[hsmomx3]

I look forward to the responses here.

If we homeschool again, I need to research on this as I have discovered that many schools (public and private) are not crazy about Saxon. My son said that what he is using at his school (private, Christian) is much better than Saxon. I will have to check the publisher on this when they get home.

[SoftballMominVA]

Since Ben is the only one in Calc, the private school is using the resources that the local public school uses. It sounds to me like he is expected to go through the book, workbook, and CD with some guidance from a member of their church. He'd like to take the AP exam in the spring, but he's not sure he's learning what he needs to learn. He's a bright kid and math has always come easy, but I think without the direct guidance of someone who knows how to answer questions, he's flailing a bit.

I'm going to gather up the suggestions and send them to her in an email. I suggested that she come on here herself and ask but she was a bit intimidated by us Freepers.

I told her it was okay, only a few bite, and most have had their shots :)

[cinives]

Many schools are not crazy about Saxon because it takes a very methodical approach, utilizes repetition in problem solving to drive home concepts, and is very practical in its orientation.
Many teachers dislike this, for the same reason they dislike phonics. On the other hand, those who need to teach themselves are wildly successful with this approach.

There are no fancy pictures, stories about rainforests, or other politically correct nonsense in the books.

[metmom]

I know educators tend not to like Saxon, but my husband is an engineer and other engineers he works with who are familar with the Saxon Math program speak very highly of it. They feel it's the best one to use to prepare kids for the practical application of math in the real world.

We used Saxon for all the years we homeschooled and my kids SAT scores in the math section were both very good and now that the two are trying public school, they are way ahead of the other kids in their classes. My son is in his second year in high school, taking trig and it's all still review for him. My daughter is bored to tears in her class.

[metmom]

One other thing. I needed calc for my college degree but never took trig in high school. Fortunately, I ran into a wonderful math prof who was a big help.

When I started homeschooling my kids, I was unsure about how I'd do teaching math that I didn't understand, but I found the Saxon explained things so clearly that I learned all that stuff I fought tooth and nail throughout my high school years.