DarlaS Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Anyone else in the same place? A while back I gave dd the Saxon placement test and she tested into 7/6. She is still testing into 7/6. She will be 12 this summer, so that's not horrible, but I kind of thought she'd place into 8/7 easily. I don't think mastery is her thing. I considered switching last fall, but talked myself out of it. :001_unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I started my daughter on Saxon in January and we are really liking it. She'd always done a mastery approach with R&S, but it only goes up through 8th grade. We switched at the end of the R&S Math 6 book. So far so good. I can't tell you what is best for your daughter but I've been glad with our transition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 I started my daughter on Saxon in January and we are really liking it. She'd always done a mastery approach with R&S, but it only goes up through 8th grade. We switched at the end of the R&S Math 6 book. So far so good. I can't tell you what is best for your daughter but I've been glad with our transition. Thanks, Daisy! I'm feeling pretty at peace with my decision. She does not love math. She does okay with it, but I think she will benefit greatly from using 7/6 and (probably) 8/7 before doing TT Algebra 1. It would really solidify arithmetic before going on to algebra, and she would appreciate the predictability of it. Open the book, do the next lesson and you're done with math for the day. Math Mammoth with it's many many pages on one topic have been making us both nuts. In an effort to give her a break, I cross off quite a few problems. Problem is that even though she's doing well on the unit we are currently in, she seems to forget many of the finer points of any prior concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 We had been using Calvert for DD (because we had it and it was free), but we recently switched her to Saxon, and she's doing well with it. The spiral approach is really working for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrissySC Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 We used MM for remediation. Dd missed some key skills and lacked number sense. This served us well. I had her in Saxon 5/4. With that noted, I will mention that we completed MM4 somewhere inside of the fall of the fifth grade, and she is soaring through the next level of Saxon, 6/5, with laughter. We will finish 6/5 on an accelerated schedule just because of MM4. I almost wish that I had completed MM5 instead! MM is quite a different "look and feel" than Saxon. However, when finishing MM, your student should place and be ready for pre-Algebra, not Algrebra I. On the norm, most kids will finish MM between the 6th and the 7th grade. Pre-Algebra will begin in the seventh or eighth grade. She might have improved and be further through the core concepts of 7/6, but not yet into 8/7 for the placement. :) And, none of that means anything about how your child is learning! You need to go with your "gut" feeling. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danybug Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 We switched at the beginning of our school year from Singapore to Saxon. My ds tested in to 7/6, but with the transition I worried so we worked through 6/5 at triple speed. We are now in to 7/6. My ds has strong math abilities and we have both been very happy with Saxon. I wish we had never bothered with Singapore for 3 years. I really liked this website for more info on using Saxon: http://www.homeschoolwithsaxon.com/index.php If you click on the newsletter link on the side and read through all the past write-ups I found valuable information. I also emailed him with a question and he gave me an informative prompt reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 We will finish 6/5 on an accelerated schedule just because of MM4. I almost wish that I had completed MM5 instead! My dd is about halfway through MM5. I will either have her finish it and test her again before going to Saxon OR just have her go through 76 at an accelerated pace. MM is quite a different "look and feel" than Saxon. However, when finishing MM, your student should place and be ready for pre-Algebra, not Algrebra I. I've heard you either do pre-algebra or Saxon 8/7. I was leaning toward 8/7 since it now contains some pre-algebra and would give her one more year with a traditional text before going into Algebra 1. She should easily be able to handle Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 after Saxon 8/7. It's pretty gentle. I also have their pre-algebra, so may just do 7/6. I'll decide that when she finishes 7/6 (depending on how long that takes and how well she does). On the norm, most kids will finish MM between the 6th and the 7th grade. Pre-Algebra will begin in the seventh or eighth grade. I definitely don't want her doing Pre-algebra in grade 7. She is okay with the concepts, but lacks confidence and fluency. I'm hoping Saxon with it's constant review and incremental introduction of new concepts will give her that. She might have improved and be further through the core concepts of 7/6, but not yet into 8/7 for the placement. :) And, none of that means anything about how your child is learning! You need to go with your "gut" feeling. :D I will probably give her that placement test again in about 3 months--if I can stop myself from buying Saxon NOW. She should be done with MM 5B then. I really could just seriously hack the rest of MM5 and MM6 to get us through until fall. No more chapters of dozens of pages on one concept! :willy_nilly: I'm trying to resist the urge to buy anything right now since it's February, and I can never be sure at this time of year if a change is actually needed, or if I'm just losing my mind. :tongue_smilie: I've already bought Lively Latin this past week. It's BAD for the budget for us to be halted by a tummy virus. Really bad. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 We switched at the beginning of our school year from Singapore to Saxon. My ds tested in to 7/6, but with the transition I worried so we worked through 6/5 at triple speed. We are now in to 7/6. My ds has strong math abilities and we have both been very happy with Saxon. I wish we had never bothered with Singapore for 3 years. I really liked this website for more info on using Saxon: http://www.homeschoolwithsaxon.com/index.php If you click on the newsletter link on the side and read through all the past write-ups I found valuable information. I also emailed him with a question and he gave me an informative prompt reply. Thanks for the link! Off to read and poke around a bit. Last time we used Saxon, the D.I.V.E. cd's were all that was available. I have heard bits of info about various new materials, but have not really investigated any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyDays Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That's an excellent link... the newsletters are full of good info. We don't currently use Saxon Math, but are trying to decide how to proceed with our curriculum. I can tell it would be a good resource!! Thanks... 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.