saxon math : Veronis Suhler Stevenson Represents Saxon Publishers

NEW YORK , June 30, 2004 Harcourt Achieve, a unit of global education provider Harcourt, has acquired Saxon Publishers, Inc., a leading publisher of skills-based instructional materials for grades pre-K through 12 in mathematics, phonics, and early childhood. Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a New York-based merchant bank devoted to the media and communications industry, acted as Saxon's investment banking advisor in the transaction.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Veronis Suhler Stevenson Managing Director Robert J. Broadwater represented Saxon in the sale. This is the third educational publishing transaction the firm has handled in the past year, following VSS’representation of Information Holdings Inc. (NYSE: IHI) in the sale of Transcender LLC and Total Applied Science Associates (NASDAQ: TASA.OB) in the sale of Modern Learning Press.

"Saxon has been a great educational publishing success since its founding in 1981. The company has a history of innovation and creativity and a commitment to improving mathematics education in America," said Mr. Broadwater. John Saxon’s original vision of the importance of an incremental pedagogical approach emphasizing practice, review and frequent cumulative assessment has been borne out in today’s education market where research-based solutions and, more importantly, well-documented results are required. And backed by the resources and commitment of Harcourt, Saxon has an even brighter future.”

Saxon Math is the nation’s best selling skills-based mathematics program for grades K-12 and a leader in the “alternate basal”math segment. Incorporating 20 years of research and field experience, Saxon Math is one of the most thoroughly researched programs available to K-12 math educators. Other Saxon programs include Saxon Phonics and Spelling K-3, and Saxon Early Learning.

According to John H. Saxon III, speaking on behalf of the Saxon Family, “Over the years we have been approached by many companies interested in acquiring Saxon. I am pleased to say we believe Harcourt has the experience, resources and the commitment to further our father’s vision and to continue the success of the company he founded.”

“It has been a pleasure and a distinct privilege to work with Saxon on this transaction”said Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s Broadwater. “The commitment of the company’s shareholders to improving education in America and the skill and professionalism of CEO Gerard Smith and his management team have created a great success story in American education.”

About Veronis Suhler Stevenson
Veronis Suhler Stevenson is a leading independent private equity firm dedicated to the media, communications and information industries. Veronis Suhler Stevenson has completed over 630 transactions since its inception in 1981. The firm has acted as a financial advisor across the full spectrum of media, communication and information segments and provides the following services: private equity investment and mergers & acquisitions advisory services. VS&A Communications Partners III, LP is the third private equity fund managed by Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Capitalized at over $1 billion, it is one of the largest private equity funds dedicated exclusively to investments in the media, communications and information industries. The VSS Private Equity buyout funds have invested in 33 platform companies and 153 add-on acquisitions, across multiple media segments; the realized and unrealized enterprise value of these investments total approximately $7 billion.

© Veronis Suhler Stevenson All Rights Reserved Worldwide

saxon math : Harcourt Achieve - Learning That Changes Lives

Harcourt Achieve provides educational materials that fundamentally and positively change the lives of learners. Through the Rigby, Saxon, and Steck-Vaughn imprints, Harcourt Achieve provides a wide array of both core and supplemental products to meet the needs of learners of all ages in all content areas

Harcourt Achieve's Rigby imprint has been a trusted name in the education market since 1986. Rigby products build a solid foundation in literacy that support independent reading and academic success. The Rigby line consists of research-based products, which offer learning opportunities for students at varying reading and comprehension levels.
Steck-Vaughn products have been an educational staple since 1936, providing teachers with resources that extend reading proficiency in the various content areas. The Steck-Vaughn imprint encompasses innovative, research-based products that improve student vocabulary, fluency, phonics operations, comprehension, and testing abilities.
Saxon has been a partner in education since 1981, providing programs that offer explicit, systematic instruction in math, phonics, and early learning. Saxon joined the Harcourt Achieve product line in 2004, preserving its renowned approach for achieving student academic success.

©Harcourt Achieve. All Rights reserved

saxon math : Veronis Suhler Stevenson Represents Saxon Publishers

NEW YORK , June 30, 2004 Harcourt Achieve, a unit of global education provider Harcourt, has acquired Saxon Publishers, Inc., a leading publisher of skills-based instructional materials for grades pre-K through 12 in mathematics, phonics, and early childhood. Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a New York-based merchant bank devoted to the media and communications industry, acted as Saxon's investment banking advisor in the transaction.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Veronis Suhler Stevenson Managing Director Robert J. Broadwater represented Saxon in the sale. This is the third educational publishing transaction the firm has handled in the past year, following VSS’representation of Information Holdings Inc. (NYSE: IHI) in the sale of Transcender LLC and Total Applied Science Associates (NASDAQ: TASA.OB) in the sale of Modern Learning Press.

"Saxon has been a great educational publishing success since its founding in 1981. The company has a history of innovation and creativity and a commitment to improving mathematics education in America," said Mr. Broadwater. John Saxon’s original vision of the importance of an incremental pedagogical approach emphasizing practice, review and frequent cumulative assessment has been borne out in today’s education market where research-based solutions and, more importantly, well-documented results are required. And backed by the resources and commitment of Harcourt, Saxon has an even brighter future.”

Saxon Math is the nation’s best selling skills-based mathematics program for grades K-12 and a leader in the “alternate basal”math segment. Incorporating 20 years of research and field experience, Saxon Math is one of the most thoroughly researched programs available to K-12 math educators. Other Saxon programs include Saxon Phonics and Spelling K-3, and Saxon Early Learning.

According to John H. Saxon III, speaking on behalf of the Saxon Family, “Over the years we have been approached by many companies interested in acquiring Saxon. I am pleased to say we believe Harcourt has the experience, resources and the commitment to further our father’s vision and to continue the success of the company he founded.”

“It has been a pleasure and a distinct privilege to work with Saxon on this transaction”said Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s Broadwater. “The commitment of the company’s shareholders to improving education in America and the skill and professionalism of CEO Gerard Smith and his management team have created a great success story in American education.”

About Veronis Suhler Stevenson
Veronis Suhler Stevenson is a leading independent private equity firm dedicated to the media, communications and information industries. Veronis Suhler Stevenson has completed over 630 transactions since its inception in 1981. The firm has acted as a financial advisor across the full spectrum of media, communication and information segments and provides the following services: private equity investment and mergers & acquisitions advisory services. VS&A Communications Partners III, LP is the third private equity fund managed by Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Capitalized at over $1 billion, it is one of the largest private equity funds dedicated exclusively to investments in the media, communications and information industries. The VSS Private Equity buyout funds have invested in 33 platform companies and 153 add-on acquisitions, across multiple media segments; the realized and unrealized enterprise value of these investments total approximately $7 billion.



