by Stefany Smith

Created on: January 17, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2010

The infamous Christian boxed curriculum, A Beka books, is a school system for home educators. The complete programs take the guesswork out of teaching your children at home. They come complete with teaching guides, test books, workbooks, wall charts, and grade books. The system is mapped out for you, so all you have to do is follow the directions and be there for your children when they have questions.

If your purpose for homeschooling is solely faith-based, then A Beka Books is a fine option. Every aspect of the curriculum ties in faith and Bible concepts. Even the math books have scripture; the handwriting, copying scripture; the history, marks the religious progress of the nation and how God is always in control.

If your reasoning for homeschooling is purely based on social aspects, than the A Beka programs may be a viable option. The lessons are short, simple, and concise. You can easily spend 30 minutes a day instructing your children, leave them with the sitter while you go to work, and return to completed assignments to enter into the grade book. For busy families with not much time to plan and prepare, this can be very helpful. Among homeschooling my own children, I am an in-home child care provider for a homeschooled fifth grader. She uses the A Beka program, and the family follows this pattern.

Now, if neither of these descriptions fit your idea of homeschooling, you may want to look into other options. I'd like to give my personal experience with a few aspects of this curriculum.

Mathematics:

The books intimidated me! There are daily speed drills and lesson and, a quiz or test every three days. My oldest is ahead of the game in every area but math. When she saw the massive volume of numbers on a page, she shut down. We had to skip several problems just to get through the pages. A system that seemed to work for us was Monday, Tuesday, Friday were odds, then Wednesday and Thursday were evens. Instead of completing a 2 minute drill every day, we made Mondays drill days, Wednesdays quiz days, and Fridays test days. Sticking to the guidelines in the teaching material never worked for us.

History:

The early years seemed to progress very slowly. My oldest didn't start until fourth grade, and we had to find a lot of supplemental material to cure her interests. I am a Christian mom, so I love that A Beka brings faith up in a multitude of mediums. However, I feel the history program lacks the American foundational aspects because it focuses so much on the

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