diaperjoys Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Thinking about trying this one - is the manual essential, or is it a pick up and go sort of workbook?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Thinking about trying this one - is the manual essential, or is it a pick up and go sort of workbook?? Honestly, I didn't use them (I assume you mean Horizons Math). They do have the kids do things that aren't in the workbook, and I know some people use them. I mainly use the TG's for an answer key & find I don't really need it for that until Level 4 (when it is sometimes faster to go get the manual than to work the problem myself). Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Honestly, I didn't use them (I assume you mean Horizons Math). They do have the kids do things that aren't in the workbook, and I know some people use them. I mainly use the TG's for an answer key & find I don't really need it for that until Level 4 (when it is sometimes faster to go get the manual than to work the problem myself). Merry :-) After wasting my $$ on the K TM, I took Merry's advice and just got the workbooks for Horizons 1. We don't need it at all. I'm glad I saved the money. Thanks, Merry! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leila Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 We've used Horizon Math 1 - 4 as a supplement and I never use the their TM and even if you try to read and use them, they never have enough help in them. So I wouldn't recommend getting them. Plus they are pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StinkyFace Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 We never bought TM for Horizons 1, and there are no need in it, so far... We do own Horizons K TM but never used it. So don't buy it, save $$! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 It depends on your ability and comfort level. There is no instruction whatsoever in the student workbooks. They are just the practice of the concept after it has been taught. They also don't include the drill necessary. So you would need to know how to teach the concepts for each lesson and schedule out drill yourself. If not, you wil need the TM. There have been posts on these boards over the years from people who didn't get the TM and then regretted it later when the program overtook their dc, because they hadn't scheduled in the drill or taught the concepts well enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 We didn't use the TM for Horizons 2. There was certainly nothing that I couldn't teach myself, but I did feel that I missed out on some of the big picture. There were times when I went "Oh, so that's why they were teaching x for the past 3 weeks!". We got the TM for Horizons 3, and to be honest, we don't use them much, although it saves a great deal of time when marking (as all the answers are given). As a teaching aid, I found the TM to be lacking. It wasn't detailed enough for me. If I am not sure how to teach a particular concept, I generally have to resort to the Internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 It depends on your ability and comfort level. There is no instruction whatsoever in the student workbooks. They are just the practice of the concept after it has been taught. They also don't include the drill necessary. So you would need to know how to teach the concepts for each lesson and schedule out drill yourself. If not, you wil need the TM. There have been posts on these boards over the years from people who didn't get the TM and then regretted it later when the program overtook their dc, because they hadn't scheduled in the drill or taught the concepts well enough. I agree. I see complaints from moms of older kids that Horizons left "gaps" but these are almost always from people who didn't use the TMs. The teacher manuals contain instruction and drill work that is not in the student books. We didn't use the TM for Horizons 2. There was certainly nothing that I couldn't teach myself, but I did feel that I missed out on some of the big picture. There were times when I went "Oh, so that's why they were teaching x for the past 3 weeks!". We got the TM for Horizons 3, and to be honest, we don't use them much, although it saves a great deal of time when marking (as all the answers are given). As a teaching aid, I found the TM to be lacking. It wasn't detailed enough for me. If I am not sure how to teach a particular concept, I generally have to resort to the Internet. I do agree that the instruction for teacher is lacking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caitlinsmom Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 I think the manuals are needed. I didn't use them in K and when I went over things at the end of the year I realized I hadn't taught a few things the correct way. Well I taught them correctly, just not in depth enough. I would say pick them up used and use them as a resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Hm, I can't really disagree with what anyone else is saying... I've used Horizons 1-6 with one child and k-2 with the other. I love Horizons. And I never used the TMs. *But* I was completely comfortable teaching the concepts in K-3 myself. And we did do additional drill, and I did take notice as the kids were expected to do skip counting or multiplication, etc, and I made sure they learned those things as we went, and learned them well. In grade 4 (I think -- I don't have the books open in front of me), the instruction begins to be directed to the student. I continued to make sure ds understood the material, and we would go into it in more depth as necessary... I did find it took me a few minutes to check all of the problems in grades 5 and 6 -- would have been faster with an answer key! ;) On the other hand, it meant more practice for me, which was probably not a terrible thing. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 I agree that it's an individual decision based on your comfort level. I bought the whole package for Kindergarten because I'm not crafty/clever or whatever you want to call it to think of ways to teach stuff. I like having the ideas laid out for me. Will I use the whole thing? Probably not. Do I like the comfort of knowing it's there in case I do need it? Absolutely! We are using Singapore EB and I don't have the TM because the development ideas are at the bottom of the textbook pages. I did get some good ideas for material presentation from those too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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