sands1978 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Being our first HS year we did a mix of Horizon with Singapore for both kids last year. Although I felt retention was good with Horizon my dd hated it and my son is also starting to complain. I have looked at CLE and it feel better. Have given the samples and did Diagnostics tests. However can some tell me how these two programs compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 (edited) Being our first HS year we did a mix of Horizon with Singapore for both kids last year. Although I felt retention was good with Horizon my dd hated it and my son is also starting to complain. I have looked at CLE and it feel better. Have given the samples and did Diagnostics tests. However can some tell me how these two programs compare. I'm not sure what kind of information you are looking for, but I'll share our experience. We've used both Horizons (K-5th) and CLE (5th). (My ds had been working a year ahead since he finished up the work I had for him in K. I just chose to keep on moving because he could do 1st grade work easily. This worked fine until he was trying to do 5th grade work as a 9year old (generally, 4th grader). School was getting frustrating. We simply "found" his threshold. We decided to let him do 5th again- which was where he was supposed to be anyway. This decision has worked out wonderfully!) The most obvious difference b/t the two is the color in Horizons vs the lack of color in CLE. Honestly, my son likes the uncluttered CLE text. The two-toned pages have just enough color to break up the page. I LOVE the way CLE is organized. Each LU has 2 quizzes and a LU test. I make the tests weigh twice as much as the quizzes when I grade them. This way he can make a mistake on a quiz and it not count too much against his overall grade. The quizzes also just break of the information into more manageable chunks. Horizons simply tests after 10 lessons. There are no quizzes. This isn't "bad"; it's just different. I LOVE that the Mastery and Speed Drill Tests are scheduled daily. For us, this is a plus. CLE makes it easy because they are in the back of every light unit. Somehow, Horizons' extra worksheets felt harder to use. I felt like I had to copy each page since they are in the TM. We never used them. Also, the Mastery and Speed Drill tests in CLE take between 1-3 minutes each depending on the information being tested. It is SIMPLE to implement. With Horizons, if we had used the extra worksheets, I think it would have taken just as long to do as the daily lesson..... would not have been good *for us.* Both have a spiral approach... We like that. It's kind of fun to pull out a new light unit 10 times in a year. It has that feel of, "Ooooh! What kind of stuff is in this one?!!!" My son has really enjoyed his move to CLE. He is using the 500 level for 5th grade. I have Horizons 6 in our closet. When I asked him which he wants to do for 6th grade, he chose CLE. HTH Edited January 14, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Sorry I'm jumping in but this interests me: We are with dd just turning 8 at the end of book 1 of grade 4. In september she's still 8 and starting grade 5 of Horizons Math.... Do you think it could be a general issue? Is there such a big difference between 4th and 5th grade at Horizons? Might there be the problem of 'maturity' or a higher level of 'abstract thinking'? Just curious to know :-) I hoped I shouldn't switch anymore until after Pre-Algebra... You know, I think developmental progress is different for everyone. For us, we just hit ds's threshold when we decided to do 5th grade over. I sort of stressed over this issue because I didn't want him to take it personally. The truth was that developmentally, he would not have made progress if we had continued because he just wasn't ready for any new skills. As it turned out, I think he was relieved that we weren't pushing him into more frustration. Also, he wasn't losing any ground. He really should have been in 5th grade this year if I never had pushed him ahead in K. I don't know if it had anything to do with moving from Horizon's 4 to 5. He completed Horizon's 5, but just wasn't ready for Horizons 6. That's why we made a lateral move to CLE 5. Bottom line: I think our situation had everything to do with maturity and being developmentally ready. When your daughter has reached her threshold, just be ready to camp out there until she is developmentally ready to move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sands1978 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 My dd feels Hor has to much reptition and it takes too long to do all the ops in a page. We hardly ever used the TM and that is where all the Flash Card work was scheduled. We also did not do most of the sheets. I would also like something more self directed as I work from home and need something that the kids can do on their own. The LU feel like that. My question is to do on level of work. Horizon is quite advanced how does that compare with CLE? Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I LOVE the way CLE is organized. Each LU has 2 quizzes and a LU test. I make the tests weigh twice as much as the quizzes when I grade them. This way he can make a mistake on a quiz and it not count too much against his overall grade. The quizzes also just break of the information into more manageable chunks. Horizons simply tests after 10 lessons. There are no quizzes. This isn't "bad"; it's just different. Not that this has any bearing on your individual decision, but just to let people know, Horizons does have quarterly quizzes and 1 end-of-year final starting in 4th grade, at least. They are in the back of the TM. I didn't notice them in my 3rd grade & under TMs, but I wasn't looking for them, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Not that this has any bearing on your individual decision, but just to let people know, Horizons does have quarterly quizzes and 1 end-of-year final starting in 4th grade, at least. They are in the back of the TM. I didn't notice them in my 3rd grade & under TMs, but I wasn't looking for them, either. Oh my! I truly forgot all about the quarterly tests! Thanks for making this right. Ds is using 2nd grade Horizons this year, and I haven't noticed these tests in the 2nd gd TM either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sands1978 Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Just checked Hor 3 and there are no tests on TM. I guess that only starts from level 4. Sorry for asking again. The kids learn well with the spiral but feel that there is too much repetition in Horizon. Also we do not do any of the re-enforcement work as per TM. Is CLE not so burdersome? Is it more self directed? As far as level Horizon is quite advanced. How does this compare to CLE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Just checked Hor 3 and there are no tests on TM. I guess that only starts from level 4. Sorry for asking again. The kids learn well with the spiral but feel that there is too much repetition in Horizon. Also we do not do any of the re-enforcement work as per TM. Is CLE not so burdersome? Is it more self directed? As far as level Horizon is quite advanced. How does this compare to CLE? Horizons has a lot of repetition. When I am sure my 2nd grader has mastered a certain skill, I only assign a portion of the problems. However, he answers everything on the tests. I've never used any of the worksheets in the TM, if that is what you're calling reinforcement sheets. I read several times where CLE is meant to be done (or can be done) independently. We use it for both for 5th grade math and LA. In math, my son and I check a lesson, do the speed/mastery test, and go over the next day's lesson. The next day, he works the lesson independently, and the process starts over. (Checking, speed/mastery tests, go over next lesson). So, he works the lessons independently, but we check it together. (The LU books actually have directions for the student to check his own work. I like checking together.) In LA, he and I read over the new skill in the day's lesson. He works the entire lesson and then we check it. When it is time for a quiz or a test, the LA Light Units have a check list of skills the student can check off to determine if he is ready for the quiz/test. I LOVE this. The check off sheet has been wonderful for teaching him how to study and review skills. This has been a wonderful independent work experience. Math does not have this feature.... I certainly can't say that it is less burdensome because CLE has been very thorough in both math and LA. I've heard that it is "advanced" as is Horizons, but I really don't know to what degree. I can tell you that ds, who is 10-11 years old in 5th grade this year is working the 500 level, and it seems to be just right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Even though Horizons has a lot of repetition, it is easy to compact imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangato3 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 We switched to CLE 400 after finishing Horizons 3. Their approaches are similar, but I find that the review in CLE seems to be better planned. There is usually a mixture of concept review, skill builders (a few problems of each computation type), and mental math. With Horizons, the review sometimes would include a lot of problems for a few different types of computation (e.g. 2 digit addition and multiplication) . I often had to cut down on the number of problems with Horizons - it was just too tedious. Also, as other posters stated, CLE drill work is extremely easy to implement and fun as there is a rewards chart for the speed drills. The scope and sequences seem to be similar, although Horizon includes lessons on manipulating simple algebraic equations, and so far, CLE has not (we are on unit 405). They're both excellent programs, and I should mention that after Horizons 3, my ds performed extremely well on his standardized test (CA STAR). We just like the layout of CLE better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Horizons has a lot of repetition. When I am sure my 2nd grader has mastered a certain skill, I only assign a portion of the problems. However, he answers everything on the tests. I've never used any of the worksheets in the TM, if that is what you're calling reinforcement sheets. We do this same thing. I made my ds do all od the addition and subtraction problems in each lesson until I was certain he had his facts down. Now he only does 4-6/lesson, but does every multiplication problem. He also does everything on the tests. It has worked well and is a motivator for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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