bethben Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I am looking for a program to help teach my ds Saxon Advanced Mathematics. I can teach him the material, but he really likes to be independent and it's good to have an additional view. This will be his second round with this program since he is on the younger side for this and I want it really solid. Which is better? Art Reed or the Saxon Teacher? Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 We are in A 2 and not yet in AM. I have both. We use the teacher ones a lot more because it's so step by step. We do like the Art Reed ones, but we don't use them much and he doesn't give solutions except for a few of the sample problems. If we get hung up it's usually with a solution rather than the concept as presented in the text. I really like having the teacher ones instead of the solutions manual. My son is on the younger side too (13). Don't know how helpful that is. If I were to choose one, I would go with the teacher. If you can afford both, it's worthwhile I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Well, I have the Art Reed set, so I hope they are good :) My son will be doing Advanced Math in 9th grade, most likely--I've taught PreCal and Cal before in public school, but I'm REALLY hoping he can be independent-so I may end up buying the Saxon set too at some point. b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 You may also want to consider the Virtual Homeschool Group's free online at your own pace course, which could even be done in conjunction with the above. They also offer open office hours if a student needs more support. The Advanced Mathematics course is being built (so partially available now), and should be complete for next school year. http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/course/category.php?id=98 Note that they are upgrading the website this summer as well http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 My problem isn't so much on me not being able to figure out the lessons, it's time. So, ds will tell me he needs me to teach him his math lesson. So, due to time constraints in my life, the first time I look at the lesson is the time I am to teach it. It will take me 5-10 minutes to figure out what they're asking him to do and to figure out how to teach that best. Then I teach him the lesson. Then what usually happens is another kid needs me or is interrupting. By this time, my 14 year old "sweety" is annoyed that I can't just get to it right away and gets frustrated. Then, we proceed with a flustered me and an annoyed teenager. Not the best combo. The other situation is that he likes to do some stuff after dinner. After dinner, I.am.done. I have no brain cells or motivation to do anything educational, much less try to figure out advanced math. So, it would be nice to take me out of the teaching job all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 My problem isn't so much on me not being able to figure out the lessons, it's time. So, ds will tell me he needs me to teach him his math lesson. So, due to time constraints in my life, the first time I look at the lesson is the time I am to teach it. It will take me 5-10 minutes to figure out what they're asking him to do and to figure out how to teach that best. Then I teach him the lesson. Then what usually happens is another kid needs me or is interrupting. By this time, my 14 year old "sweety" is annoyed that I can't just get to it right away and gets frustrated. Then, we proceed with a flustered me and an annoyed teenager. Not the best combo. The other situation is that he likes to do some stuff after dinner. After dinner, I.am.done. I have no brain cells or motivation to do anything educational, much less try to figure out advanced math. So, it would be nice to take me out of the teaching job all together. So you probably want the Art Reed DVDs. Sometimes it takes me awhile to understand a solution so the step by step solutions is more helpful to me. FWIW, he's pleasant to listen to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 We LOVE art reed. We are starting advanced math in July, but have used him for 1/2-2. I love that he's concise, a tiny bit funny (not in a distracting way), and doesn't use the book examples. With the examples, if we get stuck we can use the book ones since they have solutions and he didn't use those. I love that. ETA - concise in algebra 2 meant a 15 minute video was "long". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Well, I have the Art Reed set, so I hope they are good :) My son will be doing Advanced Math in 9th grade, most likely--I've taught PreCal and Cal before in public school, but I'm REALLY hoping he can be independent-so I may end up buying the Saxon set too at some point. b I'm a huge fan of the solutions manual for when I get stuck and we need to dissect a problem. The"homeschool packet" is not helpful IMHO. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I'm a huge fan of the solutions manual for when I get stuck and we need to dissect a problem. The"homeschool packet" is not helpful IMHO. yeah--what is the POINT of the "homeschool packet"???? The solutions manual is all we ever used, and the test solution key. b 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Ditto on the solutions manual. And the bonus part of that one for Advanced Mathematics is that the problems have which lesson they came from which was not included in the textbook (for some random reason- why?!?!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aretemama Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 My kids enjoy the Art Reed videos, but are quite annoyed by the Saxon Teacher videos. I've found that Saxon Teacher is just to help them work through specific questions if they're stuck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Yeah the teacher ones are dry as a bone. I do like the step by step solutions talked out though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexShands Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 We like Art Reed. While not overly entertaining, he is brief & to the point. My kids like being able to see the person who is teaching them. I've thought about switching to Teaching Textbooks just because they can view all the answers...as DD moves to Advanced Math this year, thought it might be helpful (since I'm concerned this may be a little harder for me). However, I like that Reed uses his own sample problems, & he makes the work send easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 My son prefers Art Reed over the Saxon Teacher. There are demos on youtube to look at to help in your decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I will add that Saxon teacher has video solutions for every problem in the book but often my kid did not find them helpful in their explanations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonibee Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I purchased the Art Reed DVDs for several Saxon levels because my kids grew "tired" of the DIVE DVD year after year. But Art Reed makes a lot of mistakes! And he does not notice his mistakes as he is working out a problem or even afterward. I have noticed this at all levels in many, many of the lessons. It is very frustrating and in the eyes of my kids, makes the teacher (or the math) look stupid. It is really hard to respect the DVD learning aspect when the instructor makes a mistake and then just smiles at the camera and says that's all for today. I do not understand why he would not review his own recordings and re-record if he slips up and writes things wrong. He writes something wrong and has to erase it on nearly every other lesson it seems like. His confidence while making mistakes..... well, it drives my kids nuts. Sometimes he notices the mistake a whole 2 minutes later, when he is working out a 2nd example the same way..... then he sees, whoops, he should have done this. He is probably a great teacher in person! (I personally liked him and could tolerate all this messing around with the problems, but my 3 kids could not!) We found the Art Reed DVDs very disappointing, indeed, at the 7/6, algebra 1 and advanced math levels. I would suspect the other levels are similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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