Algebra 1: An Incremental Development (Saxon Algebra)

DO NOT order this item here. The item they sent me was the 2nd edition of the Solutions Manual. In EVERY description it says it is the 3rd edition. I checked every description before purchasing to make sure this did not happen. They were unwilling to make it right and now I will be down the cost of shipping to return the book.

Sadly I was sent the wrong edition... i tried to make it work but the problems do not match up at all. So disappointing!!

John Saxon, former Air Force test pilot, published an article in the May 29, 1981 issue of National Review titled "al-ge-bra MADE UNDERSTANDABLE." It was a screed against mathematics textbooks that "...confuse and frighten students by belaboring concepts that are trivial and by giving insufficient emphasis to concepts that are fundamental." Saxon condemned mastery learning and advocated teaching mathematics using "... an incremental development with a continuous review." In the mathematics textbooks he wrote himself, Saxon used an innovation he called "general repetition" -- presenting lots of problems so that students practiced doing what they learned over and over again so that they mastered necessary skills. Saxon's books, Algebra 1/2 - Algebra 1 - Algebra 2 - Advanced Mathematics - and Calculus, are an excellent way to learn mathematics. You can teach yourself by using them. I worked through the Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 books by myself when my son was in school, quite an accomplishment for a 40+ year old math dummy, and my son finished the entire sequence of books as supplemental work while using other textbooks in his school classes. The Saxon books helped make him a great mathematics student.

I am a 12 year old that is in algebra math. He describes and teaches well in his text, which makes you not even need a teacher. I learned algebra without anybody helping me, and I passed the SAT test with flying colors. Thanks Saxon!!

Gee. I didn't realize a doctorate was even offered in "theoretical" biophysics. Oh well, I may be losing contact with the avant garde of my field, but I have been homeschooling two bright kids for...lessee, my son will be 14 in May, my daughter 11 in August, so quite a long time. "Saxon Math" has been and continues to be the cornerstone, both pedagogically and pragmatically, of math education in our household. I think the "incremental" philosophy of John Saxon is unassailable, this last view offered in the face of evidence from my own experience as well as from dozens of other committed homeschoolers of my acquaintance. The results speak for themselves: both of my children routinely score in the math 99 %tile on national achievement tests.(Sometimes I subject the kids to BOTH the "Iowa" AND the CAT. Pretty mean, huh?) I have heard of similar results from many others. Get Saxon, stick with the program, and math success is guaranteed, whether you are a math savant or, like me and mine, just hard working.

Saxon's explanations are lucid, but sometimes over-laboured; he's perfectly willing to repeat himself over and over. Following each chapter's explanation is a problem set of 30 or so problems, which tests the student on the latest concept and every single other concept covered so far. Needless to say, doing the same kind of problems over and over and over again gets very old. The one redeeming feature is Saxon's word problems, which are inventive and sometimes (as I found against my will) quite funny. Repetitive though the book is, though, it succeeds very well at teaching the student basic algebra; no one can go through this book and not know the material cold.

I used the Saxon books through all of my High school math courses, and think they are *the* best way to learn algebra. The key to the success is really twofold. 1) New types of problems are introduced with every lesson - but these are not drilled into the student by giving them 20 or more "practice problems" to do. Instead, only about 5 of the "new" problems are given for practice - letting the new ideas "sink in" over a period of days. 2) Constant review. Because the student is not burdened with lots of new ideas every lesson, the remaining homework problems are review of everything the student has done to date. This ensures that the student doesn't forget how to do the math, and makes reviewing for a test almost obsolete. I am now in graduate school, soon to get my PhD in theoretical biophysics. Learning Algebra so well in high school put me far ahead in college. I now tutor out of the Saxon books (and others, depending on which schools the kids go to), and the Saxon kids are far ahead of the others in terms of retention and understanding. 'nuff said.