FYI, Saxon Algebra 1/2 is essentially a pre-algebra text. My DC who spent a little time in Saxon did 6/5, fleetingly 7/6 before being moved up to 8/7 early in the year, and then went straight into Pearson/Prentice Hall Algebra I Common Core, based on an end-of-course exam score for Algebra 1/2 that was better than 90%. IOW, there is negligible material in 1/2 that could not have been learned in 8/7. So if his alg 1 class was really Saxon algebra 1/2, he didn't actually have a solid algebra 1 class, which might be why it felt limited. Good for him that he adapted to alg 2 without that.

...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...