etherUnreal
02-19-2009, 01:25 AM
Saxon Math is the worst math curriculum I have ever used. I originally used it in 7th grade, where I developed a dislike for mathematics. Now as a senior, I am taking calculus with Saxon because that is the only book they use at my school.
I began to enjoy math once I got away from Saxon where I used a different program.
Now, with Saxon, I utterly despise math once again. The author has a "this is the way you do it, so don't try anything else mentality". The book doesn't show other ways to solve the problems. I constantly find myself on the internet or in my old math books looking for different ways to solve problems.
It's unnecessarily repetitive, you'll become bored with solving the same concept over and over. I don't feel I am learning "how" to do math, just "what" to do with a bunch of numbers, memorizing forumulas, do "this" in this situation "that in that"; you don't learn how or why.
The basic idea of the curriculum is constant review; each problem set contains only a few problems about what was taught that day, and the rest of it is drills on things that may have been taught months or years before. Many of the problems require long tedious calculations which have nothing to do with how well a student understands the concepts.
People who enjoy memorization, review, and repetition, and who don't have any desire to grasp the elegance and the meaning of mathematics, may like it but I sure as hell don't.
So I am forced to pretty much learn algebra, here at home..can anyone recommend an online video series/book/ that could help?
I began to enjoy math once I got away from Saxon where I used a different program.
Now, with Saxon, I utterly despise math once again. The author has a "this is the way you do it, so don't try anything else mentality". The book doesn't show other ways to solve the problems. I constantly find myself on the internet or in my old math books looking for different ways to solve problems.
It's unnecessarily repetitive, you'll become bored with solving the same concept over and over. I don't feel I am learning "how" to do math, just "what" to do with a bunch of numbers, memorizing forumulas, do "this" in this situation "that in that"; you don't learn how or why.
The basic idea of the curriculum is constant review; each problem set contains only a few problems about what was taught that day, and the rest of it is drills on things that may have been taught months or years before. Many of the problems require long tedious calculations which have nothing to do with how well a student understands the concepts.
People who enjoy memorization, review, and repetition, and who don't have any desire to grasp the elegance and the meaning of mathematics, may like it but I sure as hell don't.
So I am forced to pretty much learn algebra, here at home..can anyone recommend an online video series/book/ that could help?