SAXON MATH • OUR MISSION:
We are dedicated to turning around education by publishing textbooks and instructional 
materials that have proven records of success in the classroom.
Our Philosophy
Learning need not be difficult, but neither does it happen quickly. Time is the elixir that turns things new into things familiar. Therefore, the most effective way for students to learn is through gentle development of concepts and the practice of those concepts extended over a considerable period of time. At Saxon, we call these methods incremental development and continual review and we have applied to mathematics and the fundamental skills of reading.
Dear Teacher, Stop Talking & Coach!
(See the “Time Thief” Job… for students)
The Teachers job is to make a short presentation of the new lesson and then let the students get to work on their Daily 30 Problem Sets. While they work the teacher goes around the classroom and coaches them on the 2-4 new problems or the 26-28 review problems as needed. The goal is to maximize student Hands-On Practice Time and teachers’ Coaching Time. With good concentration students should be able to finish 50%-100% of their Daily Reps in school.
Many ideas in math that seem complex and overwhelming turn out to be “hard by the yard, but a cinch by the inch.” If we break complex ideas into small easily understandable pieces (increments), we permit the assimilation of one facet of a concept before the next facet is introduced. Both facets are then practiced together until another is introduced.
The incrementalization of topics is combined with continual review, wherein all previously learned material is reviewed in every lesson for the entire year. Topics are never dropped but are instead increased in complexity and practiced every day, providing the time required for concepts to become totally familiar.
As concepts become familiar and the requisite skills become automated, learning becomes a game at which students can succeed and through which they find satisfaction and self-worth. More importantly, the automation of fundamental skills frees students’ minds to think about and solve real math problems (aka Word Problems).
Genuine learnng is demonstrated not only through the understanding of a concept but also through the ability to apply that concept to new situations. Saxon students do both with ease and confidence.
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Students should work every problem in every problem set. This book provides only the problems that are necessary and the problems are not in pairs so that either the odd or the even problems may be assigned. Experience with this book will demonstrate that no extra problems of the new topic are desirable or necessary.* In this book the learning process is spread out and comprehension will come in time. The emphasis is on review and not on an all out attack on the new concept. This development spreads out the learning process, increases the depth of understanding and improves long term retention. Experience with books that use the traditional development of topics has proved that an intensive initial attack on a new concept lends little to long term retention. Remember that SAXON MATH BOOKS never drop a topic once it has been introduced and that the student will continue to wrestle with every concept in every homework problem set.
* But extra problems of the word problem kind—problems with more life in them than Saxon’s— are necessary and are provided in the Problems Tremendums et Fascinans Course