ABEKA
Religious curriculum, created for regular private classroom and adapted for homeschool use with available teacher's manuals. Complete grade kits are available, individual subjects are planned out in the teacher's manuals. Still requires some planning of your own, supplements purchases such as any desired manipulatives, flashcards, etc. Video teaching available.
(Reviews from users follows. Scroll to bottom for link to post your review)
(Reviews from users follows. Scroll to bottom for link to post your review)
26 Comments:
I use A Beka and absolutely love it! It's a great curriculum, colorful pictures, and Godly based.
I love Abeka and have been using it for 3 years. We are only in 3rd grade now so have no experience with algebra or any of that stuff. I didn't use it for K but wish I had. My son is going to be 8 next week and he really likes the Abeka.
Vicky Currier
I have been using ABeka for four years. I is VERY complete and about a half a year ahead of norm.
There is a TON of material expected to be covered, and it sometimes can be overwelming for students as well as there parents. I do recommend their Arithmetic program. It is very solid.
Overall Review-- Costly300-500 per year, very accelerated, good for a very advanced student.
I would like to say that ABeka is an incredible curriculum. They have so much material available for you to use, as you wish. You can buy as little or as much as you like. My 2nd grade son is EXCELLING in his studies with ABeka. It is a very high quality curriculum, as far as I'm concerned, the best around anywhere. And some say there is too much review and repetitive work, but I say, you are the parent AND the teacher, and you are free to adapt the curriculum to fit the educational needs of your children. I would rather have too much and skim back rather than have too little and have to add on to it.
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ABeka is an excellent curriculum. I looked at many before trying ABeka. We are currently using the 2nd grade materials and my child is doing awesome! This is a godly curriculum, very thorough, lots of fun activities integrated into the teaching lessons. Yes, there is a lot of material, however you can adjust whatever you need to adjust. It's far better to have too much to work with and pare it down, rather than starting with a deficit. I highly recommend ABeka to homeschoolers.
I personally use ABEKA and love the sequencing, the colorful pages, and the review that you can use or skip. HOWEVER, there are periodical errors in the text, such as the Science text saying you can't make bread if you don't have yeast, and the Health text saying that if you go out in the cold rain you will catch a cold. I have written to ABEKA about these errors. Hopefully they will fix them. So, as with any curriculum, please remember to question everything for accuracy and don't just assume it's accurate because it's there.
We tried Abeka when we first started homeschooling. While it is very complete and wonderfully illustrated, we found the pace very stressful. We have switched back to Abeka math this year and found that our children were neither ahead nor behind after being in another major curriculum. It's all a matter of preference.
We went through Christian Liberty academy. After the first 6 weeks I realized not all the books were from Christian Liberty Press. I could not get the kids to put down their science or history books. Even the English books for the 6th grade was finished quickly. I realized they were ABEKA books. I was astonished. They read really well and pretty much taught themselves. I plan on using Abeka english and math to the end.
I used ABEKA book for history and science in 5th and 6th grade and i really really liked them a lot, better then my other books which were different brands. Keep up the good work!
Clearly anyone who uses the "abeka" curriculum for any Child 8 and under has no clue about developmentally appropriate practice and how a curriculum such as abeka can be harmful to the growth and development of a child. Do me a favor please, before incorporating this curriculum into your child's life please do your research and look up www.naeyc.org. The national association for the education of young children will put things in a better perspective for you.
Abeka language arts curriculum focuses on discrete (and often not very useful) skills rather than on the big ideas of critical thinking and proficient real-life writing. People who use it and think that the curriculum is "great" are people who like a worksheet-based approach to schooling their kids. It is not a great curriculum. It's not even a good curriculum. People who say Abeka is "very complete" do not understand what it is to be truly proficient at reading, writing, speaking and listening. It is not, in fact, even remotely "complete." To use Abeka l.a. curriculum is to be a student of mechanics who has never seen a real engine nor diagnosed a case of engine trouble. Kids who go through the entire Abeka l.a. program are generally poor writers when compared to their peers who have used other programs. In the homeschooling centre where I teach/facilitate, we have seen this time and time (and time)again. An excellent alternative, if you really want to use materials framed in Christianity, is Sonlight. Or, if you really feel compelled to stick with Abeka, you need to be supplementing heavily in the areas of critical thinking and writing of all sorts.
As for Abeka math - this program moves along at a lightning pace and doesn't give kids time to achieve mastery before jumping up to the next level. People who like it either have mathematically talented children, or feel smug about the idea that their child is using "advanced" curriculum. It is not sound pedagogy to continue to jump kids up the ladder in math. It is a much better idea to move laterally, giving them many, many opportunities to apply what they know about math to developmentally appropriate problem-solving situations. It is also smart to give them a "transfer task" for each set of math skills, where they apply what they know to a real-life situation. For example, if your kids have learned how to add money, you could give them the task of planning and purchasing the items necessary to hold a birthday party. Abeka math is not based on sound practice. Kids who use Abeka until high school and then transfer to a dayschool curriculum are left in the dust by their peers who have used other programs. This has been well-evidenced at the homeschooling centre where I work.
