If you use Saxon, do you use the meeting book?

[mommydearest]

Just wondering if most people use the meeting book. We slacked off in Saxon 1 and Saxon 2. Now I'm wondering if I should just skip it altogether for Saxon 3. I'm curious as to why or why not people choose to use it.

[MiztrezzLyn]

My son is at about lesson 120 in Saxon 1 and then we'll be starting right up with Saxon 2.

 

We use the meeting book every day and we love it. Everything thats included in the morning meeting is like second nature to him and is VERY easy but thats what I love about it. Since he's doing it every single day he is used to it and he knows that stuff down cold.

 

It is my first math curriculum so its just the way we did it. (I am using other things here and there as supplements) but it is definitely my main math program for him. Like I said, we both enjoy it and its just a normal part of our everyday math lessons, he might look at me strange if I did NOT do it :)

 

I'll admit sometimes I get a little annoyed at having to do it EVERY SINGLE DAY but I love the results I've gotten out of it and he seems to really enjoy it so I carry on with it.

[kittysmom]

My ds is doing Saxon 3, and we've never used the meeting book with him. I did use it for a while with my dd when she was younger, but it got to be too tedious/time consuming and we stopped using it.

[StartingOver]

I have never used the meeting books. We have a calendar on the wall that does most of it.

[charmama4]

I use the meeting book daily and it's great to see the "light bulb" turn on when she sees the patterns on her calendar or the graph she's making on a daily basis. I use Saxon for this reason, the repetition of it. In the early years of math, I believe kids need the repetition for retention. That's just my philosophy on teaching and it has worked on my kids, thus far.

[Brenda in FL]

Are you asking about using the meeting book or skipping the meeting time altogether?

 

If its an issue of using the meeting book - often times you can do without the book - just use your own calendar, make your own graphs, etc.

 

However, if you are asking about skipping the meeting altogether, that would be a mistake. So many new concepts are introduced and practiced through the meeting time. It is an essential part of why Saxon works so well.

 

That said - you can probably get by without doing every single meeting activity every single day. If your child is proficient with counting by 7s then work on the 8s or 9s instead. If he knows his calendar then just review once every couple of weeks.

 

Don't skip the new stuff, though. And make sure he knows the review stuff before you start skipping. Usually the new stuff is bolded in the meeting script.

[HollyB]

We only did Saxon 1, but we never used the meeting book. It looked like everthing that you needed for the meeting was already in the teacher's guide, so I never thought we needed an additional book. We did go over (almost) everything that was listed each day. It was important stuff to cover, and my daughter liked it.

[learninearnin]

I don't like the meeting book for everyday use...my ds would get bored with the same questions over and over again. I use it when it is introducing a new concept, but it's not something I fool with too often. Could be because ds had a good grasp on graphs and dates before we started Saxon 2, but I just feel it's too repetitive for us. :)

[AHASRADA]

Yes, I found the meeting book to be a great resource. Having all the skip counting numbers lined up in the charts to refer to was really helpful, and I think doing the calendar and thermometer activities is the reason my dd (who used Saxon) is so much more proficient in these areas than her older brother (who did not use it). In my experience, Saxon is the best at actually teaching some of these everyday concepts that most programs just skim over.

 

That said, we did stop doing the calendar and thermometer once her skills were solidly built. That point will be different for different kids.

 

As for the meeting activities themselves, the did become very tedious and time-consuming after a while. We started doing only a few each day, carefully rotating them so be sure we had covered every type of review activity at least once a week, spending the most time on the ones where she needed the most review.

 

The blessing and curse of Saxon K-3 is the scripting. Very convenient, but also very easy to get lulled into mindlessly following the program and forget to personalize and adapt to our own child. As long as you keep this in mind (without compromising the integrity of the program by skipping whole chunks), it works very well.

[3girlssofar]

We used the meeting book daily and found it to be a great resource. You don't need to use the book but I do think you need to do the meeting regularly. We always did new meeting topics daily until they were automatic and then I'd rotate them so they were only done once or twice a week. We just completed Saxon 2 and will be starting Saxon 3 next month.

[Moniksca]

We just finished saxon 3 and I never used the meeting book but I went through the meeting exercises that were listed in the TM. I don't think I missed anything.