Introduction

Saxon Math is a superior math curriculum giving proven results in the home school, private school, and public school environments.

The one drawback is the time required by the educator (parent, teacher, tutor) to check the student's practice problems and tests. This repetitive chore drains the educator's time and energy away from more instructive tasks, and slows the student down waiting for work to be checked and returned.

Dr. Aardsma's Saxon Math Checker relieves these problems.

Here's How It Works

The educator equips himself/herself with a Saxon curriculum from Saxon publishers as usual (see links in the navigation bar at left to assist with choosing the right textbook for your student) including student textbook and teacher's aids, such as test and answer booklets.

The educator registers their student with Dr. Aardsma's Saxon Math Checker for the textbook the student will be using. Full registration costs $29.95 and lasts until the student has completed the entire textbook.

The student logs on to Dr. Aardsma's Saxon Math Checker using any convenient browser. Dr. Aardsma's Saxon Math Checker displays a page corresponding to the lesson or test the student is currently on. The sequence of lessons and tests is administered by the Checker in the order prescribed by the Saxon publishers.

The student works his practice and test problems using paper and pencil, as usual. As he completes each problem, he enters his answer in Dr. Aardsma's Saxon Math Checker. The Checker checks the answer.

For daily practice problems, the Checker gives the student an immediate 'right' or 'wrong' answer. In a small percentage of cases the Checker e-mails the educator to check a problem. This happens if the answer is too graphically complex to be entered into the Checker by the student, or (even more infrequently) if there are a variety of 'correct' answers. The student may work practice problems in any order he pleases, but he must complete all practice problems and get them right before the Checker will move on to the next lesson or test.

For tests, the student is not given a 'right' or 'wrong' by the Checker. Rather, the student's answers are e-mailed to the educator, together with the Checker's 'right' or 'wrong' assessment, when the student has completed the test. The educator checks 'wrong' answers, to make sure they are truly wrong (not 'wrong' due to a simple typing error, for example) and awards partial marks as appropriate. The educator computes and records the final grade on each test in his/her own record book.

This process continues day by day until the student has completed the textbook.

The Results

There are several good results.

First, the educator's time is freed from unnecessary checking.

Second, the student receives immediate 'right' or 'wrong' feedback on questions, while they are still fresh in his mind, saving him time and helping to correct mistaken concepts before they have a chance to be reinforced through repetition.

Third, the student spends much less time waiting for his work to be checked and returned by the educator, and is thus able to proceed more quickly through the textbook.

This all sums to better education.