I am looking for reviews/opinions of these two programs.. My son is starting young. (4.5) but is seeming to excel at math just in his head and random questions we ask him. Anyway, I had originally decided on Horizons and am wondering if maybe it may be better to go with McRuffy because of the manipulatives.....
IMO, if he's getting it "in his head" at 4.5, he doesn't need the manipulatives. If he does, later, you can use legos, little cars, dried beans, m&ms, cheerios, whatever.
I used Horizons somewhat with my Kinder when she was in reg. school as something on the side because I tutored my son with Horizons when he was in 1st and 2nd (partial) grade as well as he was in public school and we liked it. I like Horizons but in the K program I felt it moved too fast and hoped it spent more time on single digit addition before moving on- but this may not be an issue with your son! You can incorporate manipulatives with Horizons as well. With Horizons it is a worksheet you do on both sides as well- eventually this got to be too much for my kids. Then when we began home schooling last year I chose McRuffy for my daughter for 1st grade- I don't have experience with the K program but imagine they are somewhat similar. What I liked about McRuffy is that it had oral exercises, games and the manipulatives were easily incorporated into the daily lessons. She loved the manipulatives- my kids enjoy hands-on things. And the worksheet was just one side so it made it easier to make the time to do the games or oral exercise, etc. With Horizons energy was spent doing the worksheet but with McRuffy it was just enough and we had energy to do the extras. So they are both great programs, but I am not sure how far along your son is, but if he enjoys hands on stuff and games McRuffy might be better for him.
We started dd off on Horizons 1 when she was in ps K (5/6 yrs old). We used the occassional manipulative but not too much. Dd got the material and liked doing the worksheets. We switched her last year to Saxon (since that is what I plan to use through high school) and she placed in a higher book than we thought (65 instead of 54). I have never used McRuffy before but I can say I am pleased with Horizons for giving a firm foundation.
I have also used Horizons for K-3, and was pleased. I agree with Sea that it tends to move fairly fast. If you decide to go with it and you find it's too fast, you can always slow it down, and give him only half to do.
Thanks so much for all the wonderful opinions!!.. it has definitely solidified Horizons for me. Basically because I can supplement if he needs more time on something, only do part of the worksheet, AND use manipulatives if I need them. I really love these forums! You gals are always so helpful =)
We love McRuffy!!! We really really love it! It is fun and colorful and hands on. My mathy kid LOVES to play with the manipulatives, my non mathy kid "gets it" because of the manipulatives. There are only 160 lessons in a year so if you have to slow down, you can, you won't run out of time in the year. Right now we are in slow mode with DD (she is non mathy), we are doing part of a lesson each day and pulling out some of the games to play to remind her of what she is having trouble with. It's sad that McRuffy isn't more well known, it is a really great program.
This is my second school year using Horizons. I have found that it does tend to go pretty fast, but so far my kids have been able to keep up just fine. Math is my oldest daughters best subject right now. It was great to read the other reviews on Horizons, it makes me feel good about our choice of curriculum. The only other material I've ever seen is ACE and A Beka.
I agree about McRuffy not being all that well known. We are using Mcruffy as our phonics curriculum this year but hadn't decided on the math as of yet
I sucessfully used horizons with both kids for k-3, then switched to BJU. You can use manipulatives as needed with any math curriculum. Some times there was too much buzy work on a given learning objective, so I would just cross through a row or two of problems. This never dissapoints. LOL What I like about the BJU is the way it is set up for the teacher work with the student on the front of the page while learning the concept, then the student works the back by themselves. It gave me a chance to see student work and talk through the concept.
I've never used Horizons, but I've heard good things. We used McRuffy Color Math for K and loved it. It was so cute and colorful and my dd really enjoyed it.
