Horizons™ Math

Parents say the best thing about Horizons curriculum is that it's parent-teacher friendly and it incorporates several ideas for use in a homeschool environment.

The spiral-bound Teacher's Handbook provides a lesson plan with concepts and objectives for all 160 lessons. The handbook also includes answer keys for all student lessons, unit tests (one every 10th lesson — 16 total), and exams (4 quarterly and 1 final exam), and 80 reproducible student worksheets (useful for multiple students). Please note: Kindergarten includes 40 worksheets.

You'll find great suggestions that help to eliminate frustration when teaching difficult concepts. Plus, the handbook offers numerous ideas for creating math manipulatives from materials in your house — a real money saver!

Many parents we asked told us that they particularly like the Horizons homeschool curriculum because it uses a spiral learning technique to help children master concepts. Students are introduced to a concept and solve related and increasingly difficult problems and exercises over the course of several days, or even weeks. The concept may disappear for a short while, only to reemerge in exercises for a new concept. Children who struggle with basic facts and calculations are usually overwhelmed because they are trying to assimilate too much information at one time. But with Horizons homeschool curriculum, parents tell us, their children's minds are free to concentrate on each new concept as it is presented. The kids feel confident because they get to take steady, measured steps, and as they revisit concepts over time, they continually strengthen and reinforce their existing knowledge base.

The price is predictable and easy to plan for.

Moreover, because it was designed for homeschool use, it includes extra worksheets and workbooks for extra practice. While you only need to purchase each program once, you will need to repurchase the extra workbooks, and the practice worksheets can be either reproduced or repurchased. The program is full of helpful suggestions and ideas, such as what household items you can recruit to serve as creative manipulatives. If you prefer, Sonlight offers ready-to-use kits with all the manipulatives you need, in a convenient storage case.

We used Horizons Math last year and it was an amazing program. I found myself wishing weekly that I had been taught with such a program. My son grasped concepts so easily because of the way Horizons breaks them down. And he loved how quickly he could move through the book. I found him working ahead many days. — "Susie, 21 June 2005

• Spiral teaching progression.
• Designed for use by homeschoolers.
• Includes suggestions for materials and supplies for math manipulatives.

• For children who are especially sensitive to visual stimuli, the color illustrations in the Horizons homeschool program may distract them from learning. Saxon Math may prove more helpful.