Contacts

James P. Rutherfurd
Veronis Suhler Stevenson
212-935-4990
RutherfurdJ@vss.com

Sam Hollander
Stanton Crenshaw Communications
212-780-1900
shollander@stantoncrenshaw.com

saxon math : unschooling

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.

I never knew. I never knew he was so scared ... every day. How did I miss it?

In "How Children Fail" John Holt comments about the abundance of fear that exists in our schools and wonders why so little is said about it. He believes we easily recognize the obvious signs of fear but often miss the more sublte signs in children's "... faces, voices, and gestures, in their movements and ways of working ..." These are the signs that I misunderstood, the signs that serve as true red flags and reveal that "... most children in school are scared most of the time, many of them very scared."

My son was a good student in public school, but sometime during sixth grade he changed. We thought it was boredom; it didn't look like fear. Perhaps he was using too much effort trying to control his fear, live with it and adjust to it, and we missed the signs. We thought he was bored, not being challenged enough. The public school certainly didn't see any red flags when his grades dropped from strong A's to average C's, and we misunderstood what was actually happening with our son. He was trying to control his fears like a good soldier. But as John Holt comments, "The scared fighter may be the best fighter, but the scared learner is always a poor learner."

Though this is a very personal situation (especially for a now 13 year old boy), I'm sharing our experience because it's the Paul Harvey-type 'rest of the story' that blesses me and gives me a chuckle. It may help other children to adjust to homeschool life after public school.

Since that awful day we have done no math worksheets, no testing, and hardly anything that resembles 'school math'. We did buy a used textbook (The Nature of Mathematics, 7th edition, by Karl J. Smith) which is so interesting I can hardly put it down myself. It's very colorful and includes history notes, a pull-out timeline, and biographies of mathematicians. My son browses its pages when the impulse strikes, but that's as far as we've gone with the issue. He doesn't even realize yet the impact mathematics has had on virtually every instructional day since the Saxon testing.

Last Spring we built a picket fence, and he has spent hour after hour working with the scrap pieces of wood. He has virtually used up every triangular piece of wood in his 'stockpile'. First he 'stapled' them into patterns. Then he nearly drove me insane with hammer and nail projects until he found the hot glue gun (safety lesson there). On his own initiative, following his own interests, he did artwork of geometrical shapes and complementary colors (he favors the triangle.) He even made his own kite but was disappointed that the first test flight proved Mom and Dad's theory rather than his own.

My personal favorite is the video game cheat code antics. These 'tips' and 'shortcuts' are deliberately programmed into the games by the designers as a challenge to brilliant minds. We had downloaded several codes from an Internet gaming site and my son wanted to download more. He was frustrated with me because I was too busy with web design work and kept putting him off until later. Since he couldn't download more codes, he looked at the old codes until his brain recognized a pattern. He yelled, "Hey Mom, I broke the codes!" Well, that is genius--recognizing patterns ... and it's mathematics!

According to our favorite math text, Dr. John Paulos hated math as a kid but is now a widely respected mathematics professor. He admits he learned to love mathematics by browsing through books in the library. Though my son doesn't know it yet, he is learning what Dr. Paulos already knows: "Doing mathematics depends on computational skill no more than writing novels does on typing skills." My son is also learning he doesn't have to be afraid. He's a homeschooler now. He's free to learn in his own way at a safe pace. Learning is now his adventure, not his fear. Jeanne Mills lives in PA with her family. Visit her website http://www.addedimpact.com/contactme.html Reprinted with permission.

by Jeanne Mills

saxon math : How the Schools Shortchange Boys

Since I started teaching several years ago, after 25 years in the movie business, I’ve come to learn firsthand that everything I’d heard about the feminization of our schools is real—and far more pernicious to boys than I had imagined. Christina Hoff Sommers was absolutely accurate in describing, in her 2000 bestseller, The War Against Boys, how feminist complaints that girls were “losing their voice” in a male-oriented classroom have prompted the educational establishment to turn the schools upside down to make them more girl-friendly, to the detriment of males.

As a result, boys have become increasingly disengaged. Only 65 percent earned high school diplomas in the class of 2003, compared with 72 percent of girls, education researcher Jay Greene recently documented. Girls now so outnumber boys on most university campuses across the country that some schools, like Kenyon College, have even begun to practice affirmative action for boys in admissions. And as in high school, girls are getting better grades and graduating at a higher rate.

As Sommers understood, it is boys’ aggressive and rationalist nature—redefined by educators as a behavioral disorder—that’s getting so many of them in trouble in the feminized schools. Their problem: they don’t want to be girls.

Take my tenth-grade student Brandon. I noted that he was on the no-pass list again, after three consecutive days in detention for being disruptive. “Who gave it to you this time?” I asked, passing him on my way out.

“Waverly,” he muttered into the long folding table.

“What for?”

“Just asking a question,” he replied.

“No,” I corrected him. “You said”—and here I mimicked his voice—“ ‘Why do we have to do this crap anyway?’ Right?”

Brandon recalls one of those sweet, ruby-cheeked boys you often see depicted on English porcelain.

He’s smart, precocious, and—according to his special-education profile—has been “behaviorally challenged” since fifth grade. The special-ed classification is the bane of the modern boy. To teachers, it’s a yellow flag that snaps out at you the moment you open a student’s folder. More than any other factor, it has determined Brandon’s and legions of other boys’ troubled tenures as students.

Brandon’s current problem began because Ms. Waverly, his social studies teacher, failed to answer one critical question: What was the point of the lesson she was teaching? One of the first observations I made as a teacher was that boys invariably ask this question, while girls seldom do. When a teacher assigns a paper or a project, girls will obediently flip their notebooks open and jot down the due date. Teachers love them. God loves them. Girls are calm and pleasant. They succeed through cooperation.

Boys will pin you to the wall like a moth. They want a rational explanation for everything. If unconvinced by your reasons—or if you don’t bother to offer any—they slouch contemptuously in their chairs, beat their pencils, or watch the squirrels outside the window. Two days before the paper is due, girls are handing in the finished product in neat vinyl folders with colorful clip-art title pages. It isn’t until the boys notice this that the alarm sounds. “Hey, you never told us ’bout a paper! What paper?! I want to see my fucking counselor!”

