gingersmom Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I was just reading something and someone said they did not like Saxon math because it was not in color. Do you really have a preference and why? I have never given a thought to color/no color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillieBoy Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Nope, color is non issue. Content is by far my priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Thats how I always feel. Thats why I never understand the aversion to books not in color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I don't really buy a program for it's color--not on purpose anyway. I'm a visual person too. I like the "look" of Horizon's for instance and we did use it for K, but I did not care for little kids adding double digit numbers with a number line. So we're on to black and white Singapore this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I was just reading something and someone said they did not like Saxon math because it was not in color. Do you really have a preference and why? I have never given a thought to color/no color. In our case, the math books with full colour and numerous illustrations were too distracting when ds was young. Pretty pictures were much more interesting than all those numbers, KWIM? So, for us, going to something more sedate in colour and which focused more on the MATH, instead of the cutesy pictures, was the better way to learn math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 My children need that visual stimulation and so, black and white seems to be pretty much torture for them. For some reason though, it is only really an issue with math books. Maybe it is because they spend more time in there than other workbooks. We were using Horizons but the way they teach some things was very confusing to my younger, math loving daughter. We switched to Abeka and all seems to be going much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtolgd Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 The only negative my son has with CLE math is that it lacks color. That being said, we like the layout of CLE, and it works for us, so the lack of color hasn't made an impact enough that we would change because of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 A curriculum having or not having color isn't taken into consideration at all when we make our decisions. We have a fairly equal amount of both on our shelf, come to think of it. I can't recall a kid ever mentioning a preference either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catholic Mom of 9 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Color makes science infinitely more interesting imho :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fshinkevich Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Not that they have mentioned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 (edited) No, they dont' care. I was actually drawn to the plain books of Saxon & Rod & Staff b/c I think the busy pages in many curriculum are distracting & work against students learning to focus & NOT BE ENTERTAINED all the time. (speaking of Math & grammar) When we started, they didn't care. Now, they have actually said they feel bad for kids using those busy books. Not to mention, those "busy books' are much more expensive. Science & history must have illustrations & color... Edited August 13, 2009 by Dirtroad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Color makes science infinitely more interesting imho :) For sure! I've seen some b&w science programs and they just look so.. blaaaah. :001_huh: Then look at the Apologia Young Explorers series (dd12 worked through the astronomy one the other year) and aha! Awesome colour illustrations and photographs. :D I'm very visual - as is dd12. :) (and artistic - This is the kid who will do her math with glitter pens) ...so yes, it's something that we do consider, although it's certainly not the final determining factor. Ds10 doesn't care ~ colours don't mean a whole lot when you can't see 'em. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncmomo3 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I used Horizons successfully with 1 child and unsuccessfully with another ONLY because of the colors. She was so distracted by the pictures she wasn't focusing. We switched her to Saxon and SHE can even see the difference it has made in her concentration. So, in my case, it just depended on the kid. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 My 2d ds requested a "book w/o pictures" for math, so he's doing great with saxon. I insist on good quality pictures for science and history tho. Usborne illustrations drive me batty...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 ...that Saxon and Rod and Staff are good for her precisely because they are boring to look at so she has to think about the material. She used to use CA Harcourt for math, and the colored pictures and busy pages were a true distraction. There are other reasons Saxon was better for her, but even she noticed the difference in focus with Saxon. I used to hate the way that the Magic School Bus books were so loaded up with many layers of storylines and many layers of illustrations. They had such great content, but I had to be careful in reading them to DD to get the story and main content firmly into her head before moving on to all the many sidebars, or she would remember a thing. OTOH, the Science Explorer books are just right for her. We started using them when she was in 7th grade, and they were just the right level of colorfulness and content for her for that age. Bottom line--her tolerance for that kind of variety has increased with age and with her exposure to science videos with voiceovers as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennC Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I was just reading something and someone said they did not like Saxon math because it was not in color. Do you really have a preference and why? I have never given a thought to color/no color. no they don't notice. that's like asking dh what color should I paint the kitchen (what color is the kitchen now?) If they really care give them some crayons:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I know that some of the