Newsletters

 

June 2025

REASONS FOR STUDENT FRUSTRATION OR FAILURE WHEN USING JOHN SAXON'S MATH BOOKS - (PART 1)

The unique incremental development process used in John Saxon’s math textbooks - coupled with the cumulative nature of the daily work - make them excellent textbooks for use in either a classroom or home school environment.  If the textbooks are not used correctly, however, they will eventually present problems for the students.

Some years ago, I was asked to help a school district in the Midwest recover from falling test scores and an increased failure rate in their middle and high school math programs. The teachers in the district had been using - actually misusing - their Saxon math books for several years. After I had a chance to tell the group of school administrators and teachers some of the reasons for their difficulties, the district superintendent commented. “What I hear you saying Art, is that we bought a new car, and since we already knew how to drive, we saw no reason to read the owner’s manual – wouldn’t you agree?” To which I replied, “It’s worse than that, sir! You all thought you had purchased a car with an automatic transmission, but Saxon is a stick shift! It is critical that certain procedures be followed - just as well as some should be dropped - or you will strip the gears!”

The uniqueness of John Saxon’s method of incremental development, coupled with the cumulative nature of the daily work in every Saxon math textbook, requires a few specific rules be followed to reduce failure and frustration and to ensure success – and ultimately mastery!  If properly used at the correct levels, students will not have any trouble with what has been recently introduced into the educational system as “Common Core” requirements.

In the next several news articles, we will discuss the ESSENTIAL DO’S and DON’T’S when using John Saxon’s math books.

This month I will discuss the ESSENTIAL DO’S  that should be followed when using John Saxon’s math books.

Do Place the Student in the Correct Level Math Book. Probably the vast majority of families who dislike John Saxon’s math books do so because the student is using a math book above his or her capability.  Since all of John’s math books were written at the appropriate reading level of the student (or a grade level below), the problem is not one of students not being able to read the material presented to them, but their not being able to comprehend the math concepts being presented to them. This frustration is then interpreted as being created by the book and not by incorrect placement of the student.

Do Always Use the Correct Edition. Using the wrong edition of a Saxon math book can quickly lead to insurmountable problems.  For example, moving from the first or second edition of Math 76 to the second or third edition of Math 87, or the third edition of Algebra ½ would be like moving from Math 65 to Algebra ½ in the current editions.  For more information on which editions of John’s books are still valid, read the earlier published Nov 2019 Newsletter, or read pages 15 – 18 in my book.

Do Finish The Entire Book.  Finishing the entire textbook is critical to success in the next level book. I know, parents and teachers often ask me, “Why finish the last twenty or so lessons when much of that same material is presented in the first thirty or so lessons of the next level textbook?”  While the first twenty or so lessons of the next level Saxon book may appear to cover the same concepts as the last thirty or so lessons in the previous book, the new textbook presents the review concepts in different and more challenging ways.  Additionally, there are new concepts mixed in with them.  The review is used to enable a review of necessary concepts while building the student’s confidence back up after a few months off during the summer.  Then comes the argument from some home school educators, “But we do not take any break between books – we go year round, so the review is not necessary.” 

My only reply to that is “Why must students always do something they do not know how to do?  Can’t they sometimes just review to build their confidence by doing something they already know how to do?  If they are continuing year round, and already know how to do some of the early concepts in the next textbook, then it won’t take them long to do their daily assignment. I once had a public school superintendant ask me “Which is more important, mastery or completing the book?”  To which I replied, “They are synonymous.”

Do All of the Problems - Every Day. There is a reason the problems come in pairs, and it is not so the student can do just the odd or even problems.  The two problems are different from each other to keep the student from memorizing the procedure, as opposed to mastering the concept.  Students who cannot complete the thirty problems each day in about an hour are either dawdling, or are at a level of mathematics above their capabilities, based upon their previous math experiences.

Do Follow the Order of the Lessons.  I am often asked by parents at workshops and in email “Why study both lessons seventeen and eighteen?  After all, they both cover the same concept?”  Why not just skip lesson eighteen and go straight to lesson nineteen?”  Why do both lessons?  Well, because the author took an extremely difficult math concept and separated it into two different lessons.  This allowed the student to more readily comprehend the entire concept, a concept which will be presented again in a more challenging way later in lesson twenty-seven of that book!

