Sweetmom wrote:Can someone explain in more detail what the MFW Saxon lesson plans are like? I know they choose select problems. What does that mean, how is a decision made about which problems are "important," and about how many problems are assigned each day? I've read the info on the site as well as in the archive, but it is very general--I'm not getting a feel for how Saxon is handled. I've read reviews on both sides about doing or not doing every single Saxon problem.
Thanks!
Sweetmom
Welcome to the board! I am using MFW’s Saxon plans and can help on that. We did the 8/7 plans last year and are in Algebra I this year.
Those plans were developed in consultation with a high school math teacher. The plans list his credentials as having a BA in Mathematics and Accreditation in Secondary Education from University of Missouri, St. Louis. That gentleman has taught in public school in high school math (and also taught his children their math at home).
The guide is designed for the average to above average student in math. The goal of pace of those plans is to give practice on the newer material while including an appropriate number of review problems each day. There are some days where the student does all of the problems. Some days, it’s about 20 or so out of the 30 problems. There is a note how to evaluate if your student is one of those students who needs to always do all of the problems in the set. So there are some students who use the MFW plans who end up doing all of them. It's based on the specific set and combined with the experience of that math teachers' work with many students over many years of what it takes.
I know that since my daughter is consistently on the unit tests getting grades of 90% and higher, I know that she’s doing fine with the amount of work on the problem sets.
The plans do assume the student is using the MFW recommended DIVE CD for the plans, but also lists notes for those not using the DIVE CD.
Some lessons have even extra notes with them in the plans that share the wisdom of the math teacher who developed them.
The structure of the plans is a day to day list and help my daughter stay on track. Some weeks are math 4 days a week, but many of the weeks in Algebra are 5 day a week plans. Space is provided for recording the test scores and parent to sign off on them. My daughter writes in her daily score for problem sets next to the day’s plan. This helps us at a glance to see if she is struggling on a lesson and needs to go over it more with dad.
A friend of mine (who has kids all older than mine) suggested to me to let my daughter grade her own daily problem set and study missed problems on her own. This is working in our family. I grade the test with the help of the detailed solutions manual in the homeschool packet. She’s getting 90% and higher on tests so I know her daily “homework” scores are right.
If that brings up other questions, I can try
-crystal