Saxon Calculus Books
PUBLISHER: Harcourt Steck-Vaughn
GRADE LEVEL: 11th or 12th Grade
PREREQUISITES: Saxon Advanced Math or placement test
REQUIRED MATERIALS: None
GENERAL APPROACH: Lesson-practice-problem set; incremental with spiral review
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Saxon Calculus books are sold in several different kits. The most basic of these consists of two books, an answers and tests book and a student book. Other items are available as well, either sold separately or packaged in other sets. One is a solutions manual, containing fully worked out solutions for all the problems, instead of just the final answers. Another is a CD-ROM with extra teaching explanations to aid understanding.
Saxon Calculus books follow the typical Saxon lesson format, which is laid out in a way that facilitates independent study. Each lesson begins with a few pages of explanatory notes, which contain worked out example problems. Next, a student works a brief set of practice problems of that type on his own. Finally, the bulk of the work for the day’s lesson consists of completing 30 or so problems that review any and all previous problem types.
There are supplementary CD-ROM’s available from DIVE Into Math. They contain video correlated to each Saxon Calculus lesson, where a teacher offers helpful, easy to understand explanations of the material and works special example problems as well as a number of practice problems, with comments.
TOPICS AND METHODOLOGY
Saxon Calculus books cover all topics for a standard Advanced Placement course, AB level. In addition, it also covers many topics found in BC level programs. To ensure adequate foundation, the Saxon Calculus books begin with an extensive review of pre-calculus concepts.
The tried and true Saxon methodology is based on a philosophy that learning doesn’t have to be a difficult thing, but it will always take time. Saxon Calculus books break concepts down into small increments to make learning easier, and thoroughly explain one each lesson. Lengthy daily review in the problem sets, where students encounter the same types of problem over and over again over time, really cements the learning.
STANDARDIZED TEST PREPARATION
This text is suitable for Advanced Placement, and by studying it, students have scored well on the AP exams, earning college credit.
TEACHER REQUIREMENTS
This is an advanced course, but it is still possible to teach it to your student without a rigorous background in math. The lesson explanations facilitate independent learning, and the use of the solutions manual aids parents in grading papers and tests. The use of the DIVE CD or Saxon Teacher helps parents answer student questions. You can also call Saxon or DIVE directly.