Lucy in Australia Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Without starting a math debate :tongue_smilie: , I just wanted to encourage those who have chosen Saxon; my eldest just came home from TAFE (I'm not sure what to compare it to in the States- community college?) where he's doing a diploma of civil engineering, which will eventually get him into university to complete his degree. He had his first Applied Maths class today, and said it was so easy for him that the lecturer told him he'd probably be able to sit an exam in 5 weeks to fast-track him through the whole year. Oh, the relief for this mama! :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nscribe Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 :hurray: Great news, and thank you for posting about your success. Dd is using Saxon (currently Alg 2). As I am looking ahead to next year and beyond...Did your son do Saxon Calculus and how long did he spend on Advanced Math? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I love Saxon too. We used their Calculus program and I really liked the way it was set up. I plan on using it again with dd when she gets up there (she is in 76 now and on track to do Calculus in 9th or 10th grade, depending on if I do the geometry program). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Thank you for sharing this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheApprentice Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Thanks for this. We are using Saxon as well (Alg. 2 currently), and sometimes these boards can have you questioning your choices. But we will probably stick it out just to avoid curriculum hopping at this point. Plus it's working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dani3boys Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Saxon has worked great for us too! My oldest ds has used Saxon all along and is now taking Calculus 1 as a sophomore this semester at our local CC. I was nervous about the transition, but he has done really well so far! He used Advanced Math as a freshman and the first half of his sophomore year. It's frustrating when Saxon gets bad reviews here on the boards, but there is proof that it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Thanks for the post. I've decided to keep with Saxon despite the bad reviews because its working well for ds. Algebra 2 here we come! Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Saxon has been excellent prep for my first two -- both in heavy sciences at our state universities. And this from a mom that loves early and middling math, enjoys algebra, tolerates geometry, but is somewhat standoffish from higher math courses. And, one more Saxon anectdote: a friend homeschooled her 2 children and confesses to math-phobia. Both of her children chose to pursue math in college, both have advanced math degrees and her son is now getting his PhD in math. She is a surprised and proud mama! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy in Australia Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 I'm loving all these positive stories! Our son is halfway through Advanced Math & will complete the book, seeing his load at college is not so heavy. I am math-phobic, too- I don't even enjoy algebra! I have to say I'm surprised how well Saxon has also worked for my second son, who is now in grade 9. Our first one is very analytical & loves maths & physics; the second one, not so much :laugh: He has done very well with this programme. Edited to add: for anyone reading this with younger children, I've noticed over the years a lot of parents ask if they can skip problems, because the lessons are so long & seemingly repetitive. Don't do it! I'm convinced our success with this programme, especially with ds#2, is due to the fact that we put in the time & effort to consolidate the knowledge. I know not everyone agrees, but that's been our experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Edited to add: for anyone reading this with younger children, I've noticed over the years a lot of parents ask if they can skip problems, because the lessons are so long & seemingly repetitive. Don't do it! I'm convinced our success with this programme, especially with ds#2, is due to the fact that we put in the time & effort to consolidate the knowledge. I know not everyone agrees, but that's been our experience. Agree!! I have 5 kids currently using Saxon and it is a great program. Definitely agree with the do every problem thing too. Also, it is worth starting it early and continuing on. My oldest struggles a bit with it at times and we both think that it is because she didn't come up through the Saxon ranks but transferred into Saxon at Algebra 1. We are finding that the younger kids are having an easier time of it because they started earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Edited to add: for anyone reading this with younger children, I've noticed over the years a lot of parents ask if they can skip problems, because the lessons are so long & seemingly repetitive. Don't do it! I'm convinced our success with this programme, especially with ds#2, is due to the fact that we put in the time & effort to consolidate the knowledge. I know not everyone agrees, but that's been our experience. I'm having my son do every problem, but geez, it's a lot. He's hating it because of this. How long does it take most kids to work through all of the problems in say, Saxon Algebra 1/2 or Saxon Algebra I? I love Saxon, and I want him to keep on with this, but math seems to be taking close to half of his school day. I'm having him do it in chunks, so it is more palatable, but he spends 2 - 3 hours (probably closer to 3 most days) on math. I'd like to know what's the normal amount of time for these early Algebra courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 It probably "should" take about half that time. If he hasn't been using Saxon all along, I'd suggest backing up to 1/2 if he's in Algebra 1 or 8/7 if he's in 1/2. I'd also keeps an eye on his work as he's doing it to see if he's having to look back in the text to figure out how to do the problems, or if it's the arithmetic, or working with fractions ... IMO taking the time now to make sure the foundation is solid will save time and struggle in the future. I'd also make sure he's working neatly and