Horizons w/o teacher manual vs. Math Mammoth for special situation

[Heart_Mom]

I'm trying to decide what my rising 1st grader should do for math in the fall. I have 5 children that I am teaching (including one high schooler). My father-in-law, who lives with us, is declining and may need much more of my care during the upcoming school year. I'm trying to find a way to make teaching doable should that happen.

 

My rising 1st grader is about 1/2 way through Horizons Math K. I do like the program, but I know that it's intended to be taught from the teacher's guide (including the drills, skip counting, concept teaching, etc.). If things get very nutty here during the school year, it may not be possible for me to teach from the guide. It might be just the math sheet with myself or an older sibling available to help as needed. If things are not so nutty, I will be able to teach it as intended. (And it could end up that some days I can teach it and some days I can't.)

 

Would it be better to do this route, or to switch to a program, like Math Mammoth, that has all the instruction on the student page? 

 

If Horizons without using the Teacher's Guide would do, I probably would like to go with it, since it's what we're already using. But if it's going to be woefully inadequate, I'll consider something else. Math Mammoth is the only other program that I can think of that has the instruction right on the workbook page, but if you know of other options, I would love to hear them. 

 

Thanks for any input you can give me. 

[Crimson Wife]

I switched my DS from Singapore to Math Mammoth last year when things got crazy with my youngest. I needed something that I could just hand over to him to do while I was on the phone fighting with the HMO we had at the time. MM got the job done.

 

I switched him back to Singapore after things settled down because I think it's more challenging for a "mathy" kid like him (he'll do Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra as soon as he finishes Singapore 6).

[Heart_Mom]

I switched my DS from Singapore to Math Mammoth last year when things got crazy with my youngest. I needed something that I could just hand over to him to do while I was on the phone fighting with the HMO we had at the time. MM got the job done.

 

I switched him back to Singapore after things settled down because I think it's more challenging for a "mathy" kid like him (he'll do Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra as soon as he finishes Singapore 6).

 

Glad to hear that MM worked well for you when you needed something that would work when you didn't have as much teaching time. I hadn't considered that I could use MM for a while then go back to Horizons when things settle down. 

 

Thanks! 

Edited May 13, 2016 by Heart_Mom

[SilverMoon]

FWIW, I only ever used the Horizons TM for a handy answer key for 1-6. If a kid needed extra drill on particular concepts it was obvious. Unless a child was struggling I wouldn't worry about it until the times tables in Horizons 3. There's plenty of practice in the 1 student book.

Edited May 13, 2016 by SilverMoon

[Heart_Mom]

FWIW, I only ever used the Horizons TM for a handy answer key for 1-6. If a kid needed extra drill on particular concepts it was obvious. Unless a child was struggling I wouldn't worry about it until the times tables in Horizons 3. There's plenty of practice in the 1 student book.

 

That's good to know! There's certainly a lot of repetition and review and Horizons, especially compared with some other programs I've used. 

 

 

Did you use the drill sheets from the back of the teacher book? How about the oral counting and flashcards? 

 

Thanks! 

[Heart_Mom]

Any other thoughts? 

I'd especially like to hear from other people who used Horizons Math mostly just from the student workbooks. 

 

Thank you! :)

Edited May 13, 2016 by Heart_Mom

[Insertcreativenamehere]

CLE is another option. 

[Heart_Mom]

CLE is another option. 

 

Thank you! I hadn't thought of that. Is it designed to be fairly independent even at the 1st grade level? 

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I am using 1st grade right now (along with 3rd and 5th) and I think the level of independence will vary from child to child. My kindergartner (who is using CLE Math 1) is simply not focused enough to do it all on her own, but my older kids do (with the exception of me usually teaching new material - takes just a few minutes a day). I do think I could probably train her to be more independent if necessary. 

[Heart_Mom]

I am using 1st grade right now (along with 3rd and 5th) and I think the level of independence will vary from child to child. My kindergartner (who is using CLE Math 1) is simply not focused enough to do it all on her own, but my older kids do (with the exception of me usually teaching new material - takes just a few minutes a day). I do think I could probably train her to be more independent if necessary. 

 

Thank you! 

[SilverMoon]

On 5/13/2016 at 10:04 AM, Heart_Mom said:

 

 

Edited May 16 by SilverMoon

[Heart_Mom]

Nope. If a DC needed a little work on addition facts in 1 or multiplication in 3 we just added it in then. DD/2nd used an old Rod and Staff bee and blossom set (addition facts up to 20) for a little while in Horizons 1. All the scheduled drill and extra pages would have been overkill for this particular DC. A struggling kid may need more.

 

Another DC loved racing timers and used XtraMath. Plain flashcards would work just as well.

 

Thank you! 

[Jeanne in MN]

I used Horizons K-6, and I only used the TM for the answer key ! I would not switch curriculums just because you don't have the manual, especially when it's only first grade. You will be just fine. :)

 

[Heart_Mom]

I used Horizons K-6, and I only used the TM for the answer key ! I would not switch curriculums just because you don't have the manual, especially when it's only first grade. You will be just fine. :)

 

Thank you. This is helpful. 

 

I think I need to remember that while Horizons is designed to have all the extra thing in the TM, that not all math programs even have those. And if I need to drill addition facts later, it's no biggie. 

 

I think my ideal would be to add math games in instead of doing so much drill. 

 

Thanks, Jeanne! :)