Manipulatives for Horizons Math?

I’m curious to know if it is necessary to use manipulatives for Horizans. I will be ordering grade 2 for my son. I was originally going to order through sonlight, but it just seems so expensive and I wondered if the workbook by itself would be enough? I can’t seem to find out if Horizons suggests using them or if that is just a sonlight suggestion.
Also, is the teacher manual necessary at that grade level?

I haven’t used Horizons or Sonlight, but usually when a math curriculum implements manipulatives it is so the student can use different parts of their brain to learn and retain the information being taught. I would highly recommend using manipulatives with math (especially if the program indicates they will be used). This does not mean you have to buy the manipulative package. You can use coins, legos, rubber bands, acorns, stones, etc as manipulatives. There may be a few items you can’t replicate (a geo board or thermometer for instance), but these items can usually be purchased else where for cheaper. Take a look at what they provide in their manipulative package and see what you can use from home that would work the same way. I hope this helps. :smile:

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@NicoleB I have used Horizons for Grades K and 1 and will be moving in to Grade 2 very soon (at the end of this school year actually). I have never purchased the manipulative kits to go along with the curriculum. For the most part, what you will need is either easily accessible at a local store (flash cards I purchased at Walmart) or downloadable/printable for free online (I also printed off some free flash cards). I made my own “clock” model from an online free template that I laminated. I purchased a place value chart for $2 at a homeschool resale as well as counting cubes also purchased at a resale. However, most of these items are things you can improvise with using other items in your household (toothpicks for counting materials, etc.). Now, I will say I haven’t started in to the 2nd Grade level yet, but you can go online and look at what the Kindergarten kit includes and then see what the 1st and 2nd grade add-ons include so you can see what you generally need for manipulatives. If they are things you think you can find around the house (some of the items are things like rulers, play money [we use real coins], etc.) then you probably don’t need to purchase it.

As far as the teacher guide, yes, I would say you do need this. It includes teaching prompts that are not part of the worksheets (instructing the students to count by certain numbers for practice, which flash cards to work with which days, as well as additional worksheets each week). The teacher guide also includes tips for the teacher for how to explain each new concept as it is introduced, which has been helpful for me as I’ve taught new skills to my daughter. The workbooks alone are not enough for a comprehensive math lesson. The teacher guide includes the entire scope of each lesson, which goes beyond the worksheet every day. You can often find the guides for much cheaper on homeschool classifieds.

I would also suggest you purchase a packet of just the worksheets. You can see a sample of what these are here. These are helpful because, although they are found in the back of the teacher guide, they are not perforated! That can make them really frustrating to copy! Having them loose in this packet is really helpful, and it’s so inexpensive that I have found it worth it and now order them every year for my kiddos :slight_smile:

I have been using Horizons with my daughter who is now finishing her 2nd Grade year and now my son who is now finishing Kindergarten. It is a very fast-paced program but we’ve been very happy with it. My daughter is catching up only because there are so many lessons in each “school year” per the Horizons scope, so she is now doing double math lessons each day, which she’s doing great with, and she’ll continue math lessons through the summer in hopes of having her finished with Grade 3 by the end of her 3rd grade year next year. If you have any more questions about Horizons, please feel free to send me a message :slight_smile: I’d be happy to try and answer them if I can. I have the Grade 2 materials here (haven’t started using them yet) so I’d be happy to look through them to answer anything specific for you if it would help! Or to take a picture of something and e-mail it to you! Have a great day!

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Thank you! I think I will just try to find stuff that we have sound the house for the most part. We already have multiple sets of flash cards too.

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Thanks so much for the great replies - I am starting Horizons next year for the first time as well. It is nice to read some info on it as well. :slight_smile: Thanks so much!!

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