Horizons Mathematics

This worked very well for my son. The teacher guide is easy to use. My son learned a lot.

Horizons math is my single favorite piece of curriculum. I have used it exclusively for the first two years of our homeschooling journey. When I was looking for a math curriculum, I knew I wanted something that would be fun yet challenging for my math-brained son. I found my perfect wish in Horizons!

Horizons math challenges my son without discouraging him. He finds it fun and enjoys the pictures and colors, but he never seems overly distracted by them. I enjoy that by the end of his books, he truly knows how to do the problems on his own.

The only thing that was difficult for us at first was that the books don't allow the child to fully grasp a concept before moving on. When a concept is introduced, it's usually only for a short period before moving onto other things. Later, the concept returns. (Spiral approach.) We were not used to this style, but now that we have our rhythm, it feels natural to us.

I LOVE this curriculum and don't plan on ever switching as long as the results keep up! Last but not least, it's very affordable as well, especially if you can get by without the teacher's editions for the first couple years.

We love Horizons!! Ive used this with three of my kids. It scaffolds skills so stealthily my kids never noticed how hard the math was getting, and they just kept plugging through the lessons. Their arithmetic skills are rock solid, and they can easily apply concepts learned elsewhere.

The skills for large concepts are taught to mastery individually before they're put together. For example my little one was an expert and breaking a ten apart and putting it in the ones/units place before it was ever asked of her in a subtraction problem. When the two skills collided she flew through regrouping in subtraction effortlessly.

For kids that enjoy math (and probably many that don't), the small sets of several different concepts in one lesson keeps it more interesting. Each lesson usually has one puzzle type activity where the correct answers will color a picture or spell the answer to a silly joke. You can tell these books were written by someone who enjoys math. :)

My only concern with Horizons is the story problems aren't terribly challenging, but the problem sets do gently guide them into more complicated situations. However, my Horizons kids do not struggle with real life application and tricky word problems elsewhere. Obviously whatever Horizons is doing is working!

We used Horizons at or above grade level, and my older Horizons users have gone onto math competitions and math books written for/by math competitors (Art of Problem Solving), and they continue to thrive. Horizons laid an excellent foundation for them.

I love Horizons math! My 2 oldest daughters easily transitioned to both private and public school situations after using this math (so I know what they needed to know was covered!). My 3rd and youngest daughter used this through 5th grade and will attend public school for 6th and I am fully confident she will be well prepared.

We started homeschooling 3 yrs ago and I chose Horizons Math for my then 4th grader. I like the way there is plenty of reinforcement of each topic and also that there are extra practice worksheets if you need them. It's easy to use and colorful. My son likes the occasional puzzle or riddle that's thrown in too.

Lower grades have worked great for our family my kids breezed through the material. The upper grades have been a different story. There is not enough examples or explanation for my oldest child so we use khan academy to teach the subjects.

We have used this math for our 3 oldest kids and they all respond well to it. There is a lot of reviewing what you learned in the previous lesson so it is easier to understand.

I am currently using Horizons Math 5 with my 5th grader. Among the available math programs for this age group, Horizons is pretty good. The pages are balanced and colorful, most of the problems have enough space for your child to work it out (occasionally this is not the case), lessons are of manageable length, there are extra worksheets in the teacher's manual if you need to target a skill, there's plenty of review, tests are included, and the scope and sequence shows a thorough coverage of 5th grade topics. The 5th grade workbooks teach directly to the student, but the teacher's manual provides additional teaching support and suggests activities.

However, there are some minuses:

Each lesson has a main teaching topic (which is also covered in the teacher's manual), followed by practice problems which will be a mix of the new topic and previous topics. We found that many of the practice problems had not been taught already in this level (they may have been taught in 4th?), and there is no teacher support for those problems other than the answers (the answer sheet does not show how to work out the problems). Interestingly, those topics are introduced LATER in the 5th grade book.

One example: somewhere around lesson 20 there is a practice problem for finding the volume of a solid. That topic had not yet been introduced in this book and is only even mentioned in the tm under the objectives (there's no teaching support for it at all). After checking the future topics, I found that it is going to introduced and fully explained in lesson 80-something. Huh? Why practice a problem that hasn't been taught, especially if it will be taught? The placement seemed totally random.

My solution is to either teach the topic at that point or have my daughter skip it, knowing it is going to be taught later in the book. It would be helpful if in the teacher's manual there was a note saying, "this topic will be taught in lesson x." If you start Horizons at an earlier grade, this may be less of an issue, as I would assume that volume must have been introduced in an earlier level.

Another issue: many geometric diagrams are not to scale, which may confuse your child. For instance, in a drawing of a polygon, the 20 cm side was only a fraction longer than the 10 cm side instead of twice as long.

My daughter finds some of the puzzles to be repetitive, which is a turn off for her.

Overall, Horizons 5 is the best comprehensive math program I've found for this child, so we will continue to use it, but it is requiring some modifications.

Switched my youngest son from Saxon to Horizon. Saxon was moving too slowly - both the Kindergarden and First Grade. I love that this moves at a good pace with the spiral method of teaching.

I love Horizons math! The content is very advanced. The presentation is a colorful easy to follow workbook. There is plenty of practice problems for the new topic as well as past topics. Sometimes the teaching explanations are not very detailed and require you to work backwards to figure out how teach. Not a hugh problem if you have a pretty good math background. The major drawback I am facing now is they only go up to Algebra 1 and it is very difficult for me to find an appealing and equally challenging curriculum for the rest of high school math.

I have used this curriculum for several different grade levels and I really enjoy it. My son is using it for PreK and K. The activities include tracing, copying, matching, and coloring. I find that there is enough variety to keep him from getting bored and the lessons don't take long to complete.

My daughter is struggling in math so she's using Horizons math to refresh her skills. She also enjoys completing the worksheets. There is enough repetition that she is learning the concepts, but not so much that she gets bored with doing her work.

After trying multiple math curriculums, this is the one that has "clicked" for my daughter.