tuzor Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 We will be moving on to Saxon Math 2 next school year. I am wondering is there a way I can make our time with Saxon more fun? It seems to take a long time to get through but I feel it is neccessary to do all parts. I just want to make it more fun. I like Saxon over other programs because I no longer feel that I need to supplement. I tried other programs before and felt that I needed to add in additional programs. Since Saxon has no color and is very teacher intensive. I am wondering how others are implementing it. Do you allow your child to do most of it on their own? Are you skipping the calander portion. Taking all suggestions and ideas. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I try to get them to do as much on the meeting strip as possible. For example, next to the money part of the meeting strip I write a ___d____p for her to write how many dimes and pennies are in that amount of money instead of me asking her orally. I have her label the pattern R for repeating, C for continuing, or B for both. I have her write out her counting on a piece of lined paper or on the back of the fact test. I only ask the things she hasn't mastered or that aren't easy to do by writing out. Then after she has written them out several times I start testing her on them orally, but just one a day instead of all 4. I do do the flashcards with her when it says to. I do check her papers and have her fix the mistakes right away most days. So we do all the parts but I just try to find a way to make them as independent as possible and so it goes much quicker. Sometimes I present the lesson part in a slightly different way to make it easier for me but still cover exactly the same questions and math concept. And sometimes if they've proved on their worksheet that they already know that concept I skip that lesson, but that is rare. stm4him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeMomInVA Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 For my child, who has difficulty focusing for long periods of time, we broke up our saxon math lessons into lots of bite sized pieces. We'd start the day with the meeting strip/calendar (it just seemed a logical way to start our whole day) , which he would do on his own for the most part, then move on to another subject....then come back and do the fact sheet, etc... We also worked out the problems on our big white board with lots of different colored dry erase markers. My reluctant writer would gladly write anything on a whiteboard with a neon green dry erase marker lol I also was quite lenient with the worksheets... if I felt comfortable with his understanding of the subject matter, we might do half the problems... It's such a strong Math program and it has given my son a solid foundation! I figure without all the colors and artwork and pictures it's less distracting anyway :-) ~Lauren mom to ds (8) and ds (4) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuzor Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Thanks. I really like the idea of doing certain parts at a time calander first, then math facts then lesson and workbook. I will see if incorporating a variation of this method helps us get through math a little quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuzor Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 For my child, who has difficulty focusing for long periods of time, we broke up our saxon math lessons into lots of bite sized pieces. We'd start the day with the meeting strip/calendar (it just seemed a logical way to start our whole day) , which he would do on his own for the most part, then move on to another subject....then come back and do the fact sheet, etc... We also worked out the problems on our big white board with lots of different colored dry erase markers. My reluctant writer would gladly write anything on a whiteboard with a neon green dry erase marker lol I also was quite lenient with the worksheets... if I felt comfortable with his understanding of the subject matter, we might do half the problems... It's such a strong Math program and it has given my son a solid foundation! I figure without all the colors and artwork and pictures it's less distracting anyway :-) ~Lauren mom to ds (8) and ds (4) I tried this yesterday and it went over very well. I wonder how do you cover the repetitive stuff that starts before the lesson. Whats the today's date, count backward from 100 by 10 etc. Do you skip it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorie Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) . Edited January 6, 2012 by Mallorie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 It's been so long since grade 2 here, but I remember a few suggestions that helped. Colored pencils Calendar time every other day or twice a week, once they got it. Skip counting, flash cards etc. done while jumping or bouncing on a bouncy ball. White boards were always a hit here with vis-a-vis or dry-erase markers break up the meeting from the other parts of the lesson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 We skipped some of the initial stuff daily and I wish we hadn't. Maybe open the daiy with the skip counting a facts sheets. Come back for the lesson and do side A of the worksheet together. I assigned side B as homework, meaning after the rest of the day is done. Art Reeed, who worked with John Saxon, feels strongly that it's a mistake to skip problems. Frankly, their aren't that many to begin with and most actually review past material and not what was covered in the most recent lesson. No one can say what is right or wrong, but the program is incremental and that suggests to me that every part represents a step the author thought was important. Luckily, 5/4 and above has fewer parts and, I think, even shorter lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuzor Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 We skipped some of the initial stuff daily and I wish we hadn't. Maybe open the daiy with the skip counting a facts sheets. Come back for the lesson and do side A of the worksheet together. I assigned side B as homework, meaning after the rest of the day is done. Art Reeed, who worked with John Saxon, feels strongly that it's a mistake to skip problems. Frankly, their aren't that many to begin with and most actually review past material and not what was covered in the most recent lesson. No one can say what is right or wrong, but the program is incremental and that suggests to me that every part represents a step the author thought was important. Luckily, 5/4 and above has fewer parts and, I think, even shorter lessons. Currently I am not skipping anything but yesterday I did skip the intro stuff as he did the calander/strip by himself. thats why I am asking for those who break up the lessons what have methods have they found that make it work. I am thinking we can do this Open the day with Calander, strip and the intro review stuff. Which I can bring him up to the white board for. Instead of just having him count backward from 100 by 10 he can write it etc. Then we can do another two topics Then the lesson and worksheet. We always do front and back in one setting. I may have him do one side and see how assigning the B side works for later in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 The suggested method it to complete side A together, ensuring reasonable understanding and to assign sSide B for later in the day. I assume they wanted the ideas to roll around in their heads for a bit. I had ds do side B alone, after lunch and we checked it together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moniksca Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 If they got side A, I didn't have him do side B. It seemed so repetitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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