My 8yo son is currently using Horizons 3rd grade math. We both like the worksheets and that it has built in review. He's moving through it fine, but I feel like we're reaching a point where he is looking for more of the "why" not just the "how". I'm not looking to abandon the curriculum entirely, but I'm looking for something to add to round out the conceptual side of math that I feel is lacking. I've seen a lot of people talking positively about RightStart, Singapore (I see there are 2 options, Dimensions Math and Primary Math - happy to hear about both of these), and Math in Focus and would love some feedback. In my mind, the ideal situation would be for him to complete 1 page of Horizons a day as review work (he really goes through them quickly) along with 1 lesson from something more in depth. I don't mind spending 30 or so minutes a day of active teaching time on math, so if something is more teacher-centric that's not a deal breaker. We tried Beast Academy and he was luke warm about it, and to be honest I was too. I think it's a great program, just not a good fit for us. I had seen in another post that someone was using a RightStart/Horizons/Singapore Challenging Word Problems combination which (without actually doing it) seems very well rounded. I'm open to any thoughts and suggestions! Thanks!

I'm considering using Beast Academy to supplement our main math curriculum Saxon. We do every part of Saxon--every part of every lesson, test and investigation--and my boys, (using 5/4 and 8/7, next year) benefit from the spiral/repetition/practice problems. I really believe Saxon is a solid, thorough program but I'd like to supplement with something more conceptually based for my 2 very math-inclined boys. I'm thinking to just get the BA Guide books for their correct level and have them read through that once or twice a week. Has anyone used BA as supplement? How did you structure it? Would the guide books alone accomplish our goals of teaching math more conceptually? or are the practice books truly needed for that? I've never had the opportunity to look at either "in my hands" so I can only look at what BA has posted online as samples--not really helpful to me. I really don't want to invest a ton of money if not necessary in a completely new math curriculum.

I'm considering switching out of Saxon and into Math U See. After reading the new edition of TWTM and her emphasis on conceptual learning, I feel like in the area of place value (which almost all of math seems to hinge on), Saxon is really weak conceptually in how they teach it. My son is in 2nd grade and doing Saxon math 3. He is extremely bright when it comes to math so I never really worried about him conceptually, until I started reading more about it. He seems to be doing great with Saxon, but I'm just worried it's not enough conceptually. I know in TWTM it says Math U See is a good option but that you should supplement some. Does that mean on memorization of math facts? Or something else? I don't want to be constantly having to come up with extra stuff. My daughter started Saxon 1 this year and I think the jumping around from topic to topic is confusing to her. She is definitely going to need more of a Math U See manipulative based program. Any thoughts? I'm fairly at peace with my younger student switching out to Math U See, but am slightly panicked about switching my son who has only ever done Saxon. Because he has much more of a math, science, computer mind, I want to make sure I'm doing the best thing for him. You used to hear homeschool communities and many classical groups rave about Saxon, but now that tide seems to be turning. Also, comparing the two (Saxon and Math U See), it seems like Saxon covers way more and that Math U See is so quick and "easy" with not much to it. Compared to Saxon, I feel like we would missing A LOT of stuff using Math U See. Or is it just different across the whole curriculum?

Would you consider Saxon at a lower level than other math programs? I'm just wondering because I've done Saxon Alg 1 & 2 and I have friends in public school doing similar level math but they cover many concepts I've never covered or even heard of. I just want to know where Saxon stands in the world of math books :P I want to know because I may have to do a little extra math prep before college (It's senior year for me). Thank you very much!

Hi! We bought Saxon Math 1 Parts 1 and 2 for our first grader. Thought that the Home Study Teacher's Edition would be of help, so we got that too (used). Here's the question. We know we'll be buying several math books over the years. Is it possible to save money by reusing the books for the younger child(ren)? How? Is it worth the trouble to photocopy the workbook pages? Is it legal too? We've looked at the workbooks. Our 6 year old has been doing first grade math for a while now and knows a lot of the stuff. But we want a thorough and solid foundation for him, and we aren't in a hurry. We wouldn't mind doing one lesson each day plus extra drills if it feels too easy. But is it more cost effective to photocopy or just buy new workbooks for each child? Or do you write the answers in a math notebook? Speaking of that, what does a first grade math notebook look like? Where do we get it? Can we use regular first grade notebooks?

