Saxon Math

Have a look at our eBay listings, or, if you prefer new books, click Saxon Math books to see christianbook.com offers at up to 43% discount!

Saxon Math for Homeschool – Two Short Reviews

I go to homeschoolreviews.com to read multiple reviews from homeschooling mothers who have actually used the curriculum that I am considering. I wanted to share one of the reviews that I found for Saxon that gives a lot of details that will help you understand how the curriculum works.

May 05, 2012    Grades Used: Saxon 1, 5/4, 6/5     Dates used: 2010-2012

I have four children that are at all different ages and have varying learning styles. We switched from A Beka over to Saxon and our experience has been wonderful.

I realize it may not be a fit for everyone, but my experience has been that with A Beka, they were doing more advanced concepts, but they merely had the “formula” memorized and were not fully understanding what they were doing. Saxon is extremely repetitive and may seem as if it’s behind other curriculums, but I feel with Saxon, my kids really understand the concept, rather than just having the ability to regurgitate it on paper.

The repetition may seem slow and boring in the beginning grades, but it is laying an excellent foundation for understanding in the higher grades.

I have read through a lot of the reviews on this site and was confused by one thing. There were numerous people who mentioned that the lessons did not give practice for the topic that was presented in the lesson. So far, in all the grades of Saxon I’ve taught, an entire section, called “Lesson Practice” is given for review of EVERY new concept taught. Perhaps the reviewers are doing a different grade of Saxon than I have, but I wanted to mention if you are doing 1-6, plenty of practice is given for the new concept in every lesson. I never felt like my kids got enough time to practice the new concept in A Beka. I felt like we raced onto the next lesson, with an entirely new and harder concept every day.

Another comparison of Saxon to A Beka that I noted was the amount of time that was given before you saw a concept being tested on. With A Beka, for the most part, anything you learned during the week could/would be presented on the next test. That means if you had a kid that struggled with a concept, you’d have to stop and take extra time with them, knowing if you didn’t, you were going to have a kid with a bad grade at the end of the week. With Saxon, things are more slowly introduced into the tests. They are given plenty of practice with the problems before they are tested on them. You will be able to see a pattern with the problems they are struggling with before you ever seen them appear on a test.

I hope this helps someone else considering giving it a try, or  switching from A Beka Arithmetic from grades 1-5 into Saxon Math.

Thanks to Homeschool Reviews for offering really helpful reviews like this one. Now, I , too have something to add since we used Saxon for all five children for over 20 years. Here is my thoughts about Saxon math curriculum.

We used the Saxon Math curriculum for Many Years! An Overall Good Fit.

We started using Saxon before it was available for young children. We started with Math 54 in fourth grade. The set seemed expensive at the time (I always had to watch my spending on curriculum), but it turned out to be an EVERGREEN curriculum. Over the years all five of my children used the same set for math…then after the youngest was finished, I sold it and got back about $20 for it. I can’t remember what I paid originally in the early nineties, but I figured it cost me $10 or less per year per child.

Save the most when you buy a used Saxon Math set to begin with. Use it for each of your children and then sell.

Hardback textbooks (the older versions of Saxon are hardcover) like this are much appreciated by my family. They last. The paperbacl answer key and test book and solutions book will last longer if you cover the book cover with clear contact paper. I always covered any paperback books that would require heavy use  in this way. It is a great way to keep them looking better over the years of use.

Saxon Publishers have consistently been one of homeschoolers’ top choices when it comes to math curriculum. Their incremental approach to education has been proven to be one of the most effective teaching methods; learning pieces of information in small amounts, and then continually repeating concepts keeps information fresh and active in one’s mind, preventing once-learned information from slipping away. Applauded by public, private, and home schools, and by experts and scholars alike, Saxon has proven itself committed to continued educational success.

I sold my last set of Saxon recently. It was Saxon Algebra 2. As I packed it up to mail to a new family, I felt a little sad to let it go. I am still sentimental about homeschool and all the blessings that came with it. I quickly brightened at the thought of all that has been accomplished in these 25+ years by the grace of God.  I pray for God’s blessing on all of you that are still in the trenches, working hard to teach your children and build your families in faithfulness.

Remember, if Saxon is a good fit for your family, have a look at our eBay listings by grade (see links above)RevieR, or, if you prefer new books, click Saxon Math books to see christianbook.com offers at up to 43% discount!

Julie Simmons (webmaster besthomeschoolbuys.com)