What are the differences between Saxon and Everyday Math?

[JamieJLD]

I'm looking into kindergarten options for my oldest DD and we are considering private school for her. The first school I toured proudly told me that they do Saxon math while the second was very pleased to say they do Everyday Math.

What are the differences between those two math programs? It seems like they take pretty different approaches to introduce math skills to kids.

[Mommy/4boys]

I don't know the difference between the 2 but will say our school used Everyday math when my oldest started school. It was awful for him. It would take us hours to do his math homework, this was just basic adding single and double digit numbers. The way Everyday math teaches isn't the right way for him. I am not sure what the use now because DS2 and DS3 don't bring home a lot of homework but I know it isn't everyday math. Now that my oldest is in 6th grade and not doing the simple problems anymore it is so much easier. Good Luck with your decision.
ETA here is how they teach double digit addition

[mkrisel]

Total opposite ends of the spectrum! Both spiral (review, reteach and extend on concepts continually - you don't do a unit on geometry and then are done with it until next year). Saxon is a very teacher directed, direct instruction model. Teacher tells you how to do it and then you practice it. Everyday math is more exploratory. You investigate something to learn what happens. Instead of just being told a triangle has 3 sides, you would look and many triangles to determine what us the same about them. I have no experience with either, thus is just what I have heard, so take it with a grain of salt as I could be a little off

[HeatherlovesCDs]

I know you can find samples and reviews of Saxon online. You can probably find the same of the other program (can't even remember the name right now ). You could compare both that way.

[magdalynaa]

Originally Posted by Mommy/4boys ETA here is how they teach double digit addition

Ugh it took me like 10 mins to understand this.

[luvsviola]

DD's school (she's in Kindy) uses Everyday Math. I showed that to DH, and he is like, "But that is wrong. If I wrote computer code like that, it would take 5 minutes to open your email!"

He is not excited for 1st grade now.

[Mommy/4boys]

Originally Posted by magdalynaa Ugh it took me like 10 mins to understand this.

And that is why it would take us hours to finish his math. My brain doesn't work that way and it is hard to help when it doesn't make sense to you.

[mibarra]

Everyday Math is a spiral. Instead of mastering a skill and moving on, it touches on a lot of things in cycles. It also requires quite a bit of reading (word problems, ect) and writing (narrative explanations of processes) compared to many other math programs. I know nothing about Saxon math. Lots of kids with difficulty reading rapidly fall behind in Everyday math. I would avoid any program using Touch math (counting the dots on numbers), there's some evidence it prevents kids from memorizing math facts.

[me_just_me]

Originally Posted by Mommy/4boys I don't know the difference between the 2 but will say our school used Everyday math when my oldest started school. It was awful for him. It would take us hours to do his math homework, this was just basic adding single and double digit numbers. The way Everyday math teaches isn't the right way for him. I am not sure what the use now because DS2 and DS3 don't bring home a lot of homework but I know it isn't everyday math. Now that my oldest is in 6th grade and not doing the simple problems anymore it is so much easier. Good Luck with your decision. ETA here is how they teach double digit addition

Whoa! That took me a bit to figure out! Why in the world do they teach it that way? That really doesn't seem to make sense!

[MamaLump]

I'm going to be the odd one out here. I love that method of teaching adding double digits. Instead if the kids just learning a process they really are going to be able to understand why we "carry the one". Contrary to popular belief, simply memorizing the steps to get the right answer is a horrible idea, even if they can do it everytime.