Do Give All of the Scheduled Tests – On Time. In every test booklet, in front of the printed Test 1 is a schedule for the required tests.  Not testing is not an option!   I have often heard home school parents say, “He does so well on his daily work; why test him?”  To which I reply, “The results of the daily work reflect memory – the results of the weekly tests reflect mastery!”  The results of the last five tests in every book give an indication of whether or not the student is prepared for the next level math book.  Scores of eighty or better on any test reflect minimal mastery achieved.  Scores of eighty or better on the last five tests in the series tell you the student is prepared to advance to the next level.

In next month’s news article, I will discuss the ESSENTIAL DON’T’S to follow when using John Saxon’s math books.

 

                    

 

May 2025

Fuzzy Mathematics

If you’re not old enough to remember the old "Ma and Pa Kettle" movies, you will have to ask grandma or grandpa about them. Their movies were among the best of the funny classic black and white movies made back then. The kind of movie the entire family could watch and laugh together over. My brother and I often went to see the same movie more than once.

Today’s news item is from one of their movies. I just saw it on the internet and could not resist sharing it with you and your students as we start the new school year.

To watch this unbelievable short 2 minute episode of “Fuzzy Math” click here.

Next month, I will get back to the academic world of mathematics.

                    

 

April 2025

Are the New Saxon Math Books Better Than the Older Editions?

Some of you may remember that more than a decade ago - in the summer of 2004 - the Saxon family sold Saxon Publishers to Harcourt Achieve. Just to put everything in perspective, Harcourt Achieve, Inc. was then owned by the Harcourt Corporation which in turn was later acquired by the multi-billion dollar conglomerate Reed-Elsevier who then sold Harcourt, Inc. to Houghton Mifflin creating the current company (that owns Saxon Publishers) which is now the Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt Company also known as HMHCO. It all reminds me of when the Savings and Loan Companies got the nickname "Velcro banks" because they changed names so often before they disappeared the way of the dinosaurs.

When I published my June 2007 news article, I told readers "Not to worry!" As I mentioned earlier when Harcourt acquired John Saxon's publishing company in 2004, the new sale should not affect the quality of John's books. I asked the obvious question, "Why would anyone buy someone's prize-winning 'Blue Ribbon Bull' to make hamburger with?" I did not believe that this new sale would change John's books much either, and I told the readers that if these changes became more than just cosmetics, I would certainly keep them informed.

Well, it is time to mention that some of the changes are no longer cosmetic. Some of the new editions are not what John Saxon had intended for his books. These new editions are vastly different, and both home school educators as well as classroom teachers must be aware of these changes and be selective about what editions and titles they should and should not use if they desire to continue with John Saxon's methods and standards.

Initially, these revised new editions were offered only to the public and private schools and not to the home school community. However, introduction of their new geometry textbook to the home school educators tells me that it may not be long before the new fourth editions of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 replace the current third editions now offered on their website.

I could be wrong. Perhaps they added the geometry textbook to the home school website because some home school parents were unaware that a full year of high school geometry was already offered within the Algebra 2 textbook (first semester of geometry) and the first sixty lessons of the Advanced Mathematics textbook (second semester of geometry)). Additionally, placing the geometry course in between the Saxon Algebra 1 and Saxon Algebra 2 textbooks is a sure formula for student frustration in Saxon Algebra 2 since the new geometry book does not contain algebra content. The only reference to "Geometry" in the new fourth edition of Saxon Algebra 1 is a reference in the index to "Geometric Sequences" found in lesson 105. That term is not related to geometry. It is the title given to an algebraic formula dealing with a sequence of numbers that have a common ratio between the consecutive terms.

It would be my hope that the senior executives at HMHCO would recognize the uniqueness and value of the current editions of John Saxon's math books - that continue his methods and standards. - will be good for many more decades.

 

                         

March 2025

JOHN SAXON'S LEGACY

John Saxon was, among other things, a teacher, a leader, a graduate of West Point, and a great storyteller. I first met John and his wife Mary Esther in the late 1960’s in my mother-in-law’s kitchen in Enid, Oklahoma, while I was on leave preparing to go to Germany.  While his mother-in-law and mine had been members of the same sewing club and also the same Presbyterian Church for almost forty years, our military careers took us our separate ways, and I never had a chance to know him very well until I started teaching several years after he had already published his first algebra book in 1981.

