ht concepts. The number of written practice problems increases to 30 per lesson in fourth and fifth grades. The Written Practice problems are wide ranging in approach, really challenging students’ thinking skills as we see in Singapore Math. Occasionally, students encounter an open-ended question that asks for both an answer and an explanation. Some lessons add an extra problem for “Early Finishers.” These are usually word problems that make real-world connections that are either more time-consuming or more challenging than the other lesson problems. These aren’t the only real-world word problems, since lessons generally have quite a few of them.
Students will need to work in a notebook or on other paper to complete lesson practice and written practice problems. They will not be writing in the hardcover textbook.
After every ten lessons there is an “investigation” lesson. Each of these will likely take an entire class period. For example, one investigation in Math Intermediate 3 teaches about bar graphs then directs students to collect survey data by asking questions then create their own bar graph. Investigations will require parental/teacher oversight or direction.
Instead of a teacher manual, the Solutions Manual for each course has answers and complete solutions (when applicable) for all textbook problems. There is no need for a teacher’s manual in addition to this since the text is self-explanatory. There is no answer key for the Power Up Workbook, although parents/teachers should be able to check the answers fairly easily without a key. (It appears that there is a CD with a Power Up answer key available in the school edition for each course but which has been omitted from the homeschool kits.)
The Homeschool Testing Book for each course has tests that follow every five lessons beginning after lesson 10....
The Intermediate series is totally in alignment with the Common Core Standards. On the publishers website they identify which lessons meet each of the standards for each grade level. Math Intermediate 4 and Math Intermediate 5 are very similar to Math 54 and Math 65 respectively in their content with some identical material. However, there are some additional or expanded topics....
Most of the content remains very similar in scope and sequence, retaining Saxon’s incremental approach of introducing a concept or skill, then expanding upon it in one or more future lessons; those future lessons are usually spaced out with intervening topics introduced rather than taught consecutively. Written practice problems mix both concepts reviewed and styles of problems rather than presenting arrays of similar problems. For some students this works to strengthen their thinking ability and keeps things interesting while it’s just confusing for others. Be aware that some students who need to stay focused on one concept at a time might not do as well with this incremental approach and the mixed practice problems....
Descriptions of individual books are in 102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum.
Overall, the Intermediate series is very easy to use and allows students to do much of their work independently, so it should work well in many homeschooling situations.
Saxon Math Intermediate 3: Written Practice Workbook 1st Edition
Saxon Math Power-Up Workbook: Intermediate 3
Saxon Math Intermediate 3: Solution Manual 2008
Saxon Intermediate 3: Homeschool Testing Book
SX Math Intermediate 3: Homeschool Package
Saxon Homeschool Intermediate 4: Homeschool Package
- Suitable for: one-on-one or group with much independent work
Audience: grades 3-5
Need for parent/teacher instruction: low to moderate
Prep time needed: none
Teacher's manual: no manual, but Testing Book and Solutions Manual are essential
Educational philosophy: traditional, incremental, spiral
Religious perspective: secular
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