Advice on Saxon K please

[UmMusa]

Hi!

I'm homeschooling 3 children for the first time this year, and one is in Kindy. Saxon math is toooo easy, slow, and boring. My 3rd and 4th graders are using Saxon just fine, but it's too far behind for my KG'er.

 

Any suggestions? I flipped further to the middle and back of the book to make sure I cover 'main ideas' with her like finding patterns, ordinal numbers, etc... but the lessons are too slow. Should I fast forward to Saxon 1? Seeing as it's going fine with the older 2, I don't have a big complaint, but then again we're pretty new.

 

The only complain I could have about Saxon (for up to grade 3) is how much time the meeting and lessons take. Since I have 4 kids altogether, it's hard to designate a good 30 minutes without interruptions to 'teach' a lesson. I'm just barely getting by with my 3rd graders lessons, and although they don't take too long, I feel bad when I get interrupted while trying to show her fractions or something else on the board.

 

Do some math programs at such a young level give the student more autonomy?

[mammaofbean]

with saxon K we did about 2 lessons a day 5 days a week. and we used it for preK. my dd LOVED it, especially the meeting, she likes structure. saxon 1 was too much writing for her, and harder to accelerate because of the writing.

 

to combine the grades i would think that you could do a modified meeting to accomodate all of them, then work youngest to oldest on the lessons.

[UmMusa]

I think I'll hold on to my Saxon K for my last child (who isn't 2yrs old yet, but I'll use it when she's about 4)

[UmmAbduRahman]

Assalamu alaikum UmMusa

 

Great question. I myself just came this morning to do a search to find out about Saxon. Check out the Saxon Placement Exam. I also found this Sampler, which gives you samples of what's contained in each grade level K-3.

 

Here's my own situation (I'd appreciate advice from any of you reading!):

I'm (finally) about to order for the first time, DS is 5yrs, 4mo. and has never done a formal math program. I went through the placement exam and he almost has all the Saxon K stuff they asked about covered, and is almost 5 1/2 (which is when they recommend Saxon 1).

 

So I don't wanna go buy something we are pretty much not gonna use.

 

Does this mean:

A) We should just do as WTM says and stick with an informal approach until Grade 1 and at that time use Saxon 1 or,

 

B) Get Saxon K or,

 

C) Get Saxon 1

 

:confused:

 

Update: After going through the "Sampler" I linked to above, I think I'll go with Saxon K to make sure we have everything covered. There's a lot of good stuff there and the repetition will make sure we have it down.

Edited October 15, 2010 by UmmAbduRahman
to add the Sampler link

[mytwomonkeys]

I went through the placement exam and he almost has all the Saxon K stuff they asked about covered, and is almost 5 1/2 (which is when they recommend Saxon 1).

 

So I don't wanna go buy something we are pretty much not gonna use.

 

 

i think you could just use saxon 1. i'm using it with my son, and it assumes your child has no previous math exposure. it has been slowly progressing enough that my son has not been overwhelmed at all. he's 6 1/2 (a little older than you son), but we did no formal math previously, and this has been a gem for us. hth.