saxon math : 'Less is more' works for D.C. mom

Michele Humble traces her decision to home-school to watching a TV newsmagazine about a woman who home-schooled her six children while running a family store. The children completed college before most students finished high school.
"That's what I would like to do," Mrs. Humble remembers thinking, "and that was before I had any child of my own. I always wanted to be a teacher, and I felt that I'd be the best teacher of my children because I would know their strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else."
Today, Mrs. Humble and her husband, Carmichael, are parents to four girls, ages 10, 8, 6 and 2 weeks. While their dad goes to work every day for the D.C. government, the three oldest girls study at home with mom using the Robinson curriculum, Saxon math and a number of other resources. Mrs. Humble has home-schooled the children since her oldest was 5, and she hopes to do so until they graduate from high school.
"Some people say to me, 'Are you going to do this until they're grown?'?" Mrs. Humble says. "I tell them that is my plan right now. I enjoy that I'm the one teaching my child. It's the desire of my heart."
The Humble family is part of a home-schooling cooperative, the Christian Home Educators of D.C. Together with 15 to 20 other home-schooling families, they go on field trips, do special study segments on topics such as the rain forests or the Civil War and celebrate the students' accomplishments with a closing ceremony and potluck dinner.
Although the family enjoys trips to the Smithsonian museums, the library and other places where they can learn about interesting topics, Mrs. Humble's rule is, "No stress, no strain, no struggle."
"I'm a great believer in 'less is more,'?" she says. "If I'm getting too stressed out and frazzled, it's not good for the kids. Kids are like sponges. I have to have peace, so if something is too stressful, we don't do it."
The three older girls take ballet classes each week, and each one is learning piano or violin.
"This is the time of all the recitals," their mother says. "I'll be happy when they're over and we have more time."
Balancing the demands of motherhood and education isn't easy, but Mrs. Humble says she draws her strength from her faith and the impact she sees on her family.
"Every day, I think, 'God, please give me the wisdom to do this,'?" she says.
"I enjoy seeing my child 'get' something, really understand something. For Black History Month, I teach about a different historical figure each day, and I was telling my oldest daughter about Frederick Douglass and the Underground Railroad," Mrs. Humble says. "Her younger sister was just lying on her back, feet up in the air, and seemingly not paying attention. But when I asked the question 'Who else was helping with the Underground Railroad?' and my oldest daughter didn't respond, the younger one said, 'Harriet Tubman.' That really makes me happy."

By Kate Tsubata

saxon math : Saxon Preschool provides teaching experience

Two days a week, there are more than just teenagers and staff filling the halls at South High. South's own Saxon Preschool allows a group of South High students to work with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in a fun and educational setting.

About 35 children attend the preschool, run by a group of South students and their teacher, Laura Foley.

Foley trains the students extensively during the first six weeks of each school year on how to care for young children, write lesson plans and lead the preschool. The students are then prepared to begin working directly with children later in the fall.

Once students gain enough experience and knowledge working with young children, they take up various leadership positions within the preschool.

"We put our knowledge of small children into practice in the preschool," South junior Tia Cotter said.

Cotter is a TC3, which means she is in one of the top student leaders in Saxon Preschool. She helps write lesson plans, plan activities and oversees the preschool for the weeks in which she is one of the leaders.

"We take turns being the leader for a week, or we can co-teach with another TC3," Cotter said.

The student leaders choose fun themes for each week of the preschool, ranging from "under the sea" to "planes, trains, and automobiles." Everything from math and science activities to the snacks the children eat in a given week, revolve around the specific theme.

The preschool charges $100 per semester per child, which covers all snacks, activities and projects.

"We will take any child, so long as they are potty trained," Cotter said.

Saxon Preschool is a valuable tool not only to parents of preschoolers in Salem, but also to the South students leading the program.

"We get experience with how to be a teacher, how to deal with the personalities of children, and how to work with adults and parents," South senior and TC2 Jolene Joseph said. "I want to be a teacher, so this is hands-on education for me."

