This article compares Saxon Math and Singapore Math. These two brands are both popular K-12 math curriculums with an outstanding reputation for quality and sizeable following among both school teachers and the homeschool community. But these two programs are quite different in approach and flavor. It is a sometimes hotly contested debate which one is better overall. There may be no one right answer. Ultimately it is a decision each teacher must make for themselves.
Saxon Math is distinctly American, and while it has its own unique features that set it apart from other texts (such as an odd looking numbering system), it still fits the American expectation of a textbook with explanations to the student, and plenty of support for the teacher. And yes, it’s graded according to the American “eight grades plus high school” system. Those funny looking numbers make perfect sense if you know how to read them. The first number is the grade level to use the book in by slow students, the second number is the grade level the book should be used in by average to bright students.
The Singapore Math takes what Americans might consider a very minimalist approach. The words spent on explanations to student and teacher are few. The textbooks are divided into a series of thin workbooks. Each page has little to take away from the math problems, just the necessary instructions and a few illustrations or diagrams.
This approach stems from two differences in Singapore culture. First, teachers are highly trained and well capable of explaining and illustrating the material without a detailed script or list of suggested activities. Second, the attitude toward students is that they are to pay attention and respect the teacher’s training and efforts by taking notes, and putting forth a significant amount of effort of their own toward remembering and understanding their lesson.
For homeschoolers, the Saxon Math program can be easier to use because the detailed explanations of each lesson enable a far greater degree of independent work. It’s possible to hand the student a Saxon book and have him read the lesson and work the problems with only occasional assistance. This is harder to do with the traditional Singapore curriculum. However, there have been some Singapore Math teacher guides coming out over the last few years, some of them geared to home study.
The Singapore Math program progresses at a slightly accelerated rate compared to Saxon, with students studying pre-algebra by the equivalent of our seventh grade, a full year ahead of the typical Saxon schedule. This and the fact that even low achievers in Singapore outperform the international average shows that the program is getting something right that makes it worth the extra effort. Other parents simply bump their kids up a grade in Saxon and they usually find they’re none the worse for it.
A more fundamental difference between the two programs is the approach to review. Singapore Math is a mastery program, meaning students are taught a concept once and once only. They are given much drill and practice on it at that time, and from then on they are expected to remember it. The concept is not repeated in the lessons except insofar as it is integrated into more complex processes. If asked about review, publishers of Singapore point to the periodic “Revisions” at the end of each chapter or unit (somewhat resembling our cumulative tests). Proponents of the approach say that Singapore students do not get bored, and no time is wasted. Students are always progressing forward.
Saxon Math on the other hand is a program built on spiral review. There is new material presented and practiced in each lesson. Then there is a whole set of problems taken from earlier lessons. Students have no opportunity to forget long division or how to calculate the volume of a cylinder even when they move on to lessons on other things, because almost every day they will solve a problem or two of this nature. Many parents say that the spiral review method has made all the difference for their students, and a number of other programs adopted the method after Saxon Math’s success became obvious.
Copyright Learningthings.com. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in any online website as long as you include a link to http://learningthings.com and give full attribution to Learningthings.com as the source.
© 2012, Learningthings.com. Copyright Learningthings.com. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in any online website as long as you include a link to http://learningthings.com and give full attribution to Learningthings.com as the source. For permission to reproduce this content in other media formats please contact us.
