REASONS FOR STUDENT FRUSTRATION OR FAILURE WHEN USING JOHN SAXON’S MATH BOOKS – (PART 2)
In last month’s news article we discussed the Essential Do’s when using John Saxon’s math books. This month we will go over the Essential Don’ts that will help Home School Educatorsensure a student’s success when using John Saxon’s math books.
Don’t Skip the First 30 – 35 Lessons in the Book. Many home school parents still believe that because the first thirty or so lessons in every Saxon math book appear to be a review of material in the last part of the previous textbook, they can skip them. Let’s review the two elements of automaticity. The two critical elements are: repetition – over time!
Yes, some of the early problems in the textbook appear similar to the problems found in the last part of the previous textbook. They have, however, been changed from the previous textbook to ensure that the student has mastered the concept. Remember, part of the concept of mastery involves leaving the material for a period of time and then returning to it. Students are supposed to have sixty to ninety days off in the summer to rest their thought processes. They need this review to reinstate that thought process! Additionally, while the first lessons in the books do contain some review, they also contain new material as well.
I would add you the same question I have asked thousands of classroom teachers and Home School Educators these past nine years. “Must students always have to do something they do not know how to do? Why can’t they do something they already know how to do? What is wrong with building or reinforcing their confidence in mathematics through review?”
Don’t Skip Textbooks. Skipping a book in Saxon is like tearing out the middle pages of your piano sheet music and then attempting to play the entire piece while still providing a meaningful musical presentation. In my book, under the specific textbook descriptions, I discuss any legitimate textbook elimination based upon specific abilities of the individual students. However, these recommendations vary from student to student depending upon their background and ability.
Don’t Skip Lessons. Incremental Development literally means introducing complicated math concepts to the students in small increments, rather than having them tackle the entire concept all at once. It is essential that students do a lesson a day and take a test every four to five lessons, depending on what book they are using. So what happens when you skip an easy lesson or two? Very simply, the student cannot process the new material satisfactorily without having had a chance to read about it, and to understand its characteristics. Some students attempt to fix this shortcoming by then working on several lessons in a single day, to catch up to where they should be in the book. This technique is also not recommended.
As I have told my classroom students on numerous occasions, “The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
Don’t Skip Problems in the Daily Assignments. When students complain that the daily workload of thirty problems is too much, it is generally the result of one of the following conditions:
- Students are so involved in a multitude of activities that they cannot spend the thirty minutes to an hour each day required for Saxon mathematics.
- Students are at a level above their capabilities and unable to adequately process the required concepts in the allotted time because of this difficulty.
- The student is either a dawdler or just lazy!
- Doing just the odd or just the even numbered problems in a Saxon math book is not the solution to those difficulties. As I mention in one of the early chapters in my book, there are two of each type of problem for several reasons – and doing just the odd or even is not one of those reasons!
Don’t Let Students use the Solutions Manual to do their Daily Assignments. Why not? When I attended Homeschool Conferences, I often spoke at seminars and one of the analogies I would use is that of the honey bee. If you cut the bee out of the beeswax cell – to save it the struggle it must take to remove itself and speed its departure from the hive – the bee will not be able to fly because while struggling to get through the beeswax, it strengthens itself – and – in making it “easier” by removing the beeswax, you took away that advantage. The same goes with a math student who follows along every day with what someone else has laid out as the solution to every problem in their daily assignment. That encourages memorizing – it does not foster mastery.
Don’t Grade the Student’s Daily Work. In all the years I taught John Saxon’s math at the high school, I never graded a single homework paper. I did monitor the student’s daily work to ensure it was done and I would speak with students whose test grades were falling below the acceptable minimum of eighty percent. I can assure you that having the student do every problem over – that he failed to do on his daily assignments – does not have anywhere near the benefit of going over the problems missed on the weekly tests because the weekly tests reveal mastery – or lack thereof – while the daily homework only reveals their daily memory! If you have not already read the September 2021 news article, please do so as it goes into more detail about why there is no need to grade the daily work.
While my book goes into more detail, I believe these few simple rules about what TO DO and what NOT TO DO to ensure success when using John’s math books will benefit classroom math teachers as well as home school educators who use, or are contemplating using, Saxon Math books – from Math 54 through John’s Calculus and Physics textbooks.
So long as you use the books and editions I referenced in my book, and later re-iterated in my September 2021 news article, you will find that Saxon math books remain the best math books on the market today – if used correctly! Those referenced books and editions will be good for your child’s math education – from fourth grade through their senior year in high school – for several more decades – or longer! And the proper use of them will more than adequately prepare that same math student for any of the current state or federal “Common Core” math requirements.”
Email: art.reed@teachingsaxon.com Telephone: 580-234-0064 (CST)
“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are far greater.”
Albert Einstein