Pam B Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 :banghead: <<<--- Really thinking about doing this! DD14 is struggling so much with Saxon 8/7. I am NOT a math person and DH refuses to help me-us. We tried the Saxon D.I.V.E. cd, but he makes so many mistakes and it seemed so chaotic, we stopped and got the Saxon Teacher Cd set. Currently she is listening/watching to the lesson introduction, next she works out Lesson Practice A, and listens/watches the teacher do A on the computer. If she gets it wrong, she redoes it the way the teacher did it, and goes on to the next one. I feel terrible as I seem to be no help what so ever! We can't afford a tutor, and she wants to be homeschooled. I just need some sort of direction. Has anyone had this problem and been able to resolve it? I don't want her to have a shaky math foundation! I'm really freaking out!! I've already restarted her in January at lesson 51, as she wasn't getting the fractions (she use to love fractions). So, we're running behind because of that. -Pam B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldskool Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Have you tried the Khan Academy? It is a free online resource where the instructor goes through many different math subjects and problems. This has helped my DD with some of the Saxon 7/6 lessons. Sometimes it helps to see math problems approached in a different way. Math is a tough subject for me too! http://www.khanacademy.org/ Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrscopterdoc Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Try Life of Fred. DD was crying over Saxon too, so we dumped it and tried Life of Fred. Life.Changing. Enough said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn in CA Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Currently she is listening/watching to the lesson introduction, next she works out Lesson Practice A, and listens/watches the teacher do A on the computer. If she gets it wrong, she redoes it the way the teacher did it, and goes on to the next one. This sounds like a good plan. What isn't working the way you want? My daughter was getting in a bad habit of skimming thru the lesson then saying "I don't understand." I started having her cover the answers in the examples and working the examples while reading the lesson. Then she uncovers the answer (which is right below) for immediate feedback. This has helped her to slow down and pay attention. In fact, it's helped a lot. Math is so "step by step". I think Saxon's strength is breaking down the steps, as long as the students don't try to take shortcuts or just to "just show me how to do it." Saxon's explanations (in the lesson) can be a bit dry and technical but really, all the information is there. Learning to understand them is a skill in itself, but a very valuable skill! That's meant to be encouraging... hang in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Try Life of Fred. DD was crying over Saxon too, so we dumped it and tried Life of Fred. Life.Changing. Enough said. My DS liked LOF, too. But it didn't have nearly enough practice problems for the concepts to stick, and we ended up dropping it. I think it's best for a supplement or for kids who are gifted in math (pick it up very quickly and don't need any practice problems). Guess it's worth a shot~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 My DS liked LOF, too. But it didn't have nearly enough practice problems for the concepts to stick, and we ended up dropping it. I think it's best for a supplement or for kids who are gifted in math (pick it up very quickly and don't need any practice problems). Guess it's worth a shot~ The LOF Algebras have a Home Companion that has extra problems and helps with scheduling. It looks like the Pre-Algebra doesn't have a HC though.... Have you tried using Key To..... to work on the problem areas such as fractions?? My dd enjoyed the LOF: Fractions book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 The LOF Algebras have a Home Companion that has extra problems and helps with scheduling. It looks like the Pre-Algebra doesn't have a HC though.... Have you tried using Key To..... to work on the problem areas such as fractions?? My dd enjoyed the LOF: Fractions book. We were doing Geometry, which didn't have a Home Companion (at that time - maybe it does now). Since that wasn't an option for us, I forgot that was available for some levels. slinking away now~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 I don't know your particular circumstances but maybe there's a way to manage a tutor. Could you maybe offer to trade tutoring (you tutor a a student in foreign language or writing or whatever you excel at in exchange for that parent tutoring your daughter in math)? Another alternative is to find a student who just finished Saxon 8/7 and did well or even someone who is still in Saxon 8/7 but a bit ahead of your DD. They'd probably be willing to tutor for less than the going rate for adult tutors. Self-teaching can work really well in a student's strengths but it's a bit unfair to expect it from a student who is struggling in a subject. Good luck! Pegasus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Have you considered TT? She might respond to that teaching style. I like LOF as a supplement too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 I've posted about similar situations quite a bit recently. In my experience this is a situation caused by a text/student incompatibility. Saxon is UNIQUE in how it presents the lesson. 