Saxon Math Question???

Question:
I am currently teaching math to my two homeschoolers grades 7 and 4 from the Saxon Math books 87 and 54 respectively. Last year was our first year of homeschooling and I taught my older son from Saxon 76. He did very well with that program and he made up for the years that he was undertaught at the public school, things like multiplication tables, etc. I was quite pleased with the progress both of my children made last year and they are doing quite well this year as well. My younger son was taught from another series of books that had lots of add/sub facts pages and some word problems. My problem is this: The books seem to move much too slow and seem to repeat topics that they have already covered. We have been doing all the problems in every lesson and now my older son has started doing two lessons a day and my younger son would like to do the same. They have never gotten below 90% on any test with some 100% and the mistakes tend to be simple errors, not setting up the problem wrong. Questions: Should I start skipping chapters? How about skipping some of the problems? Maybe I should look at a different series of books. I would like to get into some algebra and geometry with my older son. My younger son I'd just like to move faster through the chapters. I don't want to push them too hard, but I don't want them to be bored either. Any helpful comments or similar experiences would be appreciated.

Answer:
- our first year of homeschooling and I taught my older son from Saxon 76. He did very well with that program and he made up for the = years that he was undertaught at the public school, things like multiplication tables, etc. I was quite pleased with the progress bo= th of my children made last year and they are doing quite well this year as well. My younger son was taught from another series of b= ooks that had lots of add/sub facts pages and some word problems. all the problems in every lesson and now my older son has started doing two lessons a day and my younger son would like to do the= same. They have never gotten below 90% on any test with some 100% and the mistakes tend to be simple errors, not setting up the pro= blem wrong. I have a 6th and a 4th grader using Saxon Math as their homeschool math curriculum. I can not praise the program enough. Both have excelled and have enjoyed their studies. However, we have skipped books instead of chapters. We had been told through homeschool support groups that it was a good thing to do if your child found math an easy subject. I can say that it has worked for us.

- The joy of homeschooling is that you can do it however you want! Try doing only the even or only the odd problems...you will get a good assortment that way, ranging from the easier to the harder ones. Lots of repetition is built into these text books to help pound the information into the heads of relutant learners. Your children are in a loving environment. They don't need their heads pounded upon. Do as much as feels comfortable to you all.

- I use Saxon with my two oldest, and like much about it. It's incremental approach, with each new step thoroughly explained and then repetition of problems for mastery, is particularly good for kids who have some math phobia. This structure also means students can do much of the learning themselves, with the parent acting more as a consultant than a teacher. But I don't think Saxon is sufficient on its own to be exciting and challenging to a bright student, nor do I think bright students need do every problem in every problem set. We take one day a week to do different types of math problems, usually related in some way to other subjects or activities we are studying at the time. I think this is important both to give the kids a break from the usual routine, and to provide more challenging problems. As for skipping problems: we let kids go at their own pace, so that they finish books at odd times of the year. When going from, say, Saxon 65 to 76, the first 35 or so lessons introduce NO new material, serving only to review what was already done in 65. this may be helpful in a school setting where kids forgot much from one year to the next, but in our home to tell a child to redo all that work would be ridiculous. One way around this is to have the child do a test from the test bank for the new book each day, timed. When the child starts slowing down and missing problems, you know it's time to go back to the book. This technique can be used at other points in the text if the child says everything is too easy. Also, very bright kids can go directly from 76 to algebra 1, bright kids from 76 yo algebra 1/2. Few homeschooled kids need to endure all the repetition of 76, 87, alg 1/2, alg 1.

- The Saxon books Math 76 and Math 87 (AND Algebra 1/2) have MUCH overlapping material. The original Saxon series consisted of Math 65, Math 76, Algebra I, Algebra II, etc. The other books were added later, largely at the behest of public school teachers who had to deal with transfer students and other situations that homeschoolers usually do not find themselves in. Accordingly, I would recommend that you put your oldest son directly into Algebra I -- NOW. Check out the book. You will notice, even in THAT book, that the first 12 chapters are arithmetic review. Algebra, as such, does not even begin until chapter 13. Even then, a lot of arithmetic review continues throughout most of the book. Some parts of the Saxon books do have more practice than many homeschoolers need. In the Saxon workshop I do, I tell parents that if they notice that the material seems too easy -- begin skipping NOT individual problems but entire problem SETS instead. The student still reads every LESSON, but skips every other problem set. Students who are finding the material VERY easy (like your younger son) can sometimes get away with doing every fourth problem set. When scores on problem sets drop, say, below 90%, it is time to begin doing ALL the problem sets again. We took two kids through Saxon Calculus and Physics. Excellent material. Use the curriculum; don't let the curriculum use you.