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One of the top homeschool questions I receive is, “how do you teach math?” My answer, how I teach all of our subjects, research. When I first began homeschooling I just used the same curriculum my mother used for me when she homeschooled. But there was much frustration and at the time 4th grader was not having it. The book just introduced topics and he didn’t really learn. So, when we finished that school year I began researching different math curriculums. Upon my research, I found the Horizons Math Curriculum and thought that this may be our perfect fit. This was our first year using it. We used it for my 5th grader and kindergartener. I fell in love with this book and here is my complete Horizons Math curriculum review. I have listed out the pros and cons of this book.
Pros
Horizons Math Books 1 and 2
So for each grade, you get two small books. These will be your whole curriculum for math. At first, I wasn’t sure about this concept but as we moved along the book it made it easier for the kids to carry around. It also brought ease to their minds because it wasn’t a huge math book as we have had previously. I used book one for our first semester and book two for our second semester. The lessons are labeled out which helped me keep track of our days and how far we had come.
The Illustrations
Now, I know in math you don’t think of illustrations but this book has them. It’s colorful and bright. They even have math equations that require the student to color themselves and I love that. It takes away the stigma of math just being numbers. My 5th grader loved having colored pencils beside him during math. He enjoyed the different problems that allowed him to be creative.
The Lessons
In the teacher’s edition of this book, it is explained in great detail how this book works and helps the student not just learn but understand the equations. The lessons contain the repetition of previously taught concepts and this has helped my children succeed in math this year. I have watched my fifth grader become more confident in his math skills because of this book.
Independent Study
This book is designed for independent study. When we first began this book, I’d help him through the lessons but once he became comfortable with the style of lessons he was able to do it on his own.
Cost Effective
Another reason I was drawn to this book was the price. It is about twenty dollars for each book. I kept finding math curriculums for way more that did not offer what these books offer. The teacher’s edition is about forty dollars but that’s still not terrible and I can keep them for when my kids get to those grades. I actually found my teacher’s edition at Thriftbooks for half the price. I have found them for these prices on both Amazon and Christianbook. Christianbook does have a bundle for about eighty dollars which includes both books and the Teacher’s Edition. You are also able to buy one book at a time so that gives you a chance to try it before buying the whole curriculum.
It is Christian
I am a secular homeschooler and it is hard to find curriculums that are not Christian. Sometimes there would be a verse and he would want to look it up. He would also ask questions but I did not feel that it went off course. For the most part it is mainly math with some Christian concepts in it. If you are looking for something a little more Bible-based I would not recommend this.
Cons
Fifth Grade Teacher’s Edition
My only real con is the teacher’s edition. In the teacher’s edition, concepts are not always thoroughly explained how to complete. I found myself a few times needing to go online to figure out how to complete an equation, which wasn’t always a problem. My second complaint is how the answer key was laid out in the fifth-grade book. It was only the answers and it wasn’t a copy of the page, which is a preference. We normally went over the answers together and sometimes this was difficult. I wasn’t able to see what his work looked like unless I used his book. This made it difficult to follow sometimes.
I hope this Horizons Math Curriculum Review was helpful. I also hope it helps you in your homeschool journey. If you have younger children I have a Horizons Math Curriculum Review for Kindergarten here. Stay peaceful.
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