Is there a big jump between Saxon Math 3 and 5/4?

[Joy at Home]

What do you do with a child who is not quite ready for 5/4 after 3? Is there an intermediate step? I'll be switching from TT4 to either R&S or Saxon next year. I'm not sure if dd will be quite ready for 5/4, I'll have to look at the placement check. Just wondering . . .

 

Blessings,

Lisa

[Guest janainaz]

My ds9 is in Saxon 5/4 and he's about halfway through. It seems to me that it is a big review of everything they have learned so far. I would say that if your child did well at Saxon 3, there should be no issues with 5/4.

[Joy at Home]

My ds9 is in Saxon 5/4 and he's about halfway through. It seems to me that it is a big review of everything they have learned so far. I would say that if your child did well at Saxon 3, there should be no issues with 5/4.

 

 

Thanks, Jana!!

[Chris in VA]

Don't use the Saxon placement tests if your child has recently done any Saxon--they are only for non-Saxonites! :D

 

The "jump" isn't in content, it's just in format. You still have a "meeting," of sorts, but it's the mental math and problem solving in the box at the beginning of the lesson. You still have a timed fact sheet. You still have a scripted lesson--but the lesson is written to the student, not to the parent. Saxon says this is not an independent study course (5/4 and above), that the parent is to teach the lesson. I'm not sure how they do that, exactly, in that the lesson IS to the student, but we just read it together. Occasionally, I'll read it to myself, then teach it to dd on the white board. Then I'll read it to her, and we work the practice problems.

 

Anyway, the thing to get used to is the writing out of the problems. I helped dd with that by writing most of them out for her for the first month or so.