ckmommyof3 Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I am leaning towards Horizons Math for my Kinder. She has taken the placement test for Saxon and would be in the Saxon 1 book. I have looked at the Horizons Level K and the samples from the 1st K book seem below her level. The 2nd K book seems to make a huge jump... Does Horizons just start out slow? I am also open to any other math suggestions.... (I would like to use a spiral math program.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kls126s Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 In my experience it does start out a little bit slowly. In our case that was a good thing because we did Saxon K and part of 1 but it was really not a good fit and we switched to the Horizons 1 and went back to the beginning. It was a definite confidence boost for her to be looking at things she understood and helped her feel like she wasn't in over her head in math. She's almost done with Horizons 1 and she's doing things now that would have freaked her out to even look at a few months ago. Imho Horizons does a nice job of introducing things slowly and in bits while still reviewing older skills in gradually increasing difficulty - that spiral you mentioned. YMMV but we're sold on Horizons. I'm sticking with it through elementary levels and then we'll reevaluate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterbabs Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 We're VERY pleased with CLE Sunrise Math and are using it for the 100, 500 & 600 levels with plans to continue through 800 barring unforeseen circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 My son did Horizons K book 1 last yr for prek. He was able to move directly into Abeka 1st grade this yr after just the first half of Horizons. It really picks up towards the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thea Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I am leaning towards Horizons Math for my Kinder. She has taken the placement test for Saxon and would be in the Saxon 1 book. I have looked at the Horizons Level K and the samples from the 1st K book seem below her level. The 2nd K book seems to make a huge jump... Does Horizons just start out slow? I am also open to any other math suggestions.... (I would like to use a spiral math program.) Horizons has worked really well for us. My oldest used up through H4, my ds, H5 and my youngest is just starting book 1 of H5. I have found that the spiral approach works well for my dc. My ds was able to start TT Pre Algebra after completing H5. We tried Saxon and it was an abysmal failure. ALEKS, slightly better. The verdict is still out on Teaching Textbooks (I've only used Pre Alg and Alg). My dc are also enjoying Life of Fred and I also supplement with the Key To... Series. My dc are 15, 11 and 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Have you had her do the placement test for Horizons 1? That might shed some light on it for you. My ds placed into Horizons 2 according to the placement test, but I decided to do Horizons K anyway. I was worried about things we hadn't covered like time and skip counting. Well, Horizons K was too easy for him, but I should have known that from the placement test. I think the samples online are deceptive since it only shows you the first couple of lessons. It does ramp up pretty quickly. Unless she can add and subtract well, I'd go with book 1. We ended up doing all of Horizons K in 4 months and my ds liked it. I did cross out a lot of exercises that were so easy they annoyed him, but his math facts were cemented by the program. I'm going to use it again with my 3yo next year. He doesn't seem to be as gifted in math as his brother, so we might end up doing book 2 in Kindergarten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4boys Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 It does start out slowly. I used the first book for pre-K and the second book for K and it's worked out really nicely. My son hasn't had any problems catching on to the concepts (he is nearing the end of book 2 now) but he is farther ahead now than his brother was at the same age. So although it starts slowly, I feel it does a good job of slowly introducing concepts and gets to be at or above grade level by the end of book 2. It was a great fit for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphina71 Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 (edited) My older girl used Horizons until 5th grade and loved it. She gained a very thorough working knowledge of mathematics, which is probably partially responsible for her complete lack of math anxiety. She is plugging along in algebra with the same matter-of-fact confidence she's always shown. With my 4yo, I received Saxon K for free, so I bought the best manipulative kit I could find and then opened it. Count four bears as you line them up on the edge of the construction paper then count them again as you put them back into your math basket. That was it? Maybe I should have read this thing beforehand. I also had Saxon 1, but with her being only 4 I didn't want to start with that yet. I ALSO had the old Singapore kindergarten 1a and 1b workbooks, which we do occasionally, but they're also a little on the basic side. I'm sure if I had the whole program I might feel differently. Soooo, despite owning three other math programs, I still bought the Horizons K workbooks from a WTMer. They're working wonderfully. I