Homeschooling Textbooks
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I have never been a fan of Saxon Math. I used it for the duration of my original few years homeschooling because it was the most well-known and most commended program. If I had it to do over, I never would have applied Saxon at all. My kids and I found it tedious to slog through – it had such a public school feel to it. Lots of added on extras, just so the state standards got covered. At least that is how I understand the program. In the early grades (K-6) I prefer to use something like ABeka or Horizons and then switch to the “Key To” series” for reinforcement in fractions and decimals, and then switch to Teaching Textbook after that. My reasons for this are that the very early grades (K-3) are straightforward and easy to teach, and I never saw the point in overpowering a young child with so numerous difficultnesses and exercises to exercise on the basi principles (except for drill work with multiplication tables). Also, as the math difficultness increased with things like long division, fractions and decimals, my children didn’t find their explanations and examples to be adequate. When my now 15-year-old son was 13, I got him the Teaching Textbook Pre-Algebra program. There is a corresponding white board lecture on CD-ROM for each lesson in the textbook. My son was competent to grasp most things without extra support or comprehensible statement from me. Face it, most homeschool parents are not math majors and don’t do not forget much when it comes to Algebra (that was only 20 years ago!). It matters on how well the explanations are done for us as well. I couldn’t count the number of times I have looked at math lessons and had to grasp the explanations in order to help my child. Fortunately, with Teaching Textbook, there was very little of this, at least much less than I have had with any other math program. I likewise felt that it left my son very well prepared for the Algebra course he is taking this year in tenth grade and he is having no difficultnesses keeping up. It is true the Teaching Textbook program is expensive. However,you could very well get a bargain on a applied program on E-bay. Also, I have always saved my pennies to buy highpriced programs when it in truth counts, because you will actually be grateful for the extra aid with those tougher high school math courses. In short, forget buying the $80.00 math Saxon program for your firstborn grader with all of the bells and whistles, when you actually don’t need it. Instead, save yourself valuable time, feeling of annoyance at being hindered or criticized and cash by buying a top-quality program, like Teaching Textbook, down the road, when you will actually need and be grateful for it. |
