Saxon Math - a question for those familiar with Alg 1 and 2

[Sharon in SC]

We have some catching up to do. Ideally, we finish 100% of curriculae. Our accountability cover requires 70%. Does Saxon Alg 2 spiral enough to review enough of Alg 1 that dd would still be well equipped if we just finish 70% of Alg 1 and move on to Alg 2?

[Moni]

*

Edited January 15, 2009 by Moni
(apparently inaccurate) :-)

[Sharon in SC]

No. But you can jump ship after Lesson 110 pretty safely, if I recall correctly. Definitely can omit the last five lessons.

 

Saxon Algebra-2, unlike the early books, does not have the first 30 lessons doing only a lot of review.

:)

 

Thank you for taking the time to post. While waiting for someone to respond, I took time to compare the lesson topics in the last 30% of Alg 1 to the content of Alg 2. I found that Lessons 100, 110, and 120 were not mentioned anywhere in Alg 2 so we'll definitely do those. Everything else is in the second book. I figure we'll be mindful of that as we move from Alg 1 to Alg 2 after 70% of Alg 1. If need be, should dd encounter trouble absorbing the material in the Alg 2 book, we'll first study it in the Alg 1 book.

 

again, thanks for your time!

[Carol in Cal.]

...if that level of Saxon is anything like the earlier levels, they add a lot of new material at the end of each book, and then do a lot of reviewing the next year. Given the way the material is taught, I would rather finish the first book and then skip lessons in the second book (maybe have your DD read them and then take the tests, until she starts running into unfamiliar material).

 

Of course, I have not gotten to Algebra yet, so it might be different at that level.

[Home'scool]

We jumped from Alg. 1 to Alg 2 when my daughter was around lesson 90. My thought was if we hit something in Alg. 2 that we had never seen before, or struggled with, we could go back and find it in Alg 1 and review.

 

She is on lesson #40 in Alg. 2 and has had no problem. Her average is a 97. We have not had to go back to Alg. 1.

 

I have basically done this will all the levels of Saxon and so far it has been fine. My daughter is does pretty well with math in general, though, so maybe that has helped the process

[Sharon in SC]

My thought was if we hit something in Alg. 2 that we had never seen before' date=' or struggled with, we could go back and find it in Alg 1 and review.

 

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This is my thought as well. Thanks for the testimonial!

[Sharon in SC]

...if that level of Saxon is anything like the earlier levels, they add a lot of new material at the end of each book, and then do a lot of reviewing the next year. Given the way the material is taught, I would rather finish the first book and then skip lessons in the second book (maybe have your DD read them and then take the tests, until she starts running into unfamiliar material).

 

Of course, I have not gotten to Algebra yet, so it might be different at that level.

 

ABeka works like this in the early grade levels, also. However, for upper level Saxon, it's my understanding that the bulk of Geometry is spread between the Alg 2 and the Adv Math books. It is for this reason that I prefer to do all of the Alg 2 book and skip that latter part of Alg 1. Except for this, you have a very good point. :-) Thanks for posting.

[Joan in GE]

if I had followed some of these skipping and testing ideas. As it was, we went through all the Saxons up to Alg 2. After lesson 31 he said that he wasn't learning anything new. Then I compared it to Foerster Alg 2 Trig and saw a world of difference in what was covered (though I have to say that there were some lessons in Saxon Alg 2 that I didn't see in F A2) but since the balance weighed in the other direction we switched.

 

I must add though that in reading through all the posts about Dolciani I wish I would have used those books. Foerster requires more real life thinking than Saxon and my impression is that Dolciani gets them understanding math even better instead of just giving formulas...

 

Best,

Joan