There are zillions of articles on current brain research around the idea of how human beings learn. Abeka is 50's pedagogy in a world that now knows so much more about how kids need to learn for true and lasting understanding.
Hope this helps.
Clearly there are many types of curriculum on the market - because there are many different types of children who learn in different manners.
You are right about ABEKA being advanced in math. My son is a year ahead in it and still bored. However, he can grocery shop, and do whatever real life skills he needs to do with math. Real life and book learning are spearate no matter what curriculum you use.
However, I have another son who can't use ABEKA because of all the color and math problems inside pictures.
So, the point is to pick what fits your child, use the information posts here to see what might be a good fit for your child.
Experiement and assess.
Our son was in public school until 6th grade, at which time I used the DVD Abeka program. I did this for one year and then put him in a small private school where he was taught Abeka. He is currently in a larger school, with the Abeka program. He tested into the larger school on the Stanford Achievement Test. In all categories he tested post high school (by the way he is in 8th grade) On only one section did he test lower and he still tested 12 grade 3 month. Please let me know how well the Standford Achievement test really reflects a students true capabilities. Thank you
Judy
Achievement tests test kids' ability to take achievement tests. Because Abeka programming focuses on short answer, fill-in-the-blanks, multiple choice types of responses, kids who are used to Abeka can do well on standardized achievement tests. BUT - these tests do not ask kids to think critically, nor to solve real-life problems. They are frequently an inaccurate indicator of a child's ability to really THINK.
I taught at a school that used Abeka, and the biggest shortfall is in the "drill & kill" methodology. While this works well for elementary grades, by 5th grade, more critical thinking skills are required. Abeka is a great base, and is great for those just beginning to homeschool as it is very thorough. As your confidence builds, add more to it, particularly for upper grades.
We have been using A Beka for 10 years. What I have discovered (in response to the comment about a worksheet mentality and lack of critical thinking skills)is that A Beka was not designed to be taught using only the workbooks. They are merely reinforcement for what the teacher has already taught the child in class time using the Parent Curriculum/Daily Lesson Plans. The drilling, visual aids, demonstrations, exercises in critical thinking, interaction with the child, oral practice and review, Thinking Cap questions, and major points of the lesson are done only in class time. The worksheets are an intergral part of the curriculum, but are designed only for independent reinforcement of what has already been taught and practiced.
One of the largest parts of the math and phonics programs is the daily review, drill, and practice of basic math concepts and phonics rules and sounds, including oral reading,independent reading assignments, daily oral review,games requiring critical thinking, and practice of spelling words and vocabulary words with definitions, as well as daily written practice of spelling words.
Children start creative writing and journaling as early as 1st grade. If the worksheets are all you do, you have missed out on 2/3 of what A Beka is all about and your children will be short-changed. A Beka makes this clear in their information. Unfortunately, because most home-schooling parents don't see the importance of the daily lesson plans and aren't willing to spend the extra money for the Parent Curriculum, their children are missing important educational skills, but that is no fault of A Beka. It is the fault of the parent. Their curriculum is excellent and their DVD Progam is unmatched in my opinion. My junior high and high school children have excelled in it. Their teachers are incredible.
As to writing skills, it is a major focus from 3rd grade on. Starting in 4th grade there is a minimum of 6 Book reports a year in required categories of literature, library research papers, essays, current event papers, summaries of science articles, science research papers, essay questions on tests that require multiple paragraph answers, and numerous other smaller papers focusing on different writing styles and techniques throughout the year.
The A Beka Math program reviews every new concept everyday for the rest of the year, either in class time with drills, games, and board work or on their math worksheets. My daughters love A Beka math and have grasped the concepts incredibly. However, that only came with teaching the lessons, not throwing a worksheet in front of them and saying, "Do it," or trying to teach around the worksheet.
The worksheet is not the curriculum/lesson plan but, unfotunately, it is the lesson plan for many home-schooling parents and it is under these circumstances that the parent may think that the curriculum moves too fast without enough time to grasp the concept that they are just now seeing for the first time on the work sheet. Most of the time, you have introduced and taught a new concept for several days and practiced it together before they ever have to do it on paper. Some concepts that are taught are never seen on the worksheet, but are reinforced with assignment from the teacher that the child does on his own notebook paper. This curriculum requires a disciplined parent and the child will excell.
