Thank you for the books and as a side note was your child's name Miranda? That is the name at the top of the book and rather ironically my sister's name, the one who will be using the curriculum, is Miranda. I thought that it was a great coincidence.
I have used Saxon Math through Middle school and will continue to use Saxon Math through High school. The product is easy read abd understand. The materials are repetitive. The DIVE CD can be purchased as an accessory to complete the subject. I enjoy Saxon and my son finds it easy to use and learn. He has tested out of Math according to the CAT and Stanford test. He is post high school level.
I love the fact that the book builds each lesson on a previous lesson. Very easy for homeschoolers to use and understand. I have always used Saxon Math and will not change.
We like the saxon algebra 1, 3rd ed, because it starts with the foundation of past math and builds upon it with constant repitition of previous lessons learned.
This book was used by the local community college, a few years back, for its Math 0950 Re-Introduction to Algebra for Adult Students course. As a part of the application process for the college, a prospective student must take a basic skills exam. My daughter had not used any algebra since high school and tested to this level for review of basic algebra skills. My daughter found the book and the course to be very helpful and she was able to CLEP out of Math 1010 after finishing this course as her forgotten algebra skills were refreshed very well by the text and the course. The reason that I leave only a GOOD rating rather than excellent is that there is no longer an answer guide available, to assist the students with their homework, that goes along with this book. If someone could locate both the book and the accompanying answer guide... the book is a good way to re-boot all of those long-stored-away memory files of high school algebra that are floating around in the human hard-drive... the brain! Srchn
Saxon is the best math curriculum out there, especially for homeschooling (which is why I purchased it--we're a homeschool family of over 10 yrs now) as it uses a "spiral" approach. It introduces a new operation or concept, then gives a few practice problems on that, then goes on with what the student has learned in the last AND previous lessons. Each subsequent lesson will contain elements from the previous lesson, building on that EACH TIME. Students aren't inundated with a new concept all at once, they are allowed to slowly assimilate it so that it is soon just something they know, not something they labouriously learned yesterday. After trying many other math programs, we've stuck with Saxon for about 6 years now. We won't be switching again. If you're thinking about homeschooling, let me make this subject curricula choice easy for you--Math=Saxon. ;) (of course, what works for my kids may not work for yours, but too many families use Saxon for it not to work extremely well. Try it first) OR if you're looking to supplement your child's regular school lessons, get Saxon. They even have placement tests! I hope this meager review has helped you!
I love Saxon Math. I homeschool my three children, and we have successfully used Saxon Math for years. My eldest son just graduated from high school and scored very high on the SAT, which is an achievment test used by universities and colleges when applying for admission. I would definitely recommend using DIVE Math CD's in conjunction with the Saxon Math.
The Saxon Method of learning math is perfect.They call it "An Incremental Development" and so it is. Each lesson is a simple step forward. Following each lesson there are homework problems. These homework problems will not only cover what you have learned in the current lesson but will have some problems from previous lessons also. The chance to continue using all the concepts you have learned in previous lessons helps the student have complete mastery over the concepts learned. I found it easy to teach and appreciate the practice problems that we can work together and the tests booklet also. It is a great way to learn math and to keep using what you have learned so that it becomes yours!!!