Saxon Math Review Information for Homeschool Parents
Thinking about using this program? Hopefully this Saxon Math review will help you make your decision.
This Math curriculum is based on incremental learning which means that new material is added each day with a few new problems included. The rest of the lesson has practice problems on the previous days lessons. Each lesson builds on the last.
There is also an emphasis on word problems which is good because most of life is made up of word problems. Students WILL encounter word problems, so they might as well get some instruction on how to deal with them.
Saxon Math review - disadvantages
While all this sounds great to the parent there are some disadvantages to this approach. Since the concepts and facts are learned a little over the whole year, this might cause the student to miss the whole picture of the math concepts. They might just memorize the rules for that day and not be able to understand the big picture.
Since most of the lesson is based on previous lessons, if your child "gets it" quickly, then the lessons might cause him to become bored or frustrated with the constant repetition of problems and concepts that he already understands.
I believe that Saxon Math was originally written for 5th grade and above, but that the schools wanted Mr. Saxon to write curriculum for the lower grades too. It seems to me, in this Saxon Math review, that it would be best suited for students in 4th grade and older.
If your child needs lots of practice in math, then this program might be just what you need. I have seen more children hate Math after using Saxon, than I have seen children like it though. That's just my observation.
It has been proven, though, when Saxon was used in public schools, that test scores went up in many areas. I'm not saying that your child will not like Saxon, I'm just warning you of some of the drawbacks so that you can go into this knowing exactly what to expect.
I have one child that has used Saxon Math with some success. The others preferred Math U See or simple workbooks like Spectrum Math.
As with any program, it's best to get all the facts and then mesh that with your teaching style and your child's learning style. When you take all these factors into account, you can make an wise choice about which books or curriculum you should use.
To see all the books available in the Saxon Math program, you can check here - Saxon Math
More Math Resources:
Some favorite homeschool Math curriculums that we use:
My son's favorite multiplication practice game - Timez Attack
Here are some more math reviews that I have done
All Homeschool Math Reviews - Homeschool Math Review
If you need a homeschool coach to help you figure out what is best for your children, feel free to contact me.