A female teacher, especially if she has no male children of her own, I’ve noticed, will tend to view boys’ penchant for challenging classroom assignments as disruptive, disrespectful—rude. In my experience, notes home and parent-teacher conferences almost always concern a boy’s behavior in class, usually centering on this kind of conflict. In today’s feminized classroom, with its “cooperative learning” and “inclusiveness,” a student’s demand for assurance of a worthwhile outcome for his effort isn’t met with a reasonable explanation but is considered inimical to the educational process. Yet it’s this very trait, innate to boys and men, that helps explain male success in the hard sciences, math, and business.

The difference between the male and female predilection for hard proof shows up among the teachers, too. In my second year of teaching, I attended a required seminar on “differentiated instruction,” a teaching model that is the current rage in the fickle world of pop education theory. The method addresses the need to teach all students in a classroom where academic abilities vary greatly—where there is “heterogeneous grouping,” to use the ed-school jargon—meaning kids with IQs of 55 sit side by side with the gifted. The theory goes that the “least restrictive environment” is best for helping the intellectually challenged. The teacher’s job is to figure out how to dice up his daily lessons to address every perceived shortcoming and disability in the classroom.

After the lecture, we broke into groups of five, with instructions to work cooperatively to come up with a model lesson plan for just such a classroom situation. My group had two men and three women. The women immediately set to work; my seasoned male cohort and I reclined sullenly in our chairs.

“Are the women going to do all the work?” one of the women inquired brightly after about ten minutes.

“This is baloney,” my friend declared, yawning, as he chucked the seminar handout into a row of empty plastic juice bottles. “We wouldn’t have this problem if we grouped kids by ability, like we used to.”

The women, all dedicated teachers, understood this, too. But that wasn’t the point. Treating people as equals was a social goal well worth pursuing. And we contentious boys were just too dumb to get it.

Female approval has a powerful effect on the male psyche. Kindness, consideration, and elevated moral purpose have nothing to do with an irreducible proof, of course. Yet we male teachers squirm when women point out our moral failings—and our boy students do, too. This is the virtue that has helped women redefine the mission of education.

The notion of male ethical inferiority first arises in grammar school, where women make up the overwhelming majority of teachers. It’s here that the alphabet soup of supposed male dysfunctions begins. And make no mistake: while girls occasionally exhibit symptoms of male-related disorders in this world, females diagnosed with learning disabilities simply don’t exist.

For a generation now, many well-meaning parents, worn down by their boy’s failure to flourish in school, his poor self-esteem and unhappiness, his discipline problems, decide to accept administration recommendations to have him tested for disabilities. The pitch sounds reasonable: admission into special ed qualifies him for tutoring, modified lessons, extra time on tests (including the SAT), and other supposed benefits. It’s all a hustle, Mom and Dad privately advise their boy. Don’t worry about it. We know there’s nothing wrong with you.

To get into special ed, however, administrators must find something wrong. In my four years of teaching, I’ve never seen them fail. In the first IEP (Individualized Educational Program) meeting, the boy and his parents learn the results of disability testing. When the boy hears from three smiling adults that he does indeed have a learning disability, his young face quivers like Jell-O. For him, it was never a hustle. From then on, however, his expectations of himself—and those of his teachers—plummet.

Special ed is the great spangled elephant in the education parade. Each year, it grows larger and more lumbering, drawing more and more boys into the procession. Since the publication of Sommers’s book, it has grown tenfold. Special ed now is the single largest budget item, outside of basic operations, in most school districts across the country.

Special-ed boosters like to point to the success that boys enjoy after they begin the program. Their grades rise, and the phone calls home cease. Anxious parents feel reassured that progress is happening. In truth, I have rarely seen any real improvement in a student’s performance after he’s become a special-ed kid. On my first day of teaching, I received manila folders for all five of my special-ed students—boys all—with a score of modifications that I had to make in each day’s lesson plan.

I noticed early on that my special-ed boys often sat at their desks with their heads down or casually staring off into space, as if tracking motes in their eyes, while I proceeded with my lesson. A special-ed caseworker would arrive, take their assignments, and disappear with the boys into the resource room. The students would return the next day with completed assignments.

“Did you do this yourself?” I’d ask, dubious.

They assured me that they did. I became suspicious, however, when I noticed that they couldn’t perform the same work on their own, away from the resource room. A special-ed caseworker’s job is to keep her charges from failing. A failure invites scrutiny and reams of paperwork. The caseworkers do their jobs.

Brandon has been on the special-ed track since he was nine. He knows his legal rights as well as his caseworkers do. And he plays them ruthlessly. In every debate I have with him about his low performance, Brandon delicately threads his response with the very sinews that bind him. After a particularly easy midterm, I made him stay after class to explain his failure.

“An ‘F’?!” I said, holding the test under his nose.

“You were supposed to modify that test,” he countered coolly. “I only had to answer nine of the 27 questions. The nine I did are all right.”

His argument is like a piece of fine crystal that he rolls admiringly in his hand. He demands that I appreciate the elegance of his position. I do, particularly because my own is so weak.

Yet while the process of education may be deeply absorbing to Brandon, he long ago came to dismiss the content entirely. For several decades, white Anglo-Saxon males—Brandon’s ancestors—have faced withering assault from feminism- and multiculturalism-inspired education specialists. Armed with a spiteful moral rectitude, their goal is to sever his historical reach, to defame, cover over, dilute . . . and then reconstruct.

In today’s politically correct textbooks, Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and Charles Dickens, even though both women are second-raters at best. But even in their superficial aspects, the textbooks advertise publishers’ intent to pander to the prevailing PC attitudes. The books feature page after page of healthy, exuberant young girls in winning portraits. Boys (white boys in particular) will more often than not be shunted to the background in photos or be absent entirely or appear sitting in wheelchairs.

The underlying message isn’t lost on Brandon. His keen young mind reads between the lines and perceives the folly of all that he’s told to accept. Because he lacks an adult perspective, however, what he cannot grasp is the ruthlessness of the war that the education reformers have waged. Often when he provokes, it’s simple boyish tit for tat.

A week ago, I dispatched Brandon to the library with directions to choose a book for his novel assignment. He returned minutes later with his choice and a twinkling smile.

“I got a grrreat book, Mr. Garibaldi!” he said, holding up an old, bleary, clothbound item. “Can I read the first page aloud, pahlease?”

My mind buzzed like a fly, trying to discover some hint of mischief.

“Who’s the author?”

“Ah, Joseph Conrad,” he replied, consulting the frontispiece. “Can I? Huh, huh, huh?”

