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Abeka Academy is an accredited distance learning program for Kindergarten through grade 12. Christian character building textbooks from A Beka Book are used with video instruction for a college preparatory education. A Beka Academy offers a variety of educational options to include: Accredited Programs, Independent Study, Traditional Programs and individual courses. Students may use DVD's for instruction, Video Streaming and live hook-ups for learning. A Beka Academy offers an ESL program for international students.
Abeka curriculum reviews are listed separately.
Website: Abeka Academy
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Contributor Reviews
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Cons: Old difficult website, lack of customizing calendar and various subjects in different grades. NOT for kids who left school to leave school setting or hours sitting and listening as this is exactly that - school setting just at home rather than class, a lot of involvement for parents with kids unable to self manage or self discipline to focus
Grades Used: 7
Abeka has good intentions, but many flaws, which is why it didn’t work for us.
- highly expensive
- access to old old video recordings, not updated, too lengthy, a lot of time lost with kids talking or giving incorrect answers or going too quickly on replies….. if you’re going homeschool with the intent to do an unschooled setting and customize for your individual child who has trouble in classroom settinsg (I have a very quiet kid but ADD so his mind wanders and is bored in just 15 mins even though he’s sitting very quietly, he’s not absorbing information it just becomes a long drawn out lecture and he misses a lot of information).
If I stay near to listen also to pause and help, it takes well over the 40 min video length for us to get through it PER subject. We would never ever get through a full curriculum but are just lucky to even get 2-3 subjects in per day plus homework and chores.
We both felt incredibly overwhelmed with busy work and not really grasping enough as too much information given in such a long drawn out time period for him…. The option to have a 15-20 minute video of JUST the teacher explaining or breaking things down and giving assignments would be SO much better! Otherwise you’re literally just duplicating the classroom setting, which might be exactly what some people want if they can’t be home to teach, but it’s the worst for parents customizing for child’s needs out of school setting to sit for endless hours a day.
SO much screen time was horrible for my child’s behavior and eyes as well and mind, with regular headaches and stress.
We are also a medical family where my son easily spends half the year in and out of the hospital (had cancer, organ transplant etc). I felt it was very stressful to know we ONLY had a 12 month period of time to have access to resources we paid a LOT of money for, and then would loose access to it and we would never be able to keep up the very very packed schedule and pace of Abeka especially not customizing it to have more time or subject flexibility.
- online calendar to assign subjects was NOT able to be customized so that we could remove some subjects (without being completely disenrolled from subjects) to try to make Abeka work. Or to stagger what subjects on what days such as a MWF and TTH schedule like in college to alter subjects. NONE of this was able to be customized with the online calendar for my son to see daily assignments and for me to check what had really been watched and done or not. I wasted 2 hours+ with customer service trying to get their help with the online calendar but they had a lot of trouble also and shared how it had issues a lot so they couldn’t even fix some of the things that should be able to be customized such as 9 month or 12 month year and what days of the week etc. it kept Thursday as an off day rather than Sunday and could not get it fixed…… for how expensive Abeka is, you would assume they could manage to re-do their online resources for parents so that they’re working and more customizable.
- Due to lack of customizing or flexibility (my child is in varying grade levels for different subjects but could NOT mix and match without buying entire year per subject which is so expensive vs access to 1 subject at whatever grade level needed, unable to change grades) we cancelled.
- cancelling is another long long tedious time consuming procedure! I’ve had well over 14 phone calls and emails, possibly closer to 30, to customer service just getting things straightened out and resolved and returned and refunded then following up on refunds etc. it’s insane. It’s been 6+ weeks now since we cancelled Abeka and I am STILL following up once a week on that as it’s “pending”.
In the meantime I’m getting hit with interest rates on my card waiting for refund. The prior refunds for digital items I had to follow up on several times as well….. if it’s that disorganized just my initial experience, I feel I made the right decision cancelling as it’s been nothing but a headache even though it seemed like a good idea…. That doesn’t even touch on how many books there are and how they really really should put everything together in a spiral book for each subject and put tests and quizzes at the right chapters so it’s all in one place and flows together. It is SO overwhelming and takes forever sorting books every day trying to find where on earth is the right paperwork needed.