writing down each step and being careful with positives and negatives. We've used graph paper to keep things neat and to make it easy when doing problems with number lines or graphing. We also checked each day's work and she had to re-work any problems which she got wrong. This helped her to find the mistakes on her own. Loving this thread! Dd loved Saxon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 It probably "should" take about half that time. If he hasn't been using Saxon all along, I'd suggest backing up to 1/2 if he's in Algebra 1 or 8/7 if he's in 1/2. I'd also keeps an eye on his work as he's doing it to see if he's having to look back in the text to figure out how to do the problems, or if it's the arithmetic, or working with fractions ... IMO taking the time now to make sure the foundation is solid will save time and struggle in the future. I would say he understands things fairly well -- he's probably averaging 90 on tests,but they take him an hour and a half. Most of his mistakes are due to carelessness (probably when he's daydreaming about something else...) It is his first time with Saxon, and it's been a bit of a transition getting him to write the problems on paper rather than filling in a workbook. He wants to do things in his head rather than writing them out. He can actually do quite a bit in his head, but it's the times that he can't that's a problem, KWIM? I do require him to write out the complete problem, but he doesn't always -- it's something we argue over. He doesn't look back often at old lessons. He even gets annoyed when I suggest that he do so, when there is a particular problem type he is having trouble with. I'd also make sure he's working neatly and writing down each step and being careful with positives and negatives. We've used graph paper to keep things neat and to make it easy when doing problems with number lines or graphing. We also checked each day's work and she had to re-work any problems which she got wrong. This helped her to find the mistakes on her own. The neatness thing is a problem -- it's that whole bit about transitioning to notebook paper from a workbook. He tries to cram too many problems on a page, and again, we argue over this. Sometimes I make him redo a lesson, or part of a lesson, but again, this is an area over which we have significant contention. I'm also trying to pick my battles, because I don't want him to end up hating math completely. He's actually quite good at it. He's just lazy, and doesn't like having to do so many problems in a day. How long do you think it should take a student to read the lesson, understand it, do the practice problems, and then do the 30 regular problems? I'm trying to get a feel for what is normal. It seems that it would be hard for anyone except the most motivated students to do all that in an hour and a half. Maybe two hours total? ETA: I haven't yet bought the Art Reed DVDs, although I've been wanting to. Just never had the spare cash, and now he's more than halfway through the program. He really liked the Art Reed samples on the website. Maybe if I'd get these, it would help to motivate him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 DS likes the Art reed videos. We watch them during breakfast or supper. There is Khan Academy too which is free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nscribe Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Ditto to Art Reed's videos and to the A+ Tutorial DVD for the TI graphing calculator at MathTutorDVD.com that Jenn suggested a while ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Serenade your son reminds me a lot of my daughter. We had those battles over writing everything down and careless errors too. A lot of that is the transition from working in a book and also just due to their age. It sounds like you're doing a good job of balancing between training and letting some of it go. When I would have her give me her answers as I checked in the solutions manual, and she needed to make a correction, that's when I would point out that if she had written every step down, then she would only need to look over her work instead of doing the problem from scratch. As the complexity of the problems increased in algebra 2 and beyond, she got much better at this. As far as the time it's taking, I think that each student is different. My dd worked quickly, but that's just her. It sounds like your son is doing very well! He'll probably gain speed as he becomes more familiar with the whole format. I think splitting it into two work times during the day is a great idea. Math is so important both for it's own sake and for its application in the sciences, so I think the extra time is time well spent.' We haven't used any of the videos, but if he likes them, then that might be a great way to go. It may help him to move more quickly through the learning part of the lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Serenade your son reminds me a lot of my daughter. We had those battles over writing everything down and careless errors too. A lot of that is the transition from working in a book and also just due to their age. It sounds like you're doing a good job of balancing between training and letting some of it go. When I would have her give me her answers as I checked in the solutions manual, and she needed to make a correction, that's when I would point out that if she had written every step down, then she would only need to look over her work instead of doing the problem from scratch. As the complexity of the problems increased in algebra 2 and beyond, she got much better at this. As far as the time it's taking, I think that each student is different. My dd worked quickly, but that's just her. It sounds like your son is doing very well! He'll probably gain speed as he becomes more familiar with the whole format. I think splitting it into two work times during the day is a great idea. Math is so important both for it's own sake and for its application in the sciences, so I think the extra time is time well spent.' We haven't used any of the videos, but if he likes them, then that might be a great way to go. It may help him to move more quickly through the learning part of the lesson. Thanks so much for sharing. It really helps me to feel more comfortable. I do think my son is making good progress, and I