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Saxon or teaching textbooks
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We start the children in Saxon 1 in k-5 and use it up until Saxon 3. At which point we go to TTB 4. We are getting around books for next year and it is our first year of homeschooling a high schooler. My son wants to be an architectural engineer and I heard that TTB s are a weak math program. I really want him to excell and want to know if I should switch back to Saxon or will he be prepared for college using the TTB
We are using TT books as well and are only in the TT 6 thus far. We are happy with it but I do find myself having to supplment some areas that give my son issues. I would be interested to find out about the higher math levels as well as my son wants to be a Lego engineer
We tried Saxon 3 years ago when we first started homeschooling and he did not like it at all. It was too visually busy for him. He has ADHD so TT was perfect for him.
I wonder if you could use TT with another program. It may be double work though….just a passing thought.
We are doing Saxon 87 now and are desperately needing to change….I was looking at TT but am hesitant because I have heard it is weak in some areas….
We started the year with Saxon, and my 10YO, who is very good in math, really didn’t like Saxon. There were tears every day.
We switched to TT in October and I am VERY happy with it. I do think it is generally a grade behind (so TT5 would really be 4th grade, etc.) My 4th grader, who excels at math, is doing TT7 (which I would consider a 6th grade program).
One complaint I have heard about TT is that it does not have as many review problems as some of the other traditional math texts, especially Saxon. For us, though, the sheer number of review problems in Saxon is one thing that frustrated my DS.
Don’t forget that the TT website has sample lessons for each grade level that you can do right from their web site. That might help you with your decision.
We use both at our house.
My boys are both going into science and engineering fields.
They use Saxon. Have any Engineer look and compare the texts– they will tell you– go with Saxon.
If they have problems– get the the DVDs that teach Saxon.
We have the ones by Art Reed– they are really helpful.
My daughter is very weak in math- but only in 4th grade– she loves teaching Textbooks.
Just remember– they are a whole year behind— that’s why most kids love them.
So for 4th graders– use TT 5th grade. Then they won’t get behind.
If you have a child who hates Math– TT will help.
HTH
Oh dear now I am totally concussed.
Place like sonlight who are top notch in everything say TTB over Saxon. Sigh
I haven’t used Saxon, but I don’t think TT is weak. From what I’ve read is that Saxon just has a gazillion practice problems to do. Is that why everyone says it’s “stronger”. My daughter is using Algebra I this year (8th grade) and I don’t think it’s weak whatsoever. She gets lots of practice and she has review problems from prior lessons every day in her new lesson. We really like TT is our house and I don’t plan on switching at this point.
I’ve heard that TT isn’t necesarily weak, but it isn’t SUPER strong like you might want if you have a child interested in math (like it sounds you might). Anyway, I read on another post here that VideoText is a step up from TT and is more intensive if you have a dc that needs it. Here’s the link: http://www.videotext.com/homeschool.htm
I’m going to be going with TT for my 9 yo and MEP for my 5 yo. I’ve done LOTS of looking, and that seems to be a good fit for us.
If I did go with Saxon (hubby wants me to just 1 curricullum and Mary is easier to ease up on) what DVD should I get. They offer Dive and something else?
My kids are currently using Saxon 7/6 (7th grader) and 8/7 (8th grader). I pulled them out of our public middle school because I wasn’t satisfied. My city is definately a year behind our suburban neighbors. Saxon does have alot of review problems, but my biggest issue with Saxon is that there are not enough practice lessons for the lesson you are learning. My kids were gettting frustrated because they never really felt that they were mastering a new skill before having to practice problems from previous lessons. Also, there is no organization in Saxon. There are no chapters. It skips around quite a bit. My kids were expected to use knowledge of something on a lesson and became frustrated because they didn’t know how and then it ended up being taught 5 lessons later. I’m so fed up with Saxon. Maybe it would be fine if we had been using it all along but there were too many gaps for us. We are in the process of switching to TT, which I’ve heard is a little behind, but that is probably what my kids need. I will have to play “catch up” and try to teach 2 years worth of math in less than a year so that my kids won’t be behind when they go to charter school for high school.
Still loving TT here! We do supplement with lessons from Khan Academy from time to time, if something isn’t quite clicking with my DS. He’ll be moving on to TT Pre-Algebra in a month or two.
The incremental teaching of Saxon for some can be a huge negative. The formulamatic teaching of it also makes it so some don’t like it.
Other high school math options are VideoText Algebra and Geometry (Alg 1 – Trig/Pre-Calc) and Jacob Algebra and Geometry. Dr Callahan DVDs can be used with Jacobs. Nothing lite about either of those programs. Dr Callahan also does other math courses. Chalkdust Math is another option.
I know it has been said, but we love TT – as long as you keep moving them forward at their skill level and ignore the grade level.
My sixth grader finished TT6 during her 5th grade year…and just to be sure she was ‘on track’, I made her work through the ‘old school’ Rod and Staff 5th grade textbook reviews. We stopped and worked on any problem areas, then moved on. She worked on this for about a month, then we moved on to TT7. She is so grateful to be back to doing math she can actually enjoy. And I feel that she is doing well in math, especially for a ‘non-math’ person.
We do not allow a grade lower than an A on any assignment with TT, by the way. If they score a ‘B’ we do it over again until the grade improves. This has only happened three or four times in our 3 years of TT, so I feel they are understanding the material well.
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