Anyone using Saxon K?

[Jenene]

Thanks for the link.  I've printed out the first 10 lessons of 5/4 and we will see how we go

[MummyRoo]

I got the Saxon K teacher's manual today. I am glad I didn't go for the 'meeting book' as well (despite how much I love to have complete sets) because it is basically the same as the calendar time session I started with my son last month with an extra patterning exercise that I can easily add to what we already do. This also takes out the issue that the meeting book assumes a September start. I would also advise against the materials kit for anyone who is thinking about buying - I have almost everything already in my EL supplies cupboard! All you need are pattern blocks, counters (they use teddies but I have cars and trains and dinosaurs...) geoboards, linking cubes (or any other blocks that stick together, like legos) tangrams, a clock, dominoes and a balance. I would guess most of us have a good number of these things already 

The lessons themselves look great. They are written word-for-word, which some might find annoying, but at least it makes the content/purpose of the lesson very clear if you want to re-word it and allows for very little prep time.

The first few lessons encourage creative play with the materials to get to know what they are. Lesson 5 introduces graphs. Lesson 9 teaches making AB patterns. Lesson 17 starts story problems. Almost every lesson has a lot of 1-to1 correspondence.

I haven't looked past the first 20 lessons, but what I have seen looks fantastic. It covers topics that I wouldn't think to introduce this early (like graphs) but I have no doubt that my 3 year old could easily understand the material. Each lesson looks to take at most 10-15 minutes and I will easily find time for one each day. Yes, I could easily cover this material on my own, but having a step-by-step guide will make it so much easier to make sure everything is covered and will save me hours of lesson-planning time to focus on other areas. Considering the speed we will probably go through it, I wouldn't have paid the full price, but if you can get it second hand it is a great reference guide.

I will let you know the (more important ) opinion of my son after we have used the material for a couple of weeks.

[Mandabplus3]

Sounds good so far. It's similar to what I teach my kindy kids. We have done patterns quite  bit. I did graphs wih their shoes, but i do need to do a follow up lesson on something else soon. The calendar stuff is great and yes adding in the patterns to your every day calendar is such an easy way to enforce patterns. There is a sample lesson for that level and others ( including calendar) somewhere....I can't recall if it is on Saxons own website but it gives a good overview if anyone wants to see a sample lesson.
From what you said that book would be too easy for my 4 year old so I think you are right to start on it with a 3 year old. So then you are already 2 years ahead and school hasn't even started and we havnt even attempted to accelerate the speed yet!

[MummyRoo]

Yes, I would think it would be rather slow and boring for older children. Perfect for a slow introduction at 2-3, though. I think the repetition and slow build-up of facts would drive a 4 year old with EL experience a bit mad, though.

So then you are already 2 years ahead and school hasn't even started and we havnt even attempted to accelerate the speed yet!

Yes! BUT The K curriculum only has 12 lessons per month. I plan to complete a lesson most days (5-7/week), which means the whole K curriculum will be finished in 4-5 months!  The lessons seem short and simple enough that completing 2 books in the year should be quite manageable. In that case, it would be easy to have finished 3rd grade maths before even starting school! Even going to school, I can see no problem finding time (especially in the first few years) for one extra lesson per day, which would have him ready for the Algebra books when he enters Year 2! 

Now, If we accelerated to two lessons daily (which I doubt we will, as I'd also like to work on MEP daily) but if we do it would allow us to cover FOUR years of maths in 12 months and be potentially starting school five or six years ahead!