I need help/feedback. A little background: We used Singapore for K-6, loved it, went great. Then I would switch them (my three kids) to Saxon in middle school using the placement test. All tested into pre-Algebra and on we went. My son struggled with the last half of Algebra 1 (8th) and by the end of 8th grade was ready to never do math again. So, we put it on the back burner until now (spring semester of 9th grade) to finish the last few lessons and tests of Algebra 1 as a review for entering Algebra 2, and to finish it. In the meantime, I let him do Teaching Textbooks Geometry this year for math since he has a couple tutorial classes this year that have involved a lot of writing (and he has loved it and done great!). He's aced the Teaching Textbooks and it has been easy for him. I feel like this was a bad decsision, in retrospect though, because although we have had a delightful year this year with him not having to deal with Saxon, we have to go back to it. My plan for him going forward was to finish the Algebra 1 (this has to be done, regardless), and try and put him in a tutorial class next year for Saxon Algebra 2 for tenth grade, which he has to test into. Either way, it feels like he's behind. I'm a big believer in the full year of Geometry because it's so prevalent on the ACT, but I know that's not what is popular now or what Saxon does anymore. Also, my oldest daughter, who scored a 33 on the ACT is now struggling a little with Saxon Advanced Math. She's been using Khan Academy to tutor herself, but it's been a rough go. But that's another story. Can anyone give me some feeback about my son's high school math path? I would so, so, so appreciate it! Are there other classical-ish homeschoolers that have a problem with Saxon, or is it just me and my progeny? Thanks in advance!

This is Mr. ElmerRex, please excuse my bad english. We are nearing the end of Saxon 54, maybe in New Years my son will finish. So I need to think a little about what we will do next so that Mama and I can agree for our sons next step.My son should finishing Math 54 around New Years and so far every thing is going very nice, we love it. We want to use Saxon 65 too, but mama says not to start at the beginning of 65 if he is having a strong finish in 54, but I know you are not to skip anything in Saxon. :huh: So we have a question: Do you go from one book to the next or do you wait a bit? If you go into new level directly, do you start at the beginning? He will probably finish Saxon 54 around New Years, mama says to be getting the tests for 65 is correct and getting the tests we are to be having my son do a test every day until he meets a question that he can't answer. Then start in these chapters of new concepts: Is that how others use Saxon 65 after Saxon 54?

Has anyone tried RightStart math? Who loves it? Why? I'm agonizing over whether to try RightStart C next year instead of Saxon 3. (I picked C instead of B based on the site's recommendation.) It's not that my DS7 has a big problem with Saxon. He does fine and doesn't complain most of the time. But he doesn't have that mythical "love of math" I've heard so much about. Maybe because I don't have that, it's hard for me to imagine, but if it's real, I'd like him to have a chance to develop it. And Saxon isn't really inspiring. I would describe it as thorough and adequate, but it's not making anyone around here EAGER for math. So, I took a few learning style quizzes on behalf of my son, and he is mainly auditory, and secondly kinesthetic. So I thought RightStart seemed to fit well with that. Is there another math I MUST investigate? I need something complete...I don't want to have to piecemeal it. Any suggestions?