color accenting in books is designed to set off certain portions and give it more emphasis. I have have found that it marginalizes it. For example, in our ABeka language book, there will be a grammar topic introduced and explained in a blue background box. Then there will be exercises on the topic. Sometimes there are Notes in orange boxes (frequently at the bottom of the page) that are supposed to be an extra hint to make the exercises easier. But what I've noticed is that my kids will skim the explanation to get to the practice set. And that they frequently don't read the Notes at all. This isn't meant as a complaint about the ABeka book, which I really like. I think that there has been a movement toward texts that are more bite sized. But I wonder if this makes them more disjointed. In some of the math books that I've seen in classrooms, there will be little boxes of amplifying info (like practical math or side comments or the use of math in professions). I wonder if kids learn that they don't need to read them to solve the problems and so get into the habit of skipping them (and also other set apart pieces of info that are more important). (We've used Saxon from K to 8/7. It falls into the if it's not broke don't fix it category for me.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phathui5 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 My kids don't seem to care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in PA Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I was just reading something and someone said they did not like Saxon math because it was not in color. Do you really have a preference and why? I have never given a thought to color/no color. *I* don't care about color, but two of my kids do, very much. My oldest has never cared about what his school books look like, but my younger two really thrive on visually appealing books. I go out of my way to find resources for them that are both good content-wise, and visually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommylawyer Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 With my kids, it depends on what they've gotten used to... My oldest dd is using Saxon Math 2. She started with Saxon Math K. I suppose she's used to the b&w. However, we switched from a very colorful spelling book (used last year) to Rod & Staff spelling, b&w, and she's not very happy. *But I am!* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 In our case, the math books with full colour and numerous illustrations were too distracting when ds was young. Pretty pictures were much more interesting than all those numbers, KWIM? So, for us, going to something more sedate in colour and which focused more on the MATH, instead of the cutesy pictures, was the better way to learn math. We are similar. The math books the local district uses have so many pictures and boxes and colors that it's hard to see the math! I like the plainness of Saxon, though the single color in the older-grade books is very welcome. In science and history I prefer color, because so much is dependent on making things real to the student. But in math, it can be counterproductive, because it's easy to take it too far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschool68 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Not to mention, those "busy books' are much more expensive.I disagree. I find Singapore, Rod & Staff and many other curriculums with a lot of B&W to be very expensive. In fact, I've wasted some money on books over the last 13 years of homeschooling that we never used. Rod & Staff would have sent me in to a state of depression had we kept using that and we were using K level at the time time I first tried it. ick. I couldn't stand it. But to each his own. Plus, it depends on my child. My oldest could have cared less if something was B&W or in color, but my youngest child right now gets bored with B&W a lot faster than with something that has colorful pictures. So I base it on each child. If I wanted my children to be bored with their studies I'd send them to a school. ;) But then again, I don't follow the strict school schedule with my children at home like a lot of parents do. I'm not that hard on my children. The books we use are very minimal in comparison to real life learning that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moni Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Do your kids care if the book is in color? I do. I prefer plain black and white. No visual distractions. :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I'm curious, do those of you who prefer black and white also feel that way for your own work? My kids do seem to like more colorful things, but it hasn't bothered me since I like planners and excel sheets for schedule with a bit of color. I get it when people post about wanting schedulers or planners that look nice. That said, I read documents for work all the time in black and white and it is a good skill to have -- to be able to read plain stuff. I also note that (if we're talking math materials) that the biggest turn off for my kids is too many problems per page, not color or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn in OH Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I think it depends on the book. My kids read the Bob Books, they are black and white, and had no complaints. I like to see color in a science and history book. It brings things more "to life" in my opinion. I wish some things had no illustration. We had at point used a grammar workbook that had so many pictures in it that the kids were distracted and more interested in talking about and coloring the pictures than doing the work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 DD10 will pick color over b/w but she will happilly use both. She likes classic movies too, so b/w vs. color in tv doesn't really bother her either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I was just reading something and someone said they did not like Saxon math because it was not in color. Do you really have a preference and why? I have never given a thought to color/no color. I don't want a math book to have color or pictures that are not necessary. Too distracting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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