“I guess so.”

Brandon eagerly stood up before the now-alert class of mostly black and Puerto Rican faces, adjusted his shoulders as if straightening a prep-school blazer, then intoned solemnly: “The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ ”—twinkle, twinkle, twinkle. “Chapter one. . . .”

Merry mayhem ensued. Brandon had one of his best days of the year.

Boys today feel isolated and outgunned, but many, like Brandon, don’t lack pluck and courage. They often seem to have more of it than their parents, who writhe uncomfortably before a system steeled in the armor of “social conscience.” The game, parents whisper to themselves, is to play along, to maneuver, to outdistance your rival. Brandon’s struggle is an honest one: to preserve truth and his own integrity.

Boys who get a compartment on the special-ed train take the ride to its end without looking out the window. They wait for the moment when they can step out and scorn the rattletrap that took them nowhere. At the end of the line, some, like Brandon, may have forged the resiliency of survival. But that’s not what school is for.

By Keith Londrie

saxon math : Home-Schooling Outside The Box

My 12 year old son is creative and intelligent. He can compose artistic and written works at a level beyond that of many his age. So why can he be so difficult to teach? When using standard curriculum, it can be like pulling teeth to get him to do anything more than the absolute minimum. He races through the lessons, obtaining grades far lower than he is capable of getting, or he easily gets distracted and drags his feet, taking hours to complete what should take minutes. Read on to see how I confronted these problems.

When I took over home schooling my then 10 year old son, I used the traditional curriculum that he had been using previously with his mother. Some of the curriculum worked fine (we still use the Saxon math series) but other traditional home school curriculum just seemed to bring out the worst in my child. He would easily get bored. He would lose focus and often get distracted. After half a year, I started searching for alternatives. When I found new materials, I included my son on the decision making process. He seemed to take a lot more ownership as a result, even though I still had the final say in what what curriculum we finally used. Some of the things we do are listed below.

We use a science encyclopedia purchased at Sam's Club for science. Why? Of all the books we looked at it was the best text in terms of explaining concepts and relating them to real world phenomena (even though it wasn't meant to be a school text). We sit down together and read several pages of this science encyclopedia on a concept. Then, I have my son write a 100 word report. He then edits the report and we work on sentence composition. At the end of the term, we print out all the articles to make a 15 page report. In addition to the reports, we do related science experiments together and some of the younger siblings join in. My son loves science!

My son and his younger brother are taught history by my retired father-in-law (who happens to have a major in history). My father-in-law makes use of his library of books and tapes and records history specials for the boys to watch. Now, my boys and I sit down together at night to watch the evening news - this I believe, is a result of their grandfather discussing current events with them. There is no comparing either of my sons' current enthusiasm for history with the drudgery of plowing through a traditional school history text the way we used to do.

In addition to completing lessons in english and grammar from a traditional school text, I encourage my son to do some creative writing. He started writing his own kids novel which he has now nearly finished. He is writing some pretty silly stuff which would not be standard fare for any of the english curricula I have seen. But he is writing. In fact he is writing a lot! In 3 months from the time he started writing this novel I have noticed a marked improvement in his writing. When my son's book is completed, I will publish it online and also have a friend that owns book binding equipment bind up some copies for our family and friends.

In summary, don't let yourself become boxed in with traditional home school curriculum. There are educational resources all around us if we look hard enough. You don't have to use a "school" text. Look on your book shelves or go to a local second-hand book store to find books that might serve as good texts. Involve your child in the decision making process. Borrow some materials from your home schooling friends and review the books with your child. Use what will work for both you and your child. Utilize any and all available resources and above all, have fun as you and your child learn!

Michael Sakowski works full time and homeschools his son on the days he is able to work from home. He also has a website, http://www.schoolinyourhome.com that showcases some of the resources he uses when home schooling.
saxon math
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Sakowski

saxon math : Changes Will Be Substantial

Thank you for writing your article entitled, "Why Now, Saxon?" I too am very concerned about the future of the Saxon textbooks, and I hope that Harcourt does not do a "dumb-down" on them. However, I think your article may be a little premature, and with some incorrect facts as well, could lead otherwise would-be Saxon users to consider another, less beneficial curricula. Forgive me if I misread the article, but it seemed like you wrote it as if John Saxon was still alive. Unfortunately, he passed away in October of 1996. In addition, he never received a Ph.D. I believe you referred to him as Dr. John Saxon at least once.

I purchased all of the new paperback, homeschool editions (which were published before Harcourt bought Saxon) as soon as they were available, and I have studied them thoroughly. I have seen no evidence that any of the books have been dumbed down.

When he was president of Saxon Publishers, Frank Wang visited … and … Since then, I have had the privilege of meeting and getting to know some of John Saxon's closest friends and supporters. In doing so I have learned that we have a common vision for teaching real math to American students.

One error that you made in your article was stating that the rewritten books (and I am assuming that you mean the new paperback editions) have a different order of topics. Yes, there are some different lesson titles and some new material inserted, but the most important topics are still in an incremental order. For example, the new Math 87, 3rd edition, is about 99% similar to the hardback 87 2nd edition.

Another error that I saw in your article was in describing stem and leaf problems as "fuzzy, dumbed down fluff." The inclusion of these problems is because of the increasing need for students to understand methods of data analysis that are typically used by scientists. Stem and leaf plots are foundational to a study of statistics. For example, on page 51 of the statistics textbook that I used in graduate school, it says, "The stem and leaf plot is a clever, simple device for constructing a histogram like picture of a frequency distribution" (Ott, R. Lyman, An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis, 4th ed. Duxbury Press, Belmont, CA 1993). With 120 lessons and 12 investigations in each of the new books, I don't think that stem and leaf problems take away from other important mathematics concepts that should be taught in these grades, and I don't think they should be considered as "dumbed down fluff." Yes, the new books are unfortunately more expensive, but I think they are better and more helpful to homeschool parents, especially with the solutions manuals.

I don't think the efficient, incremental, building-block philosophies that John Saxon taught have been lost yet. As Isaac Newton once said, "If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants," and Lord willing, I do not plan on letting the Saxon legacy disappear. I will continue to … promote Saxon textbooks until I see evidence that Harcourt is actually dumbing down the curriculum. When I do see that happening I am in a position to stand on Saxon's shoulders and make a better curriculum very quickly. We have many families who are counting on us to teach their children math and we will not let them down.

