Is Horizons from AOP really advanced?

Question

I am using Horizons from AOP for K. We are blazing through ALL the workbooks. I read on review sites that K work is the equivalent of PS 1st grade, and HS 1st is equivalent to PS 2nd, etc...

What do people who actually USE this curriculum or people who HAVE used it think?

Thank you

Answer 1

Yes.  I used Horizon and think it is one grade level up from the norm.   It also gets repetitive in the higher grades.  I think grade 5 just repeats grade 4 and  I skipped the first half of one book entirely.   It is a good program, I guess.   I switched to Saxon.   I found Horizon just drills, drills and drills until the kid is totally bored.  One of my children found all the cute pictures too distracting.   I guess if you use it you should just do it till you master and then race through.   But that means you would be leaving a whole bunch of it blank.   I much prefer the Saxon.   Last time I looked it didn't go beyond grade 6.

Answer 2

Both AOP and Abeka are accelerated programs.

Answer 3

I haven't used it, but if you want to see if it's the same as far as content, check your local Department of Education's website and see if you can find the benchmarks or scope and sequence of a typical first grade class. Compare the two.

Sometimes though, work can be considered "advanced" not so much because it introduces content you wouldn't learn until a year laer in PS, but because it presents the content in a more in-deapth way and encourages/builds new ways of thinking about things...abstract thinking skills. Learning to think is much more important than simply memorizing facts.

If the work is too easy though and you don't think it's really as advanced as it seems to be, why not get the next set of books? If you're blazing through the kindergarten curriculum and your child is already at a higher level of thinking than the book wants her to be, zip ahead and use the first grade books, or change curriculum entirely. There is no reason you can't switch around a bit in the beginning until you find something that works the best for you.

Answer 4

In my opinion, the AOP products are all easier than other curriculum. I wouldn't call them advanced. Abeka is more advanced than AOP.

Answer 5

Yes, it is advanced.  Not only in the concepts presented, but in the way they are presented.  The math is presented in such a way as to encourage real understanding and critical thinking, the phonics to promote fluency.

Seriously, look at the second grade readers, not just the workbooks, but the readers themselves.  The children read a simplified version of "Robinson Crusoe", and while it is simplified, it is still advanced reading for that grade level.

I use it with my youngest two kids, and they have always scored above the 95th percentile on standardized tests (50th percentile is the national average.)