My oldest took an outside Lit/writing class this 1st year. He is in 8th. I got the full Abeka and it came with all the grammar/lit/spelling for his 8th grade year. Question is, will it put him behind in high school if I used this next year? It is brand new, never used. Not sure how it would affect his high school courses?
I am going to give you an opinion based on what I have seen. A lot of curriculum is divided by grade levels (OK you knew that), but they have very little consistency. If you look at Rod and Staff 8th grade it would be hard for a high school student (or grad) to do it. I have a booklet labeled high school level and it is much easier than some (A Beka and BJU). Also when I went to college we had a college level class where the grammar taught was very basic and most middle to high school students would have been fine. So, no---I don't think it will get him behind, especially since A Beka is advanced from everything I have read. I don't know how strict you will be with recording what you study. It may help you to check out the scope of other programs and see if comparable things are studied. A LOT of stuff is repeated over and over. I fail to see why there are four different grade levels for some high school grammar courses.
Basic Grammar is all that is needed. They put the levels on it for reading level/vocabulary and so the poor kid doing the same curriculum each year isn't doing the exact same exercises. But, I can't imagine that an 8th grade curric. would be that much different from 9th. I am even finding that the math books are pretty simmilar...they introduce a few new concepts and a bit more difficulty...but the boys (2 grades apart) have been doing fairly simmilar lessons....?? We have used so many different grammar "things", that I am using a 5th grade writing workbook...because it is here. and grammar out of our unit study with a few worksheets from "the complete book of" We have also tried englishgrammar101.com which was a bit much for us (for 6th grade...haven't gone back, maybe I will) It is all the same...with different graphics.
I honestly feel my 4th grade son has a better handle on grammar right now, using R&S for the past two years, than most public high school students. I KNOW my 8th grader does!
I would go ahead and use it. As long as the material is challenging to the student and learning is taking place you are making progress.
use it. I went to a Christian school and went through 6 years of A Beka in jr. high and High school. This is a challenging curriculum. He will do just fine.
I am familiar with Abeka, and if you read reviews on it you will see that it is a VERY thorough and advanced curriculum. I wouldn't hesitate to use if for 8th grade.
