Saxon Math

Saxon Math was designed to teach math through incremental development and continual review and has been successfully used in the homeschool, public and private school markets since the early 1980's.

Students who are the most successful with Saxon Math include those who:

• thrive with routine and structure.
• prefer a straight-forward approach.
• like repetition in their instruction.
• need a lot of review.
• do better with written work.

Saxon Math might not be the best fit for students who are visual/spatial learners, get bored with repetition, need a lot of conceptual explanation or struggle with doing a lot of problems every day.

You can read more from the publisher of Saxon Math, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, here.

Our program was designed to directly support the following editions of Saxon Math Homeschool:

• Saxon Math 5/4 - 3rd edition
• Saxon Math 6/5 - 3rd edition
• Saxon Math 7/6 - 4th edition
• Saxon Math 8/7 - 3rd edition
• Saxon Math Algebra 1/2 - 3rd edition
• Saxon Math Algebra 1 - 3rd edition
• Saxon Math Algebra 2 - 3rd edition
• Advanced Math - 2nd edition

We also support the following books from the "School Line" of Saxon Math:

• Algebra 1 - 4th edition
• Geometry – 1st edition
• Intermediate 3 - 1st edition
• Intermediate 4 - 1st edition
• Intermediate 5 - 1st edition
• Course 1 - 1st edition
• Course 2 - 1st edition
• Course 3 - 1st edition

In order to benefit the most from our program, you will need the editions listed above. However, if you only have access to an earlier edition, it is possible to still utilize most of our video lessons with the use of a correlation sheet. Correlation sheets can be found in the Materials and Downloads section of each course.

(PLEASE NOTE: Online Grading will NOT work with anything other than the editions listed above.) We have correlation sheets for the following earlier editions:

1st Editions

• Saxon Math 5/4
• Saxon Math 6/5

2nd Editions

• Saxon Math 5/4
• Saxon Math 6/5
• Saxon Math 7/6
• Saxon Math 8/7
• Saxon Math Algebra 1/2
• Saxon Math Algebra 1
• Saxon Math Algebra 2

3rd Editions

• Saxon Math 7/6

Saxon Math Homeschool textbooks are updated editions of the original Saxon Math textbooks authored by John Saxon. They look different,contain different review problems, have slightly different tables of content and were co-authored by Stephen Hake, but the teaching, pacing, incremental approach and spiral review remain the same. You can find a list of titles of the most current homeschool edition here.

There is also a line of Saxon Math textbooks that were written specifically for the school system. The teaching, pacing and approach remain largely the same though they do contain more word problems, logic-based questions and real-world applications. They also have a distinctly more "schoolish" feel to them. For a list of books in the school versions, go here.

To compare the two lines....

• Saxon Math 3 and Intermediate 3 are fairly different
• Saxon Math 5/4 and Intermediate 4 are 90% the same
• Saxon Math 6/5 and Intermediate 5 are 90% the same
• Saxon Math 7/6 and Course 1 are 90% the same
• Saxon Math 8/7 and Course 2 are 90% the same
• Algebra 1/2 and Course 3 are completely different
• Algebra 1 (3rd ed) and Algebra 2 (3rd ed) are completely

Neither line is Common Core aligned though they both meet all state and national standards.

For every lesson, we cover the following:

• Warm-up section can be graded by our online grading system.
• Fact Practice is graded by our system
• New Concept is taught by Nicole in a pre-recorded video.
• A second video walks through some of Nicole's own practice problems.
• Practice Problems in the book can be graded by our system.
• Mixed Review in the book can be graded by our system.

If you are coming from a different math curriculum, we strongly suggest you give your student the appropriate Saxon placement test. The placement tests are free, can be administered by you at home and are located here.

If you are coming from a different math curriculum, we strongly suggest you give your student the appropriate Saxon placement test. The placement tests are free, can be administered by you at home and are located here.

There are loads of great math options available to homeschoolers but that does not mean they are all great options for your student. Deciding which math curriculum your student uses is entirely up to you, of course. However, we do have a few suggestions that might help you with that decision (with specifics to Saxon Math).

• Ask yourself why you want to switch? If your student's current math curriculum is not a good fit, then, yes, you should consider switching. But, if it's working well, then you might want to consider that a victory and leave it alone. (Switching curriculum is one of the biggest reasons of math gaps.)
• Stop to identify what's not working about your current math curriculum. Now ask yourself if Saxon Math will create the same issue or solve that problem.
  • For instance, if BJU is not working because your student complains that it is boring to look at, Saxon will likely not improve things.
  • On the other hand, if your student is doing Math-U-See and is not doing well with it's mastery approach, Saxon might be a better option.
• Consider where your student is in their math journey and assess whether it's wise to switch them at this time. Saxon changes its formatting between 3rd and 4th grades and again between Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1. These create natural breaks that might allow for a smoother change. Additionally, Saxon has a unique high school path which means it's more complicated to jump in/out of it in the later years.
• If you decide to make a switch, always start with the placement test. No two math curriculums line up perfectly and it's important to start your student in the correct book. You can find the placement test for Saxon here. And, keep in mind, it's more than okay to go back a grade level. If the goal of switching curriculums is to create a better math experience for your student, then you increase the chances of that happening if the new math curriculum meets them where they are.

Nicole's teaching is clear and concise with most videos falling in the 3-8 minute range. The videos for higher level textbooks (Algebra 1, Algebra 2, etc) are a wee bit longer with an average of 10-15 minutes in length. And Advanced Math videos are closer to 20-25 minutes long.