I hope that your article has not caused anyone to shy away from Saxon materials prematurely and go and purchase an inferior product that may not be as helpful to their child, but if you think it may have had that impact (and I think it does), then I think you should write a new article and correct some of your mistakes and encourage people to continue to use Saxon materials including the new paperback editions. I realize Harcourt could have had some influence on these changes, however I see no evidence of dumbing down the curriculum so far.

Thank you again for your article and for your concern for the education of America's children. If you would like to discuss this further please feel free to contact me. Keep up the great work.

by Linda Schrock Taylor

saxon math : Brief Description

Saxon Math is a basal math curriculum that distributes instruction, practice, and assessment of related topics over a year rather than grouping concepts into chapters or units. This distributed approach is designed to increase student understanding of mathematics concepts and promote long-term retention of skills. Teachers introduce a new concept and work examples with the class. Next, students solve problems that cover the new concept and then concentrate on problems that cover previously introduced material as well as the new concept. The publishers recommend using Saxon Math 7/6, Saxon Math 8/7 with Prealgebra, and Algebra 1/2 for grades 6-8. According to the publishers, the programs can be shifted up or down to accommodate students who are not on grade level. Topics covered in Saxon Math 7/6 and 8/7 include number sense, geometry, measurement, powers and roots, algebraic terms, probability, and data display and analysis. Cumulative tests are given after every five lessons. Saxon Math 7/6 and 8/7 materials include annotated Teacher's Manuals, Assessments and Classroom Masters, Solutions Manuals, Instructional and Answer Key Transparencies, Saxon Math Test and Practice Generator CD-ROMs, Saxon-Aligned Libraries for Accelerated Math, Facts Practice Workbooks, Concept Posters, manipulative kit, and Intervention Teaching Guides. Algebra 1/2 is designed to be a transition into high school algebra. The major focus of Algebra 1/2 is prealgebra; however, geometry, measurement, ratios, probability, and other areas are also covered. Cumulative tests are given after every four lessons. Algebra 1/2 materials include the Saxon Math Test Generator CD, Solutions Manual, Test Masters, Saxon-Aligned Libraries for Accelerated Math, Teacher’s Resource Booklet, and Real World Applications.

by the U.S. Department of Education

saxon math : Elementary Math Part 1

Teachers, parents, and students each need a framework of guiding principles to organize the teaching and learning of elementary mathematics. Several powerful principles provide a practical framework within which you can fit mathematical procedures and concepts. This article will examine the principle that "quantities have names."

Much of mathematics is counting - and knowing what we are counting. Like people, quantities have first names and last names. The first name tells us how many, and the last name tells us what kind. For example, comparing the expression 4x with 400, the first name of 4x is 4 and its last name is x, while 400's first name is also 4 but its last name is hundred. This connects with many real-world situations with which children are familiar: hold up all the fingers on one hand and ask a child "say what you see," and they will properly say, "Five fingers." Five is the first name (how many) and fingers is the last name (what they are).

This first name/last name principle has two natural connections. First, children often have friends or classmates who share the same first name, so they are familiar with sometimes having to refer to both the first and last names of someone in order to clearly identify that person. Second, students are teaming to read text from left to right, top to bottom on the page. The name for the mathematical term "4x" is verbalized and written just like we read a person's name - left to right, first name then last name.

It is important to connect this naming principle with the important "exchange" notion that is a central part of place value. We can extend this principle to explain that quantities sometimes have more than one name. For example, when I am in the classroom, students address me as "Mr. Hazen." When I am at home, my sons address me as "Dad" and my wife calls me "Bob" (or even "honey"). The point is that whatever my name is, I am still the same person. Likewise, the quantity "40" has more than one name. We can call it four tens or we can call it forty units. The quantity 345 also has several names, among them being three hundreds, four tens, five units, or three hundreds, forty-five units, or three hundred forty-five units.

This notion of multiple equivalent names emphasizes that in place value, the last name comes from the position that the digit is placed in. Thus, 400 is four hundred because the digit 4 was in the hundreds' position, while 40 is four tens because the digit 4 is in the tens' position, and 4 is four units (or four ones) because the digit 4 is in the units' (or ones') place. Knowing that 40 can be thought of as either four tens or as forty units is extremely helpful in developing number sense and the ability to decompose and recompose numbers. Knowing that the last name for a base ten number is determined by where the digit is placed is a set-up for success when students begin working with decimal numbers such as 0.4 and 0.004.

This first name/last name principle can also be used to explain why the whole number 7 is read simply "seven." Certain people are so famous that we only need to use their first name to identify them. In Minnesota where I live, one of the most popular people is the baseball player Kirby Puckett. He's so popular and well known that when people mention Kirby, we usually know that they are talking about the baseball player, even though his last name wasn't said. So Kirby and Kirby Puckett usually refer to the same person. Does 7 have a last name? Well, it actually does; its proper full name is seven units. However, we run into the whole number 7 so often - 7 is so famous - that we just call it by its first name only - seven. So seven and seven units usually refer to the same quantity.

This first name/last name principle applies to almost every area of mathematics, such as:


Decimals. For 0.04, we read four hundredths, where the first name is how many, four and the last name is what place it is - in this case, the final decimal place, hundredths.

Fractions. For 4Ú7 in vertical form, its name is read top to bottom, first name then last; the four tells us how many, and the sevenths tells us what kind (sevenths).

Algebra. In algebra, the first name/last name principle is a "set-up for success" when students formally study algebra in junior high school. The reason why "4x + 3x" can be simplified to "7x" is because they have the same last name. In contrast, "4x + 5y" cannot be simplified, because their last names are different. In later years of formal algebra, students will realize that "same last name" is an informal definition of "like term."

Geometry. 40¼ is read forty degrees, so its first name is forty and its last name is degrees.

Measurement. 4 units of metric linear distance would be four meters. 4 units of metric area would be four square meters (with the last name being square meters). 4 units of metric volume would be four cubic meters (with the last name being cubic meters). 4 units of time would be four hours.
This is only a partial list; you can add your own first name/last name quantities as you work in almost every area of mathematics. The principle that quantities have first and last names is a powerful tool that helps students organize their thinking about mathematical facts and concepts in several ways. It fosters connections between mathematical strands such as arithmetic and algebra; it shows similarity between integers, decimals, fractions, variables, and angle measures; and it reminds students that mathematics is a language that makes sense.