Hello all, I'm trying to get a head start on some curriculum purchases for the upcoming fall. I'm happy with a lot of what we have been using, but it's been difficult to find a good fit for math for my oldest. He's a very bright 9-and-a-half-year-old, entering 4th grade. The first couple years I did a combo of Saxon and Singapore. Saxon is too easy and repetitive for the most part, but he still needed some reinforcement on arithmetic facts, which is why I included it. I wanted to switch math curricula this year for his younger brother, so I went ahead and switched my oldest, also, to RightStart Math. We're a Montessori family, so I appreciated how the author incorporated Montessori ideals into this curriculum. I started my 9-year-old on Level D, based on the brief placement test. He recently said that math has been too easy this year and a waste of time. I have been so wrapped up in everything that I really didn't pay too much attention to this, but he's probably right. So, my question is, what do I do for next year? My two main priorities are: -that he be able to do most, if not all, of the work on his own, without my assistance (having to read problems, etc.) RightStart Level D still expects me to teach concepts and read portions to him. We're adding child #3 to homeschooling in the fall, and I'm going to be pressed for one-on-one time. -that he not be bored, but be engaged and challenged. Does anyone know about RightStart level E, or the levels after that? What grade levels is level G equivalent to? What happens after that? Should I just skip a couple of grade levels ahead with Saxon? Or keep it close to grade level but supplement with something? I assume I shouldn't get too far ahead with grade levels because he wouldn't be ready for the abstract concepts of algebra, is that right? I would appreciate any recommendations. I feel guilty for not doing a better job with meeting his math needs this year, especially since I'm a certified math teacher! (high school, though) Thanks, Erin

The title says it all -- am I dense? Thanks in advance!

Help! I am at my wit's end. We used Calvert Math for the past two years (2nd and 3rd grade) but decided to switch to Saxon for 4th grade. Why the switch in the first place? My son hated Calvert, and it was a daily battle to get him to finish his math assignments. I decided that we had better make a switch to a math curriculum he enjoyed. He used Saxon in first grade and did really well, so I thought we would switch back to Saxon. Well, things have not gone as planned! He is falling terribly behind, hates math, and battles with me daily about doing his math work. I have come to realize that this may not be about curriculum choices but about my child simply hating math. Now I don't know where to turn. Will any curriculum work? I need a program that is going to help him at least try to enjoy math. Apart from Saxon/Singapore/Calvert/Abeka/Math-U-See, I don't know what exists. He is not a math wizard, so he needs something that breaks math down into manageable pieces that make sense! Any advice would be great. On a side note, it was recommended to us that we use 5/6 Saxon math (even though he is in 4th grade) because Saxon seems to be lagging behind other curriculums. That is what I was told through various sources anyway. So, we are in the 5/6 book this year. Maybe we should just go to 3/4 math? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

The son in question (out of four children, three being actively homeschooled) is going into 4th grade this year. We do dual curriculua (Jewish/Hebrew studies and secular subjects), but fit in most of TWTM suggestions. He is the least...motivated child I have. If it is hard or or takes time to master, he's going to run like heck to get away from it. If it is formulaic or easy, he doesn't mind doing it although not with great precision. That in itself is a problem that I have tried in different ways over the years. Honestly, I think about putting him in our local Jewish day school to give him a different teacher -- I'm still on the fence about it. I plan on getting him a neuropsych and OT and possibly a DV evaluation when we get back to the States in August to see if there is anything organic that I have missed. But honestly I think he is a quirky fellow (like his father, that thankfully grew into himself as he got older) who hates hard work. We started Saxon 3 math in 2nd grade and have made VERY slow progress through it. Why? He tries to avoid math as much as possible and I have been trying to work with our other kids (this year I have had an emergent reader in Hebrew and English) and I admit, I have not been the strictest taskmaster with him since he makes it so difficult to get good work done. He is in lesson 120 of 144 and he has a very good grasp of addition and subtraction facts and is working on multiplication and division now. When we do a lesson, he understands the concepts well, but his general skills are weak. For example, he can finish a 100-problem addition or subtraction sheet in less than 4 minutes, but still counts on his hands for "hard" problems. Does the Hive think I would be better off moving onto Math 54 knowing that there is review at the beginning of the book (and having him become fluent in all his basic mathematics skills or to stay the path and finish the Saxon math 3 book? I intend to work with him on it at 6am before anyone else wakes up, even though I am NOT a morning person -- right now this is one of the two/three things I have required for him to stay in our homeschool. I cannot take the amount of time that elementary Saxon math requires regularly for the next three weeks as we are moving internationally (think almost one one week of jet lag) and getting settled into a new house, buying a new car for my husband, entertaining family who haven't seen us in months or a year,possibly starting allergy treatments for a peanut allergic daughter and the Jewish High holidays start in early September (and last almost the whole month). I was planning on doing math, literature and some Jewish subjects and unschooling the rest until after the holidays are over, but this kid needs some serious structure and I might (if I keep him at home) make him start his school year earlier than everyone else and make a schedule to have him stick to even after everyone else has begun their year but ONLY if I start Math 54. I don't know if I can do that with Math 3 since it is so much more parent intensive. Please excuse the novel and help me! :) Yael, packing suitcases and getting ready to head home