- A huge mental and physical weight was off my shoulders once we discontinued abeka. We had horrible tantrums and issues not like my son at all, the method of old school sitting for hours and so much busy work (no time for outdoors anymore or legos) was exhausting for us both and frustrating. Not at all worth it and how time consuming it was for me as a parent too! It went well into downtime family hours and involved my husband after a long day at work with the military to give me a break and help where we BOTH had gotten stuck etc
- there are MUCH better programs out there now that are monthly subscriptions and you can jump around grade levels so you’re not locked in to a set grade like abeka does. Shorter videos from the teacher only, and gets to the point rather than dragging on so long with talking & students you have to sit or fast forward for.
I prefer shorter direct to the point videos and then utilize extra time to practice and cut it in half what abeka does. Getting new videos and changing things would make Abeka a much better curriculum to use for many other families with varying situations.
- I just clicked to submit review from email that Abeka sent me, and once again, error message. It’s truly been my experience all along the way with Abeka, sigh, of course I would run into issues even leaving a review!
Went to website to do it directly. It’s just all these little things of issues DO add up as it doesn’t have to be this way, especially for the very very high cost!
Cons: Time consuming, week in hands in learning, heavy work load, week upper level math
Grades Used: 4th-12th
I am a home school graduate of Abeka. I used it from 4th-12th grade. It prepared me for College. In God’s providence I got three degrees from Bob Jones University (a bachelors and 2 masters).
It was great for my mother who was juggling homeschooling and Christian camping ministries. I recommend it to my sister in-law who has five kids and is a mid wife.
Abeka prepared me well for the workload at college. I studied education and art. I felt the curriculum was strong in History, Bible, and Science. It was weak in the upper level maths. Also I struggled/ struggle with writing. I could pass a test on grammar but couldn’t proofread my own papers. My writing assignments bled much red ink.
Abeka is based on learning via memorizing but week in application.
It is also time consuming. It has the dvds then a heavy homework load. I wished I would have spent less time on school work and more time on life skills in high school.
Cons: Way too long of a day due to filler material. Charged $75 for dvds, Math explanation very poor as grades get higher. Way too many manuals,& books for teacher (English has 3 separate books for 7th grade), answer keys, tests, quizzes all separate which means more money spent, quizzes in separate places (not all are in quiz/key book) ,
Grades Used: 5 & 7
My kids have been homeschooled 10 yrs. They Did 2 yrs in private Christian school with abeka. Came back to homeschooling this year, and we did abeka this year (grade 5&7). WAY Too long with unneeded filler which works in classroom but not at home. Other curriculum took us 2 hrs. But abeka takes closer to 6 hours. Found that the break down on abeka website of time for each subject is wildly inaccurate.
Curriculum is Repetitive due to circular teaching style. My oldest likes but my youngest gets very frustrated.
Emphasizes some black leaders but does not make it equal among races (ie. Learned first black bishop of England but not first Asian, Mexican, woman,etc) so I make my kids skip those “teachings.”
Advanced learning with this curriculum which I like. Math and English explanations are extremely inadequate as the child gets older, which makes it challenging for the parent who can’t remember how to explain. 7th grade math was algebra and geometry, we had to utilize YouTube a lot for explainations and tricks.
Bible and history very detailed which we like. Spelling words very advanced (I like) and curriculum pushes cursive (I like).
Between two children grade 5&7, i received a whopping 56 books for me as the teacher!!.
The fullguide for 5th, the separate guides for 7th, separate test books, quiz books, answer keys for each quiz, answer keys for each test, guides for each curriculum.
Speed, quizzes and reading quizzes are in back of subject guides as opposed to being in the actual quiz or test book making it VERY Very challenging to flip all over the place to find.
Initially doing THOS CURRICULUM online but it glitched often.
help line guided us through to no avail.
Forced to Switched over to DVDs and was charged $75 for fifth grade and seventh grade DVDs.
If you don’t order before September, expect weeks to a month of waiting for curriculum books, to which help line will state not permit your child to start school until they have the books.
If you want to switch over to DVDs expect one to two weeks wait for dvd and a fee.
5th grade health curriculum not started until end of year. If you are behind or quit curriculum early then the child does not get health.