hate to take a step back just because he doesn't like to do it. He is very much a creature of habit, and I think if I can ever get this math routine to become a habit, it will go more smoothly from then on out. I think right now he's still just kind of annoyed that he doesn't have a workbook anymore. LOL, I think it's time he gets over that, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 I'm glad to hear the positive comments about Saxon. Our curriculum changes to Saxon or MCP in 5th grade and we are doing Saxon next year for the first time and I'm nervous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smandysen Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 We are also Saxon fans. Something I learned back in my high school math class was to fold my paper in half vertically so I ended up with two columns. We worked our problems from top to bottom on the left side of the fold and then continued on to the right side of the fold. It kept the work neat and orderly and we didn't use "too much" paper. My daughter would try to cram all her work on the front of a page and it was a mess and hard to follow. She was concerned with using too much paper...not sure where the idea came from as we always encouraged her to use as much as she needed. Anyway, once we started using this method, her careless mistakes lessened and she worked her way through the problems. She completed Algebra 1/2 first semester and it took her about 1.5 - 3 hours to do the work, depending on the assignment. This semester we have moved on to Algebra 1 and supplement with Life of Fred. I have gone through every Saxon math assignment and reduced the number of problems that she does by 5-8 each day. She then does a set of problems in LOF daily. She completes BOTH math curriculum in 90 minutes now. I realize that Saxon works best by doing every problem. I specifically chose different problems each day so within the week she will be doing a complete review of previously covered math skills. LOF presents things completely different from Saxon, and she seems to be doing really well by doing both methods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 I'm glad to hear the positive comments about Saxon. Our curriculum changes to Saxon or MCP in 5th grade and we are doing Saxon next year for the first time and I'm nervous. Don't be too nervous, the program is fairly easy to follow. The one suggestion I would make is to do the Saxon placement test at the end of this year before getting your curriculum. We switched from Horizons to Saxon at 4th grade math so I thought dd would use 54 but she actually tested into 65 and it worked perfectly for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 We are also Saxon fans. Something I learned back in my high school math class was to fold my paper in half vertically so I ended up with two columns. We worked our problems from top to bottom on the left side of the fold and then continued on to the right side of the fold. It kept the work neat and orderly and we didn't use "too much" paper. What a great idea! I may try this with my son. He's been doing his work in a notebook, but maybe it's time to switch to looseleaf paper. My daughter would try to cram all her work on the front of a page and it was a mess and hard to follow. She was concerned with using too much paper...not sure where the idea came from as we always encouraged her to use as much as she needed. Same here. My son is always concerned about using too much paper. I've told him to use as much as he needs, that I buy his notebooks for 17 cents when they are on sale! Still he persists with this thought of using too much paper. It's strange. Glad to hear he's not the only one. Anyway, once we started using this method, her careless mistakes lessened and she worked her way through the problems. She completed Algebra 1/2 first semester and it took her about 1.5 - 3 hours to do the work, depending on the assignment. Did she do all of Algebra 1/2 in one semester?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Don't be too nervous, the program is fairly easy to follow. The one suggestion I would make is to do the Saxon placement test at the end of this year before getting your curriculum. We switched from Horizons to Saxon at 4th grade math so I thought dd would use 54 but she actually tested into 65 and it worked perfectly for her. I had her do the test last year and she got most of the 5/4 questions right. What I'm concerned about is that she is already math phobic. I am thinking that starting out with a new program and a new way of doing things will be phobia inducing already - the thought of starting her at a higher book would only add to her panic. If it's too easy, we can exchange to the next higher level by week 5 for no charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smandysen Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 DD did complete Algebra 1/2 in one semester. We breezed through the first 30ish lessons. I had her do the tests only and when we ran into mistakes that she really didn't understand the reason she got the problems wrong...that is where we began. Then at the end, I had her skip several of the lessons because I knew she would get them in Algebra, which she will work on until she finishes this summer. Our goal was to "catch her up" to her peers in public school. When we started the beginning of this year, she was thinking about returning to public school. Happily - she has changed her mind and will remain HS through high school. Yay! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 DD did complete Algebra 1/2 in one semester. We breezed through the first 30ish lessons. I had her do the tests only and when we ran into mistakes that she really didn't understand the reason she got the problems wrong...that is where we began. Then at the end, I had her skip several of the lessons because I knew she would get them in Algebra, which she will work on until she finishes this summer. Our goal was to "catch her up" to her peers in public school. When we started the beginning of this year, she was thinking about returning to public school. Happily - she has changed her mind and will remain HS through high school. Yay! :) Ah, gotcha. Thanks for replying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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