Mesa Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Whats with the grades? I'm confused by the 5/4 numbering... what do those mean? Why 2 numbers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl in NM Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Whats with the grades? I'm confused by the 5/4 numbering... what do those mean? Why 2 numbers? Apparently the publisher didn't want to put grade levels on the books. There is some discrepancy as to what the numbers means. The most accepted theory is that 5/4 is varying degrees of 4 & 5th grades. I love saxon, but it teaches in a spiral form, meaning that it introduces a topic and moves to another the next lesson and so on. There is tons of repition in the "homework" so they do learn the concepts, but they are not introduced in an order that other textbooks would introduce them. This makes it hard to switch curriculums in the middle. My ds is below grade level on some things and above on others because of this spiral approach. However, what I like best about saxon (and do not find in other curriculums) is they break each step into the most miniscule part and there is plenty of repitition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesa Posted May 6, 2008 Author Share Posted May 6, 2008 I currently use Horizons math. So far I like it. My oldest ds has used Horizons 1st and 2nd, and has just started grade 3. I think it only goes up to 6th grade though so I am just keeping my eye out for another math curriculum for 7th on up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl in NM Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I currently use Horizons math. So far I like it. My oldest ds has used Horizons 1st and 2nd, and has just started grade 3. I think it only goes up to 6th grade though so I am just keeping my eye out for another math curriculum for 7th on up. You could start Saxon Pre-Algebra or Algebra 1/2 without any problems. If you think he's not ready for those you could get Saxon 8/7 and probably be fine. They offer a placement test on their website. It's been very helpful and accurate for us. We started in Saxon and left for a few years and started back this year in 6/5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I heard that by 5/4 they mean For the average 4th grade student or slightly below average 5th grade student. I used Saxon 2 for my oldest last year and we tried Horizons 3 this year and it was a disaster. We then tried TT which was ok but he kept asking to just go back to what he was using, meaning Saxon. We recently sold some stuff we don't need anymore since our year is over and I bought him Saxon 5/4 (where he placed on the placement test) he wanted to start immediately. He did the 1st lesson today and said "mom it's so nice to have the math I like back" He enjoyed the lesson and can't wait to do more. My dd was doing Horizons K and was very frustrated with there approach. She asked back in Jan to use "what Everett used last year," meaning when he used Saxon2. I went and got Saxon1 for her and she's been happy since. I think for us Saxon is our best fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesa Posted May 6, 2008 Author Share Posted May 6, 2008 Thanks Cheryl, BTW I'm in New Mexico too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.