I really can't get my head around that - my son is smart but no prodigy; I just can't imagine him doing such complex work so young! And yet I can see that it would be quite easy to sit down for half and hour or an hour every day and get him there! The possibilities presented by EL continue to amaze me 

[Mandabplus3]

I know! Wonderful isn't it! Even with my focus having been on things NOT taught in school my kids just know amazing things that have their teachers regularly emailing and texting me! 
So just a thought. Yes it is entirely possible to do the kindergarten at an accelerated rate, I make one little suggestion. If the new concept introduced is AB patterns then yes do that lesson, but be sure it is reviewed out side of the math-at-the-table environment. I say this purely because as you a re starting to teach in the pre logic stage your child may not be able to connect the learning to everyday stuff. So it would be good of you to help him. Once you do the first few he will have no problem doing the rest independantly. Particularly important if you DO plan to send him to school. Because even if he can do multi digit addition some smug teacher will say " well yes but he can't recognize a pattern in the playground" 
I assume Saxon K has the same repetitive pattern that the higher levels have? Where the concept that is introduced in constantly reinforced? That will ensure you can progress at an accelerated pace. As much as I can't picture ( in my puny little brain) a kid in grade 2 doing calculus, I certainly know it is possible! why is it so hard to believe when we already know it's possible! 

[MummyRoo]

I'm trying to visualise a six year old with a textbook almost as big as them, working through complex maths equations... it just ends up comical   

Thanks for the heads-up about reinforcing lessons learnt. There is a lot of repetition  - one lesson on one-to-one correspondence required putting counting bears in the AB pattern before counting them, and I seem to remember the same in a lesson using linking cubes for 1-to-1. I think that is what Saxon is so good at (and what would make a 5 year old cry with boredom!) which is one of the reasons I thought I'd like to try their early curriculum. Taking the time to reinforce concepts is why I don't want to rush through the K lessons. I hope that by also following the MEP curriculum, which seems to cover less in more depth and make the child think more about what they are learning, that I can make sure he covers all that he needs to know for each year.

[linzy]

My just turned 6 year old is sailing though Saxon 4/5. I would really recommend it. He thinks it is easy, but it has a lot of review of previous lessons. If your child has done EL I would not wait until they are older or maybe. The good think is it is very comprehensive so there are no gaps in learning.

[MummyRoo]

I have written a review of the K program so far here: http://dancingwithdinos.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/not-another-maths-program.html

[Mandabplus3]

I thinks thats a pretty accurate write up. LOVE the family graph! Will definately try that one with my lot!

[MummyRoo]

I've put up another post with more detail about how we do the patterning exercise at the beginning.

If anyone's interested, its here: http://dancingwithdinos.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/patterns.html

[MummyRoo]

If anyone is interested, I've done a more detailed review now that we have covered nearly 1/4 of the book. You can read it here: http://dancingwithdinos.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/saxon-k.html

In short, I am less enamoured than I was in the beginning. I like the thoroughness and repetition, but the slow pace is starting to get to me. I have decided we need to double up lessons, before he gets bored! At this pace, we should get through the rest of the book by Easter! I think we could have easily started 6 or even 12 months ago - the lessons as scripted take only 5-10 minutes, and new ideas are added very, very slowly.

It looks like it gets a bit more challenging towards the end - though the lesson 92 assessment involves a story of three bears are joined by two bears (how many now?) then four go away (how many left?) without ever once mentioning the words 'plus/add' or 'take away/minus' - so not very challenging!

Depending on how Nikki is enjoying it, we may stick with it and speed through Saxon 1-3 (at the very least I will know that he knows everything necessary for starting 5/4) but I am not sure at this point. There is an awful lot of busy work!

[Mandabplus3]

Yes that's why it isn't as highly regarded as the books from 5/4 onwards. It's a filling curriculum. Something to give the kids to do while the grow up, or something to distract them while they should be learning math facts perhaps?
It does cover some interesting topics which really kids should know ( calendar, patterning the idea of cumulative addition etc) but the question is whether its the best way to teach those things. like ou said they will know what they need to know and at least it is scripted to make your life easier. 2 a day seems completely feasible, definitely do that!

[MummyRoo]

Yes, the reason I would probably keep on with Saxon 1-3 (apart from Nikki enjoying them) is because of all the other things they cover apart from basic maths facts which I want to make sure I don't overlook. I do like the way the material is introduced, I just think that much more could be covered in a lesson and the difficulty of material shown could move a lot faster!

[seastar]

Funny, I was just thinking about Saxon K this morning - we have not used it in ages as it is so slooowwwwwww. I have been thinking of just taking the concepts from a few lessons and combining them into one longer lesson/play session.

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