I'd disagree with you. Used Saxon Math from my 4th grade year up until I went into calculus in college, loved it. No problem applying to real-world problems. Many many homeschoolers love Saxon for the mastery of basic concepts.
There is one school district in NY which noticed that all the homeschoolers used Saxon math and all their kids did exceptionally well on the standardized testing. They looked into it at the elementary level, Math 54, 65, 76,and 87, and liked it so much that they used it for their elementary schools and THEIR standardized test scores went up.