That night in the kitchen, John told the story about when he flew the supply route from Japan to Korea – in between B-26 bombing runs – during the Korean War. He said he had not had much sleep in the preceding five days, and he was concerned that he would doze off while piloting the aircraft, so he instructed his enlisted crew chief to make sure he stayed awake.  “I told him that whatever it took, keep me awake! I woke up the next morning and I could barely move my right arm, the pain was so intense. I looked at my right shoulder and it was a dark purple color,” John said. “I learned later that day that the crew chief kept punching my shoulder every time I started to doze off - all the way from Japan to Korea! I told him, Chief, you almost broke my shoulder. So he says to me, ‘Kept you awake, Sir!’”

The high school where I had done my student teaching had been using John’s math books for several years.  I liked using them, so when I started my first job as a high school math teacher, I asked for and received approval to buy his math books for two of my three math courses.  The first year I taught, I finished all the lessons in John Saxon’s first Algebra 2 book.  When school was out, I drove to Norman to visit with John.  When I bragged to him that we had finished his book, he smiled and, pitching me his new second edition, said, “Here. Try this new edition. It’s seven lessons longer.”  John and his finance officer loaded seventy of the new second edition Algebra 2 books into the trunk of my car. As I drove home later that evening, I wondered what I would say to the highway patrolman if I were stopped and he looked in the trunk. John had given me the books, and I did not have a paid invoice for them.

I remember in the early days of his company, John had a personal policy that if a student found an error in one of his math books and wrote to him about it, John would send him five dollars for each error he found. That fall, when we started using these brand new first printings of the new second edition of Algebra 2, one of the students had found four problems - with wrong answers. 

Checking the answers, I verified that the student was indeed correct. The four answers were wrong! The young man then asked about the twenty dollars that I had mentioned he would receive. So using my classroom telephone, I called John at his office. I had placed the telephone on the speakerphone, so the class could hear the conversation.  They appeared excited that they were actually sitting in their classroom, talking to the author and owner of the publishing company that had published their math book!  John asked me if I had verified that the answers were indeed in error, and I told him the student was correct, that the answers were in fact wrong. Without hesitation, John immediately asked the young man his name and congratulated him for finding them.

I reminded John about his “five dollar” policy.  He agreed that the young man deserved the twenty dollars and that he should not have to wait around for the money.  Then John, in a loud and clear voice said, “Art, you pay him,” and hung up! A warm summer evening in June and a free trunk load of seventy Algebra 2 books flashed before my eyes as I gave the young man my only twenty-dollar bill.

John was both a mathematician and an engineer.  After retiring from military service, while teaching mathematics at Rose State College in Oklahoma City, he was appalled to see that the incoming college students could not handle simple math concepts.  So John decided to write his own math books to correct this.  I soon learned what John meant by “at-risk adults” when, some twenty years later, I also encountered college students who still did not understand fractions,   percents or decimals.  They were failing their basic algebra course at the local university where I taught mathematics.

Throughout John’s years of publishing his math textbooks, he always used the words “students,” “educators,” and “responsibility” when speaking about his books.  He had designed them to teach the basic concepts of mathematics.  They were not designed to teach just “critical thinking” or “higher-order thinking” at the expense of this critical subject matter,  as many books still do today to meet requirements of textbook selection committees.

One of John’s favorite analogies of what was wrong with this idea was instances when he would tell his audience, most often teachers and administrators, "Understanding should follow doing, rather than precede it. If you’re going to teach someone how to drive an automobile, don’t lecture him on the theory of the internal-combustion engine. Get him to drive the car around the block."

John was always aware of and deeply concerned about our high school students as they continued to fall behind in their understanding of the basic concepts necessary to be successful in mathematics and science. He believed so strongly in what he was doing that, in 1980, so that he could publish his first math book (an Algebra 1 textbook), he borrowed money from his children, from his bank, mortgaged his house, and also borrowed against the value of his future military retirement pay! 

More than twenty-five years later, we all know John and his company were a tremendous success!  And we all know the legacy that John Saxon has left the field of mathematics – especially for homeschool families. In July of 1993, in an open letter to then - President Clinton, John Saxon warned of the pending disaster in the areas of mathematics and science. He was concerned that educators were advocating teaching critical thinking when they should be teaching basic math concepts.