Copyright ©1993-2006 Home Life, Inc

saxon math : Discover Your Child's Learning Style

Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson are the authors of Discover Your Child's Learning Style. This book, which we reviewed in PHS #34, has the potential to revolutionize the way children are taught - and treated. Its main thrust: kids learn, think, and are motivated according to their learning styles. Their book outlines five learning dispositions, three learning modalities (each with several sub-modalities), and a variety of ways in which children's learning is affected by their environment, talents, and interests. The book also includes checklists to help you determine the learning styles of everyone in your family. Unlike other books on this topic, it also outlines a Learning Styles Model for education, one based on first determining each child's unique approach to learning rather than on "labeling" huge numbers of children as "challenged" or "deficient." With that as an introduction, let's meet the ladies!

PHS: Tell me somewhat about your book - what it covers and what kind of reception it's had so far.

VICTORIA: The book is for parents. Sometimes that message gets lost, because we end up talking about schools, but Discover Your Child's Learning Style is actually for parents and what parents can do regardless of what schools are doing. Of course the learning style profiles are in the book. They measure all five aspects of learning style. Parents can take the profiles; all of their children in the family can take the profiles; you can make charts of all the different dispositions and the different modalities. . . . It's like a unit study in a way.

PHS: A unit study on education.

VICTORIA: And how we all meet the challenge of education. The reception seems to be very good, I think it's going into its third printing. So there are at least 10,000 of these books out there, and we receive requests daily. . . . I mean I have phone calls, and people seeing me on the street ask, "Where can I get it, how can I get it?"

MARIAEMMA: It's divided into sections: Let's Get on the Team, where we have background foundational information and also some little activities for the parents to do, some questions to answer, what are their goals for their children, things like that to think about. Then there's Do the Profiles, to find out about the learning styles, and in that whole part we give specific strategies and techniques for all the different styles, so in Disposition you get techniques for all the five dispositions, and in the Modality section you get techniques for all those different modality areas. The last part is called Coach for Success.This is where we wrap it up. We have a section called Stay Fit, Focus on Solutions, Identify Goals, Track Successes, Take the Pressure Off, and there's also a chapter on how to talk to the teacher. And then there's What About Learning Disabilities? where we go into that in depth, and then we finish with Educating for the Real World, What Are We Really Trying to Do Here?

PHS: Speaking of educating for the real world, what do you think about the current trend in schools for higher standards and more testing?

MARIAEMMA: Well, you can have higher standards, but more testing isn't going to get you there. As long as we throw out information in one way to all these people who learn in all different ways, we're not going to get there. We're going to continue to have 3-5 kids in every classroom who get all the A's, and the rest are labeled.

PHS: I just thought of something - the tests themselves are geared to a certain type of learner, aren't they?

VICTORIA: That's right. We call him or her the "Producing Disposition," the visual print learner with a language reasoning talent. Students with those attributes will do fine on these tests. This is a disaster in the making because I would not be surprised at seeing dropout rates go up, I would not be surprised at seeing more use of drugs among teenagers, or at the suicide rate going up. . . .

PHS: An interesting thought just popped into my mind for the first time in my life. Regarding the use of drugs among teenagers: I'm wondering what the odds are that the ones who aren't on Ritalin - which is a drug - are using drugs other than Ritalin to make it through the day, to deal with the mind-numbing boredom and alienation they're feeling. I'm not saying that this in any way justifies it, of course, but kids don't take drugs because they're happy and feeling well-adjusted.

VICTORIA: That's right. They've got to find a way to cope with this structure that we tell them they have to go through.

MARIAEMMA: There are many reasons why kids take drugs, and there is some bad stuff going on in families nowadays. . . . But when you think about it, you spend the majority of your time in school, from the time you're five or six years old. And if that is a place that every day almost all day long is reminding you that you're deficient, it's going to take its toll, and something's going to come out of that that's not going to be positive.
saxon math

Copyright ©1993-2006 Home Life, Inc.

saxon math : High Art From Men Of Letters

Thick black lines wave and interlace, following the trail of a hand. Single letters or words, created with a swish of a house-painter's brush, become powerful abstract images. Even those of us who know not one letter of Arabic script can appreciate the way it has been transfigured or incorporated at "Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East," which runs at London's British Museum until Sept. 2. The show moves from sacred texts, through poetry and magic, to art that comments on current life in the Middle East.

Most of the material is from the museum's own collection of contemporary Middle Eastern art, started in the mid-'80s. The journey starts with the Koran, showing how
different kinds of script — the flowing Thuluth and the blocky, geometric Kufic — lend themselves to pattern-making. Japan's Fou'ad Kouichi Honda transforms Koranic verses into repeating patterns using mirror writing, while Jordanian Nassar Mansour turns the word Kun (Be) into a stark, sweeping form that's almost Art Deco.

Poetry demonstrates even more strongly the presence of a culture at ease with the distant past, one that West Europeans might envy. We use the language of Shakespeare without knowing it, but which of us can conjure up a single Anglo-Saxon verse? In the Arab world, people are still quoting poets from the Middle Ages and beyond.

Copyright © 2006 Time Inc.

saxon math : Sparta elementary principal says goodbye

Elementary Principal Stephanie Crownover recently retired amid good wishes and a steady stream of parents, students and teachers coming in to say goodbye.
A special surprise assembly had to be held a day earlier to honor the outgoing principal because Crownover had planned a field trip to the Dogwood Canyon Nature Park near Lampe with first- and second-graders on her final day.

This is a very special time for all of us — our last trip together," Crownover said.

Middle School secretary Janel Reed, who served as the summer school secretary, said Crownover made the teachers and staff feel as welcome as she did the students.

"While working in summer school, I found that the moment you walk in you're part of her team," Reed said. "She's a professional but with a sense of humor ... strong in a business where you don't always find (strength)."

After a reading session with second-graders on Thursday, a small girl said, "You're retiring, and we won't see you anymore."

Another child looked up into Crownover's face and said, "I'm going to miss you."

"We won't say goodbye," Crownover assured them. "From now on, we'll just say hello in different places."

In her eight years at Sparta, Crownover said, she's seen rapid change in education.

"I see more technology used ... now and an overall change in expectations from the state," she said. "It's good in a lot of ways, but it's very hard to cover all the expectations — from the Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as the federal government in programs like No Child Left Behind."

Also, her school building has been enlarged and enrollment has increased to nearly 400 in preschool through fifth grade.

Throughout her tenure at Sparta, summer school has been a very important program, she said. About two-thirds of the total students in the district attend each year.

During her first year, Crownover established one of the first character education programs in the area.

She's proud of the "character bench" that sits in the front entrance of the school. It was decorated by fifth graders as part of their character study during her first year at the school.

