Is Saxon good enough?

[jld]

Dd14 is going pretty quickly through Saxon's high school series, and seems to be doing fine (90-100% on homework and tests, occasionally an 85). She did Alg. 1 in 5 mos., and is almost halfway through Alg. II after 7 weeks.

 

At the rate she's going, I think she'll be done with calculus this time next year. I understand I could have her take some advanced calculus online, or statistics, but I'm also wondering if I should just slow her down. She's doing 2-3 lessons/tests per day. I know she likes it, but she could use the time to do other things. She's starting Apologia Bio I and Chemistry I tomorrow, and I know they will require a couple hours a day. She's also got a load of other things to work on, like lit and writing and history and a couple foreign languages. It would be nice for her to have some time to spend with her little brothers, too.:)

 

I'm guess I'm just worried that somehow Saxon isn't good enough, or she wouldn't be able to go through it so quickly. She wants to do pre-med in college, so she needs a good math/science background.

 

I shyed away from other math programs I read about here because I just don't feel I could help her with math, and the other programs didn't seem as self-teaching as Saxon. It's not really that I want to switch from Saxon; I just want to be reassured that it really is decent enough prep for college. Thank you, ladies.

[Faithr]

Wow! How many hours a day does she spend on Algebra? Either she is really gifted in math or she's got a copy of the answers hidden away somewhere! (just kidding!). Didn't you notice her brilliance earlier than age 14? What math program did she use before this?

 

I know many people who like Saxon. We've used it for high school for 3 kids so far. But while my kids are pretty good at math, they aren't brilliant in it (it isn't their worst subject but not their favorite either).

 

We use the Art Read dvd's with our Saxon and he says that Saxon is a good prep for anyone who wants to go to any college including Ivy League.

[Quiver0f10]

Wow! How many hours a day does she spend on Algebra? Either she is really gifted in math or she's got a copy of the answers hidden away somewhere! (just kidding!). Didn't you notice her brilliance earlier than age 14? What math program did she use before this?

 

I know many people who like Saxon. We've used it for high school for 3 kids so far. But while my kids are pretty good at math, they aren't brilliant in it (it isn't their worst subject but not their favorite either).

 

We use the Art Read dvd's with our Saxon and he says that Saxon is a good prep for anyone who wants to go to any college including Ivy League.

 

A few of my older kids are using/used saxon and did really well with it.

[jld]

Thanks for your reply, Faith!:)

 

She started doing Spectrum 4th grade math in 6th grade (she didn't really do schoolwork before 6th grade -- we unschooled), and finished the 5th and 6th grade workbooks that year, too. She took all of 7th and part of 8th to do the 7th and 8th grade math workbooks (I had a new baby and we moved from France to America to India during that time, so it was a busy 15 mos.)

 

Then back the end of March she started Alg. I, and just plodded along, a lesson or two a day, even during her brother's cancer treatment last summer. Then she headed right into Alg. II. and has just whipped through it.

 

She's self-motivated, and really seems to enjoy it. She handles it all herself, so I don't quite know how much time she spends on a lesson -- maybe 45 minutes? Just a guess. Her dad is an engineer, so maybe it's just in her genes. She's a pretty logical, calm person, so maybe she just has the personality for math.

 

Thanks for reassuring me about the quality of Saxon. Dd is asking me to switch her little brothers to Saxon (we're still with Spectrum for them). She really likes the presentation and the repetition. I guess I just hear so much criticism of Saxon (boring and not thorough enough), that I assumed it must not be as good as the other programs. And since she seems to be doing so well with it, I thought it must not be good enough (no insecurity there!)

 

I guess I'll just let her keep going at her own pace, and just see where we end up. I think she could probably be ready to start college at 16, but I don't want to send her to America alone before 18. She's our first, and I'm just learning the ropes of all this high school and college stuff.

 

Thanks again for your reply!

[Jenn in CA]

We love Saxon here. If you use it as intended--do every problem of every lesson, without skipping any--your child should be well-prepared for college level math. My oldest went from Saxon Advanced Math into community college Engineering Calculus and is getting an A.

 

I would make sure she's writing out the steps of the problems and not just doing them in her head. Even in Alg. 2 you can get by doing a lot of it in your head, but if students don't get in the habit of writing out problems it can cause big problems (no pun intended) in Trig and Calculus.

 

If she's writing out all the problems and not skipping any, and able to finish a lesson in 45 minutes, she's an Amazing Student!

[jld]

She writes them all out (they're all in a math notebook; she's very organized) and doesn't skip any. I think she just really likes it. And I'll ask her about the time -- it may be an hour per lesson.

 

Thank you.