Teaching Textbooks?

I’ve been a huge fan of Saxon Math since we started homeschooling 3 years ago. However, I’m thinking about making a switch for next year. I’m intrigued by TT, and hoping to get some opinions.

What are your opinions about Teaching Textbooks? My main concern is whether they are academically sound.

I appreciate any feedback!

My daughter is using TT this year and she really loves it. I have to actually stop her from doing2 or 3 lessons a day and she absolutely hated math when she was in public school. I think there are some things that she needs review on and this week she is struggling with long division. My husband is spending extra time practicing that with her. As of right now, I think we will probably use it again next year. I guess we will see as the year ends though.

I forgot to mention that she is in 4th grade and I have her using TT5.

I have not used TT, but I did see that in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s 2015 Excellence in Education Awards, TT came in 2nd place in the Middle School Math category and 1st place in High School Math! In the past I have heard things going both ways about TT and the academic soundness, but these awards were given based on the feedback of almost 1000 individuals who were not given any choices to choose from–they just submitted their choice for the best math curriculum out there. So TT must be doing pretty well to place so highly in these awards :smile: I hope this helps! I was intrigued when I read through the list of these awards, so I thought I’d share these results in case it is helpful!

We are using it this year. My 8 year old is using TT4 because I heard that it is about a year behind in comparison to other curricula. We love the fact that she can do it on her own while I’m working with her brother and that it checks her work and can offer step by step help if she misses a problem. However, we are planning to return to Singapore Math next year because even with working at a higher level I just don’t think it’s been rigorous enough. (Keep in mind that before homeschooling I was a public school teacher so I tend to have pretty high expectations on how challenging a curriculum is…I’ve relaxed in a lot of areas and try to stay out of the “school at home” mindset but still expect a lot from the curricula I’m paying for!!):grin:

I’m looking forward to hearing other perspectives on this thread!! Hope you find what will work best for you!:blush:

We used it in 2nd grade and then went to something else for 3rd but I came back to it this year. I think I left TT because I didn’t know if it was challenging enough. But with 5 kids 10 and under I really had a hard time helping the kids with their math. I started with something else this year but I realized they really needed “instruction” so I went back to TT. They were soooooo excited. They absolutely love it. I am already planning on using it next year. I am glad to see they are enjoying it! They actually fight over who gets to go first. I print out the table of contents from the TT website so I can see what they are learning and I try to ask them about it… For example, I was asking my daughter about Roman Numerals while braiding her hair the other day. My plan is to try and quiz them sporadically to see if they are retaining what they learned or not. I have also thought about buying a couple life of Fred books for supplement because I bought 1 a year ago and they loved it.

Julie,

I second your post, we use saxon and really like it, but I’ve been interested in TT also and wondering if we should give it a try.

I’ve used TT with two children. One has some learning issues and has been “behind” in math, she really enjoys TT. There is no pressure of mom standing over her shoulder, she can be independent “ask for help” again without feeling pressure. I like it because I can quickly look to see which problems she has struggled with and needs more practice with. Grading is done for me and records are kept. Most importantly, she is learning and making progress. My second child, a 9yo boy does not like it. He is actually really good at abstract math he can estimate well, and understands some higher concepts. He can do the math but if he gets his numbers backwards or whatever, the computers tells him “no” and that really makes him mad. So he uses CLE math instead. As he gets older and becomes more coordinated (maybe less distracted) I will not have any problems trying it again. As far as being too relaxed check out their website, they do have placement tests. Bonus, the staff is really helpful. I bought a used TT and needed help installing it. They were awesome.

I appreciate all the responses so far.

My issue is with my 4th grader. He is very gifted academically, but he has Asperger’s Syndrome and gets distracted soooo easily. When doing a new lesson with Saxon, he will pick up on the mathematical concept with one try, but then struggle to get through the lesson because he can’t stay focused. It takes him forever to get through the lesson, which leads to a lousy attitude. He has started to really hate math, which I want to avoid at all costs. I don’t want him to have a fear of math (especially since it comes so naturally to him). I don’t even make him do every problem in the lesson (maybe a total of 10 or so), but it doesn’t seem to matter how many problems there are.

I do not have any experience with Aspergers, but my kids (both) can be easily distracted at times. Heres my two cents. Saxon has lots of daily problems. I see you don’t make him do all of them (good thing IMO), but what if when he gets the new concept he only does a few of the review then does some of the “new” concept the next day, as a review. Does that make sense? I use a highlighter to circle the math problems I want my son to do when I’m at work, that way he does not get distracted or overwhelmed with an entire blank page.
Again not really knowing much about Aspergers, when you say he picks up the concept in one try if you ask him about it next week does he remember it?
Teaching Textbooks is visually appealing, but there are (changeable) characters in the upper left corner that make noise and move side to side or up and down. One day my daughter spent her entire lesson time changing the characters and watching what each one did.