How to Use Saxon Math with Gifted Math Students

Saxon Math is brilliant for students who don't think they are "math people" or who just plain struggle with math. The lessons are carefully-planned, the "incremental development" they advertise doesn't move too fast, there is plenty of practice (including extra practice in the back of the book), and the kids never get a chance to forget what they previously learned because they are constantly practicing it again.

But what about gifted students?

Saxon works brilliantly for them, too.

Gifted kids have a habit of practicing "get it and forget it" in math. It makes sense, they can do all 30 practice problems that are all the same, and then when the teacher never brings it up again, they simply forget whatever skill they learned, moving on to more interesting things. Saxon doesn't let them do this.

But Saxon risks moving too slowly for gifted math learners.

I know; I have a house full of them.

Homeschooling 8 gifted kids, I've learned a thing or two about homeschooling gifted kids using Saxon Math.

Here's how we do it:

Start in the right book for your child.
Take the placement test when you start, and repeat it if you get hung up in math refusal. Do not be afraid to jump to the next book--Saxon reviews everything. I counted once and found only 3 lessons in Math 6/5, for example, that were not also covered in Math 5/4, and those three were covered in Math 7/6, 8/7, and Algebra 1/2.  You won't miss anything if your child skips ahead. I have successfully started some of my children in Math 5/4 at age 5.  My only tip is, if you're getting into the upper levels of math with a little child, remember that their brains are bright enough but their attention span might be shorter, and don't expect to do more than 7-12 problems per day total.

 You can find the placement tests free online here (younger kids): http://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/home/education/global/pdf/placement/mathematics/k-12/saxon-math-homeschool/sm_hs_hs_primary_placement.pdf?la=en and here (older kids): http://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/home/education/global/pdf/placement/mathematics/k-12/saxon-math-homeschool/sms_plt_middlegrades.pdf?la=en.

My only caveat here is that Math 5/4 is where a child learns both multiplication and long division. Don't skip Math 5/4, even if your child tests out of it, unless you know they can do multiplication and long division.

Skip every other book entirely.
Start in Math 1 (not Math K) at age 3 or 4 (as soon as your child wants to and can do the first few lessons without any trouble) and only do books that start with an odd number.   Skip every other book completely. (We do Math 1, Math 3, Math 54, Math 76, Algebra 1/2, Algebra 2, etc.)  With the higher math, you might find your child needs to slow down (use Algebra 1 as well as Algebra 2, for example).

Only go through entire lesson if your child needs it.
This is especially important for Math K-3.  The entire lesson is scripted, and if you read the entire script, your gifted child will be so bored. If your child understands how to learn new math concepts, only hit the highlights of the lesson and then move straight to the practice problems.

Skip parts of every lesson.
I know it sounds horrible, but you can and should skip parts of each lesson. Every Saxon lesson is designed to have 3 parts: a warm up, a lesson with practice, and a "problem set" that reviews the current and previous lessons. For gifted kids, this is overkill.

Skip the "mental math" or "warm up" at the beginning of every lesson entirely. Do the lesson until your child starts saying, "Okay, okay. I get it." Then stop and move on to the practice problems (marked with lowercase letters.)  Do all the practice problems. Then do only some of the problem set. I usually have my kids do the odds or the evens (odds on odd lesson numbers, even on even lesson numbers).  I have been known, though, to have them do every third or even every fourth problem in a problem set.

As long as they are still passing the tests with 19/20 right or better, they are getting it, even if you skip a lot of the problem sets.

Don't skip the problem sets all together, though. That's where the wonderful spiral review-learning happens, that helps the kids never forget anything. You don't want to miss that benefit of Saxon!

Do more than one lesson a day.
Frequently, I find that I can teach two or three lessons in one sitting and the kids get it just fine. I never skip lessons, but we do go through them fairly quickly sometimes. For example, we do all 120 lessons, all 12 investigations, and all 23 tests from Saxon 7/6 in 115 days. I go through the book when a child starts and make a chart of which lessons to combine, but you can just sit down before math each day and look at the next three lessons and decide how many your child can handle that day. Always do all the practice sets for all the lessons. These are the problems marked with lowercase letters. Then, depending on how many practice problems they did, do every other or ever third problem in the problem set of the last lesson only. Skip the problem sets from the first (and second, if you do three) lessons you taught.

Remember, gifted kids "get it" faster and need less practice, so don't be afraid to set them loose and go through the program as fast as they want.

Why I use Saxon Math

There are a thousand ways to teach your child math, from unschooling to DIY to buying a curriculum.

I choose to use Saxon Math Homeschool sets.

Why?

For starters, it's a complete homeschool math curriculum that has been producing materials for homeschoolers for decades. Saxon knows what homeschool families need.  A Saxon Math homeschool kit includes not just the book, but the tests as well and all the answer keys to both tests and every single problem set. A homeschool program I belong to recently purchased a non-homeschool Saxon math text, and it's not the same. The homeschool kits include things you, as a parent-teacher, need in order to teach math. (Get the homeschool kit. It's worth it.)

Saxon Math is a solid, proven math curriculum. I read an article a few years back (and I wish I could find the link) about a failing school in California. They'd been failing, with the lowest scores in the district for years. Then all of a sudden, in one year, their scores went from the lowest to near the highest on the standardized math tests. What changed? The teachers saved their own money and bought classroom sets of Saxon Math books to teach from. Saxon Math works to teach kids how to do math. Kids who use Saxon are prepared for college math. Saxon works.

And my favorite thing about Saxon Math: every single lesson includes a "Practice Set" of math problems that come from the lesson the child just finished and all the previous lessons. This has two benefits: 1. The kids never forget how to do the math because they are constantly practicing it, and 2. The kids never have to do thirty of the same type of problem, so they don't get as bored doing math every day.

Of all the ways to do math out there, I recommend using the Saxon Homeschool kits. You can buy them from Saxon (http://www.hmhco.com/shop/education-curriculum/math/homeschool/saxon-math-homeschool), get them on Ebay or Amazon (but make sure you're getting the whole kit: Textbook, Test booklet, and Answer Book), or order them from a curriculum library or co-op in your area. Even the "old" Saxon Math kits are fabulous--I love my second editions as much as my most recent editions.