Singapore or Horizons for K math?

[Allison TX]

My very bright 4 year old has flown through the Mathematical Reasoning 2 book over the last few months.  He keeps asking for more math!😃  This is new to me.  He is my fourth child, and the first one to like math! I want him to continue to enjoy it!

 

I know he's young, but he has been counting, adding,and subtracting for months and months. He loves playing sum swamp, rush hour jr, and Blokus. He has been fascinated with numbers for the last couple years, and seems to understand easily.  I want to find something that hopefully we can stick with.  I changed programs several times with my oldest kids, and I don't want to make that mistake again. 

 

I've looked at the programs that I'm familiar with, and I've narrowed it down to Singapore and Horizons.  I think he would do well with color, fun and varied lessons, and not a ton of verbal instruction from me. 

 

Would you recommend one over the other?  Have you had good or bad experiences with either?  Or are there other programs that I should take a look at. I am not overly mathy, but I do feel comfortable teaching elementary math.

 

Thanks!!!!

[Job121]

I know there are a lot of math program for elementary level, but if I have to pick one between Singapore and Horizon, I'd choose Singapore in a heartbeat. It prepared my kids well for the next level of math and provides many options. I have my DC do all of them-Textbook, Workbook, Challenge Word Problems, Extra Practice and Intensive Practice. That is more than enough math drill for elementary students. From what you said, I think your DS is ready for 1 grade math.

[SilverMoon]

I've used grades 1-prealg in Horizons and I've used SM for just this school year. Between those two I'd say Horizons wins over SM on color, fun, and varied lessons. Hands down. It was obviously written by someone who enjoys math, it's colorful, and every lesson has several small sets of various concepts.

 

If you want more color and fun in the SM methods take a look at Math in Focus instead. My current 3rd grader moved from MiF to SM this year. Her biggest and constant complaint is how boring and dull the appearance of the SM books are in comparison. She used Horizons to start with and I am v.e.r.y. pleased with the foundation it laid for her; she just needed a change to stay engaged. The two siblings before her took Horizons up to prealg and did fabulous. I'll be using Horizons with my youngest this fall.

[bensonduck]

We used both. Horizons K is a lot of writing for the age and I did a lot of scribing. There is also a lot of using the number line to solve problems like 64-2. We use it as a supplement to Singapore 1. I thought it was important to have a bit of spiral and a look at math from another perspective.

 

Singapore 1 is a great, thorough, interesting program. It was absolutely perfect for my DD who is very strong in math. It also has a lot of white space in the workbook - room for younger students to write their answers. There also usually is not more than 6-8 problems per page. The pages look clean and simple for younger kids.