Joseph recently completed a six-week long practicum at nearby McKinley Elementary School to gain even more experience working with children. "I learned not only how to work with children, but also how to write résumés, do interviews and get a job in the future," she said.

Students involved with the preschool rave about the experience of teaching young children.

"It's such an amazing accomplishment to see [the children] grasp things we teach them," Cotter said. "The most rewarding part is to see our ideas come to life in the preschool and then see the children get it and understand things, it is so incredible."

BY CARA DOWNS

saxon math : Why Now, Saxon?

I really would like to ask New-Saxon why they are changing from the traditional hardback books to consumable workbooks, and why now? I also would like to ask them why they are changing the order of topic presentation in books that have proven to be so successful, and why now?

Quite recently, my son and I read – and we both believe it was on the Saxon website although the information is no longer prominently posted there, if posted at all – that seventy percent (70%) of homeschooling families use the Saxon math materials.

It was good to know that so many children are being taught real math, although I do feel that the percentage claimed is far too low. Innumerable families purchase used copies of the Saxon Math books on Ebay, or from other families, or from homeschooling groups. These purchases would be missed in a publisher's count of "number of materials sold to homeschooling families," so it must be nearly impossible to know exactly how many homeschooled children are using Saxon Math books, and whether they are using new or used copies.

Since there are millions of children who have been, or are being homeschooled, the number of Saxon math books sold would be several million. Of course…there would be several million more sold if the books were consumable and thus able to meet the needs of only one child, rather than meet the needs of all the children in one family; plus all the children of the family that later buys the used copies; plus the children of the family that buys the used-used copies...

Using the traditional Saxon math books, a family with, say five children, would only need to buy one (1) copy of each book for each level, K-through-Calculus. At the lower elementary levels the family would only need to buy the fairly inexpensive workbooks in order to teach the next child in line. The instructional materials would already be in the family's possession, having been purchased for the first child. Once a child moved into the hardback books, further purchases would be totally unnecessary.

Thus, when a child finished Saxon 54, the Saxon 65 book would already be in the home and available for that child and each successive sibling. Through the years, five children would each use the single copy of each book. After all five children completed a level; the family could sell the used books on Ebay and recoup many of their original costs. Other families would find the books that they seek on Ebay, and save the cost of purchasing new books. What an efficient set-up for homeschooling families! What a loss of sales for New-Saxon – if the company were to continue publishing sturdy, long-lasting, multi-child-serving, hardback math books.

I would also like to ask New-Saxon if they are purposefully making changes that will put a heavy financial burden upon homeschooling families; if they are striving, on their own, or under someone else's agenda, to discourage parents from choosing to homeschool; if they are thinking that, if parents decide to homeschool, despite all the roadblocks continually thrown up before them, at least their children will join the rest of America's children in being subjected to dumbed-down new-new-math. I do not feel at all comfortable with any changes being made to the tried and true Saxon books, let alone those changes described, even briefly, at the website. I hope that John Saxon joins me in questioning his decision to sell his company to a publisher that would, by August of the year of the sale, have rewritten books on the market with topics reorganized and coaches replacing teachers.

by Linda Schrock Taylor

saxon math : "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull."

What will schools become? They will become empty buildings with boarded up windows. Many have already crossed over that line.

With the sale of the traditional Saxon methods for instruction, to the progressive New-Saxon with its game plan for coaches, the last hope for successful reform of America's public schooling system absolutely died. There will never be an educational plan formulated and directed by the central government, or even the individual state governments, that will be successful. Mark my words. They speak of standards but count smoke rings.

Despite the rhetoric, the laws, the costs – effective instruction will still be done by dedicated, traditional teachers and parents, working in isolated groups – in an occasional public school; at kitchen tables across the nation; in traditional private and parochial schools. Only these few will truly focus on real scholarship; only these few will continue to struggle – against the numbing factors of the culture, the media, the textbooks, the directives of the State; against heart breaking odds – to open minds, teach skills, convey knowledge and thus nurture scholars.

