Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: saxon, saxon/math u see

This topic has 22 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by memomo7.

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November 8, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Debbie
Participant
DS..8th grade was using Singapore til this year….. he did ok but wanted a change….he didn’t feel it gave him enough review. So…. we decided to go with Saxon….
well…. saxon combined with my ds who is a slow worker is becoming frustrating to say the least. DS says he’s learning a lot and honestly some lessons he does great on but the ones he doesn’t do so great on bog him down. I have him correct the ones he missed the next day (maybe we need to correct those the same day he does the lesson??) He does the lesson practice in the morning and does the mixed practice after lunch but some days he can spend 2 hours doing math….WAY too long.
Not sure what to do….. maybe Saxon isn’t for him afterall but I’m not sure what to do…. do we go with something else and if so, what?
Any suggestions, thoughts, advice would be appreciated…
Thanks
Debbie 🙂

November 8, 2011 at 3:59 pm
suzukimom
Participant
I don’t think Saxon math is a great idea. I had a look at one (a younger grade) and wow, the amount of work. One boy in our group violin class (in about grade 3) always has Saxon math to finish up during his siblings group class. (they also homeschool.)
I’d either go back to Singapore – or I have heard great things about VideoText. (I think that was the name.) For more review, I’d use KhanAcademy.org

November 8, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Debbie
Participant
well he pretty much finished Singapore… it only goes to book 6
November 8, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Tristan
Participant
Teaching Textbooks, Math U See, those are the two I would look at. We used Saxon for 3 years with my oldest and it wasn’t right for her. Absolutely killed her love of math. We’ve been using Math U See now for a few years and it’s better – she actually understands math.
Oh, and I’ve heard great things about the Life of Fred series too!
November 8, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Sara B.
Participant
I would never use Saxon, either, though they use it in all the Christian schools I’ve ever seen. Too much dry repetitiveness, IMO. I’m all for practice, but Saxon’s is ridiculous. For us, anyway. We are using RightStart right now, but my kids are only 3rd grade and under. When we get to the end of RightStart, I am thinking of going to Math-U-See, but not sure yet. I’ve got time. 🙂
November 8, 2011 at 4:19 pm
houseofchaos
Participant
Math U See has been great for all of our kids. We use Life of Fred as a fun supplement.
November 8, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Monica
Participant
We started the year with Saxon. I picked and chose problems for my DS (9YO) to do – definitely not all of them in the lesson. We pushed through for about the first month. There were tears every day. I eventually got rid of Saxon and he’s using Teaching Textbooks. He likes it a lot better. I’m planning to stick with Teaching Textbooks for him and to start it with my 6YO next year (he should be ready for 3rd grade TT by then).
I’ve never tried Math U See, so I can’t comment on that. On the Teaching Textbooks web site you can try a few lessons on each level, just to see if you like it and if it will work for your family. I love that it is independent learning, which gives the opportunity to spend individual time with a few of the other kids.
November 8, 2011 at 5:31 pm
my3boys
Participant
We have used Saxon for many years for two of my dc. My oldest still likes it (he’s 12) and really does not want to change; I’ve asked, offered, almost begged….mostly because it’s dry for ME. He still likes it and doesn’t have much issues with the concepts. If he does, I use Math Mammoth to focus on 1 concept. We have TT here at the house, too, but he just doesn’t want to change 🙁 Now, my middle boy was having some issues cementing math concepts, so after 3 years of Saxon we have changed to a low level Math U See. He seems to be progressing at a much better pace AND he seems to be retaining the concepts much better. Even with the Saxon he’d do great on the lesson/worksheets but could never “do math” outside of the lessons, don’t quite know why. And, he wanted to do the whole lesson!! That could take over an hour if you did the calendar, meeting strip, etc. I did start breaking the lessons up into two parts, but that was still too much.
My boys all have different strengths (which all of our kids do!) and I can already tell that my little guy (5) could use any math and probably “get it”. With that said, we’re using MUS for him (although I have RS, as well) since the teacher prep is zero 🙂 I have Saxon K, but haven’t cracked it open for my 5yo….just can’t go there with the “I say this, you say this” conversation. That may sound lazy, but I lose my kids if I have to look at the book to know what to say, lol.
HTH, probably more than you needed to know 🙂
November 8, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Debbie
Participant
my biggest thing is I don’t want him to get burned out on math and wind up hating it…. some days it takes him FOREVER to do his math….. 1 1/2 to 2 hours is way too long for an 8th grader… and afterwards he looks exhausted…. I just don’t know how to fix that.
overall he does great unless something stumps him….he has had a few so so test grades but he has also had some very good ones.
I have contemplated TT but I hear so many people say it’s not enough of a challenge….. going into high school next year…. we don’t need easy….
November 8, 2011 at 6:07 pm
hsmom22
Participant
We use it here and love it, but I will say I especially like Level 5/4 and beyond. I’m not as impressed with their K-3 line (different author), although Saxon’s new Intermediate 3 text looks promising.
So far, we’ve used 5/4 and currently 6/5. We especially like the thorough explanation of each new concept, the Problem Set (built-in review), and the small reference numbers that accompany each problem in the Problem Set, should you need to brush up on a previously-introduced concept. We’ve used ABeka, Singapore, and, now, Saxon, and for us, Saxon wins hands-down.
Michelle
November 9, 2011 at 1:22 am
kymom
Member
We used saxon and we hated it, we didnt care that much for math u see either.
I highly recommend math on the level! I love it but most importantly,
My kids love it and have learned more with this program than any other.
Its a bit costly but it covers k-algebra so you will use it forever LOVE it!!!
November 9, 2011 at 2:15 am
Debbie
Participant
looks like MOTL only goes through pre algebra which is pretty much where we are now….might be good for my youngers though

November 9, 2011 at 2:25 am
meagan
Participant
Based on our experiences, we loved Saxon from 5/4 (the year we started) up to 7/6. Once they hit Algebra 1/2 (IMHO) it was time to make a switch for us. I don’t know where your son is, and everybody is different, but our boys loved it until they hit the upper levels and it became too much and not enough explanation.
November 9, 2011 at 2:57 am
Debbie
Participant
we are in 8/7 now….. will probably finish out the book but I don’t see us continuing past this year with it.
November 11, 2011 at 3:19 am
smartypants
Participant
If you have a Half Price Books in your area, check out their math texts section. They usually have lots of community college Introductory Algebra texts. My son is using one by Margaret Lial. It is a great book with clear explanations and plenty of practice. It is organized by chapters with reviews and tests at the end of each chapter. You can usually get them for a few bucks. I got a solutions manual and lesson dvds for another $20 or so on Amazon. You can also find the texts used on Amazon for less than $10. I have the 8th edition. I have learned so much while teaching my son using this book…things I never got the first time through. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that these are used in community college classes. They are WAY better at teaching the concepts than any high school book I’ve seen. Introductory Algebra is the same as Algebra 1. Intermediate Algebra is Algebra 2.
hth,
Robin