21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellence in Mathematics, March 4, 2006
This review is from: Algebra 1: An Incremental Development (Hardcover)
I have been using Saxon mathematics for 15 years, first as a 5th-12th grade student and more recently as a tutor. This program is excellent and like one of the other reviewers I can agree that even my "average" Saxon students have significantly better mathematics skills that those students using other programs.
I began using Saxon math in 5th grade. Prior to that I used a typical "learn and drill" method. A new concept was taught and drilled for 20+ problems and then the instruction moved on to another topic. By the time I reached an end of unit exam I had forgotten the early material.
Then in 5th grade we changed curriculums. I didn't become a "math lover" overnight. In fact, although my math skills improved, I adamently hated math all the way through junior high. Then I began algebra. By the end of Saxon's algebra 2 textbook I loved algebra and was making high A's in my homework.
A couple of years after highschool I was invited to begin tutoring math at a private school. At this point I reviewed my Saxon Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 eventually going on to study Advanced Mathematics for the fun of it. I would spend 2-3 hours a day studying math and loving every minute of it.
This independant study was 2 1/2 years ago. I recently decided to attend college as a math major. Last semester I passed Calculus I near or at the top of all the Cal I classes combined. My Saxon skills gave me the tools I needed to study well and grasp rather abstract concepts.
The one area that has concerned me is trigonometry. The Advanced Mathematics covered the topic quite thoroughly, however Calculus requires a lot of trig and it has been so long since I studied Advanced Math I've been afraid my professors will "spring" something on me I don't remember.
Yesterday my fears were alleviated. The math department held an extra credit exam for the Cal 2 students. The exam was a trig placement exam they would like to implement in the future. Because of my other classes I didn't have time to study so I decided to "wing" it and hope my studies 2 1/2 years ago would award me at least partial credit.
I'm quite pleased to say that thanks to Saxon I knew how to work every single problem on the test even though it has been 2 1/2 years since I studied trigonometry and I have not had any trig students since that time. Saxon works... Excellently.
If you are considering the Saxon texts let me encourage you to read the introductions to the texts. They are quite inspiring, imparting the vision Saxon had for math.
In addition students must work every problem. This is the whole reason Saxon works -- lots and lots of review. What most people fail to realize is that mathematics is like music; practice creates excellence.
Finally for those concerned about Saxon's lack of a dedicated geometry text, after having tutored math for 5 years I am convinced that Saxon's integrated approach is far more effective than traditional methods. Saxon teaches geometry concepts throughout the junior high and high school grades allowing for mastery of the ideas long before the formal proofs are introduced in Advanced Mathematics. This is excellent as I believe that older students have a greater capacity to grasp the rather abstract skills required for geometric proofs.
I'm very thankful for the curriculum switch in 5th grade. Because of Saxon I have transformed from a math-hating elementary student to a very succesful math major.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review helps!, April 6, 2005
This review is from: Algebra 1: An Incremental Development (Hardcover)
I walked into my algebra classes very intimidated because I never did well in high school. I can't tell anyone enough what a great thing Saxon (I used 51 and 53) books were. The repitition and reviewing of problems helped me. At first it would seem that I would have trouble understanding. Then as I progressed through the lessons and previews I realized that I was understanding the prior lessons more because of the reviewing problem sets. I became a "math lover". If you have it in you to get the solution manuals I would recommend those also. Not for "cheating", but for when you come to a problem that is just not working out and you feel sure you are doing it right,the solutions manual will take you step by step on how that problem was solved and then you can find out where you might have gone wrong. Saxon is the best for my "learning type"..no pictures to distract you and it sticks to the lessons!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good...but does not review enough, read to see why..., January 20, 2005
This review is from: Algebra 1: An Incremental Development (Hardcover)
I started using Saxon because I had heard many marvelous things about it--the teacher's manuals show the problem being solved step by step and the book reviews very, very often.
True; the teacher manuals are excellent. They go through the problems step-by-step, really quite useful.
Does the book review often? Yes and no. It's set up to where you must complete four lessons then take a quiz...a quiz based on the four lessons you did before you did the last four you just did. (for example, you do lessons 5-8 then take a quiz based on lessons 1-4) So, yes, it does review with it's quizes.
However, it does not review outside of the quizes. It gives you one lesson to learn something...one lesson, and only one. If you don't understand it, you must continue to read the lesson over until you understand it. Which is kind of a, "Well...yeah, of course." But sometimes it's nice to see what you're trying to learn in another lesson, to see it worded differently.
Not only that, but what if you are not a good retainer of information? If you are not a good retainer of information, then even if you do pick up the material, you immidiently go on to new material. You are expected to remember the material you just learned, as well as learn the new material. Forcing you to go back in the book and review what you learned earlier if you were not able to retain it.
Overall, I think this would be a better book if there was two or three lessons to cover the same material, and less teaching new material. There is a lot that they expect you to learn in only one year. Four stars, leaning towards 3.5 stars.
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