He complimented the President on the fact that, while still Governor of Arkansas, he had supported a bill in the Arkansas Legislature that returned control of textbook selection to the local school boards. Local control was something John felt would keep the “unknowing” at the state level from being able to control the local school boards and administrators, and allow them to solve these problems locally.

John Saxon passed away on October 17, 1996.  His children continued management of Saxon Publishers until it was finally sold to Harcourt Achieve in the fall of 2004.  I remember the warm sunny day in 2004 when John Saxon’s children announced the acquisition of Saxon Publishers by Harcourt Achieve at the newly constructed Saxon Headquarters in Norman, Oklahoma. 

Just a few minutes after the children had made their announcement, dark ominous clouds swept in, and in the midst of a torrential downpour, one of the biggest electrical storms in Norman’s history knocked out all the electrical power and telephone lines to the Saxon Corporate headquarters after lightning had struck the building. 

I told you John was a great storyteller.  It appears, again, that he had the last word that day!

 

 

                           

 

February 2025

DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO DO THE DAILY “WARM-UP” BOX AND “PRACTICE PROBLEMS”?
(For the Math 54 through Math 87 Textbooks)

I receive several emails each week about the excessive amount of time some home school students spend on their math assignments each day.  In almost every case, the students have spent between thirty minutes and an hour on the “Warm-Up” box and the six to eight “Practice Problems” before they even get started on the thirty problems of the Daily Assignment.

It has been a little more than a decade since I have been in a public classroom, and I am not sure if public school middle school math teachers still lean on what they used to call a math “Warm-Up” at the start of each class.  The purpose of the “Warm-Up” was to settle their students down and get them ready for the math regimen of the day.

Using the “Warm-Up” box at the beginning of each lesson in the Saxon Math 54 through Math 87 textbooks can become quite frustrating to students who do not have the advantage of a seasoned classroom math teacher gently guiding them in the direction of the correct solution for the problem of the day – knowing that problem might come from a concept not yet introduced to the students.

But what about the “Daily Math Facts Practice” and the “Mental Math”; how will students receive training in those areas?  While these two areas are essential to the student becoming well-grounded in the old pen and pencil format of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, graded by the teacher, that format has been improved with a computer model.  Using the computer format allows the students to instantly know whether their answers are right or wrong.  Additionally, while the home educators can easily spot the results tallied on the computer as the student moves along, it saves them the time spent manually grading the documents.  I have placed a link to a wonderful Math Facts site on my website.  Readers can find it by going to my home page, and from the list on the left side of the home page, click on “Useful Links.” When the new window appears, select the second link from the top labeled “On-Line Math Facts Practice.”

That link takes you to a math facts practice site that allows the student to select from seven different levels of difficulty in adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.  Five to ten minutes on this site every day at the appropriate level for the student to be challenged without being frustrated is just as good as the mental math or facts practice found in the “Warm-Up” box. While the Math 87 book still reflects the same “Warm-Up” box that the previous three math textbooks do, a student should have mastered the facts practice by this time.  If this is the case, skipping the entire box is acceptable – unless – the student particularly enjoys the challenge of the “Problem Solving” exercise.

Now let’s see if I can explain why I am recommending you stop having the student take time to do the six to eight practice problems at the front of each of the mixed practices (the daily assignments).  The original purpose of these practice problems was for the classroom teacher to use all or some of them in explaining the concept on the board so that the teacher did not have to make up their own or use the homework problems. Sometimes teachers would use some of them to have students come to the board to show their understanding of the new concept. 

My experience in teaching John’s method of mastering math has shown me that there are basically two possibilities that can exist after the student has read and/or had the concept of the daily lesson explained to them.

Possibility 1:  The student understands the concept and after doing the two homework problems dealing with that new concept, completely understands what to do and has no trouble doing them.  Mastery of this concept will occur over the next five to six days as the student does several more each of these for the next few days. If this is a critical concept linked to other steps in the math sequence, they will keep seeing this concept periodically throughout the rest of the book.

Possibility 2: When students encounter the two homework problems that deal with the new concept, they have difficulty doing them.  So, on their own, should they go back to these practice problems and get another six to eight more problems wrong?  If they did the practice problems before they started their daily work, would anything have changed?  If they cannot do the two homework problems because they do not understand the new concept, why give them another six to eight problems dealing with the new concept to also get wrong?  This approach ultimately leads to more frustration on the part of the student.  Students will have spent thirty minutes or more on these additional six to eight practice problems and still not understand the new concept. Not every student completely grasps a new concept on the day it is introduced which is why John’s books do not test a new concept until the student has had five to ten days to practice that concept.

