Compare Saxon & Bob Jones 3rd Grade

[Homeschooling6]

For my third grader I was all set to use Bob Jones but need to wait until we can afford it.

 

Right now everything Saxon is on sale at CBD. Saxon 3rd grade is on sale for $64.00 for the home study kit.

 

Can someone please compare these two 3rd grade math programs for me.

 

Thank you!

Edited May 13, 2010 by Homeschooling6

[MrsMe]

Saxon is incremental. So you'll do a few problems with the new concept then a few with many other concepts studied. They use the Meeting book for review but you can do without that. So the review is built in. It is in black and white.

 

BJU works by chapter. About a week and a half or so of one concept. The back side sometimes has a review in the lower portion of previous concepts. It also contains a chapter review after every chapter and a cumulative review after every chapter review. This is in color and has little reminder boxes and examples on how to do the lesson.

 

We chose BJU over Saxon because we needed more than a few problems to cement the new concept and we like the ideas in the TM.

 

They both cover the same things, but in different order. The lack of order or spiraling in Saxon drove me batty. But it works for kids who need it. Both are scripted. BJU has some enrichment pages which are sort of abstract thinking if you "want" to use them. BJU has a lot more ideas to go with a lesson, but for some that's very cumbersome and confusing.

 

I'm sure there's more, but I gotta go..........:001_smile:

[TracyR]

Hmm. They are kind of like night and day.

 

Bob Jones is a mastery math program. It's great for kids who get math. My oldest did very well with it. I have used BJU K,1,2,3 and 6. It has fun cute pictures, stories for each chapter. It teaches a subject for one chapter. For instance addition. They will learn to add two numbers then three numbers then learn to add on a number line, with unifix cubes.. etc. Then the next chapter maybe subtraction, then the next might be somem geometry then it will come back around and teach addition again but it maybe adding two digit numbers this time and so forth.

 

Saxon is spiral and incremental. It teaches a concept a little at a time and builds on it. Each lesson continues to review concepts from previous lessons so that concepts are never forgotten. Its great for children who need lots of review in math. Great for the kids who only care about the how's in math and not so much the why's ( not every kid wants to know the why's at their stage in life). Its black and white. Nothing to distract them. Its just plain math. Great for kids who get to distracted by colorful pictures.

Its similar to Christian Light Math.

 

It just boils down to what you want to use, what you think will work best and so on. I like BJU for my oldest but Saxon works for my younger three daughters. They are both good programs.