We just finished Horizons 1 with my 6yo & 7yo. I just switched all three kids to SINGAPORE math! Horizons is great for 'mathy' kids. There is not a lot of explanation or helping children to understand why they are doing what they are doing. They may know 'how' but not necessarily 'why'. My 6yo could do Horizons forever, I'm sure. Horizons is a spiral program. Singapore is more of a mastery/spiral program. So you get to try, try again until you get it and then move on. With Horizons my 7yo would get everything right on his worksheets but not without a lot of explanation from me and, when I would test him, I could see that he had gaps and that he didn't understand why he was doing certain things. Solving for the unknown, number bonds, etc. Singapore finds and fills in those gaps. Singapore is colorful like Horizons which we like. But it goes through the entire cycle of concrete - pictorial - abstract which, IMO, is invaluable to learning math. I can't speak about Saxon. I wouldn't touch it right now because I have friends that use it and I've heard that it is very repetitious and not necessarily in a creative way like Singapore. But I've never seen it myself. Sorry to bring another math program into this discussion but I am so thrilled with Singapore now that I can't stop singing its praises! God bless, Kim

Tia - go to singaporemath.com and enter the forums. They will tell you exactly what manipulatives you need. We just started Singapore and LOVE it! I will say that I adore, adore, adore the MathUSee blocks so we bought those. I think that they are invaluable. I like how they have them in increments from 1-10 and not just ones, tens, and hundreds. Very handy. Plus you can sell them for almost as much as you pay for them if you take care of them. The singaporemath forum is really helpful! Kim

Two of my boys, ages 6 & 7, started Horizons 1 for first grade last year. We are almost finished. 6yo is 'mathy' and does great. 7yo not so great. Horizons did not provide enough explanation or concept development for him. I just switched to Singapore. I bought first grade (1AB) for 7yo. We're flying through it trying to discover his gaps in learning and fill them in. I will start 2AB with both boys in the fall. When I received Singapore, I actually cried tears. SO much explanation in various ways, colorful textbooks, fun ways to approach problems. My 7yo asked me, after four pages of math, when we were starting "real" math because he was having too much fun! I bought the CA Standards edition for earlybird kindergarten for my 3yo (he, too, is 'mathy') and 1AB for 7yo and 2AB for both older boys. You can look at sample pages on singaporemath dot com for more info. We couldn't be happier! I think Horizons is great for 'mathy' kids who 'get it' without much help. I think that's a gift from God. But for those who struggle, I would never recommend it. I was going to go with MUS for 7yo but I just realized that that would put him so far behind his 6yo brother in math skills that he might not catch up for some time. IMO. : )

Hi Cindy - I apologize that I haven't read through all five pages of responses. I do not have a problem spending the money on history because I can use it for three children and, when I'm finished and I keep things in nice shape, I can sell what I have and recoup a lot of my costs. I just sold SL Cores pre-K and K for about 75% of what I paid for them. Even though I have a 3yo that I did not use them with. I kept the books that I loved and will use with him. However, we needed the money to pay for next year's second grade. Now -for second grade I am venturing out on own. Yikes! I am making my own Bible history using lapbooks and timelines. I am using books from the library based on the recommendations from the simplycharlottemason web site. I will buy a core for grade 3 when we start American history unless I find something better by then. I don't personally have the time to put together the books and the schedules to cover what needs to be covered. We basically pay for the research that someone else has done plus the books. Anyway, that's my little ole opinion. I know that others can create things from scratch but that's not me. I don't like to re-create the wheel. I like to tweak things but I'm not a creator. So far with selling things, I've found that each core has cost me less than $100 to use. God bless you and thanks for the discussion! Kim

I love the Taste of Home cookbooks. Cake Mix Doctor for cakes. Betty Crocker 3-ring binder books for reference and in-a-pinch needs.