Horizons vs Math Mammoth?

[jmjs4]

I was going to order Horizons 1 for my first grader, but now I am looking into Math Mammoth.  Of these two which do you think is the best?

[swainsonshawk]

I think it depends on your confidence with teaching math. Horizons is a get'r done type of curriculum, in my opinion. Meaning: go over the lesson, do the three workbook pages and be done. It doesn't go particularly deep into word problems, but focuses more on HOW to do the problems, and not so much why. Horizons has a spiral approach, too, which is good for kids who need a lot of repetition.

 

Math Mammoth asks the kids to go a little deeper in their understanding. You may have to be more confident with math in order to teach it. I would pick math mammoth if these were my choices, but I'm a math person.

 

Everytime we've tried Horizons, I've dropped it after a month or two because it's just so boring for me to teach. But it does get the job done.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Edited January 4, 2017 by swainsonshawk

[blue plaid]

Math Mammoth 😀

[ScoutTN]

MM

[mamamoose]

Love math mammoth and for the price it's unbeatable! It's a very thorough curriculum and has extras for every chapter! Homeschool buyers co-op has a scheduler too!

[Prairie Dawn]

I've used both (MM 1-5, Horizons K) and I found Horizon's format difficult and disjointed. We were adding! Subtracting! Measuring! Money! Clocks! Then back to adding... at a very quick rate, like a page of one thing, with no introduction or incremental progression before breezing on to the next thing. It felt jarring. I can see how the variety and frequent exposure to multiple topics would be enjoyed by some, and the colorful book was nice; it was just not a good fit for us. I much prefer an incremental, topical, mastery approach.

 

Math Mammoth is excellent at teaching the concepts behind the formulas and mental math tricks. I've found it helpful even for myself. Sometimes we do skip past some conceptual instruction that is only complicating it for us or feels redundant, but it does feel like it gives a full understanding of each topic. I do think it shines more as you progress... 1st grade can feel simple and repeatative with the exercises (we skip some, I also help scribe for some of it). But it does lay a solid foundation. There are game and online activity suggestions at the beginning of each chapter for additional practice or reinforcement (or fun). I've used it with 4 children now and am very happy with their math understanding and ability.

 

As for teaching it, I appreciate that the instruction is written to the student, but I have had to rely on the answer key more this year at the 5th grade level. I'm relearning some of this! The author has a YouTube channel with videos that coincide with the lessons, which I have used to help with my own understanding as I teach. So there are some built in helps if you do feel less confident.

[8filltheheart]

I have used Horizons with all of my kids. It has provided them all with a strong foundation for upper level math. None of them have ever struggled with math concepts, and they have had no problems at all using rigorous high school math programs. A couple have proceeded on to math heavy fields--chemE and physics.

Edited January 5, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart

[mamamoose]

I have used Horizons with all of my kids. It has provided them all with a strong foundation for upper level math. None of them have ever struggled with math concepts, and they have had no problems at all using rigorous high school math programs. A couple have proceeded on to math heavy fields--chemE and physics.

 

And for argument's sake, maybe they were all just very good at math so any curriculum would have provided a good background. Dd is NOT great at math, although she's very bright...she gets concepts but sometimes struggles through them. Math Mammoth has been fun and challenging but the concepts are taught well. I do have to teach--its not self-teaching for her though.

 

We tried Horizons but not with dd, and it was overwhelming for my dyslexic/dysgraphic/adhd son. There are SO many problems to a page--he couldn't even look at it without a meltdown.

[8filltheheart]

And for argument's sake, maybe they were all just very good at math so any curriculum would have provided a good background. Dd is NOT great at math, although she's very bright...she gets concepts but sometimes struggles through them. Math Mammoth has been fun and challenging but the concepts are taught well. I do have to teach--its not self-teaching for her though.

 

We tried Horizons but not with dd, and it was overwhelming for my dyslexic/dysgraphic/adhd son. There are SO many problems to a page--he couldn't even look at it without a meltdown.

I believe that Horizons does teach concept well. It is spiral vs. mastery so the grouping is different than MM.

 

I have some very gifted kids, but I also have some very avg kids as well as kids with disabilities. It is what I have used with all of them.

 

Fwiw, I didn't say anything about MM at at all in my post. I own MM and do not like it at all. I don't like its mastery approach. I think its layout is poor and unengaging. I am glad others like it, but it is definitely not one I would choose to use. If I wanted a mastery approach, I would use Math in Focus (similar to Singapore) bc I like its presentation better.

Edited January 5, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart

[Loesje22000]

We used Horizons Math during grade 2-5 and did some Geometry pages of MM.

 

Dd prefered the way HM build its lessons:

- something new

- something old and therefore more easy

- something in between

 

Dd was intimidated by math text with pages full of the same type of exercise,

She preferred the variety of HM.

 

HM has a lot of exercises, and needed them to create a certain math speed.

Understanding a concept does not create a certain math speed.

 

From grade 4 HM has adifferent author, we preferred those books a slightly more, as the explanations is in the text instead of the TM.

 

We did not like the Geometry pages I bought from MM.

 

I think both series are a safe choice.

