Saxon Algebra, Geometry, and Adv. Math

[Country Girl]

I know this has been talked about before on the boards, but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for when I did a search. My ds did Saxon Alg. I last year as a 6th grader and will be finishing the Alg II book this year as a 7th grader. Originally, we had planned for him to use the Saxon Geometry book in 8th grade, leaving our options open for him to either use the Adv. Math book at home in 9th grade or to more easily transition into a private school (by being able to show that he had clearly completed a full year of Alg I, Alg II, and Geometry) and take pre-calc as a freshman at the private school. As often happens with plans, our situation may be changing and our math plans with it. In a nutshell, we are looking at either sending him to private school this upcoming year as an 8th grader, or keeping him home entirely and no private school. So the need to set him up to potentially enter a traditional school situation as a freshman is no longer there. But I am now trying to figure out what the best math path would be if he stays at home all through high school, or what courses we need to advocate for him to take in the private school if he enters as an 8th grader. One thing ds is determined he wants to do is take Calculus as a 10th grader. In order to do so, I need some help assessing how Saxon compares to other curricula and how best to use Saxon if we remain on the homeschooling path. Any advice is appreciated, but below are a few questions that have really stood out to me.

 

1. Does Saxon Alg I and II cover all of the necessary material covered by other, more traditional publishers in their Alg I and II programs? And by extension, does this mean ds could easily enter into the Geometry and then pre-calc sequence taught at a traditional school? Or are there essential topics covered in Adv. Math that he needs before a traditional pre-calc course?

 

2. How long does it take to complete Saxon Adv. Math? I've seen some people mention spreading it out over 3-4 semesters. Is this typical? If so, we either have to skip the Saxon Geoemtry book (if he stays at home) and start the Adv. Math book this upcoming year, or try to cram the entire Adv. Math book into 1 year in order for ds to be ready for Calculus in 10th. Would a better option be to take Geometry in 8th (either Saxon or something else) and then pre-calc by a more traditional publisher?

 

As I mentioned, any thoughts on my specific questions or any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Hunter]

I've only used the old 1st and 2nd edition texts. I didn't need a separate geometry book before starting advanced math. and yes, advanced math takes most students more than 2 semesters.

The thing that slowed us down was that we didn't have our basic facts down. I'm starting algebra 1 over for my own self education. I've forgotten a lot and also I suffered some brain damage and I really have to start over with A1. I printed out some basic math facts chart and am setting myself up a memory schedule, but am using the charts in the meantime.

We didn't use charts, and had to do out the math for 3pie, and 15X13. Not only did that take time, but was more likely to result in a mistake that makes the LONG problems incorrect. I was influenced by "The Core" to include more memory work for math, this time around.

[1Togo]

I think Saxon's Algebra I and II, the old versions, are enough to prepare for a standard pre-calc course since Saxon Advanced Math, the next text in the sequence, is a rigorous course, and it is a pre-calc course.  Our children worked one lesson per day for all the books, so they finished in one year.  For the Advanced Math and Calculus lessons, the lessons sometimes took 1.5 hours to complete.

[MarkT]

. One thing ds is determined he wants to do is take Calculus as a 10th grader. In order to do so, I need some help assessing how Saxon compares to other curricula and how best to use Saxon if we remain on the homeschooling path. Any advice is appreciated, but below are a few questions that have really stood out to me.

 

1. Does Saxon Alg I and II cover all of the necessary material covered by other, more traditional publishers in their Alg I and II programs? And by extension, does this mean ds could easily enter into the Geometry and then pre-calc sequence taught at a traditional school? Or are there essential topics covered in Adv. Math that he needs before a traditional pre-calc course?

 

 

What is his goal for taking Calculus in 10th grade?

see

https://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/articles.php?page=calculustrap

 

checklist of HS math topics by JHU CTY (gifted/honors program)

http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/enrolled/mathsequence.html

 

Do the 3rd Edition Algebra I and II cover enough on proofs?

I am familiar with newer editions (separate Geometry text).

 

[wapiti]

Like Mark, I too would wonder what could possibly be a good reason to need calc in 10th, though it sounds like he might get there anyway if you have an option to follow the traditional sequence.  (As an aside, along the lines of the Rusczyk link, I'd probably be looking for ways to squeeze in some form of problem solving for such a talented student, whether as summer fun with aops vol 1 and 2, or math club at the school, etc.) 

 

I'd think that a full year of geometry should be the plan for 8th.  Not all middle schools offer geometry, though often private schools have the flexibility to make special arrangements (e.g. my dd's private school does not have a geometry class, but she will be taking geometry next year in 8th as "independent study" with a high school teacher).

 

I'm not familiar with the Saxon sequence, but I'd want to know whether the Saxon alg 2 included trig and how that lines up with the particular school's precalc (find out what text they use and check out the course description - that's probably available on-line in their course catalog).  E.g., at my dd's likely high school, the honors alg 2 includes trig (Brown Dolciani, Structure and Method Book 2) rather than with precalc (the honors precalc is precalc plus some sort of intro to calc; text by Demana).  On the other hand, the non-honors sequence has alg 2 by itself without trig, and then "trig/math analysis" for precalc.

 

Eta, if the potential high school is not connected to the middle school, I'd expect that he'd need to pass placement tests for alg 1, geometry and alg 2 in order to get into precalc.  Just something to be aware of as far as review and such.

[Teachin'Mine]

Saxon is rigorous and thorough, with the exception of geometry proofs.  You won't need the formal proofs for standardized tests, but it's great to learn in preparation for all the proofs that come with higher math.  It's more about logic and IMO it's good to train the mind to think in the way that challenging proofs require.  We used the Saxon sequence, but we used the infamous Brown/Jurgensen/Brown (sp?) geometry text for a year.  It provides a lot of challenging proofs but requires more from the person grading as the solutions manual is more like an answer key and proofs are only shown with one possible way.  I also don't see the need to rush, but I do understand that it's sometimes more of keeping up with them as they need the challenge.