Those practice problems were not placed there to give the student more problems to do in addition to the thirty they are assigned every day.  They were placed there for the classroom teacher to use on the blackboard to teach the new concept so they did not have to develop their own or use the student’s homework problems.  There is nothing wrong with a home school educator asking a student to do one or two of them to show them the student does understand the new concept; however, doing more than that could be a waste of time and effort in either possibility.

Not every child is the same and I realize that because of a particular child’s temperament, there may be some instances where the parent has to go over more than one or two of the practice problems with the child – and this is okay – but for most students this is not necessary.  If the student really enjoys the challenge of the daily “Problem Solving:” that is okay – except parents should make sure that the student does not spend an excessive amount of time on that individual challenge and allow the real goal of completing the thirty problems of the Daily Assignment to become a secondary goal – and later a bother to the student.

 

 

January 2025

DO MATH SUPPLEMENTS REALLY HELP STRUGGLING STUDENTS?
- or -
CAN YOU TEACH A DROWNING CHILD HOW TO SWIM WHILE HE IS DROWNING?

Before addressing that question directly, let me first relate a story about a man walking across a bridge spanning a river.  As he looked down at the water, he noticed a boy who had fallen into the swift current.  It was apparent from the boy’s struggle that he could not swim.  The man realized he had only two alternatives.  He could shout instructions to the boy on how to overcome the swift current and perhaps enable him to dog paddle to safety on the shore, or he could dive into the water and rescue him.  Without hesitating, the man dived into the water and immediately swam to the side of the struggling boy.  Now the man had to face another dilemma.  Should he pull the struggling boy to safety or should he immediately try to teach him how to swim?

Everyone would agree that when people are drowning, that is not the time to try to teach them how to swim.  All one can do at that time is try to get them to a place of safety where they can overcome the swift current of the river.  So it is with mathematics.  In any of John Saxon’s math textbooks from Math 54 through Calculus, if student’s begin struggling before reaching lesson thirty or sooner, it is a sign that they will drown in the later lessons of the book unless they are taken to a place of safety where they can better manage and learn the concepts that they are now unfamiliar with. Concepts that are dragging them into deep water!  It should become apparent that they are not prepared for the book they are in, and no amount of supplemental material or expensive tutors will overcome those shortcomings.

Mathematics is like the swift current that challenged the drowning boy.  Like the river, upper level mathematics is challenging and can easily become unforgiving.  Looking for a slower moving or shallower river may create a temporary solution, but eventually that water will again become swifter and deeper and unless one is prepared, all the advice and assistance given at the time of the struggle will come too late.

While it is a noble goal for students to strive towards taking a calculus course in their senior year of high school, it is critical that they first master the algebra.  The calculus is easy! It is the challenge of the algebra and to a lesser degree the trigonometry that causes students to fail calculus.  Any student with a solid algebra background, entering any college or university, will pass that school’s math entrance exam and will be successful in a calculus course should they choose to do so.

When classroom teachers or home school educators take shortcuts with one of John Saxon’s math books, they are not adequately preparing the student for the deeper water ahead.  More than a quarter of a century of experience with Saxon Math textbooks has shown me that classroom teachers and parents who take shortcuts with his curriculum (instead of going slowly and deliberately through as John intended) cause students to “flounder” as they encounter the “deeper” water.  At this point, they find it easier to blame the book – and they look to switch to an easier math course!

The classroom instructions contained within my “video” tutorial series – as well as the online lessons – are not math supplements.  They contain actual classroom instruction on each concept in the book.  Like the book, the classroom instruction is designed for the homeschool student who is in the appropriate level math book. The instruction enhances the written word they have already read from the textbook.  Many of the lessons present a different explanation by an experienced Saxon math teacher that helps the student through the difficult reading of the lesson.

However, regardless of who creates them, neither the CD white-board presentations nor my video classroom tutorials – or online lessons – will help students who are taking a course they are ill prepared for.  They will eventually find themselves frustrated and floundering in the “deeper water” of a math course they are not prepared for!

Have a Blessed and Happy New Year