Abeka Home Schooling Academy Pros and Cons
by Chrita Paulin
ABeka Home Schooling Academy Review
I had two children, in grades 1 and 4, who utilized the ABeka home schooling Academy program. This program is a year long, DVD based program where the children watch an actual teacher instruct an actual classroom, on DVD. When you purchase the program you are provided 90 days worth of DVDs. The children watch the material, complete the workbooks, and then you send the grades in to ABeka Academy based on a grading system that they provide. The subjects included Reading, Writing, Math, Geography, Science, Art, and Bible. The content of the program was extremely thorough. The workbooks gave the child the opportunity to reinforce what they had learned on the DVDs. There were timed exercises as well as independent projects for the children to do. The teacher references and answer keys were extremely helpful. They gave instructions on how to administer tests and to grade your child's work. I had absolutely no problem with the content that was covered in the ABeka Academy program. However, my children were very bored with the DVD teaching method. To ask a child to sit and watch "television" all day and then complete assignments was tedious and did not hold attention of the students. Unfortunately, you had to maintain the Academy schedule because you have certain time limits in which the child's work had to be returned with grades. I would not recommend the ABeka home schooling Academy as a sole teaching method for homeschooled students. Most homeschooled children are independent thinkers; they are highly motivated and are often not challenged by the "typical" public school model. By utilizing the ABeka Academy the child will feel that they are still sitting inside a classroom, and it is my opinion, that they will be very bored. I would, however, recommend the ABeka home schooling curriculum. You can purchase the workbooks and teacher guides separately. I really liked the workbooks because they have the teacher/parent time the students in math, reading and writing. One of the major concerns with teachers when homeschooled children return to public school is that they are not used to working within time limits and have not had practice being timed on tests. With the ABeka workbooks you have a series of timed activities to encourage your child to work within time constraints. Chrita, you did a wonderful job at sharing some pros and cons of the ABeka home schooling Academy. Your review will help parents make a more informed decision when choosing homeschool curriculum or a teaching method for their children. Sometimes finding the best method or curriculum comes through a process of elimination. Happy homeschooling, Heather :)
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