8/7 makes a HUGE jump in presentation. The practice problems in the 'review' part of the homework set morph as the student is introduced to more skills. Eventually they change so much that they no longer resemble the problems in the lesson they are referred to (small numbers). In other words the student will NOT find an example in the text to match the problem--or any type of 'lesson' on how to do them... it is all cumulative... and if they have missed out on a tiny sub-concept then things tend to snowball. This leads to frustration, tears, feelings that the student is 'not good in math'...I know-- my daughter was in this position before. I like Saxon... I used to teach from it exclusively.. but my students tended to be 'naturals' at math and all had some sort of engineering bent... when I tried to use Saxon with an 'average' student it did not work out so well. My own girls used Saxon in elementary--but once my oldest hit 8/7 she went through the same thing you are going through now... we started and restarted and I helped as much as I could (and I'm an experienced Math teacher!)... still more frustration and LACK OF CONFIDENCE... on the advice of a WTM mom I moved dd to Lial's Basic College Math (I spent a whole $5 for the text because I had my doubts)... It was like a breath of fresh air to dd. Really... at this time I would recommend switching over to a traditional Pre-Algebra program. Sometimes (not really that rare) students have a hard time learning with non-traditional methods. These students just need to see the WHOLE conceptual picture instead of skipping around. The traditional program does not have to be BCM... there are several other programs available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 I've posted about similar situations quite a bit recently. In my experience this is a situation caused by a text/student incompatibility. Saxon is UNIQUE in how it presents the lesson. 8/7 makes a HUGE jump in presentation. The practice problems in the 'review' part of the homework set morph as the student is introduced to more skills. Eventually they change so much that they no longer resemble the problems in the lesson they are referred to (small numbers). In other words the student will NOT find an example in the text to match the problem--or any type of 'lesson' on how to do them... it is all cumulative... and if they have missed out on a tiny sub-concept then things tend to snowball. This leads to frustration, tears, feelings that the student is 'not good in math'...I know-- my daughter was in this position before. I like Saxon... I used to teach from it exclusively.. but my students tended to be 'naturals' at math and all had some sort of engineering bent... when I tried to use Saxon with an 'average' student it did not work out so well. My own girls used Saxon in elementary--but once my oldest hit 8/7 she went through the same thing you are going through now... we started and restarted and I helped as much as I could (and I'm an experienced Math teacher!)... still more frustration and LACK OF CONFIDENCE... on the advice of a WTM mom I moved dd to Lial's Basic College Math (I spent a whole $5 for the text because I had my doubts)... It was like a breath of fresh air to dd. Really... at this time I would recommend switching over to a traditional Pre-Algebra program. Sometimes (not really that rare) students have a hard time learning with non-traditional methods. These students just need to see the WHOLE conceptual picture instead of skipping around. The traditional program does not have to be BCM... there are several other programs available. My oldest (who IS good at math btw :001_smile:) HATED Saxon 87! We switched to VideoText and he did great! ETA: This has NOTHING to do with the subject at hand. It's just that, when I looked at my message after I posted it, I saw that it was message 4,444! Just kind of cool! :D Okay, sorry! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam B Posted June 25, 2010 Author Share Posted June 25, 2010 Just in case you all are thinking I've gone MIA- It's not the case! :) I'm looking into the recommendations you've given me! :) I'm also looking into what type of learner she is.... I have this book- "Discovering Your Child's Learning Style" and it's great. I've determined my DD has the ORGANIZE disposition, her talents are word-lang. reasoning, interactive w/ others & animals and life enhancement. Her modality is Auditory (listening (nothing for verbal)) and Visual (picture and print) with absolutely no tactile-kinesthetic scoring (hands-on, whole body, sketching, writing). Anyways, I am really interested in everything you all have given me to think on. I just gotta talk with her as well. :) Thank you so much! I'll post what we've decided to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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