Saxon Math Homeschool Curriculum Taught Me How To Love My Enemy
During the 1990s, reform math programs like 'Everyday Mathematics' were widely embraced as the new wave by President Clinton's Department of Education
. As a result, school district after school district across the country adopted this new approach. But despite the adoration of the "experts", the end result was dismal test scores.
For example, California schools embraced reform math programs in the early 1990's. By 1996, California test scores plummeted to one of the lowest in the nation on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Finally in 1997, the California State Board of Education recognized reform math was a mistake and revised state standards to return to traditional math curriculum.
The problem with these reform math programs is that they approach math as if it were a conceptual, critical thinking exercise. Reform math abandons the more traditional approach, which focuses on learning math facts re-enforced by math practice drills. However, math concepts build on each other like building blocks. Reform math was an attempt to by-pass the building blocks altogether. These programs failed because without any knowledge of the math facts kids were unable to grasp the concepts.
While the Department of Education was searching for the right math curriculum, many homeschool parents were on the same quest. My parents were among them, searching for the right math curriculum to use for homeschooling me and my 10 siblings. Growing up as a homeschool kid, I remember the trial and error process my parents went through as they sought curriculum that would allow all their children to excel in all subjects.
By the time I made it to the fourth grade, math had become my archenemy. I struggled more with math than any other subject. To put it bluntly, I hated math.
When I was in the fifth grade, my parents selected Saxon Math as my homeschool curriculum. I will never forget Saxon Math because the subject I struggled with the most suddenly became easy. Not only did my standardized test scores go up, but I no longer hated math. In fact, it was almost fun!
Saxon Math is at the other end of the spectrum from reform math programs, like the tortoise and the hare. Like the hare, reform math programs attempt to take shortcuts to move quickly to the solution but ultimately fail to reach the destination. Like the tortoise, Saxon Math offers an incremental, slow and steady approach. Rather than by-passing fundamental math facts, Saxon makes them the focus. Saxon's curriculum is designed to achieve quick and effortless recall of those facts. To accomplish this, it focuses primarily on review and drill.
Saxon's incremental approach was exactly what I needed. By using Saxon I learned to recall facts fluently and use algorithms accurately to solve problems instead of letting a calculator think for me. Saxon gave me the feeling of mental agility and mastery as I worked through problem after problem, picking up speed even as the lessons became gradually more difficult. I was able to successfully complete all the math requirements for high school graduation because of Saxon's consistent, predictable drilling. I even graduated high school a year early!
That was 14 years ago and my parents have yet to find a better math curriculum.
Although Saxon Math was exactly what I needed, it might not be right for some students. In fact, the reasons I enjoyed Saxon are the same reasons some people might hate it. Not every child responds well to page after page of repetitive math problems. Drilling the same problems over and over again can get boring, especially for gifted math students who don't need constant drilling. While Saxon Math's emphasis on drill and repetition allows students to perform well within a concept (thus, the higher scores on standardized tests), the downside is it does not emphasize critical thinking skills or creative problem solving.
All things considered, my parents picked a winner with Saxon Math homeschool curriculum. I believe it far outperforms other math programs and works very effectively for most students. Maybe the Department of Education should check with my parents before they endorse another new math program.
by: Kanooga
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