True educators are coming to realize that they are incapable of slowing, let alone stopping, the waves of progressive poison moving with the currents and the trends through the halls of government schools, and through too many private and parochial schools, as well. Where we used to plan offensive actions, now we attempt to build defensive walls that can enclose and protect our isolated enclaves. Now we only hope that we can fill a gap and guard our small groups as the destructive forces pass across the land with their final solution to the problems inherit within, and created by, the State-run system of public schools. The irony is that like parasites, progressive educators are destroying the hosts upon which they feed and thrive. When the host dies, so do the parasites. Final solution?…the closure of all government schools.

Do not mourn the passing of the public education monopoly, for other than the children, there is little worth saving. Let us turn away from the State's vision and gather those precious children to us. Let us, as citizens acting in the best interests of our children and our communities, establish, lead and teach in small neighborhood schools – schools of our design, our vision, our investment. Let us teach towards the revival of a literate, discerning citizenry; not towards the survival of the State. Let us teach every child to claim, then safeguard, their rights and their freedoms. Such vitally important instruction is best accomplished at familial and neighborhood levels. Let us build walls to keep the State away from our right to educate our own children, and let us do it now.

I can empathize with John Saxon for leaving the dying and distressing educational arena for even I have found the thought of escape quite enticing. However, with the sale of Saxon, our cause lost a leader who shared our visions and goals. Dr. John Saxon stood as a beacon of hope, as well as a provider of quality materials, to those of us fighting to save children from the cruel outcomes planned, and being enforced, by the Progressives. Our jobs will be much more difficult if we allow all traditional Saxon mathematics books to be replaced by consumable workbooks with disordered topics. Our hearts will be heavy without John Saxon to stand tall against the Progressives and lead our way.

In our last stand, however, there will be Ebay partnering with us to keep those fine, incremental, hardback Saxon math books circulating – from family to family; in the hands of millions of homeschooled children; through many years and many cycles. Our hopes for a return to the America of our Founding Fathers will rest upon the shoulders of children who have been, and will be, educated in scholarly homeschools and scholarly neighborhood schools. Support independent local schools. They will be America's only chance for survival.

Copyright © 2004 LewRockwell.com

Saxon Math: Facts vs. Rumors

Aim . . . fire . . . ready! What's going on here? Why are some home schoolers sniping at the best math program ever made available to home schoolers? Why do some homeschool magazines refuse to accept ads from its publisher, or even mention the program's name?

I'm talking about the famous Saxon Math program, developed by former Air Force officer and high-school math instructor John Saxon. In spite of test after test showing that the use of Saxon Math increases algebra enrollment by up to 400 percent, and that Saxon Math students radically outperform students using other math programs, Mr. Saxon has been fighting an uphill battle to get his program used in the public schools. Opposed by leftist groups such as NOW, on the grounds that his books fail to promote feminism, political correctness, and the New World Order, Saxon was delighted to find out about the homeschooling movement. Surely home schoolers would appreciate his books for what they are -- excellent and witty math teaching devices!

Then came the pie in the face. A few home schoolers took it upon themselves to start circulating letters condemning the Saxon texts as "New Age" and urging others to boycott them.

The original letter writers had a point, though they certainly weren't taking the best way to express it. The original Saxon texts had a light sprinkling of references to demons, poltergeists, and other unpleasant spiritual beings. The reason for this is simple -- John Saxon, not being either a fundamentalist Christian or a New Ager, does not believe in such beings. He thought they were harmless "fairy tale" creatures that he could use to spice up his problems. When confronted with letters and calls from Christians who objected to these terms, he promptly cleaned up his books (see sidebar "Saxon Speaks Out").

You would now expect that everyone would be happy. However, some individuals are still writing and circulating letters urging their fellow Christians to shun Saxon.

What are the letter writers objecting to now?

