Our Curriculum: Math

I left math for the last of our curriculum breakdown because it gave me the most trouble deciding on. There are so many different math curriculums out there and I couldn't decide which one would be a good fit for our family. I looked at so many that I seriously couldn't even keep them straight in my head anymore. There was nothing WRONG with any of them so I had a hard time deciding which way to go. There were selling features for each of the programs and I kept going back and forth unable to decide on anything.

I finally drove myself so crazy that I made a list of my final 6 curriculum choices and then literally rolled the dice. Yes I went and got a set of dice, rolled one and went with the curriculum for the number I rolled. It was a very scientific procedure! But hey I had to make a decision sooner rather than later so it worked. It also helped that I was only choosing for the last few months of the school year not the whole year so if I hated what I chose it would be over quickly and I could chose a different one in the fall for 5th and 3rd grade.

The roll of the dice told me to buy Horizon's Math and I am so glad it did! I really like it! The workbooks are full color and very easy for the kids to understand. The teachers manuals are direct and to the point. There is very little busy work and the work progresses using a spiral approach. So the lessons build on one another and continue to do so throughout the books. Another bonus was that they are laid out in grade levels. A lot of the books start at level A, or some other random designation. If you have not been using their curriculum from the beginning you are left guessing at where to start your child. I am sorry but when you are spending this kind of money on a book you don't want to take the chance that you are going to get one that is either too easy or too advanced for your child.

I am so glad we chose to go with these lessons and I plan to keep using them as we progress through the years.