do occasionally use the calendar work (on my own calendar) from the Saxon K or a worksheet from Singapore. Mostly I use the Horizons and Building Thinking Skills- Primary level from Critical Thinking Co for pattern and attribute block work. Oh, and we love Tangoes Jr. for tangrams work at her level. If I were you, I might order just the Horizons workbooks (I think RR has a good price) and really look them over. You can always find a used TM for a good price if you decide you want to use it. If you look the whole year over and don't like the looks of it, you can sell it and not take much of a hit in the wallet. You might even find someone who still has their used K workbooks who would send them to you for just shipping costs. Edited October 25, 2009 by Seraphina71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 It's 7:30am here and I am heading to church soon....but I was looking at my Horizons K last night for my own reasons and with you in mind! Later this afternoon, I' ll give you more details and such about what I thought of the lessons based on looking again last night. In the meantime, post any specific questions you have and I can try and look to answer them - about the actual workbooks or lessons. But quickly, I agree the samples don't do justice and it really picks up especially in the second book. Yet important stuff is also incorporated into the 1st book. And I did hear in several forums, including this one, that Saxon 1 is really Kinder level. So personally it would make me nervous to go to Horizons 1 when placement was in Saxon 1 but only you know your child's abilities. But I'll come back later and can give you examples of what's taught in various lessons. Have you checked out the Scope and Sequence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 We're using Horizons 1 and its perfect for us. My son has nooooo attention span, but he can make it through a lesson. They also review constantly the stuff that was learned before, so he retains everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 My vote would be to start off with the first K book and just move at a quick pace through it skipping a little here and there if the repetition just gets to be too much. I would worry moving into the second K book right away that your dd might miss a few skills here and there she will need and it will be a great confidence boost to breeze through that first book! :) Just my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Horizons may have a few slow lessons at the beginning, but it picks up pretty quickly. I'd just start at the beginning of K and feel free to skip sections that are well below your child's level, if necessary. I did start with 1 with my oldest who had completed roughly half of Saxon 1 at the time. It worked for him (and he still moved very quickly), but he was and continues to be an *extremely* math-y kid. With my younger dd, we started with K, and I'm glad we did. She's very bright, but doesn't give pigeon's tail feathers about math, lol. I found it easy enough to speed up with my son, but I love the amount of review and reinforcement for my daughter. I felt that Horizons (supplemented along the way with Singapore for deeper word problems, and various enrichment materials for my older one) gave ds a fantastic foundation before he moved into algebra this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Ok, I think many posters have offered the advice of going with Horizons K and whizzing through the easy stuff and slowing down for the more "advanced" concepts. Those concepts are definitely woven within the first book too. By the end of book 1, you are: Writing numbers and working with numbers up to 60. (ie. Lesson 75 - what number is between 67 and 69) Adding single digits to numbers in the 40's (ie. 45+3 or 42+4 Lessons 79 and 80) Days of the week and time are worked on Money - pennies, dimes, nickels Ordinal 1st - 10th place (lesson 67-68) 20's place value (lesson 77) Counting by 5's (lesson 66) There are 80 lessons in book 1 and of course, these concepts are covered in more lessons. I just wanted to give you a sampling of what kids do in just book 1 alone. Going to the last lessons in Book 2: Adding and subtracting in the 90's fractions word problems perimeter (inches) counting by 1's, 2's,3's, 4's and 5's and 10's Counting and writing to 100 So, hopefully, this gives a better idea of what is taught verses the samples you were shown. Yes, the 1st Book starts with counting "1" but it picks up fast. I don't think Book 1 is considered PreK (maybe Prek type review in the beginning but it's definitely K level work as you progress). And towards the end of Book 2, I have to say it's easily K to beginning 1st grade work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I am leaning towards Horizons Math for my Kinder. She has taken the placement test for Saxon and would be in the Saxon 1 book. I have looked at the Horizons Level K and the samples from the 1st K book seem below her level. The 2nd K book seems to make a huge jump... Does Horizons just start out slow? I am also open to any other math suggestions.... (I would like to use a spiral math program.) Here's a placment test for the Horizons K Math books: http://www.sonlight.com/images/samples/horizons-math/1/pdf/1-readiness.pdf. It will give you a great idea of what is coverd in Horizons K. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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