A beka is unmatched in how well rounded it is as a curriculum. Every subject builds upon the others and works with the other subjects. The younger grades are held together by themes which work as a mini unit study intertwined with the regular plan of study without forfeiting the quality of education in other subjects as many unit studies do. I wouldn't use any other curriculum.
I was taught through ABeka almost my entire schooling and I use it to teach my children now. I don't feel that I am lacking in real-life skills as some suggest here. Possibly they feel that parenting and teaching should be all-inclusive in the curriculum?? The home-school program is designed, not for students to teach themselves (although some are able), but for the parent to teach it to the child.
I love ABeka, and feel it is a great tool to use if you are wanting to take part in your child's learning process.
I really like the ABEKA reading program. Using only the handbook for reading and the K and 1st grade readers I have been able to teach my son how to read very well in just 18 months. He is now in a public kindergarten and is reading at a 2nd grade level. He can read so many books which has tremendously developed his confidence.
Every child learns differently. My family has benefitted so much from using the Abeka reading materials and the price,is unbeatable.
1/29/08--can someone please fax/email me the Abeka 4th grade spelling list #19. My son left his book at school and we live 40 minutes away. Thanks and God Bless. FAX: 540-720-4310; email: doreinel@verizon.net. It's 6:15; he goes to bed at 8:30 thanks.
Abeka is great IF you are teaching one grade. I homeschool 3 children in grades 2, 3, and 4. Switching to Sonlight for S.S. and Bible has helped us so much! We still use the Lang books upto grade 3 (and switch to Easy Grammar) and Phonics for K (then switch to CLP for 1st and 2nd.) Love their spelling (and then switch to spelling power in grade 3.) So I guess we use it when it works and abandon it when it doesn't. Abeka math is something I have never used because I wanted a more spiral hands-on math but I know kids that use abeka math test well on standardized tests.
MY SON LEFT HIS SPELLING BOOK AT SCHOOL CAN SOME ONE SEND ME THE GRADE 3 SPELLING LIST PLEASE. CAN YOU EMAIL ME BETTYELLIS68@HOTMAIL.COM.
I have just completed my first year of home schooling my two children; second and fourth grade. We used A Becka in all subjects except for Language (we switched to Shurley) and Spelling (we switched to ACSI) A Becka is an absolutely wonderful curriculum. It is so complete and even though I had a lot to cover, teaching 2 different curriculums and taking care of 1 year old twins, I would recommend it to anyone! You can work at your child's pace. The math was especially great. Each lesson built on the previous ones and it didn't jump around. As for the Spelling, I switched only my fourth grader because the words were ridiculously difficult. This coming fall, we will use ASCI for both 3rd and 5th grade. Also, the Language to us was very dry. The Shurley method has proved to be exciting and educational. My children love their English. lessons.
My daughter is in the 5th grade and this is the first year that we have used the ABeka DVD program. I wish I had used it in her previous grades. She loves it, she wants to do school all the time now. She loves the teachers and yes it does seem to be at a fast pace, but they always review before they go on to a new concept. We will use this program thru high school. Thank you so much for the DVD program.
I have been using aBeka from 1st through 6th grade so far. I really like the curriculum as a whole. I do not like the use of the KJ version for scripture verses, but have made adjustments. My biggest problem is the amount of errors in the curriculum. I didn't notice many until 5th grades in 2007-2008.
I have a sheet of errors that I have mailed to them and have never received a response.
I was hoping to at least receive acknowledgement of the mistakes, but nothing.
I suggested that they issue correction sheets with the curriculum in the future.
I am not talking about missing periods or commas. I am talking about FACT errors on tests, in books, etc. Also, fact being tested quized which have not yet been presented to the child.
I am/was disappointed in that the amount of money I shell out for this curriculum and the erros that should be caught by the classroom teachers at their academy or caught by editors etc.
If anyone would like my list of errors and corrections for 5th grade please email me at schoenick123@gmail.com
I have just started using the 6th grade curriculum and have already found one error on Lesson 3 History. I hope this is not a sign.
corinne
I will confess that I am a novice. I have 4 kids and I have been homeschooling my 2 older ones (3rd grade & 1st grade) for two years. We did Alpha Omega first, and found that was too easy. We switched to Abeka and I absolutely do not enjoy it at all. It is not user friendly. Maybe it is a flaw in my personality, but I find it very frustrating to flip through all the books and manuals...get the test from this book and a quiz from that book. Every week I miss some graded exercise. I have put tabs on all the teacher manuals (why couldn't they do that for us?). And the seat work...why can't they print that on sheets to hand out to the kids? It's just too much stuff for me to do every day for two different grades (along with two other babies). We will be looking at private school or something for the next year. I guess I am not cut out for homeschooling. A Beka has left a bad taste in my mouth.
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