Transitioning from Saxon 3 to?? Suggestions?

[emeraldjoy]

We have done Saxon 1, 2, and almost done with 3.
I picked up Saxon 5/4 for very cheap, like 2 dollars at a curriculum sale.
After glancing through it and talking to a few people, I think we may need to find a new program.
I really do not know where to start at all.....sort of freaked out, so freaked out I want to stick with Saxon because I can't bare the idea of the research and all that.
Any and all suggestions.
She is 9 and very, very quick. Math, especially concepts come very easy for her...it has taken some time to memorize the facts; but we are there finally.
Thanks so much.
e

[JudoMom]

Why do you think you need to switch? What is not working with Saxon?

[Ellie]

Yeah...why do you think you need to switch? Your dd should do just fine with Math 54, and you'd be set for math through high school.

[emeraldjoy]

Sorry it took so long to get back.
I guess that part of me is intimidated because it seems so DIFFERENT than the previous; the creature of habit in me is scared to do it differently than we are used to.
I have not heard much at all about Saxon 5/4 except for a few bad experiences; nothing specific really just that it was so different. I did hear there was too much review in some areas and not enough in others.
Would anyone like to share their experiences with 5/4 and above? Is it comprehensive enough? Etc.
e

[langfam]

Of my 4 dc who used Saxon 1, 2, 3. There was a transition period to 5/4 but they all managed it just fine after a few weeks. The only thing I would say is that they all disliked Saxon. Many factors....overkill of drill, jumping from topic to topic, etc. For years I stuck with it, despite all their long faces. This year after 11 years with Saxon we have switched to Chalkdust for all the older dc, for the first time and everyone is much happier. Some have even told me it's now their favorite subject.

My youngest only did Saxon 1 for 1/2 year , then we went to Singapore/Horizons combo. This has worked out very well. I wish I done this for the others. Having done Saxon with the others I realise now that Saxon is very lacking in teaching kids to think in all directions. Saxon only approached problems from one angle, that some dc just memorized the method of solving when they saw keys words. They weren't really understanding what they were doing. So even though they were doing very well on the Saxon tests, it wasn't a good indication of their real understanding.

Singapore really teaches kids how to understand numbers and how to manipulate them in different ways. I use Horizons for the drill aspect but do not assign all problems.

I would use the palcement test for any program that you switch too though. Saxon is behind most programs, so don't be surprised if your child tests into a lower level. I learned not to worry about the level #, but let the child work on the level that's comfortable for them.


HTHs

[JudoMom]

Sorry it took so long to get back.
I guess that part of me is intimidated because it seems so DIFFERENT than the previous; the creature of habit in me is scared to do it differently than we are used to.
I have not heard much at all about Saxon 5/4 except for a few bad experiences; nothing specific really just that it was so different. I did hear there was too much review in some areas and not enough in others.
Would anyone like to share their experiences with 5/4 and above? Is it comprehensive enough? Etc.
e


I've got 1 in 6/5 and 1 in 5/4. The transition scared me more than it scared my boys. They've done fine with it. I do have them do only the odd problems on odd lessons and the even problems on even lessons. I've been pleased with it. My oldest son took the ITBS last year and tested very well in math.

We do supplement with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems. I think it's important they learn to tackle problems that are quite different from what Saxon presents, and I personally think Saxon is a little weak in word problems.

If you've liked Saxon up to this point then I would at least give 5/4 a good try, and don't worry about whether or not it worked for someone else's family :001_smile:.

[emeraldjoy]

Thanks so much.
e

[sheryl]

in Saxon Math 5/4. We finished 3rd grade Saxon math this summer and picked right up with 5/4.

Why do you feel you need to switch? You say she's bright, is 5/4 going to be too easy for her? Or, is math not her strong suit? If 5/4 will be too easy, move her up to 6/5. I have a friend who skipped 5/4 because she said it was too easy and a repeat. My dd is 1/3 through 5/4 and yes, there is repeat and it is easy. Or, I've heard good things about Teaching Textbooks...they just came out with grade 5 this year, and next year they come out with grade 4.

If math is not her strong suit, Saxon has a "grade 4" available. It's between 3 and 5/4, and that's all I know about it.

Hope all goes well.

[MLinAlaska]

I as worried about the exact same thing!! My dd finished with saxon 3 right after her 8th birthday and I got Saxon 54 but then was really intimidated, thought it looked so different.

So I was hesitant between trying something different, repeating part of saxon 3 before moving on maybe, and I went ahead and bought singapore. For a couple of months we did half singapore and half saxon, before talking it over and deciding to just leave the singapore and go completely saxon again.
My dd didn't really like singapore and although math is not her strong point, she really enjoys the format of Saxon 54 after having gotten used to it. One thing I have done is that we are supplementing it a little by sort of having our own meeting time. Saxon k-3 has this meeting time for practicing time, money etc. right? and I really felt that at just 8 my dd should still be practicing that, so I added that on to our memory book; my kids have a memory book with all their fact cards, grammar definitions, history timelines etc., that we use every day for a bit to go over stuff.

Marie-Louise

[Chris in VA]

If dd had stayed at home this year, I was going to look for something other than Saxon only because we like the workbook format, and, as you know, that changes with 5/4. I found a Saxon 4 workbook that we may use to supplement her school math (which is all review, and covers the same stuff as Saxon 3!). I haven't seen the workbook, but it might be good for your dd.

You can always take some time to copy down, say, half the problems for her and have her copy the other half, if that's the format change that most intimidates you.

My dd tested into TT 5, after Saxon 3. You might want to look at it.

[ldee]

My ds10 started 5/4 and has hated every bit of it. He did well in 3 but missed a ton of problems in 5/4. We switched to TT 6; Yes, grade 6 because he had done 75% of 5/4. He is doing great with this, never scoring below a 90%.
This said because when my dd finishes Saxon 3 we will then move on to TT 5. I have compared them side by side and found that TT 5 very similar to Saxon 5/4 and TT 6 comparable to Saxon 6/5.
The younger levels on Saxon are so very different than the upper levels (beginning woht 5/4).