Customer Reviews

Saxon Math 2: An Incremental Development Part 1 & 2 (Workbook and Fact Cards-2 volume set)

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When you order the Saxon Math program be sure you get the complete kit. You will need the student workbooks and the teacher's book.

This program is a comprehensive math program that develops on itself. It continually provides assessments as a means of checking and rechecking learning and retention. The one thing it does not do very well is provide a guide to what to do when the child fails the assessment. It moves at a fairly even pace.

This is a general review of Saxon, not specifically this book. Saxon math program has worked for both of my kids for the lower grades. However, as soon as the student gets mature enough to say "now I am studying this topic.", I switch him or her to Singapore Primary Math. Saxon Math grades 1 through 3 comes as worksheets, which are very easy to use. Each worksheet has "more of the same" on the back, which you can skip if the child already "gets it". Saxon 2nd grade covers the material that is being taught in public school nowadays in 1st grade (except that with Saxon, your child will actually master the material). Use the placement tests available online. For each grade, the first 20 lessons repeat what was done in the previous year, so feel free to skip most of them. In Saxon, if your student is very good at math, I recommend that you skip every other day's lesson, or else at least cross out the review problems. Some students like the success that comes with repetition, but for many students, Saxon provides way too much tedious practice.

When your student can do the work quickly, consistently scores 100%, and is bored, it is time to consider transitioning to Singapore Math. Singapore Math gives a much more profound understanding of math, so if your student can handle it, I suggest using Singapore instead. Beware that 7/6 or 6/5 in Saxon is equivalent to level 3b in Singapore, so you will need to step down. There are good placement tests available for both systems.

One caveat: The last 20 or so lessons for each grade look like they are not really meant to be covered. They seem to jump around and not really cover things methodically. It seems like they are only meant as enrichment for students who have completed the year's work fast. So if you find the last few lessons in the book too hard for your student, strangely enough, just jump to the next year for easier problems.

This math program is great for homeschooling because the student can work somewhat independently, and each day's work is clearly delineated.

If your child is using Everyday Math or some other flavor of "Chicago Math" in school - in other words, your child is not learning math in school, Saxon is a solid program that you can use at home. From what I understand, the better private schools use Saxon one year ahead of grade level.

Another caveat: the worksheets are great, but some advanced students, particularly the 6-year-olds who can do Math 3, and particularly boys, may find that they have trouble doing their work within the space provided or with organizing their work. They are still developmentally not ready to write their numbers smaller, or they have trouble positioning things. I find that with my kids, I sometimes need to draw blank worksheets for some of the questions. Children working at grade level, especially if they are girls, are not as likely to have this problem.

These workbooks (Part 1 and 2) are a necessary and consumable part of Saxon's second grade math program. The "fact cards" could be re-used but the workbooks must be purchased for each child. In addition, you will need the teacher's guide and many manipulative items. Overall, Saxon Math has been totally worth the effort and expense.

This item is NOT loose leaf. It is bound at the top as a tear out notebook only without a scored line. Holes are punched on the left hand side. I REALLY wanted loose leaf and would have returned it except I needed it now. The paper quality is horrible, just as others have stated. I'm copying it for my own use on better quality paper which really makes it quite expensive.

We have gone back and forth over which math curriculum we should use. I have decided on two different ones, taking a bit from each. One we chose to use was Saxon Math. But I will say that we usually only complete 1 side of the worksheets unless there is something that needs more practice. While I think repetitiveness is good in math, Saxon goes a little bit far with it and I have found my daughter gets tiresome of doing the problems over and over again if she already clearly understands them. But overall I am happy with her progress on Saxon Math, particularly with the real life application of math, as well as the sheets with addition / subtraction practice. Will see how it goes this year, but I think we will probably continue on with Saxon Math.

I bought this product, and the lessons are scattered all over... no cohesion what-so-ever!!!

Then, it expects you to read a "script" from the teacher book... It is very wordy, and hard to follow.

The pages are just filled with text and problems... no color, whimsy, or anything to grab a child's attention.

Saxon is a ridiculous waste of paper! Half of the book is repeated script for the parent to read. Every day starts with the same two pages of script about checking the weather and looking at the calendar. they seriously didn't need to write it out for every day... we're not THAT stupid!
The work was super boring and not nearly as "consecutive" as Singapore Math. We switched and now my kindergartner is doing multiplication and LOVING it!