The occasional use of words such as hoyden and ribald.
References to medieval life. One letter writer, for example, after having read a book about the occult game "Dungeons and Dragons," concluded that any mention of medieval occupations or weaponry anywhere is a sneaky plot to entwine readers in the occult.
Bogeymen. Occasional references to fairies and gnomes. The letter writers have magnified this to make it sound like the Saxon texts are absolutely riddled with adoring references to occult beings.
Naturally I was concerned when I heard about this. So I pulled my Saxon math texts off the shelf and read through every word problem in the current editions. Here is what I discovered:
Saxon is very moralistic. Unlike every other math text on the market, his books use pejorative terms about sins such as cheating, boastful behavior, laziness, and so forth. Students may have to look up the words to find out what Saxon's talking about (that's the whole point, as he's trying to improve their vocabularies), but after they do, they will have a clear sense that this math text at least condemns certain behavior as wrong. If this isn't Christian, take me out and shoot me!
Saxon attempts to spark interest in other school subjects, such as history and chemistry. He does this by frequent allusions to historic, literary, and scientific subjects. An ignorant reader who believes all Greek names, for example, must be those of heathen gods could conceivably get bent out of shape over the constant mention of names he does not recognize. Especially if he isn't willing to take the trouble of consulting the encyclopedia.
The references to fairies, etc. are not only few and far between (some books don't have any), but are inevitably irreverent. No true New Ager would get any comfort from the picture of the fairy queen counting toadstools while arranging seating for the fairy convention. It sounds too much like Saxon doesn't believe in these beings!

By Mary Pride

saxon math : John Saxon speaks

"Yes, I have heard from many people, and I have removed the things that I consider might be offensive to these people.

For example, I replaced demons with gremlins. When I was a pilot in World War II, when we were flying at 20,000 feet, the metal would contract and you would hear grinding and squealing noises from the back of the plane, and it would make you feel real uncomfortable. So World War II pilots invented "gremlins," little men that were running around back there causing these strange noises.

"I also removed ghouls, poltergeists, etc. I thought those were medieval folk tales, and I put them in the book for fun for the kids. But I removed them.

"I took out everything that refers to the occult. I have gone through the books and removed everything that could be offensive to someone who was reasonable. I adamantly refused to take out ghosts, fairies, leprechauns, and all of the wonderful little imaginary people that populate the Disney movies and the stories that children have found so fascinating for hundreds of years.

"Now the only way you can fight the occult is to make a joke of it. You can't protect children from things that are rampant in our society by refusing ever to talk about them.

"They object violently to the Greek gods. But if your children are not familiar with the Greek gods, they lose much of our heritage. All of the famous writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth, and of the twentieth century also, make constant reference to Greek mythology. Not because the Greek gods were true, and not because the Greek myths were true, but because everything we have in our culture comes from the Jews and the Greeks.

"Most of the letters I have gotten are from good people who confuse Christianity and ignorance. What distresses me is how much pleasure many of these Christians get out of hate. They are writing letters to all of these people, telling them about the evil in my books because I have fairies and ghosts in them. And of all of the things they could spend their energy on, it looks like I would be the least offensive, because my books do so much for their children's understanding of math. And if there ever was a word in my book that they consider offensive, they could use that as a time to explain to their child that there are no such things as ghosts and there are no fairies."
saxon math

By Mary Pride

saxon math : Math U See

We have used MUS for two years and love it. We have tried Making Math Meaningful (heavy on theory, light on practice, and slow-moving) and also Saxon. With Saxon, my 4th grade son was bogged down, and my 1st grade daughter was bored and still counting on her fingers.

A friend told me about MUS. I saw a demo at a homeschool convention and was blown away. We have used the new versions, Alpha through Zeta. My kids watch the DVD's with me, and I usually have very little explaining to do, unless it is a particularly difficult concept. Each lesson has three practice pages for the new skill, and three review pages. I love that we can move at our own pace. If we "get it" right away, we do one or two practice pages, one review page, and move on to the next lesson. If we need more time we might spend a whole week on a lesson. My son has done 3 1/2 books in two years, and will be doing Pre-Algebra next year as a 7th grader.

There are a good amount of story problems. If you stick with the curriculum, telling time, money, liquid, linear, and metric measurements are covered through the elementary years. As far as testing goes, I think scores could seem low at first. A third grader doing Gamma will rock at multipication, but will not be able to do much division. Again, I think if you stick with it, by 6th or 7th grade the test scores will reflect competence and understanding.

