose concentration with black and white pages. Toward the middle of third grade a couple of things started bothering me about ABeka and dd was showing signs of frustration. That's when I started looking at CLE. We have been doing CLE for two months and it's been great. For some reason, maturity perhaps, the lack of color doesn't bother her now. I'm very happy with the skills she learned in Abeka and do not regret the time spent with it. It's not very conceptually-oriented but it's a HAPPY book in first and second and good if you like spiral.

 

HTH!

[nukeswife]

I used Saxon for 2nd with my son and half of K and 1st for my dd. My dd was doing ok with Saxon but we hated the meeting book and the lessons seemed a bit boring to her. I also had an issue with the number of flashcards they introduced and how. She would just glaze over. We then tried Rightstart which for us was a disaster, we just don't see math that way. After seeing an online friend talk about CLE, I decided to check it out. I joined the CLE yahoo group to see samples and it looked great. I bought the 10 lightunits and both TM's, I later realized I needed the flascards so bought those as well as the calendar book. She loves CLE's calendar book and I like that it will add some fun to calendar time (like making graphs about different things not always the temperature) This is not needed but fun. As for the actual math program I LOVE IT and so does she. The Tm's are wonderful they give me just enough information to know what and how to cover the topics. It's not overly scripted like I felt Saxon was. The lessons are great, just enough of a topic covered. My dd also Loves the program and blazed through lightunit one at 2 lessons a week. She loves that they're are the seperate light units so she can see how she's progressing through. I love that they only introduce 1-2 flascards per lesson (instead of 10 at a time like saxon) and that they tell me when to drop some to just once a week etc. All in all I wish I had found CLE sooner, it would have made the last 2 years so much easier with my son too. He's now in Teaching textbooks but it took quite a bit of 'living with what we found' and a lot of trial and error to get to that point with him. I say for the price of CLE you can't go wrong. I also love that you can buy just a couple of lightunits to try it if you want.

[LadyAberlin]

My vote is for either Horizons or CLE.

[fractalgal]

 

IN a nutshell, I'd stick with Saxon. Find ways to make it a little more enjoyable for yourself, but if it's not broken, don't fix it. If your kiddos are doing well with the explanations and the work, just find a way to satisfy your needs as a teacher.

 

:iagree:

 

We use Saxon ahead of grade level as well. The K-3 is cleverly done, and Saxon is strong in teaching pattern recognition (and - of course - drill and review).

 

I would try to make it more enjoyable. Your attitude towards a curriculum will come across when you teach it. Kids pick that sort of thing up quickly.

[TracyR]

I've used Saxon for K and 1st and it worked really well with my 2nd daughter. I was able to use the program very well but just didn't like having to take so much time to teach math because the lessons were so long. We then were with a cyberschool for a while and the math program they had just had her in tears all of the time because it was a mastery program and she just didn't grasp learning math that way. I was planning on going back with Saxon but just didn't have the time to juggle two math programs like that. Then I heard about CLE and we bought a few and gave it a try. I like this math program much, much better. There was no need to work one level ahead because CLE moves a bit faster then Saxon so she was able to work at her own level so it wasn't to easy or to hard. I like how the lessons are short in the manual and my daughter can work independently on her work.

As for color my oldest prefer's color and we are going to give the 4th grade a try. She is my kid who prefer's color. But she is willing to give it a try anyways.

I don't suggest to keep using something that you have a difficult time using. I've done that for four years with a curriculum and I feel burnt out. Its best to go with something that works for your son and for you at the same time.

If you are in need of a spiral program that has color then Horizon's maybe the key. But their math manual isn't very helpful. Or CLE.

You can always order a few Light Units from CLE or Lifepacs from Horizons to try it out and see.

[Avila]

We use Abeka Math from 1st to 3rd grade, primarily because it is cost effective and appeals to the kids. It does move fast, and it seems to pick up speed midway through 2nd grade. By the end of 3rd grade, my kids seem to need more practice the first time something is presented to really get it, so we switch to Saxon 54 or 65 for 4th grade, depending on the placement test results.

 

Abeka is up to a grade level above public school math, generally. My older DD who started homeschooling in 2nd grade struggled more with it, I think because I naively just put her in Abeka Math 2. She wasn't getting enough practice with a new concept before Abeka moved on to something else, and by the time she did have enough practice with the spiraling, she was already frustrated and upset. DD2 (homeschooled all the way) hasn't had any problems at all so far.

 

Good luck!

Edited January 24, 2009 by Asenik

[AnnetteB]

We have worked through BJU Math 1 and ABeka Arithmetic 1 with each of our first graders. BJU is easier so we start with it and they move through it at the speed of light. They love Digit the clown. Then we work through the ABeka text. We do this double-dosing of math K-4. Before I hit on this method, their reading skills and calculation speeds were not ready for the new grade level. They love the color and fun of both books. We don't use a teacher's manual or keys. We do use counting cubes, bears, coins, seashells & buttons for hands-on. In the summer we draw a number line in the driveway and hop to add & subtract :)

[hsingscrapper]

I don't mean to sidetrack the thread but when you say CLE are you referring to Christian Light Education or something else?

[cam112198]

I don't mean to sidetrack the thread but when you say CLE are you referring to Christian Light Education or something else?

 

I was referring to Christian Light Education.

 

Thank you all so much for your responses! I still am not sure what to do- but will let you know when I figure it out. It's helps so much to be able to ask advice! :-)

[hsingscrapper]

Thanks for the clarification. I've often wondered if CLE would work for us but then I look at the price per year compared to my budget and shudder.

