Cornerstone Classical Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 First of all, I want to say that I absolutely love Saxon Math, due to the ease of everything being right at my finger tips, and more importantly, the scripted lessons, because it gives me the ability to really teach the concepts. I'm the WORST verbal communicator, so anything that helps me communicate is GOOD. With that being said, my ds is working a year ahead in Math, it concerns me that after he finishes Saxon 3, he might not be ready for Saxon 5/4 at age eight. I've looked at it, and while I have no doubt that he could understand the concepts, I just don't know if he is ready for the different layout of 5/4. He LOVES the colorfulness of BJU curriculum, and I can get most of the components for atleast 1/2 price at a local used homeschool supply store. I think BJU Math 4 could be a good fit for him, because of the workbook approach, instead of writing out the problems, and the number of problems. But the thing that is making me nervous is the TM. Will it give me the "right" words to say to be able to teach him well? I noticed that there are manipulatives for some grades, do grades 4 and up have manipulatives that go along with the program? What is the prep time like? I'm really nervous about even considering anything other than Saxon. Can I say that again? I'm really nervous about considering anything other than Saxon. Any advice for a scripted loving Mom, but who wants the best for her academically advanced son, who might not be ready emotionally/physically for Saxon 5/4, who is drooling over the "look" of BJU?:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbinTN Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 My bf did this with her son and they stuck with BJU. He had did Abeka in 1st, Saxon in 2nd and 3rd. She switched for the same reason you stated and they never looked back! hth, Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Any advice for a scripted loving Mom, but who wants the best for her academically advanced son, who might not be ready emotionally/physically for Saxon 5/4, who is drooling over the "look" of BJU?:D I was concerned about my boys making the transition to 5/4 as well. They both made the transition just fine (I really underestimated them). My oldest had just turned 8 when he started, and my 2nd turned 8 about 6 weeks after we started. With my oldest, I photocoped the pages and had him work directly on the photocopies for awhile, because it would take him too long to copy the problems, but I didn't do that for my 2nd son (who does fine copying the problems, even though the physical act of writing is difficult for him). Just wanted to share my experience as a Mom who was concerned about the transition as well :001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 BJU is very scripted. It tells you exactly what to say, what manipulatives to use, what to DO with those manipulatives, etc. My only concern would be that BJU uses a traditional textbook approach rather than an incremental spiral one like Saxon. So if he learns well with that, BJU may not work well for him. It teaches on one topic for a while, and the problems for each lesson are practice problems for that particular lesson. There are some review problems now and then, and there is review built into the beginning of each "class time" in the lesson, but the problems for the day go along with that day's lesson, not past lessons. We liked BJU a lot, but I wanted to throw out that caution, just in case! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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