Saxon 5/4 or Intermediate 4?

[Pintosrock]

Dd8 has gone through Saxon K-2 and will finish Saxon 3 by end of January (we do math year round). I've been debating between Saxon 5/4 and Intermediate 4. I've googled the differences... It looks like the workbook for Intermediate is just a copy of the text, not really extra room to solve the problems, correct? The Adaptations book seems crazy to me - $50 add on seems steep! I'm thinking that whichever I go with, I'll just get her a stack of graph paper and write out the problems, transitioning to DD writing them out. 

Thoughts in favor of one or the other? Dd8 will be on the younger side for grade 4 math, but so far hasn't had any math issues. She enjoys writing, but I still expect the change from worksheets to writing things out to be nontrivial.

[Slache]

I have only used 5/4, 6/5 and 7/6. These are my thoughts.

We don't test so there are only three lessons a week which has led to my children progressing too quickly. Doing 4 could negate that. We only do half a lesson a day unless it's particularly short or they want to.

4 could be good because of her age. I have never seen it.

My kids write directly into the very expensive book. It's worth it to me to preserve their hand strength for other pursuits, and to keep them from hating math.

If I were you I would do 5/4 at half a lesson a day and write directly in the book.