Saxon Math Help

[lvmom]

We are currently using Saxon Math 3 for our 8 year old. The lessons, along with the meeting, flashcards, timed worksheets, and worksheet A/B can take 1-2 hours to complete...do you typically get through all of this in a single day or are you dividing this up to spend around an hour/day?  As written, I think this is too much time spent on math for a daily lesson. Any ideas out there on how you break it up or omit things?  Thank you!

[Chris in VA]

It's been a while, as you can see from my siggy, but I streamlined a bit.

Just a bit, though. The Meeting is important because it sets up all the rest of the skills--for example, skip counting is prep for multiplication, reading the thermometer helps with the coordinate plane, etc. I wanted the facts memorized, too, so we didn't skip that (and honestly, it's what, 3 mins? 5 mins? Very short).

 

I remember doing all the lesson, but the second part of the worksheet (the other side) I would sometimes just let dd do it later in the day, esp since I had her high school brother to help with his work--she could do it independently, and I'd have her check it the next morning quickly before I "graded" it. Giving it to her later in the day meant she could approach it with a fresh eye.

 

Saxon, IMO, works because it's thorough. I wouldn't skip much or you just won't get the most out of the program.

 

 

[tm919]

I didn't skip at all in Saxon 3 (I did skip/combine in K, but got less comfortable with skipping as the work got  more challenging for my daughter), but I did stop for a bit in every level 1-3 and make sure the math facts used were solid.... Otherwise things started to take an eternity. I afterschool so I have to break it up (1/2 a day) but a lesson typically took 45 minutes to an 1 hour altogether.

Edited January 5, 2016 by tm919

[Tenaj]

I do play with things a bit but not much.  In the meeting, I do not do everything, everyday, but I make sure over the course of the week we hit all the aspects and if my kids are having trouble with one concept then I make sure to hit it everyday.  I usually adjust the counting section but not until I'm pretty sure they are solid on the concept.  For instance, yesterday my son in Saxon Grade 2 was to count to 200 by 10's and back, to 100 by 5's and back, to 100 by 2's and back and to 99 by odd's and back.  That's a lot of counting for my guy, so we did the ten's, then we did the evens but up to 100 and back from 50.  Today we'll so the 5's and the odd's.  I also don't ask all the calendar and graph questions everyday.  We hit the high points and move on when the child knows the information.

 

Saxon math may take a lot more time than some other programs but I know the kids will be solid when they head into upper level maths.  I've jumped around over the years but have recently been reminded that my now eighth grader is having some issues that I think using Saxon from the beginning may have avoided based on my experience with my older kids.  

 

We also do half lessons often and I try to look over the lesson so that I can skip the "script" and just teach more naturally.  That tends to speed the teaching section of the lesson along a bit.