Student Edition 2009

As an math major and ex-teacher, the current editions of Saxon's Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2 outshine any of their contemporaries (the one exception may be UCSMP). The new editons, thanks to Houghton Mifflin (the original publisher of what was know in the '60s as "new math" by Mary P. Dolciani)follow a more traditional textbook format and provide a much needed Teacher's Edition, which earlier publications lacked. What is not lacking, however, is the Saxon methodology...review, read, practice,apply. This principal is applied from section to section (as opposed to chapter to chapter). Each text consists of approximatley 90-100 sections, all of which can and must be completed within a typical school year. There is no ability to pick and choose what a teacher wishes to cover...the sections are all INTERDEPENDENT on each other and not, like in the majority of math textbook, INDEPENDENT of each other. What Saxon initially achieved, and is continued in these new editions is learning mathematics by reading, doing and applying. No pretty pictures (there are no photos or drawings at all in any of the texts, any drawings relate directly to the lesson), no chapter openings to explain why you are learning what you are learning, no adjustments to the subject matter to allow for less prepared students, minority students, female students, or any other group who traditionally do not "excel" at math. What you have with Saxon Math is development and knowledge of the subject matter, the way math should be learned and taught. In incremental pieces which are reviwed and woven into the next section so that comprehension of each nuiance is remebered not only throughout the text, but is carried over and applied to the next text and the next text. It is a cohesive system which provides the best learning and best retention of any secondary mathematics series on the market today. For all those who complain that there is an entire generation not prepared for college math, or not prepared to go out into the real world...they have simply been using the wrong textbook