Can you compare CLE and Saxon 5th or 6th grade levels?

[MeaganS]

DD struggles with math and I am looking at what to do with her after she finishes Teaching Textbooks 6. She definitely doesn't have a good grasp on it, so there's more practice that needs to happen. She has also almost finished LOF Fractions. But honestly, I think doing another year or two at this level with another curriculum would help solidify some of her issues. 

She did CLE a few years ago and it worked well for her except that the daily lessons took her forever with her attention issues. But the spiral and incremental approach were great. I understand that Saxon is similar in that way? Which would you say have the shorter lessons? She has math facts practice elsewhere (Reflex Math), so I'm not really worried about all the pieces of the curriculum, mostly just the main text. 

[mjbucks1]

I have done Saxon with all of my kids.  I also homeschool my niece who had to be pulled out if school last year due to her cancer diagnosis.  She is technically in 6th grade, but we are finishing up CLE Math grade 5.  My niece is bright with no learning difficulties (although I do think the chemo has affected her memory/retention some).  CLE does not take near as long to complete as Saxon.  In fact many days we do two lessons, as we are trying to get caught up (although she has been in the hospital for a week now).

I think CLE is thorough, but I personally do not like it as well as Saxon.  I don't think it reviews quite as much, and I do not think it explains things as thoroughly.  For instance, when my niece learning how to divide fractions, CLE just showed using the reciprocal method without explaining the WHY behind the method.  I like that Saxon explains this (and of course I did explain it to my niece as well).  I also do not think she is as strong as solving word problems, but she has been in public school from 2nd grade until half-way through 5th, and even though she was in a gifted math program her difficulty with word problems could be a result of her previous education.  I will say that she has improved a great deal over the past 6-8 weeks. 

I am certainly not a math expert.  And I know that a lot of people loathe Saxon.  I have two children who have graduated and we used Saxon the whole way through (our ds went on to major in CS and do quite a bit of upper level math without difficulty).  I did have my dd do a second year of Algebra after Saxon Algebra because she was young and I thought she would be fine having additional practice.  We used Jacob's Algebra that year (mastery approach) and she hated it and was so happy to go back to Saxon.

Some might think a mastery approach might work better is you feel your dd is still uncomfortable with certain areas.  Or maybe use Math Mammoth to hone in on certain areas where she is not as confident?  One thing I feel pretty confident in saying is that Saxon does take longer to complete than CLE.  My niece completes CLE in about 45 minutes or less, and all of my kids usually take about 1 hour 15 min or so to complete a Saxon lesson (some times it is shorter, some times it is longer depending on the lesson).  But I do think Saxon goes into a bit more depth than CLE (at least at the 5th grade level).  

I am not sure if this was helpful or not.  I do have limited experience with CLE, but I thought I would reply since no one had responded yet 🙂

[MeaganS]

Thanks! That actually is pretty helpful. Dd definitely needs short lessons. With her attention issues they go about twice to three times as long as a neurotypical kid. And what you were saying about word problems is helpful. Dd struggles with even the simplist word problems, so more basic ones are actually a plus for her. Sounds like CLE might be the better choice. That and the fact that they are workbooks push me more that way. I was hoping maybe Saxon lessons were shorter. 

[Servant4Christ]

I agree about CLE not really giving enough practice or the why behind things. I haven't used Saxon because we switched to R&S which is mastery and works way better, IMO. There is a LOT more practice, plenty of review (in the TM) and you can pick and choose how many problems to have your child do in each section. DS10 could do CLE and pass all the tests but it took FOREVER and he lacked the confidence of knowing what he was doing. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Servant4Christ