"I got it from an old church, and it was too long for the pickup we hauled it in," she said. "It was ugly so the kids painted it white and glued pictures of people being nice to each other all over the seat and painted good character trait words on the back. The decoupage is as nice today as when the kids — now in high school — decorated it."

Reed said, "Crownover compels a person to reach her level of caring, because she's set the standards for so long. I'll try to live up to her standards of caring for these students."

Crownover and her teachers also formed a team to focus on the textbook programs for language arts and mathematics to establish continuity.

"We put this under two programs where everyone in the fifth grade and under work out of the same text book program — McMillan McGraw-Hill for language arts and Saxon for math," Crownover explained.

Crownover said that while in administration she has missed the interaction with students that teaching provides. Plans are already in place to establish a small one-on-one tutoring activity called Principal's Pride. She will especially enjoy tutoring special education students, she said.

She has also accepted a position to teach art to children at the Springfield Art Museum next fall as well as remedial math and reading at Rivendale Institute of Learning, also in Springfield.

Crownover said she would especially miss the groups of children that she's watch grow up at Sparta and the people in the community.

"I'll also miss the staff at school," she added. "Nine out of 10 who come to work here stay to complete their careers."

Linda Johnson, from Hollister, will be the new Sparta principal.

By Donna Baxter

saxon math : When Saxon is an Appropriate Choice

I am not a fan of Saxon math, but a few years ago my daughter used Saxon 65 and started Saxon 76 the following year.

Before we got to this point, I had heard all the negatives about Saxon math. I had also heard a lot of so-called positives: the higher test scores, the spiral approach, the constant review, and the fact that my daughter could probably do it independently. These pluses didn't address criteria that are important to me in a math program, however, so I remained mostly unpersuaded that Saxon was a great choice.

The one positive I had heard from time to time, almost as an aside, is that Saxon is good for building confidence. Kids who had had a bad time in math, once they got going with Saxon, often found math easier, liked it better as a result, and felt better about math in general.

It was confidence I was after for my daughter. She had burned out on heavy thinking programs like Miquon, and then a long break from formal math had left her feeling as if she couldn't do math. So, despite my years of promising never to use Saxon, Saxon was the program of choice for us that year.

My daughter did find math to be fairly easy with Saxon's incremental approach. She did well, rarely making anything but careless mistakes. My guess is that, had we tested her, she would have scored well. Her confidence grew, thanks to the daily practice and hand-holding Saxon provided. I found the promise that Saxon could build confidence to be true in our case. (No doubt it would not hold true for every child!)

The negatives I'd heard also proved to be true, so we abandoned Saxon 76 for Singapore Math. We are much happier in general with Singapore Math, but Saxon served its purpose. Had I not been willing to work at Singapore Math with my daughter, Saxon might have remained a viable choice because my daughter, like most children, really was able to use it independently. For families where there isn't an adult who is willing or able to teach math, Saxon may be the best choice. Not everyone needs an excellent understanding of math in their adult lives, though everyone will benefit from the best math education. Some children are more natural mathematical thinkers than others, and they may have no trouble bridging Saxon's gaps on their own. If the family's goals are merely good scores on the SATs and reasonable computing skills, Saxon may fit the bill.

I don't regret using Saxon for that year. I don't recommend it lightly, but Saxon has its benefits that may, in some cases, outweigh the negatives, especially for short-term use.

From: Laura in CT

saxon math : Do Great Test Scores Signify a Great Math Education

What do Math Professors Say?

Saxon Math is generally held in such high regard by the homeschooling community that I seldom open my "mouth" to offer a dissenting opinion. However, if the day and mood are right I will venture forth with my "heresy." Today is such a day...

Before retirement, my father was the Dean of Instruction at a community college in a community that shifted their high school math instruction to Saxon. The teachers in his math department were UNANIMOUS in their observations that the Saxon math program did not deliver students capable of performing well in higher math. In fact my father, who resolutely keeps his nose out of my curriculum decisions (even when asked), went out of his way to make sure that I did not use Saxon math. I was surprised at his firm resolve in this issue and over the years have questioned him at length regarding the distaste his math faculty had for Saxon and looked at program in detail.

Our hypothesis is this. Saxon's emphasis on drill and repetition allows a student to perform well within a concept; thus, the results on standardized testing are good. Saxon does not adequately emphasize problem solving and certainly not problem solving that requires creatively moving from one concept to another or thinking "outside the box." This is precisely the sort of skill necessary to excel in higher mathematics.

As for Kindergarten....I was going to use Saxon anyway because I figured that perhaps the effects would not be profound at such an early level. My father reminded me that math is a skill that builds on a firm foundation and that whatever the flaws were in the Saxon program, they would be evident in the lower levels as well. So I use Scott-Foresman and supplement with drill as necessary.

From: Tracy in TX

saxon math : The Math Worksheet Site Kids

I am a homeschooling father of six. (Seven as of August 2004.) My two oldest daughters--Ruth (age 12) and Sarah (age 10)--started using the WORD 6.0 version of MathWork as their primary math instructional material when I wrote the original program 5 1/2 years ago. They started out printing and completing about 2 worksheets 5 days a week. They used the worksheets until they memorized the multiplication tables and showed proficiency in long division. At that time we started them in Saxon Math 65, which is a math curriculum designed for 6th grade or advanced 5th grade students. Since the first 100 pages of Saxon Math 65 review a lot of 1st through 4th grade math, we can cover material that isn't covered using The Math Worksheet Site worksheets.

We got the idea to delay formal math instruction using a math textbook from Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn of Trivium Pursuit, an organization that encourages homeschooling families in classical methods of education.

Ruth is now working through her first-year algebra book. Sarah is working through Saxon Math 76. Anna (age 7) is now using these worksheets to memorize her multiplication tables. Paul (age 6) has surprised me by showing me completed worksheets for addition with carrying. When did he learn that?

http://themathworksheetsite.com/bio.html

saxon math : Why Home Schools Are Superior to Private Schools

have been part of the Christian school movement ever since 1962, when I read R. J. Rushdoony's 1961 book, Intellectual Schizophrenia. His 1963 book, The Messianic Character of American Education, only reaffirmed what I already believed.

I came into contact with Robert and Rosemary Thoburn, the creators of the profit-seeking Fairfax Christian School, sometime around 1969. Mrs. Thoburn taught a generation of Christian school entrepreneurs how to teach children how to read through phonics. The founders of the A Beka program were taught by her.

