Hi, I'm thinking of using the Abeka curriculum this fall. I need to have my children enrolled in the Academy for various reasons. Does anyone here have their children enrolled in the option#2 Traditional Parent Directed Program? If so, can you tell me how the schedule works? I know it's a 170 school day year (34 weeks, or 8.5 months). How long does it take to do the daily lessons take for elementary and also for grade 7? Is it possible to do more than one lesson a day in any subject in a reasonable amount of time? Thanks, Tracey
Tracy, I'm not too familiar with the various options, but some friends of ours used the one where the student sits in front of the tv and watches a video of a classroom situation, then turns off the tv and does his or her own work. There's a full day's worth of watching, which goes from one subject to the next, so I'm guessing it would be a bit of a challenge to try to fast forward to the exact place on the tape (or probably DVD by now) in order to find the next lesson for any one subject. The high school subjects, however, are available as single subjects, if I remember right. So you wouldn't have a problem going as fast in only one subject there as you wanted to. Abeka used to offer sample videos. That might be a good place to start in order to get a better idea of what might work for you.
No, But we have used it some for young elementary and haven't since. They have dvd's the child can watch. http://www.abeka.com/
Thank you both for your replies. I've already decided against the DVD program because everyone in our homeschool support group has had negative experiences with it, mostly that it took all day and was too much for them and their children. The option I'm talking about is where you use just the books. Everything is sent to you, the complete child kit and parent kit and the academy keeps your records for you. Once they do the record keeping, then you have to have the work done and submitted by specific times and they give you a calendar to follow for the whole school year. So I just wanted to know if anyone has done this and what your experience was. Thanks, Tracey
To me that's a lot like going to school---you're on THEIR schedule, do things in THEIR way, and be beholden to THEM! The grading part sounds nice, but it's not TOO hard to do once you get the hang of it, and then you can REALLY homeschool---doing things when you want and IF you want, which is an important part of homeschooling to me! If something doesn't click, and you end up using other resources, or if your child is really good at something and more advanced in one area, then you could skip ahead---IF you do your own scheduling and schooling. When you have them do it, then your child HAS to do EVERYTHING, or doesn't get the grade for it! You can't "go with the flow" as is often done with homeschooling, because it's hard to keep up with what needs to be done to get the grade. I've heard people that tell their homeschooled kids who are VERY interested in one thing that they have to stop now and move on to something else because they have to get it done so they can take the test and get it all sent it on time! Anyway, that sounds negative, but to me, it takes away the freedom to school the way YOU want to!
Thank you Deena, I hear what you're saying. Like I said, I need to enroll for many reasons, but I am considering not enrolling this year since it's our first with Abeka and we need time to adjust. Also, we're expecting a new addition this fall, so I'll need time off for that too. Thanks for the input, I'll definitely take it all into consideration. Tracey.
yes, I have to agree with Deena, we had friends who used the DVD and loved them but she said they skipped alot of parts don't know how that would work.. Good luck on what you decide to do..
Tracey, we used this for 4th and 5th grade. There is a lot of "school". If you do EVERYTHING that they require, you will be doing school ALL DAY. The option that you have is to do just what you want - take Math for instance, instead of doing every problem, maybe do the even or odd ones. They do require that you have the DVDs back in a specific time period or you will be charged a penalty. I found that Elijah learned so much, even though he hates school, and I didn't have to do very much prep. I am going to be using it for 7th grade this year and just keep my own records. He did enjoy getting the report cards. They only require you send in the tests and for reading, every so often he had to read into the phone, the reading would be taped and then they would grade him. It is a very structured program, but he learned sooooo much. He felt he was part of a classroom, he learned the children's names and felt he knew the teachers too.
A Beka does have a lot of work. We have used many different books of theirs and they are all work intensive. I really like their language arts but do not cover it the way they suggest. It would take to long. I am assuming that if their curriculum is time consuming then their Academy would be the same. The only thing is you couldn't adjust it like you can with the books. Patty
Thanks KrisRV, Ohio Grandma and Emma's#1fan. That certainly helps. Again, I've already decided against the DVD program since I heard from so many in our support group that it's very time consuming. Also, I don't want to be tied to a television everyday since sometimes we take our books with us when I have to be on the go. So the books alone would be fine for us. I also need to be able to adjust the amount of work and not be bound by an intense schedule. Especially with a new baby in the fall, it just won't be possible to stay on such a strict schedule. We've always enrolled with a school in years past for many reasons. I've come to the conclusion that we will try the Abeka books only for this year, but not enroll. If we do well with it, perhaps next year we can enroll with them. Then again, I'll have a one year old running around by next year!!:shock: Thank you so much for all your help. You've all helped me a lot. I'm going to a motel display this week to actually see the curriculum and then make my final decision. Thanks! You guys are great!
