Nicole, the Math Lady, teaches Saxon courses from Math 5/4 through Algebra 1 with streamed videos. She follows the topics as presented in the third editions of those textbooks. However, she teaches using her own methods and presentations, and she creates her own problems. Theoretically, if you are using a different edition, you can look up topics in the table of contents to know which lessons to watch.
I compared the fourth edition of Math 7/6 with her lessons and found the correlation to be almost exact. On the other hand, my second edition of Math 5/4 differs significantly from the third edition. Some topics have been dropped, and others have been added or combined. It would be very difficult to correlate those lessons.
To overcome lesson mismatches between the various editions, Nicole provides an option for accessing videos by topic rather than by lessons within courses. These are the same videos, only they are arranged differently. Topics are listed with grade level designations. For topics that are covered at multiple levels, there will be separate groups of videos. For example, measurement videos are presented under “Measurement (fourth grade),” “Measurement (fifth grade),” “Measurement and Rates (sixth grade),” etc.
If you haven’t yet purchased a text, I recommend getting the third edition so that it matches up with Nicole’s lessons. If you already own a text, compare the table of contents to make sure the correlation is close before signing up, or else be prepared to sort through the lessons in the course or in the list of topics to find what you need. (You can search the Internet for the table of contents for Saxon Math books if you need to do a comparison. They are available on various websites, although not at the pubisher’s [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt] website.)
Nicole also teaches Saxon Math Course 1 and Course 2, texts for middle school that are generally used only in classroom situations. These texts are not even listed on the HMH website where they show texts for homeschoolers, so you should probably ignore them unless you are teaching a group class that meets daily.
For each lesson, there is at least one video teaching segment. Videos seem to run from five to ten minutes each. For some lessons, there are two or more video teaching segments. While students might encounter two teaching segments per lesson occasionally in Math 5/4 and Math 6/5, multiple segments become more common as the courses advance.
Nicole presents practice problems in a separate video segment for each lesson. She creates her own practice problems rather than using those in the text. I recommend that after watching the teaching video(s) and practice problem video for a lesson, students try to work out the practice problems in the text to ensure that they have understood the concepts.
Students are then on their own to work through the set of problems in the text. Nicole does not offer video solutions, and she does not present lessons for the investigations or the additional topics found at the end of some of the texts.
Nicole teaches while writing on a white board. She has a casual, friendly, encouraging attitude that students are likely to enjoy. She includes her own techniques for remembering concepts—mnemonics, tricks, silly songs. She makes the lessons lively! However, she does present lessons at a fairly quick pace, so students might need to watch a few times to grasp the concepts.
Many lessons include a “Corny Brain Break” video segment with students telling jokes. I expect that your student might watch a few of them then just skip them.
As I write up this review, all lessons for Math 7/6, 8/7 and Algebra ½ are complete. At least 50 lessons are available for each of the other courses. Nicole is rapidly completing videos for the remaining lessons, so you should be able to count on their availability by the time you need them.
There are other options for video instruction for Saxon Math courses besides Nicole the Math Lady. Some of them include solutions videos as well as instructional videos. However, the cost is higher for the more comprehensive options. The cost for Nicole the Math Lady’s courses is $49 per year for access to one course, and only $79 per year for access to all courses. You can use the full access to include two or more students! Those with older students might find it worth paying for a more comprehensive video option that includes solutions, but those with younger students might find that Nicole provides all of the teaching that you or your students need.
