Saxon Math restock [updated]

It's that time of year again.

My flu is over-ish. It's school holidays and my husband and I are spending the time clearing the back section together. I come in from the outside and cough my lungs out in the warmth of the kitchen.

But, it's also the time of year that the government acknowledges the amount of money that I am saving the country by homeschooling our two boys, by giving me biannual cheque for nearly $700. Some people choose not to take the money, out of a misguided sense of pride I suppose, but I'm happy to have it. It's a drop in the bucket when it comes to the taxes we pay the government, and when compared to the amount that is spent on educating each child in NZ, it's a bit of a joke really. But it's appreciated nonetheless, because that money is always set aside for the materials we need for homeschooling. It allows me to go Amazon shopping without guilt.
This time around I am concentrating all of the money into buying Saxon Math to last my children into their highschool years. I'm doing this so that I know I've got the material, just in case.

I recently came across a website of a man called Art Reed who appears to have incredible indepth knowledge of how Saxon Math works, and also why it fails. He's said that if you want to be sure that you have the effective Saxon Math course in the future, get all the textbooks now. Because the company that has bought out the original writer's children is rewriting the textbooks, separating out the algebra from the geometry, thus destroying the product.

Right now the homeschooling math hasn't been touched, as the company is only releasing the new math to highschools in the US, but there's no telling how long the original textbooks that keep algebra and geometry together will last.

From his March 2009 newsletter, Art Reed says of the separation of geometry from algebra:

I am in possession of a 105 year old mathematics textbook written by several math professors at the University of Chicago. They wrote the book as an algebra supplement to the geometry textbook being used in the high schools at that time. In the preface of the book, they lamented the fact that educators were making a mistake inserting a geometry textbook in between basic algebra (algebra 1) and the more challenging algebra 2.

The two math professors basically said what the rest of the industrialized world at that time already knew, that students going from algebra 1 to geometry and then on to algebra 2, encountered difficulty in algebra 2 because the students (after a fifteen month absence) had forgotten most of the basic algebra concepts necessary to be successful in the more challenging algebra 2 course. John Saxon (without ever having had the opportunity to read their book) followed the rest of the industrialized nations of the world and incorporated geometry with the algebra and trigonometry in his high school math books, a decision most mathematicians, as do I, agree with.

Then apparently aware of this situation, and knowing John Saxon's position on the subject, why did HMH Supplemental Publishers, Inc. publish their new Saxon algebra 1, algebra 2, and separate geometry textbooks? I do not know, but I do know that three textbooks will make more money for a publisher than two textbooks will. I do also know this: the new books are displayed only on the school website and not on the homeschool website - and - I have already answered email and telephone calls from homeschool educators who were somewhat confused by this.

My reply to them was not to buy anything from the school web site. The homeschool community is blessed by the fact that the new series of books are not needed in the homeschool environment. If you stick with the editions of John Saxon's math books that I listed at the end of my September 2008 Newsletter, you will have the best math books on the market today and for several more decades to come.

If you scroll down the newsletter, Art Reed gives the safe editions of each level of Saxon Math to buy. Based on this list, and going through a couple of other websites that specify what is in the editions they are selling, I've been going through the Amazon website trying to figure out which items in their catalogue are the full homeschool packets. Getting the right items is somewhat important when the exchange rate is so bad and delivery on a box of three items packaged together is much cheaper to get sent to NZ than three individual items.

Of course you can buy Saxon Math from a number of other places where it's obvious what you are buying, except that the delivery charges for most of these sites is exorbitant. Seriously, it's that bad.

So, once I get a few more items, I'll do another post linking to the specific Saxon Math items on Amazon for anyone who is interested in buying this fantastic math course.

Update:

The following Math courses are the important ones to buy. There is a possibility Algebra 1/2 will be discontinued in the future, while Algebra 1 & 2 may be replaced with new book that have the geometry component separated out. For the month of July, all the items listed below are cheaper at Christian Books, even with their horrendous delivery prices because of a 35% discount on all Saxon Math courses.

The Solutions Manual, if you feel you need one (I do) I've included as well, because it's not included in the homeschool kits. The kits at this level only have an answer key, which is inadequate if you need to know all the steps required to getting an answer.

Algebra 1/2 (3rd Edition) Homeschool Kit, Algebra 1/2 (3rd Edition) Solutions Manual
Algebra 1 (3rd Edition) Home Study Kit, Solutions Manual only available through 3rd parties
Algebra 2 (3rd Edition) Homeschool Kit, Algebra 2 (3rd Edition) Solution Manual

Related Link: How to use Saxon Math Newsletter