I've been using Saxon Math with my kids from the beginning. I recently read Art Reed's book on using Saxon Math. He says that the homework shouldn't be graded, because the curriculum was written to catch problem areas on the tests. He says the longest a child would go with an undiscovered problem would be five days, since the tests follow every five lessons. I would like to know if anyone else does this? I know that the Saxon books themselves suggest that the student check their homework, but I tried that and it was just too overwhelming for my oldest son (he is fabulous about doing his work on his own). I now have one son in 7/6 and one in 5/4. I do spend a ridiculous amount of time checking their homework, however I LIKE that it gives me a very clear indication of where they just aren't "getting" something. I also have them go back over their corrected assignments once a week, reworking problems that are recurring issues. While I would LOVE to stop checking their homework (especially considering I have four kiddos), but I'm a little wary of NOT reviewing all their work. So my question is: Does anyone have any experience NOT checking the homework, and strictly grading the tests? And if you do, how has it worked for you and how long have you been doing this? Thanks!

After two years I got tired of using the same B and C sheets for Saxon. They don't copy well, and even with heavy photoshopping, they still look terrible. So I started from scratch and made new sheets to use this year and I thought I'd share. The C sheet is essentially the same, just cleaned up. The B sheet I reorganized quite a bit. I simplified it, since we never use all those check boxes that were taking up space. They should print fine. The C Back sheet is meant to print on the back of the C Front sheet, so the margin for hole punches is on the opposite side. This is in Open Office Calc (ods.) format. I have no idea how or if they work in Microsoft or another Office suite, but hopefully somebody else will like them. I've never shared anything using Google Drive, but this ought to work with no sign-in required. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-x9_djuZbD4cnFESzVGY3Rsbjg Edit: Fixed up the margins a bit and added an E sheet for tests. I just printed out 120 of B and C, and 23 of E for all the sheets I'll need for the year. Hopefully Staples can bind them for me.

I'd create a program where I could simply check off if the student successfully answered the question right or not the first time. Since each question has next to it the lesson # that the question relates too, I would have the program create a table showing me what Lessons the student needed to review. Of course, if I was really dreaming, I'd marry Saxon and Switched on Schoolhouse together so that the computer could mark the correct answers for me and then when a student continued to get questions from the same lesson wrong, the program would automatically require the student to review the lesson again. I'd also incorporate the marking of those annoying timed drills so I didn't have to mark those anymore - well actually, I don't mark them anymore, instead I have the kids spend 15 minutes on www.xtramath.org everyday and I love it and so do the kids! But of course, I wake up and reality slaps me in the face and I'm back to marking and remarking math for two students every single day. I like my dreams better than real life! I can't imagine what it will be like when my high schooler comes home this fall.

We are finishing up Saxon Math 5/4 and doing excellent. Has anyone skipped 6/5 or 7/6? Or Have done only portion of the book? i.e only 2nd half of the book & going to the next level?

