Trying to decide between these 2 for 5th grade. Any preference for one over the other? Price I can find the needed books used will also play a part. Thanks!
I know that my girls love the Abeka science books. I have asked them in the past if they wanted to change.. (for me something cheaper... ) but they wanted to stay with it. I like Abeka but I don't buy the TG's.
Those are the two we had to decide between in the end also. I think they have similar subjects they teach each grade (if I remember right). We ended up with Abeka because the site I was buying them from (Christian Liberty) said BJU was for christian schools. Now I was new and thought that meant not for homeschool. We love Abeka science and have used it every year. We also only use the student book and nothing else. The boys have a blast with it.
My daughter used BJU for science for a couple of years (5th-6th) in a private school. The curriculum seemed ok in terms of homework and study. She used the textbook and activity book. I purchased Abeka for her for the upcoming year. The topics of study and book layout just seemed more interesting to me. I also purchased an activity kit from homesciencetools (on-line) that is specific to the Abeka 7th grade curriculum. In terms of cost, BJU seems to be more expensive.
I found an older set of Abeka for pretty cheap, but I wonder if there is a big difference in the older version and the newer? Do you think the older version would still be good?
If you have everything you need that goes with the older version, feel free to go ahead and use the older version! Abeka doesn't change THAT much from one edition to the next! If it has the same title, it's not SO much different. They may update a new fact or two, rearrange chapters into a different order, change up the quizzes and tests a bit, but SOMEtimes (with a little work, reading ahead and editing) you can even use one set of TM/quizzes/tests/activity sheets with a different edition of student text. BTDT! And if you want to get just the student text, you can get a TM/tests from Christian Liberty for WAY less than the publisher's TM/tests/AK/activitybook/TM for AB... IMHO, it's what Christian Liberty does best, making their own TM with text answers and their own tests for Abeka and BJU textbooks. When you do it this way, either one (Abeka or BJU) will get the job done.
