Friday, January 29, 2010

Our Current Life with Saxon Math

There are many details in our family's Catholic life that will not be interesting in my other blog (mrstreasures.wordpress.com) so I decided to write back here like a journal.

In 2002, I used Saxon 5/4 with my 4th grade boy. Ever since that time, he was getting high grades in math in public school.
Now, that we are using Saxon Math program again with my children, I can see where other parents may have a difficult time with this program.

It is challenging because you have to do 25-30 mathematical problems a day. In the elementary and middle grades, there is a 20 minutes MATH fact drill, 5-10 minutes mental math exercises, lesson (another 10 minutes), practice set problems, and the 25-30 exercises. It takes one hour and a half to do it. It is very self-teaching. There is almost no teacher help required. I personally allot 2 hours for Saxon Math with my children.

The concepts are explained very simply. The exercises spiral back to previous lessons and skills. Thus, you will not really forget the lessons as they are delivered in increments.

Yet, the difficult part for most students is to be “accurate”.

Many parents using Saxon Math just do even numbers one day. Some parents allow for odd numbers on another day. I did that with my 15 year old when she was in 9th grade last year. It was a huge disaster. She had to repeat the book this year. She was not able to master the concepts and skills required. And she hated it so much.

I had to insist to her because I believe in the program. But, does it work for ADD kids?

Honestly, ADD kids, if not medicated, may possibly have a hard time focusing on Saxon Math. It is very easy to get distracted because it is hard work. ADD kids like anything easy so they can go in their own world. They cannot pursue tasks that are super boring.

Saxon Math becomes boring because it is a discipline, a mathematical training and conditioning. Even if it is presented in bits and pieces, it does not have the “funfare” that would entice a child to stick with it. I took the risk and jumped into the program with 7 kids. We are doing Saxon 5/4, 6/5, 7/6 , 8/7, Algebra 1/2, Algebra 1, Precalculus.
The first few months were peaks on some days and valleys on others. It is not just consistent. On good days, the kids get 1-2 mistakes. On bad days, they get 6 mistakes.

Eventually, I realized that I have to be there when they are doing Saxon Math. I check their work. Yet, I cannot force them to have a good day. But, I noticed that if they try their best, they really do well. So how do you motivate kids for the rigors of Saxon Math.

I do not have the answer. I hate motivating kids for what will be eventually good for them. Bribing them to study is not my cup of tea.

So, to cut to the chase, I am like a policewoman in our house during our Saxon Math study period. I make sure they are on task. If they are distracted, I let them read aloud the problems.

This January, my goal is ”accuracy”. If other kids can do it, why can’t my kids do it. Well, in the past, when I was a student. I was not good in math. I did very well with teachers that were patient, approachable and clear. I discovered that mathematics is accurate. There are many ways to do a problem. Thus, many roads to lead to a solution. Yet, the answer is exact.

So, I always tell my children that “accuracy” is possible. It is very likely that if they will be able to discover where they are being “careless” and why they are making the same mistakes over and over again, they might have made an important discovery in their way of studying. What is the point that makes their mind careless? Why can’t they achieve accuracy when it is not impossible? Why can other kids be accurate and why can’t they be accurate? What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong?

They can wait until they are adults to figure this out or we can help these kids explore their weaknesses in an environment where you can cheer them up to do better. We can encourage them to try again. We can help them understand themselves.
Recently, I tried to do 5 exercises at a time in Saxon Math. I let them re-do those 5 exercises. I let them note the differences with their first set of answers and compare it to their second set of answers. I let them check if they copied the numbers right to be able to calculate it right. I make them re-read the word problems again to make sure they have the “givens” and the “mathematical sentence” right. I let them double check their decimal placement. I let them look if it requires a “$” sign. I let them take a quick look if they put the right “units” in word problems. These are common errors in Saxon Math that hinders them from achieving 100% error rate. It is very frustrating for a child to know how to solve a mathematical problem and to realize that their error was due to carelessness.

I give them credit for trying their best. I grieve with them on having the right process and the wrong answer. The hardest part is encouraging them that there is a purpose for to this “accuracy” thing.

For my 16 year daughter doing Prealgebra 1/2 she finally is getting 100% accuracy for the last four days. We initially tried doing exercises 1-30, and then re-doing it and checking the difference. She had 1-2 errors using this technique. So when I switched to every 5 exercises, her error rate went to zero. Well, except today. We figured it was because she has tonsillitis.
I tried the every ” 5 exercises and then check” method with my highly distractible son and it is not really working for him. He memorizes his previous answers which defeats the purpose the re-check.

I’m afraid I had to let 4 kids start from the beginning of the lesson for various reasons. The 17 year old started on Saxon Algebra II and gave up. So, I had him do the placement test and he is on the Saxon Algebra level. So far, I am not getting feedback yet on this.

My 16 year old volunteered to start over again with his Precalculus after being stuck somewhere.

My 12 year old started Saxon 7/6 from the beginning again after showing severe erratic scores. I just learned a few days ago that he forgot to multiply two-digits which was extensively covered in Saxon 6/5.

But, we are not giving up because I am not allowing them to give up. If I had Saxon Math when I was younger, I would have done better in Math. I mean, I would have felt confident with my mathematical skills. In Saxon Math, the method gives you considerable confidence that you can tackle math problems because the repetition makes mathematical calculations automatic.

Detractors say it discourages word problem solving. For me, it helps the kids see “patterns” in identifying the appropriate mathematical sentence and solution for the word problems.

So, that is our life in Saxon. And, yes, despite being challenged with my children, I highly recommend it.

My bottom line with this long post is Saxon Math is what “strengthening, conditioning, endurance” exercises are to our body. It is a discipline to achieve accuracy, endurance and confidence to make the mathematical part of our brain invincible and strong.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Too Many Blogs

It is not easy to maintain many blogs, yet I want to write for specific audience. However, I have realized that I cannot separate my Catholic identity to how I raise my children, to what I want to become and contribute in our world.

It is for this reason, that I decided to go back to my original blog www.mrstreasures.wordpress.com, the scratch pad of my ideas. So, if you cannot find me in this blog, feel free to visit me over there.