Hello everyone I've been homeschooling my kids several years now. I have used Calvert and Alpha Omega (LifePac and Horizons). In my opinion, they are both good schools but Alpha Omega is more like superficial. I was looking into Abeka and have a few questions. I read in the website something about standarized tests. Do the school requires the student to take them even though the state doesn't? How does the school work is? (challenging, easy going?) I am looking at a curriculum that's christian based and that is challenging. I want my kids to be able to think and question. I want to enrich their minds. I am planning to use Abeka as the core curriculum. Any help will be appreciated. Blessings, Homeschool_Mom
What ages are your children? I used A Beka from K-9th. I know there are a few others that have used A Beka and will give you info. I found that it is challenging and lots of workbook. If you did everything that they tell you to do, it will be a lot. My ds used it who does not like school and this year, I've decided to change, for his benefit. My dd used it last year for K and she was done by mid-March. She loves school and wants to do school all the time, that is why she was done early. I loved it for the children. We did both the DVD's and without. I'm sure you will hear more.
My oldest son attended school last year and they used ABeka curriculum. He HATED it! I personally thought that it was WAY, WAY, WAY too much work for a 7 year old, and it moves very fast especially with phonics. I really think it's great for a kid who loves workbook-y type stuff and enjoys writing a lot, but otherwise I don't think it's so great for active young children. I really love their High School program, but for the littles I think it's just too much!
I've used some Abeka materials, especially history and science, but I used it MY way, not with all the tons of stuff that a classroom school is expected to do. When they got to the point of having cumulative quarter, semester, and final exams, I often just made my own tests, because I don't like cumulative and don't work on the quarter system anyway. Often, when one was available, I used Christian Liberty's tm and ak and tests. One thing I found that I didn't expect was that the textbooks were right where I expected them to be as far as content and reading level. I didn't find them terribly advanced as everyone had said. They do some things way ahead of other people, but I'm not totally sure it's necessary things, like having to translate F/C temperatures in both directions with formulas in 5th grade. I also found that sometimes the tests were way too nitpicky for details where I just didn't think it was necessary. I also found that they reused pictures/illustrations from one grade level to another -- like the layers of the earth, for example, that might appear in the fifth grade book might be exactly the same as the one in the eighth grade book (or whatever). Abeka has its uses, and some people thrive on it, but right now I'm liking other stuff better.
We used the DVDs for the first two years of HSing. At that time DSs were in 9th and 10 and the other one 4th and 5th. It is a lot, a lot, a lot, of work. I never made my children do it all as long as they kept up their grades. It is challenging and they learned a lot. This past year we switched to Alpha Omega's SOS, only because we couldn't afford A Beka. My oldest didn't like it at all compared to A Beka, he said it felt like we were, "just trying to get by," this coming from a child that has always hated school. I have a friend that has been using the DVDs from Kinder. thru 4th I think and her and her dds, love it. But they don't do all the seat work either. Like I said, there is a lot of work, that I don't think is needed, other than that, and the cost, we liked it. HIH
We used Abeka from K-8 then Abeka Academy from 9-12. This curriculum rocks! As far as standardized testing, our state required that we had our kids tested every other year which we had a 3rd party administer the tests. My kids scored from the upper 80th to upper 90th percentile on the stand. tests.
Hello, I have a boy age 7, and two girls ages 5 and 2. I started homeschooling my son when he was 16 - 18 months. I strongly believe in early education, but I know that children need to be children. I like to incorporate fun with education. I was looking at Abeka because of the books. It seems that they offer you more material. Alpha Omega LifePac's only gave us 10 worbooks per class and they seem so simple. Mostly filling up the blanks and the self tests are not challenging. They had a lot of worsheets but that's about it.
Ok, I am pretty much in agreement with others. If you do use A Beka, I would highly suggest that you NOT do the accredited program and do it the way you like. Don't worry about tests and all that. Caution: You may find that it works, BUT you may find that it doesn't. A lot of time an all-in-one program can be daunting and very stressful. While it seems like a perfect fit, with everything laid out for you--it may be not suited for some children. Just like there are a multitude of homeschooling options, there are a multitude of different types of children. Please don't feel that you have to do everything from one publisher. It can be great fun to pick and choose between all the wonderful options out there.
Yes, we used it for high school, 9-12th grade. It was only $100.00 more per child per year. The thing with using their accredited program is that you need to get things done in a timely manner. If you prefer to just do things as you wish and don't want to be under any time constraint then just keep the records yourself.
No, I didn't use the accredited program. I just used some of their materials, mostly purchased used from used curriculum boards, and mostly history and science.
I agree with MamaBear. I loved the A Beka program, my son hated it - of course, he hates any curiculum
We have begun our first year hs'ing my 2nd grader and we are using primarily Abeka. I grew up on it and have taught several grades with it in the classroom. Honestly, I am a fan despite the fact that Abeka is DEFINITELY not the "in" choice when it comes to my former school and lots of the homeschool boards and blogs I'm reading. Regardless of your opinion on it, it is definitely tried and true and has proven its success on standardized testing. I'm doing traditional homeschooling or what I've come to learn is called "school at home." Abeka definitely falls in line with this method of homeschool... It is strong in phonics which is so important for their reading and spelling skills. I also am a fan of how the math is set up building gradually with built in review. We did SRA math where I last taught and I hated how it was set up with super intensive lessons with the teacher having to incorporate any review into the lesson ON TOP of what they were already having to do. I am comfy with Abeka and think it is a high quality program. I don't understand why everyone doesn't like it... Prepackaged doesn't have to be a bad word...