[SilverMoon]

I've used Horizons 1-prealg and select parts of MM.

 

They are *both* criticized as having too many problems on this board. You should decide where you stand on this issue and not let it influence your decision. I think nearly every math curriculum out there gets this flung at it from time to time. Will you cross out excessive problems? Let math be over-taught and stuck in deep? Use those to increase endurance? It's your call.

 

Horizons is spiral, offering a few problems of a handful of concepts every day. The concepts grow in teeny steps and often so stealthily my kids never noticed the increase in complexity. It absolutely DOES teach the concepts thoroughly and conceptually. Every little aspect of a big concept is learned well before they're put together in the big picture, and then it seems like old hat.

 

My kids did every problem in every lesson in Horizons. I didn't mark out anything. My math loving kids found the spiral approach much more interesting and engaging. You can tell these books were written by someone who enjoys math.

 

 

Math Mammoth seems plain and utilitarian in appearance. It's mastery, which means you camp out on major topic until it's thoroughly explored before moving on. I don't find it engaging, but it gets the job done. I have only used the topical books. None of my kids were enthused, mathy or not, and they all had to be pushed to finish.

 

Neither one has much hand holding for the teacher. Neither has a TM that will teach you how to teach. The instruction is all in the student pages.

Edited January 5, 2017 by SilverMoon

[8filltheheart]

I've used Horizons 1-prealg and select parts of MM.

 

They are *both* criticized as having too many problems on this board. You should decide where you stand on this issue and not let it influence your decision. I think nearly every math curriculum out there gets this flung at it from time to time. Will you cross out excessive problems? Let math be over-taught and stuck in deep? Use those to increase endurance? It's your call.

 

Horizons is spiral, offering a few problems of a handful of concepts every day. The concepts grow in teeny steps and often so stealthily my kids never noticed the increase in complexity. It absolutely DOES teach the concepts thoroughly and conceptually. Every little aspect of a big concept is learned well before they're put together in the big picture, and then it seems like old hat.

 

My kids did every problem in every lesson in Horizons. I didn't mark out anything. My math loving kids found the spiral approach much more interesting and engaging. You can tell these books were written by someone who enjoys math.

 

 

Math Mammoth seems plain and utilitarian in appearance. It's mastery, which means you camp out on major topic until it's thoroughly explored before moving on. I don't find it engaging, but it gets the job done. I have only used the topical books. None of my kids were enthused, mathy or not, and they all had to be pushed to finish.

 

Neither one has much hand holding for the teacher. Neither has a TM that will teach you how to teach. The instruction is all in the student pages.

What she said. :)

[Wheres Toto]

We've used Math Mammoth from the beginning.   We've always supplemented with something.

 

My son is finishing up 6th grade, does every problem on the page and also does Beast Academy, Jousting Armadillos and Zaccaro Challenge Math.  When we started he used to do pages from all different chapters at the same time because he liked working on different concepts at the same time.  But it also allowed us to concentrate on one thing if that's what he needed at the time.

 

DD is doing 4th grade, is not nearly as "mathy" as her brother.  She does NOT do all the problems on a page unless she's struggling with a concept.  She is also doing Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners Math as a spiral review, and Beast Academy a year behind.

 

We like Math Mammoth.  I feel like it can be easily adapted to what each child needs.  I like the game suggestions, the supplemental materials, and I find it easy to teach.  Although I do like math at least up through algebra (I do not like calculus and plan to outsource that).

[MerryAtHope]

I think the best program is the one that works for you as the teacher, and also meets your student's needs. If it works for you, it's often possible to tweak a program to make it a better fit for a student (though not always, of course). If it doesn't work for you though, you're not likely to do well with it, you may end up skipping it on some days, etc...

 

I've never seen Math Mammoth, but did use Horizons 1-6. The Teacher's Manuals were not that helpful (instead of telling how to teach the current page, they often told how to teach some future concepts--they never seemed to have info on how to teach something that we struggled with, and I had to come up with my own ways when that happened.)  Levels 4-6 have instructions to the student in the workbook though, and that usually was all we needed. Sometimes in levels 5 and 6, I did feel it could have done a better job explaining things, but overall I was very satisfied.

 

My kids enjoyed the color and the variety (though yes, sometimes there seemed to be too many problems and we cut some). I felt they had a good, solid foundation for upper level math. I switched to another program at the Pre-algebra stage, since Horizons doesn't have all of the high school levels out (not sure if they plan to). 

 

I don't think you can go wrong with Horizons if it's a good match for your teaching style (maybe you don't mind coming up with an explanation occasionally, and maybe you like to pull out manipulatives and demonstrate a concept, even if a manual didn't tell you to, because the workbook page made you think of it.) If you want something scripted for you or that has a lot of teacher helps and hand-holding, it may not be the program for you. Look at online samples of both programs (and others if needed), and think through whether the TM makes sense, whether you like the layout of the workbook pages visually, whether it seems easy to use or complicated--and make the best decision you can. Sometimes it does take some trial and error (sometimes it's hard to know until you use something). Give yourself that freedom to see how it goes. HTH some!