Parents looking to homeschool their children as they approach schooling age often ask about the difference between our Horizons and LIFEPAC programs. If you’re trying to decide which track to start with your child, here are few of the most important things you should know:
Horizons is more challenging.
Horizons curriculum starts on a more advanced track with its workbooks for preschool, so by kindergarten, the content is more challenging than what is typically taught at that level. Even if you didn’t use Horizons Preschool, Horizons Kindergarten is an excellent fit for a child who has a strong preschool background. In LIFEPAC Kindergarten, students are just getting started with letters and numbers.
Horizons is teacher-led, even in higher grades.
LIFEPAC curriculum is designed to be student-led with instruction printed right in the student books. Because young learners don’t usually start kindergarten reading, the first years with LIFEPAC resemble the teacher-led set up of Horizons. However, as LIFEPAC progresses, the child becomes more self-directed in the learning process. With Horizons, the parent continues to be heavily involved in the learning process, teaching the content needed for the activities, even after students learn to read on their own.
Horizons is spiral learning, and LIFEPAC is mastery-based.
With a mastery learning curriculum like LIFEPAC, students focus on one concept at a time to make sure they are understanding it before advancing. With a spiral learning curriculum like Horizons, a student might do two or more concepts, each for a short time, then review it over the next several days. Spiral learning generally goes at a faster pace, so if you have a child who grasps concepts easily and becomes bored easily, Horizons is a better fit.