Over the years, I have watched the parallel development of Christian home schooling and Christian day schooling. I have come to the conclusion that home schools are superior on average.

There are reasons for this. Here are a few of them.

MOTIVATION

Parents are more interested in their children's performance than salaried teachers are. Teachers must concern themselves with a room full of other people's children. A mother concerns herself with a room full of her children. It is a smaller room.

Let me cut short a mistake. Beyond the second or third grade, parents should cease worrying about individual instruction, unless the child has a learning disability. The concern over student/teacher ratios is a concern of the teacher unions. It should not be a concern of parents. The older the child is, the more true the statement is.

I feel sorry for the high school students of parents – meaning almost all parents – who wail, "I want my child to have a low student/teacher ratio." That child is being set up for a crisis on the day he or she walks into a college class of 1,000 students. The mega-class is a cash cow for colleges. Faculties assign their lower-level non-tenured assistant professors to teach them. These classes are graded by graduate students.

Some 17-year-old who has learned how to learn in a tiny class is now thrown to the lions. "Good luck!"

This is even more true of home-schooled college freshmen. Momma is back home. Momma can't help. Momma set up her child for an expensive lesson in the only education that matters in the long run: self-education.

There is only one curriculum that is geared entirely to self-education: Dr. Arthur Robinson's. He wants parents to get out of the way of their children's education as early as possible.

Because his K-12 CD-ROM-based curriculum sells for $200, once per family, it is the best bargain in the history of education. But it is not for parents of Momma's boys and girls.

The best thing about the Robinson Curriculum is that it ends forever the seeming legitimacy of the complaint, "We just can't afford private education." A family can buy this curriculum for $200 – the cost of a pair of running shoes – plus the cost of a set of the Saxon math books. After that, it only costs paper and toner.

Because Christian parents are generally more concerned with protecting their children socially than with training up intellectual warriors, Robinson's approach to education is not widely accepted in Christian circles. The fact that a student who gets through this curriculum can quiz out of his first year of college, and possibly two years, does not impress such parents. This is because so few of them ever mastered the skills of self-education.

Despite Christian parents' desire to provide social environment rather than intellectual tools of combat, I still think conventional home schooling beats private day schooling. Parental concern is very great. Parents have not only pulled a child out of the humanists' established church – the public school system – the mother has also decided to skip entry into the wage-earning work force for the sake of her children's education. This degree of commitment, even when accompanied by the well-meant but ill-conceived pedagogy of showing children how to solve problems with mother's help rather than by themselves, overcomes the low common denominator problem of the k-12 classroom.

by Gary North

saxon math : When Saxon is an Appropriate Choice

I am not a fan of Saxon math, but a few years ago my daughter used Saxon 65 and started Saxon 76 the following year.

Before we got to this point, I had heard all the negatives about Saxon math. I had also heard a lot of so-called positives: the higher test scores, the spiral approach, the constant review, and the fact that my daughter could probably do it independently. These pluses didn't address criteria that are important to me in a math program, however, so I remained mostly unpersuaded that Saxon was a great choice.

The one positive I had heard from time to time, almost as an aside, is that Saxon is good for building confidence. Kids who had had a bad time in math, once they got going with Saxon, often found math easier, liked it better as a result, and felt better about math in general.

It was confidence I was after for my daughter. She had burned out on heavy thinking programs like Miquon, and then a long break from formal math had left her feeling as if she couldn't do math. So, despite my years of promising never to use Saxon, Saxon was the program of choice for us that year.

My daughter did find math to be fairly easy with Saxon's incremental approach. She did well, rarely making anything but careless mistakes. My guess is that, had we tested her, she would have scored well. Her confidence grew, thanks to the daily practice and hand-holding Saxon provided. I found the promise that Saxon could build confidence to be true in our case. (No doubt it would not hold true for every child!)

The negatives I'd heard also proved to be true, so we abandoned Saxon 76 for Singapore Math. We are much happier in general with Singapore Math, but Saxon served its purpose. Had I not been willing to work at Singapore Math with my daughter, Saxon might have remained a viable choice because my daughter, like most children, really was able to use it independently. For families where there isn't an adult who is willing or able to teach math, Saxon may be the best choice. Not everyone needs an excellent understanding of math in their adult lives, though everyone will benefit from the best math education. Some children are more natural mathematical thinkers than others, and they may have no trouble bridging Saxon's gaps on their own. If the family's goals are merely good scores on the SATs and reasonable computing skills, Saxon may fit the bill.

I don't regret using Saxon for that year. I don't recommend it lightly, but Saxon has its benefits that may, in some cases, outweigh the negatives, especially for short-term use.

From: Laura in CT

saxon math : My Children Teach Themselves

Each day, before beginning any other work, each child (except Matthew) works an entire lesson in the Saxon series of mathematics books. This usually involves working about 30 problems. If the 30 problems seem to be taking much less than two hours each day, we sometimes increase the assignment to two lessons or about 60 problems per day. If the lessons seem to be taking much more than two hours, then we reduce to one-half lesson or about 15 problems per day. This is an excellent series of texts. The children work their way through the entire series at a rate that finishes calculus, the last text in the series, when they are 15 years of age.

They grade their own problems and rework any missed problems. They must tell me if they miss a problem and show the correctly-worked solution to me. The younger children tend to make one or two errors each day. As they get older, the error rate drops. The older children make about one error each week. On very rare occasions, perhaps once each month, an older child will actually need help with a problem he or she feels unable to solve.

This emphasis on math with the help of the excellent Saxon series teaches them to think, builds confidence and ability to the point of almost error-free performance, and establishes a basis of knowledge that is essential to later progress in science and engineering.

It is also absolutely essential preparation for the non-quantitative subjects that do not require mathematics. The ability to distinguish the quantitative from the non-quantitative -- the truth from error -- fact from fiction -- is an absolutely essential requirement for effective thinking. Otherwise one will tend to confuse independent, truthful thought with opinions based upon falsehoods and propaganda.

Our society is filled to the brim with public school graduates who imagine that they are independent thinkers when they actually are programmed to believe anything they perceive as fashionable. This cult-like behavior is not limited to graduates in "soft subjects." Many people supposedly educated in the sciences and engineering also practice this ritual of non-thought.

I believe that much of this difficulty stems from poor early education in mathematics and logical thought. It is essential to understand that physical truths are absolute and can be rigorously determined. This must be learned by actually determining absolutes. Mathematical problem solving is an excellent mechanism for doing this.

By Dr. Arthur Robinson