What Math after Saxon Alg 2

[abunchofus]

for a college bound student - interested in a job with NASA possibly - what math program/course after Saxon Alg 2

[kiana]

If algebra 2 was successful, I would go ahead with Saxon -- the scope and sequence is a little different because of the geometry integration, so you need to complete advanced math to get the full geometry credit. Once you've finished advanced math, you've finished precalc.

[cbollin]

I've had 2 friends tell me that they did Saxon Advanced, and then did college trig in order for their student to succeed in Calc 2 as a freshman. One of those friends was himself a math major and career math teacher (and homeschool dad). His opinion was Saxon Advanced didn't have as much Trig as needed.

So. my oldest has done Saxon Alg I, Saxon Alg II, finishing Saxon Advanced now. we plan to take the advice of our friends to do a college trig text, like Sullivan. The other friend has son who is senior in college... engineering degree. That son, after finishing Saxon Advanced, placed into his college's Trig class as needing it for skills. Took Calc 1 and Trig same semester. No problem with Calc 1... but he says he would have died in Calc 2 had he not done more Trig.

 

surprised me and changed our plans at last moment here....

[mathwonk]

I cannot give detailed advice since I cannot get a look at the saxon alg 2 book online. I just have a remark about your initial question. as a college math professor myself i tend to be very critical of saxon books in general. my son used one in high school years ago in algebra when forced to by his school over my objections. it actually helped him remember the processes because he was a kid who had a leaky memory and benefited from the repetition.

 

however he was also quite creative and was extremely bored by the lack of interesting material in saxon and thought math was a dull subject afterwards. Ultimately after too many years for us to benefit, his school dropped saxon altogether because "we found the kids were not understanding anything from them." I considered it a tragedy that school forced my son to study geometry from saxon rather than harold jacobs, e.g.

 

this choice is not easy for a parent. if the books are "working" it is hard to do otherwise. but if the goal is to do well in a good college course, the outcome may surprise you. be aware that there are many different levels of college classes. many of them especially today with lowered standards, are exactly at the "rote learning and drill" saxon level, but some are far above that.

 

I suspect e.g., one would not prepare to major successfully in math at an ivy league school from saxon. even at my old school, university of georgia, one would not be prepared for the more challenging honors math courses which use the spivak or courant calculus books. engineering courses, especially if the approach to math is plug and chug, may be different. (does the child want to be a mathematician at nasa, or an engineer? today engineers too may be very sophisticated mathematically.)

 

I am just saying, stick with saxon if it seems most suitable now, but be aware of what else is out there, and if a higher level of achievement is desired eventually, try to transition to those other materials. One suggestion would be to get ahold of the calculus book that your child is preparing for, and just see how accessible it is after saxon. Calculus books range from ludicrously simple mined (Calculus made easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson), to extremely hard (Tom Apostol, Joseph Kitchen, Michael Spivak)

 

This is merely intended as a supplement to the specific advice offered above by those with more experience with saxon. the message is similar to the previous one, to increase options - supplement saxon.

[cbollin]

I realized in my previous post I forgot to mention we did Jacob's Geometry between the algebra I and II books..

[Jann in TX]

I'd go with a standard Pre-Calc text. There are several online schools that offer the course if you do not have a CC available. There are also several video courses that are strong.

 

Saxon's Advanced math is my least favorite of the Saxon high school texts. It is a dry and boring text. At this point your son should be well grounded in his Algebra and ready to try problems from a different direction.

 

A more standard or 'traditional' text will have chapters/units unlike Saxon. This will help your son see the BIG picture-- and how problems are related.

[Nscribe]

Feelings about Saxon run strong both ways. Any program should be challenged with other assessments/applications. If you find that your student is not thriving and struggles to apply math when working outside Saxon, then change may be needed. If your student is doing well, likes the program and is demonstrating proficiency otherwise, then continue with what is tried and true for them. We frequently visit topics in other texts, explore the application of concepts in other areas and consistently Dd demonstrates she understands the connections. Whichever program we used, I would want to confirm progress/proficiency.