Those that have been successful with Saxon....

[Excelsior! Academy]

did you do all of the problems or pick and choose? I've heard the success is due to completing all of the problems. My oldest is only in 5th grade so I don't yet have results to back up my theory.

[Janet in WA]

did you do all of the problems or pick and choose? I've heard the success is due to completing all of the problems. My oldest is only in 5th grade so I don't yet have results to back up my theory.Okay, here's my qualified answer. I think that to have the greatest success with Saxon, you'll do every problem in every problem set. But for our sons, that was just too much of a grind. We chose a method that eliminated some of the problems from most problem sets, but NOT the arbitrary "even/odd" method. I hand-picked problems that I thought we could safely eliminate and my sons typically did 20-25 problems in a 30-problem set. However, when we got to Advanced Math, they did every problem in every problem set (they needed to because this book is just so dense with concepts) -- but took two days to complete most problem sets.

[Faithr]

Well, we did all the problems in the lesson practice but for the mixed practice we did even problems for even numbered chapters and odd problems for the odd numbered chapters. If however, the child was having problems, we made them go back and do all. We did this up through Alg 1. For Alg 2 though and Adv math we required all the problems.

[Christine]

We do them all.

Janet, I was noticing your siggy. That is so COOL! I want to be a RHM (retired homeschool mom) when I grow up! I never thought of a title such as that!

[Janet in WA]

We do them all.

Janet, I was noticing your siggy. That is so COOL! I want to be a RHM (retired homeschool mom) when I grow up! I never thought of a title such as that!Oh that's so nice! You've made me feel "grown up" instead of just old!

[Anne/Ankara]

We do every problem, every lesson. I will say that it saves time each day because there is no discussion, negotiation or decision-making on my part to decide how much to do with a lesson. We simply do them all! And then correct every one that is wrong... hmmm, that adds a bit of time to the math work.

But, I will say that even with Saxon 87, we were spending more than one day on a lesson. We couldn't spare the time to do the lesson, the practice, and the mixed set all in one day-- which meant that we do only a few lessons per week. However, we do school year long, so that makes up the time.

How's that for pleasing everyone!

[Kimber]

For co-op, we did all of the problems for 3 out of 4 lessons. For example, I'd assign lessons 1-4 for homework and we skipped all of the problems except for the new ones in lesson 3.

The reason for this is that the other math teacher who had used Saxon all of the way through with her kids, noticed that if her kids did all of the odd or all of the even for each lesson, they would not review some problems for weeks or months on end. Saxon shouldn't be approached all odd or even if you want the spiral review.

HTH!

[Home'scool]

This is the way I do it:

For the first lesson, we do all of the practice set, and all of the problem set. For the next lesson, we do the practice set only. Then for the third, all of the practice set and all of the problem set. And so on.

This assumes that my dd gets no more than 2 wrong when she is doing the whole lesson. More than 2 wrong, and she has to do the whole lesson the next day.

Benefits= I don't have to pick and choose which problems to do.
She is motivated to do a good job because a good score =
less work!

[Linda in TX]

We do all the problems. And with the littles, we do the entire meeting every day. Yes it is long, but we do it and have seen it work.

[Eliana]

did you do all of the problems or pick and choose? I've heard the success is due to completing all of the problems. My oldest is only in 5th grade so I don't yet have results to back up my theory.

It's depended on the child. My kids are "accelerated" (whatever that means ;)), and each has needed a different level of review. One of the reasons Saxon has been such a success for my kids is the *presence* of all the review, but my willingness to tailor the amount used to the needs of each child.

ETA: I hand-pick the problems to be done when I don't have a child do all of them - as others have said doign all odds or all evens means missing a lot.

[FloridaLisa]

For grades 1 - 3, my dc complete side A and only do side B if something went severely wrong. For levels 5/4 through 7/6, my dc do allof the mental math (love that part[I]) and odds or evens. Sometimes we skip a lesson if it so incremental that it can be combined with the next lesson or would amount to busy-work. For Alg. 1/2 and up, my dc complete [I]every problem.

In light of all of the Saxon discussion on the boards lately, thought I'd pass along that my oldest took the entrance test for our community college today and was told that he had "scored higher than anyone [the testaker] had ever seen" (whatever that means as Eliana said.;)). He tested into Pre-Calc having only completed Saxon II at this point (currently in Jacobs Geometry).

HTH,
Lisa