saxon grammar and writing

[Guest rubilynne4]

can anyone give me a critique of saxon's grammar and writing?

[cottagechick]

I used the 8th grade level this year as remediation for a freshman boy. He learned a lot, but found some of the explanations 'not enough'...for instance verb tenses. The diagramming is solid. The writing program was straightforward, but bland. The spiral approach drove us both batty, but I will say he retained an awful lot of info.

 

It's no-frills, get 'r done curriculum. Just not very inspiring. Coming from public school, he didn't know any better though. :D That's what he was used to doing. This year we'll use something else, now that I know the basics are covered.

[Keniki]

I used the 5th grade book several years ago. I've tried several grammar programs over the years, and when I gave dd her choice for this next year, she chose to go back to Saxon/Hake. I do only use it for the grammar, but here is a review I wrote a few years ago about the 5th grade book. We will be using 8th grade this coming year, but it is set up the same way.

 

 

The "BOX" starts with Dictation and or a Journal Entry depending on the day of the week. The teacher’s packet suggests Dictation on Monday to start preparing for a test on Friday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are for Journal Entries. The back of the book has the dictation assignments and the starters for the Journal Entries. Also in the box each day are the vocabulary words. There are usually 2 new words per day, and they are usually in some sort of pairs. Examples are: its - it’s, there-their, essential - nonessential, abundant - scarce, optimism - pessimism, exalt - humiliate, savanna - tundra, feline - canine, luminous - illuminate.

 

After the “Box†there is the regular lesson, practice set (sometimes there is also a More Practice Set), and the Review Set. The review set has 30 exercises per day. Many of them are 1 word answers, but some each day are longer.

 

Diagramming starts with simple subject and simple predicate in lesson 32. By the last lesson of the book the student will diagram the sentence “Ah, we have finally finished the very last diagram in this grammar book.â€

 

The Teacher’s Packet includes the schedule (very helpful) for doing the 112 lessons, 22 tests, and 31 writing lessons in 146 days. The student material includes the 631 page student book and the worksheet packet for writing lessons and some sheets for some of the “More Practice†sets.

 

 

 

HTH :)

[Guest rubilynne4]

I used the 5th grade book several years ago. I've tried several grammar programs over the years, and when I gave dd her choice for this next year, she chose to go back to Saxon/Hake. I do only use it for the grammar, but here is a review I wrote a few years ago about the 5th grade book. We will be using 8th grade this coming year, but it is set up the same way.

 

 

The "BOX" starts with Dictation and or a Journal Entry depending on the day of the week. The teacher’s packet suggests Dictation on Monday to start preparing for a test on Friday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are for Journal Entries. The back of the book has the dictation assignments and the starters for the Journal Entries. Also in the box each day are the vocabulary words. There are usually 2 new words per day, and they are usually in some sort of pairs. Examples are: its - it’s, there-their, essential - nonessential, abundant - scarce, optimism - pessimism, exalt - humiliate, savanna - tundra, feline - canine, luminous - illuminate.

 

After the “Box†there is the regular lesson, practice set (sometimes there is also a More Practice Set), and the Review Set. The review set has 30 exercises per day. Many of them are 1 word answers, but some each day are longer.

 

Diagramming starts with simple subject and simple predicate in lesson 32. By the last lesson of the book the student will diagram the sentence “Ah, we have finally finished the very last diagram in this grammar book.â€

 

The Teacher’s Packet includes the schedule (very helpful) for doing the 112 lessons, 22 tests, and 31 writing lessons in 146 days. The student material includes the 631 page student book and the worksheet packet for writing lessons and some sheets for some of the “More Practice†sets.

 

 

 

HTH :)

thank you, a very thorough review. i really like the look of this. i may look inot it for 5th grade (this year we are using r&s 4 for grammar).

[Keniki]

I used Saxon 5th grade after R&S 4 also. R&S is (as you know) one topic at a time. A chapter on nouns, a chapter on verbs, etc. with plenty of review. Saxon, in typical Saxon fashion, focuses on a different topic each day but still reviews everything that has been learned so far, and doesn't have chapters per se, just tests after every 5 lessons.

 

In case you haven't seen it, here's a link where you can "look inside" a 5th grade book.

 

http://grammar.cc/?content=lookinside5

 

 

I believe CBD has samples also.

[Guest rubilynne4]

I used Saxon 5th grade after R&S 4 also. R&S is (as you know) one topic at a time. A chapter on nouns, a chapter on verbs, etc. with plenty of review. Saxon, in typical Saxon fashion, focuses on a different topic each day but still reviews everything that has been learned so far, and doesn't have chapters per se, just tests after every 5 lessons.

 

In case you haven't seen it, here's a link where you can "look inside" a 5th grade book.

 

http://grammar.cc/?content=lookinside5

 

 

I believe CBD has samples also.

thanks, how did u like it?

[Keniki]

I really like the grammar and the vocabulary. The writing is okay (I'll be using other things I've found that I like better.), and I haven't used the dictation. The journal prompts are fun and very easy for the student to relate to. Usually they are something about the student. Favorite vacation, if you were President, describe a pet... Some of them, especially in the upper levels, could even be turned into impromptu essay prompts. I guess I should clarify that I like it for my child who likes the spiral approach. My other child dislikes the constant review. He's more of a "you taught me this already, let's move on" type.

 

I agree with the pp who said it's a no-frills, get 'er done type curriculum. When it comes to grammar, that's exactly what I'm looking for.