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Jacob's or saxon alg 1 ?????


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This is my eldest child, and we are entering new territory here. My dd is very young she is only 10 right now and will not be 11 until the end of May.

 

 

DD has done horizons math through 6 grade. This year we went with Saxon 87 w/ pre-algebra third edition. She is doing well with the Saxon. There are things that I dislike about the program but nothing that I have not been able to handle. DD is on lesson 88 out of 120, so we have about another month or so left in the book. She has a 98-99 average in the course, she does every problem, no skipping.

 

I am trying to decide if I should let her continue on into algebra 1 or take her through Saxons alg 1/2 book? If we did go into Algebra, we are debating between Jacob's and Saxon? What is the primary differences between the two courses etc.

 

I just worry about her age and being so young. She is a good student, and excellent at Math and Science. I do want to keep her challenged. Would love any outside opinions, even if they are negative. I just keep going back and forth.

 

thanks

lynda

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I can't compare it to Saxon for you because we never used Saxon, but I can tell you why we went with Jacobs and why I love it. We went with Jacobs for several reasons. First it had great reviews from many of my favorite sources, like Cathy Duffy, Veritas Press, Debra Bell. Second, I knew that the "whys" of math were very important to my ds and Jacobs had a great reputation of explaining that as well. Third, he has a lovely sense of humor and used great cartoons to start each chapter...that engaged my ds. Fourth, I knew that Paul Foerster was highly recommended for Al II, Trig, Pre-calc and Calculus and that Foerster dove-tailed very well with Jacobs.

 

As far as how it went....I can tell you that I wouldn't change a thing. Ds is now a junior and about to start calculus. He score a 630 on the math part of the psat, which is not stellar but really good IMO. Jacobs thoroughly prepared him for the more advanced math and he still has a straight A average. Math and Science are his favorites and he is good at them.

 

I hope this will help. There are lots of good programs out there, you just need to find the best fit.

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my son began it when he was 12 (at the end of 7th grade). When we started, I pre-read every chapter, highlighting the things I wanted him to copy in his reference notebook, and making sure I could explain things to him. He didn't really need me to do that, though, and now he reads each lesson and does the work on his own, only asking for help every now and then. He does well on his tests -- B's and A's.

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Jacobs was a hit in this house after coming off of Saxon! My ds started it at 10 and it was smooth sailing - the humor Sharon mentions made a big difference plus Jacobs does a wonderful job of stepping the problem sets and reinforcing the lesson, I think.

 

A word of caution that some of the more experienced teachers here can elaborate on maybe, but some kids do have a bit of trouble sometimes making the conceptual leap to Saxon. It's more of a developmental issue rather than math ability issue. If you ever did find that happening, just back up, take things slowly and even review if need be. I remember a couple of weeks like this before we started Jacobs. Or you might find an adjustment to a different author's "style" too. That's a good thing, imho.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to say try it! IF it doesn't work, you have plenty of time.

 

Mary

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This is a nice debate, between Jacobs and Saxon! I'll weigh in for Saxon Algebra I and II, since that's what we use. I like Saxon's incremental approach because the lessons are short and the problem sets are challenging, and my kids never have to worry about "forgetting" how to do something, since the topics are repeated in the problem sets.

 

For what it's worth, we started Algebra I in seventh grade, Algebra II in eighth grade, without a problem. We typically divide the lesson into several days (depending on what other math activities are going on), and progress slowly but steadily throughout the book. It was not too much for a 12 year old, in our house at least.

 

Saxon has very, very few mistakes or typos, which I appreciate, and is written for the student to understand, so that relieves some pressure on me. We sit down together to read the lesson, but the student does all the problem sets independently.

 

We like it quite a bit, and it led to strong scores on the SAT (taken early). Highly recommended!

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