Saxon wasn't our favorite: we did four months or so of 8/7 Pre-Algebra in 6th grade. The spiral method was annoying for us: just when you've had one lesson and learned to, say, multiply numbers with exponents, you have to turn to computing the volume of a sphere, and the next lesson after that will be dividing decimals. So despite the amount of repetition, it wasn't a good model for kids who like to dig in. That particular course validates HowlerKarma's point about lacking applications. The kids had way too few word problems/applications. We liked Singapore better. We're doing Prentice Hall Algebra I now, and it's a good, tough course with lots of applications and an increasing-depth presentation that's logical, as well as some challenge problems for each assignment.
