by Julie Helms

Created on: January 09, 2009   Last Updated: December 12, 2009

In order to get all the ins and outs of Abeka homeschooling materials you can easily access their website, www.abeka.com, or view their catalog. This will give you the costs, scope and sequence of all grades and subjects, and variety of program options. What I would like to do is give you an idea of the way Abeka works in reality, what it is like using it day to day, year after year, the benefits and the drawbacks, the stuff they don't put in the catalog and on the website!

In my position as a homeschool bookstore owner I have heard literally thousands of testimonies regarding different publishers, including many on Abeka. In my position as a homeschool mom I've personally used Abeka with my own children along with a number of other publishers, so I have a good feel for the curriculum and how it compares to the others. This article covers Abeka's traditional program.

Abeka is a K-12 program offering all the usual subjects required by school districts plus Bible. The scope and sequence easily meets all states' requirements. It is an academically sound program that technically includes everything you need. Many of the materials have been somewhat revised to fit the homeschool market from its original Christian school format. For example, a Teacher Edition may have been altered from "Direct the class to do this activity" to "Direct your student", but the overall layout remains one typical of a school setting. For some homeschoolers who are looking for unique ways of teaching subjects or looking for a curriculum that can be adjusted and adapted to their different children's needs Abeka does not have this flexibility. If you follow Abeka the way it was designed you are doing school at home.

Abeka's math program is advanced. It introduces skills earlier then most other curricula, notably multiplication and division. This is fantastic for kids who are accelerated and can handle a challenging math program. There are copious amounts of workbook assignments required- the sheer volume of it is overwhelming for most children. I always recommend that parents be intentional about how much math they assign- for example, to assign just even number problems, or just sections that are still needing work. Even a whiz kid isn't going to want to do 30 or 40 problems of math every day. An average child will soon come to dislike math because of the pure volume. A struggling student will be ground into the dirt with no hope. I have seen families quit homeschooling altogether because

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