 

Does anyone know if you can get the light units cheaper somewhere besides the publisher? I know you can find aop cheaper but that's still out of my price range.

 

Thanks,

 

Heidi

[Susie in MS]

I'm with you Heidi!

Many folks look at CLE and find it cheap. I look at it and think $29 for consumables?????!!!! for one subject!! I know it is cheaper than some maths, but it is way higher than others.

I do love what I see in it though, and if my budget would allow for it, it would be high on my list of possibilities!

[cam112198]

You will get opinions all over the place on this one. I used Saxon K-3, but used it a year ahead with dd. We had to slow down for a few weeks in the middle of 3, but had a grand time, other than that.

Some things that helped me like it more--

 

I wished it was more visually appealing, also. I like "pretty." For the meeting, I ditched the books, and used a poster-sized classroom calendar on the wall, and we wrote the numbers on post-it notes (coordinating the shape of the note with the season! lol). For K and 1, we used index cards to write the number of the day, and hung them in a line on the top of the wall--went almost all the way around the room by the end. I made a "book" of colored sentence strips by hole-punching them and binding with a ring, and I wrote the daily patterns on them, then hung them next to the calendar on the wall. I also wrote out the days of the week, seasons and months of the year on sstrips and hung them up. In Saxon 3, we changed to a regular calendar--I let dd pick one from the dollar store (horses!).

The other "visual appeal" came from the manipulatives. I didn't mind the plain workbook pages because we had often just used colorful blocks or whatever. I also used colored markers on the white board.

 

For the meeting, which can feel like drudgery, I was pretty careful not to skip over everything, because I saw how (cleverly) many concepts were introduced there, by repetition (think skip counting) and then later were incorporated into the lessons. This, to me, was similar to introducing other information in the classical way--facts that provided pegs for further and future understanding. It builds beautifully, and I've come to admire how cleverly Saxon is done. So, I'd say do the meeting, but you can shorten it slightly if you skim, but don't skip, iykwim! :001_smile:

 

IN a nutshell, I'd stick with Saxon. Find ways to make it a little more enjoyable for yourself, but if it's not broken, don't fix it. If your kiddos are doing well with the explanations and the work, just find a way to satisfy your needs as a teacher.

 

Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions!! Those are some great ideas!

[tricia]

Personally, I enjoyed booting Saxon for my younger kids. My older ones still use it but I don't start in on it anymore until I have to. We are using Singapore this year.

[AllSmiles]

If Saxon is working for your child, I would be hesitant to switch. If you find it boring to teach would adding in a day of real life math activities help? You could take a day in the middle of the week to play math games, work on measurements via cooking, or work on projects that require math skills. Sometimes just breaking up the week helps some.

 

If you do decide to switch, however, I would like to recommend Abeka for 1st – 3rd grade. It is an excellent program and I’ve found that all three of my kids have done well with it. If you choose this program make sure that you get the teacher’s guide as that is where all the instruction and drill is. After the 3rd grade Abeka book I move my kids over to the Rod & Staff math series. I know that many people are happy with the Rod & Staff series from start to finish, but I’ve had such good results from the early levels of Abeka math that I’ve not made a complete transition to Rod & Staff.

[mchel210]

My daughters are doing great with Abeka. We are using abeka 1, abeka 2 and starting abeka 3. My 6 yo did abeka K last year. It was super easy. Then this year she is doing Abeka 1. I love the colors and the work is fun for her. The material seems pretty simple but they add in some higher level math as well. When my 7 yo did 1st we skipped the abeka 1 and went straight to the abeka 2. She had no problems with it at all. We are finishing up the book now and starting abeka 3.

 

My girls started PS this year and my 7 yo went into a 3rd grade math class in 2nd grade. The abeka put her way ahead in math. She is now using abeka at home and her harcourt math 3 at school. The harcourt teaches differently and it is frustrating to her. The teacher skips around and doesnt work the book in order. So she is fully into multiplication already and geometry. They have also added in algebra. It is hard to believe how much is added by 3rd grade. I feel like abeka has given her an excellent starting place and she understands how to solve the problems.

 

It is also on the lower price range at about 13.00 only. We only do one page a day and the drills/test book.

[cam112198]

If Saxon is working for your child, I would be hesitant to switch. If you find it boring to teach would adding in a day of real life math activities help? You could take a day in the middle of the week to play math games, work on measurements via cooking, or work on projects that require math skills. Sometimes just breaking up the week helps some.

 

If you do decide to switch, however, I would like to recommend Abeka for 1st – 3rd grade. It is an excellent program and I’ve found that all three of my kids have done well with it. If you choose this program make sure that you get the teacher’s guide as that is where all the instruction and drill is. After the 3rd grade Abeka book I move my kids over to the Rod & Staff math series. I know that many people are happy with the Rod & Staff series from start to finish, but I’ve had such good results from the early levels of Abeka math that I’ve not made a complete transition to Rod & Staff.

 

Saxon 1 is working for my dd6, but sometimes it seems a little easy for her. I will probably stick with it and then re-evaluate in the summer. Abeka does look very appealing. :-) Maybe the grass is always greener. :-)

[TracyR]

sometimes ebay or the Christian Light group you can find them cheaper. Also you could get a set and laminate the pages. Or even better yet you can use a dry erase board to do the problems on so that you can keep the Light Units for future children.

[mamaof2andtwins]

We have used CLE math for about a year. Prior to that we did used a variety of other curriculums. I have not used the others you mentioned.

 

CLE math is very user friendly. My girls (all 3) work it independently although I do go over the new material with my younger two.

 

I find CLE very cost effective especially if it works. It is cheaper than switching from one curriculum to another.

 

Jennie