Kjirstyn2023 Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 ...what do you tweak? Specifically, do you cut out anything, and what? My main wondering is about the very detailed lesson teaching. Is this necessary, or can you just go through the worksheet at their side and that's entirely sufficient? My kids aren't super into manipulatives and so I'm quite tempted to ignore the actual "teaching" of the lesson, but I'm wondering if that's a novice decision that is not the best thing to do long term, or perhaps that it works fine in the lower lessons but not so much as you progress through the book. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet2ndchance Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 I used Saxon 1 when my oldest was little because I felt like I needed the hand holding of a scripted program back then. That is one of Saxon elementary math's strongest selling points, it is completely scripted for the teacher or parent so that you don't have to create your own lessons. The worksheets often have a couple of problems to do with the day's lesson and then the rest of the problems are review from previous lessons. The lessons also include a script for the "Morning Meeting" were calendar math, counting money, telling time, patterns, and other skills are practiced extensively. At some point in Saxon 1 you also start daily math fact drills. Could you just do the worksheets and meeting book and not do the lessons? I suppose you could but then why pay so much for the Saxon elementary programs when something like Math Mammoth or other math worktexts would much better suit that teaching style at a much lower price? Math Mammoth has more problems per page than the Saxon workbooks but that is because most of the guided practice problems for Saxon are in the lessons. The problems in the workbook pages are meant to be completed at least semi-independently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 I'm not going to speak for Saxon. It is a very scripted program and it is designed that way. You may or may not need that level of handholding or repetition. However, on the subject of manipulatives....I have a kid who did not like manipulatives at all. Most early math is so basic that some kids can visualize it well. Okay. I kept putting them out on the table anyway. I kept showing how to use them, over and over and over. It wasn't until math got more interesting that he saw the need for physical representations and he was glad to have them. So, keep doing the manipulatives. Keep them available. As you get further in you can ask him to prove his answer with them and teach back to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 (edited) We started using the teacher book in the beginning of the year but have dropped it. I don't like the meeting book, instead we do calendar with a physical calendar and skip-counting . We also do geoboard work almost daily we also have a range of manipulative that we use every day, including knights and dragons, sea creatures, MUS blocks, abacus and counters. the one we use the most are the MUS blocks Edited November 2, 2019 by Melissa in Australia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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