Most of the classical private schools in my area use Saxon...usually Saxon k in PreK, Saxon 1 in kindergarten and so forth. CC, Veritas, Good Books and most of the other programs (classical mostly) highly recommend Saxon math. When I look at this program, I think of it as a "slow death." I like scripted and some might think, boring programs (TYCR 100 ez lessons, OPGTR ...love it) so I wonder if I just misunderstand this program. I just do not want my preK daughter doing an hour of math....or even when she is in kindergarten. 1. Am I wrong? 2. Do so many homeschool and private school programs use it because it produces better test scores? 3. Or do the organizations just get an amazing price on this....or an amazing commission? 4. If you love Saxon, preach to me the good news of Saxon? I might be a convert.:lol: 5. Can you share with me a range on how far ahead your child is with test scores? 1 year, 1.5 year etc. 6. What makes this program work for your child?

Can someone comment about whether or not Saxon Math has been rewritten in recent years and "dumbed down" in order to be placed in mainstream public/private schools?

I'm trying to find a geometry course for next year. Anyone used this? Thanks.

My 6th grade son is currently in Saxon 8/7 and has done Saxon since K. I have Algebra 1/2 to go into next year, but just read something online that said usually students do 8/7 OR Algebra 1/2. I think he could use the practice of a semi-repeating year. He has no problems with the concepts and does well on the tests (generally 90 or above, sometimes 85). He does not do so well on the daily work, but that is mostly careless errors, not conceptual problems. What would you recommend? Should we try Algebra 1 or just do 1/2 for a year of semi-review? Thanks! Carly

Saxon is the only math we've used. My 13 y.o. just finished Alg. 1, and we were planning on staying with Saxon for all high school maths. But, it's been suggested to me that Saxon's geometry, whether done through the algebra/adv. math, or the seperate course, is better just for reviewing geometry, but not strong enough to prepare a student for the SAT. So, now I'm wondering if I should stay with Saxon or do a seperate course for geometry, I'm researching and finding Jacob's is a popular curriculum? Anyone with experience of how either curriculum prepared their child for the SAT?

I looked through the Virtual Sampling of Saxon Math Grade K today. My 4yo saw what I was doing and asked "What's that?" and then started answering the questions on the pages I read to him. He knew a lot of it, but there were still some new concepts, and he could always use the review. Then I looked at the teacher's guide, and it looked like it was all for classrooms. My question is: do I need the teacher's guide for this low a level? Have you bought both and then not used the teacher's guide? Or did you get just the workbooks and feel something was missing? Thank you in advance!

Looking to add some DVD instruction to math next year. Any reviews for different programs? Likes and dislikes? Thanks :001_smile:

If you had a choice between these Algebra programs, which would you pick and why? BJU Algebra w/DVDs Chalkdust Algebra w/Mosely DVDs (an Amazon 4th ed piecemeal version...not the 'official' Chalkdust one) Saxon Algebra w/DIVE I have them all at my disposal, and I am stumped on which one to use. This ds is an average math student who has great hopes of going to college. I need to make the right choice for him...and that 'right choice' is absolutely paralyzing me. :glare: A little history: He used mainly BJU from 4th grade until 7th. In 7th we moved to CLE and he has been using CLE since. He likes the constant review of CLE, which makes me wonder if he would be one of those students who do well with Saxon. I personally despise Saxon, as did my older boys. I really like the (Chalkdust) Mosely DVDs, or at least the ones I have watched. He explains things well and the DVD's are not quite as long as the BJU ones. I'm not familiar with the textbook though. My olders used BJU Algebra and liked it. I don't recall how much review it contains as I have it lent out right now and won't get it back till summer. So, if YOU had the choice between these programs for your average math student, which are all good solid Alg choices, what would YOU choose? :confused:

I've posted about our switch to Sazon 7/6 from Singapore 4A many times. I just wanted to point out that now we are running into issues...in a good way, but all of a sudden mid-year, we're hitting all this stuff that he already knows solid. I've merged a bunch of lessons but I thought I'd point out that this caught me off guard, since the placement test definitely said 7/6 and the first 50 lessons were pretty appropriate, but 50-65 are too repetitive of singapore 4A for us. Brownie