It can be a little expensive, especially the years you have to buy the block or fractions overlays. I think it is worth it though. My kids have different learning styles, and different attitudes about math, and both of them are succeeding with this curriculum.

by DawnMichelle

saxon math : No Fear

Homeschooling is always a courageous adventure but presents special challenges when the journey begins after years in public school. Last Fall we entered our third year of homeschool with our ninth-grade daughter and confidently began again as we welcomed home our seventh-grade son for that exciting and challenging first year.

After several weeks of relaxed, unstructured homeschooling, my 12 year old son fell into a weeping mess. Though my heart broke for his emotional pain, it taught me volumes about his public school experience through the 6th grade and strengthened my determination to help him find his way.

According to the school district, my son is advanced in mathematics. Since I had no idea where to start his studies, we decided to do Saxon Math placement testing. No score to achieve, no percentage correct or number incorrect to mark in red pen on the worksheets--simply 50 questions progressing through the levels of the Saxon Math textbooks--levels 54 through Algebra 1. Students are given up to one hour to take the test, may not use a calculator, and must show all their work. They are instructed to work until they cannot work any more problems.

My daughter took the testing in stride and placed higher than we anticipated, but my son was a completely different story. He sat down to the worksheet a relaxed, happy little boy but quickly turned into an anxious,grouchy monster. I was confused by the transformation and cautiously approached the situation. I explained again that the test wasn't really a 'test', that we just needed to know which textbook to purchase for him because mom didn't want to spend money on a book that was too easy or too difficult. I told him to do the problems until he came to those he couldn't complete. My words bounced off his forehead! He was determined he could finish ALL the problems and finish them correctly which, at his age and experience, was just not possible! First he became indignant, then angry, and then he began weeping. Not just tears, but deep sobs with tears running down his face. I stopped him and gave him a hug until he quieted down. Then I asked him to explain, but he truly didn't understand his reaction either. I said, "This is not a test. It's not important. Mom is the only one who will use the results." He just shook his head 'in defeat'. I said, "Look, this isn't school. We can stop and put this away and do anything else you want! This is mathematics and you like math--but this isn't school math." A sigh of relief came from his body. I asked him, "How did you ever get through math tests at school?" With new tears but less intensity he said, "Oh Mom, it was horrible. It was so much worse. It was so bad--not just math. I was so afraid." I gave him more hugs and validated his fearful experience.

by Jeanne Mills

saxon math : Saxon History

The founder, John Saxon, was teaching algebra at a junior college in Oklahoma when he discovered that his students were neither comprehending nor retaining the algebra they were being taught. What started as writing out some problems for his class became a highly successful algebra program. In 1979, Saxon Algebra was published in two texts for the junior college level. He continued to write and adapt his work into a text for high school algebra students and enlisted several high school teachers to try his manuscript with their students. They too were successful using the program.

In October 1980 his Algebra 1 book for high school became a reality. In 1981, Saxon recruited twenty teachers to try his method of teaching. Approximately 1400 students were involved in the test. At the end of the school term, Saxon students were able to solve 2.6 problems for every one problem solved by students in regular classes.

By 1986, when the company changed its name to Saxon Publishers, Inc., four books were available: Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Algebra 1/2, and Advanced Mathematics. By 1993 the company had published thirteen books and programs for students in kindergarten through high school, including a calculus and physics text. In 1996 Phonics K-2 was introduced to schools throughout the country; followed in 1999 by Phonics Intervention, a program designed especially for older non-readers.

The Saxon approach to marketing is quite unique in the industry. The sales force is made up of former teachers, most of whom have taught Saxon programs in their classrooms before joining the company as sales representatives. School districts in all fifty states, and also several foreign countries, use Saxon texts.

Saxon Today
Today Saxon Publishers is an imprint of Harcourt Achieve. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Harcourt Achieve provides customer-driven educational materials that fundamentally and positively change the lives of young, adolescent, and adult learners and empower those who teach them.

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