[mathluv]

Disagree. Saxon DOES work for most children. The data cannot be contested. Write to the publisher for details.

Is the publishers information comparative or anecdotal? I have seen or heard of few classroomes where it has really worked. Most are leaving it, or supplementing it heavily.

The touchy-feely, rainforest, can't-we-all-get-along, problem-solving mantra is a canard.

There is nothing touchy feely about PROBLEM SOLVING. It is thinking, applying, and using basic math skills.

Development of critical thinking skills and the ability to problem solve comes after a strong foundation in the basics has been laid. Upper division high school and then college are the correct places to put the burden on students for complex problem solving.

Our children are problem solvers before they enter school. Not encouraging problem solving in everyday life is a disservice to them. Evidently we don't agree on what true problem solving is.

[JenB]

Saxon does work. I used it, and was in Calculus classes by the time I was fifteen. Five of my six younger siblings are or have used it. None of us have to use our fingers - or a calculator - to solve problems. In addition we seem to have all the problem solving skills we need.

For example, while watching a television show last week, one of my siblings connected an idea that had been taught as a particular case - about how to add up all the integers from one to one hundred - to generalize and quickly add up another sequence of numbers.

I know a great many homeschoolers, and those who use Saxon math do much better than most of the others.

[Lizavetta]

Our children are problem solvers before they enter school.

I have four children and I honestly have not noticed this in them, or any other child. And whatever abilities to solve children may inherently have, I don't believe it has any meaning in terms of abstract mathematical principals. Young brains are not capable of abstract thought until later - they're simply not wired that way.

Evidently we don't agree on what true problem solving is.

Perhaps not....but at least we can have a civil disagreement, right?

[quark]

Sorry, you're just beating the drum for the teachers' unions, despite your earlier denial. You have a hidden agenda -- perhaps disdain for homeschoolers or opposition to school choice. Attacking Saxon, the most successful math curriculum to come along in decades, is just a symptom of some unstated cause you are pursuing.