Hi, I am going on fifth year homeschooling. My eldest is really, really, good at math. He's advanced past his grade level.. I have only ever used one full curriculum for him as it wasn't fast enough for his learning. I am currently looking at Horizons math a year or two ahead of grade level and was wondering if anyone else had used it and what your thoughts were. That said I posted this on my Facebook wall too and only received one comment from another mom who hs's that I know. She said she had switched curric and that was biting her this year now her son has started highschool. She said you shouldn't switch math curriculum throughout elementary/middle school years....I found this surprising. Would picking a more suitable curriculum be more productive then sticking with one that is holding you back? I know her son is LD so that may be where she is coming from. My son though is a math gobbler. He can pick it up almost faster then I can teach it. So I am really looking for something that will keep him on track. I guess with all this rambling I am asking a two fold question. Is Horizons math good? And is switching math curriculum bad?
Do you plan on putting your child into a "real" school when he gets to high school? If so, it could very well bite you putting him ahead. Or it could work to your advantage; in Ohio, he would be able to take college classes free if the school didn't have anything they could teach him! I would test him, and place him where he tested at. I don't see a problem switching curriculum, if a different one is going to work better for him. We just switched my 14yo from Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 to an old, retired public school algebra book we have. And yes, he's doing much better with it. He got 86% on his test the other day. Whatever curriculum you chose, I would let him go at his own pace. If he's really good in math, he can go through it really fast. If he were to finish half-way through the year, go ahead and start him in the next book.
Switching curriculum should not be a problem. Have you looked at Saxon? If our kids were good at math, that is what we would use. Like Jackie said, what ever you choose, have him take the placement test and put in that level. He can then work at his own pace to the next levels. You may even have to switch a couple of times to find the right fit for his learning style!
Many curriculum's have placement tests. That could help. Do you have any 'math' people in your life? My DS2 is like your son, but my husband is a 'math' person. So DH makes extra worksheets to extend concepts and helps me keep the curriculum moving a long. When it seems to be moving slow, he helps me choose what we can skip without missing something. If you can recruit a math mind to help you sort through these things that can really help. (unless you do have a math mind, then trust yourself, you'll be fine!) In our province we have access to a 'learning support' teacher. Mine is from a local private Christian school. He has told me that he doesn't think we should skip a year in the curriculum and also discourages people from changing curriculum in elementary. He claims doing this can leave the children with holes in their learning. We have DS2 one year ahead in math, but he's still finding it slow and easy. We are planning to let him work through the grade 3 math tests over the summer. If he can do them with minimal intervention, then we will skip him to grade 4 math in the fall. (My teacher doesn't love this idea, but I dont' HAVE to do what he says, it's just a recommendation) I am confident that my husband will be able to help us assess whether DS2 is really ready for grade 4 math. Really, if you get to High School and find they have a hole, they will learn it quickly. That's the cool thing about them having such a quick head for math! Good luck!