Curriculum is pricey (approximately $2,000 a child)
All in all, this was our absolutely least favorite curriculum.
Will continue Bible, history, spelling words but find different curriculum for the rest.
Cons: Zero cons
Grades Used: 1-6
I am a mother of a gifted learner who also has PTSD. As a Neuroscience student myself I have measured how the brain learns against Abeka's spiral learning approach, and have found it to be consistent with how the human brain learns. I am in my 6th year of consistently using Abeka, and am very pleased. We do parent led daily. Abeka offers a good challenge for my son who often gets frustrated when his brain is not challenged enough. He is doing exceptionally well, and loves his curriculum. We like how Abeka provides thought provoking quotes to from noteworthy individuals in history and each quote coincides with the healthy student mindset to help to keep the chil encouraged. My son holds his own with well versed adults and we as his parents often compliment Abeka. Thank you.
Cons: Videos way too long for active kindergarteners, Videos do not function as they should, customer service, and not very forgiving when life throws lemons or kids get sick
Grades Used: K5
Abeka started off seemingly well, but then quickly turned into a nightmare for my family. The curriculum is great, but the workload for my 6 and 5 year old's is bit much. We have our children enrolled in the accredited K5 program with online streaming.
Once we got sick with covid and was out for 2 weeks being super sick, we found ourselves playing catch up with the videos and turning in grades on time for the rest of the time we had our daughters in the program (still in the program with one grading period left). The biggest issue we have is with keeping up with all of the videos. Most of the videos are 30+ mins long and the amount to do in a day may vary. If we start the videos at 9am, we wont be done until the evening.
I have to keep in mind that my children are very young, and their attention spans at this age are not the greatest. We thought this program would allow me to make sure they are learning while I work from home and also allow me to provide more supplemental teachings in the evening. But I found myself having to be very hands on with making sure they watch the videos and that the videos actually make it to the next video.
A few months into the program, we noticed that our daughters kept complaining about watching the same videos over and over again. Naturally, I thought my daughters were being normal kids trying to find a way out of not watching the videos... until I sat with them a few times to see what they were talking about. That is when my husband and I discovered that the videos would play all the way to the end but if you tried going to the next video lesson, it would say that you could not move forward due to the previous video not being completed. We would find ourselves having to refresh the page 5+ times to get it to go to the next video or having to sacrifice time and just rewatch the video from the beginning even though we know our kids already watched that video.
Then the next thing we noticed, is that all of the class lessons were on different days and were not synced up together as they were in the beginning. This was concerning for us because Abeka does not allow you to skip or fast forward the online videos. So if the videos cannot be skipped or fast forwarded, then how is Manuscript writing on lesson 100 and Math on lesson 95????
The system is supposed to have all of the videos across all the subjects on the same day. So if you are on day 100 of schooling, all the videos across all subjects are supposed to be on day 100. This made it very difficult for us to accurately track where I children were supposed to be on their lessons.
We spent over an hour on the phone with tech support and academics and passed around to 5 different people trying to explain what was going on and our concerns. This was also causing us to miss grading periods and being constantly hit with late work fees. All because the videos were not properly playing and would say we did not watch the videos but we know our kids watched all of the videos for that grading period.
Their customer service across each department worked as if no one was taking notes in our file and that peter didn't know what paul was doing. This was extremely stressful for us and caused us to believe that our kids would fail Kindergarten over technical difficulties with the streaming videos.
Even if you turn in the worksheets on time, if the system says you did not complete all of the videos for that grading period, you will get a nice email from Abeka's extensions department telling you that the work is late and they will not grade the worksheets until all of the videos have been watched and then will threaten you with a $20 late work fee to get your child reinstated and to have their grades evaluated within a certain period of time.
And when they do finally release the work to be graded, they tell you it could take up to 6 weeks for their report card to come in for that late grading period. Oh and one more thing... It will take the acadmics department 2 weeks to evaluate grades even if you overnight the grades to them before the due date. They say they give a 30-day grace period but the late work threats will begin before the grace period is up if they deem your child's work to be late.
Moral of the story... if you like doing extra work for your kids, choose Abeka. If you are super human with super human kids that will never get sick or need to take time off of schooling for religious purposes, trips etc. Choose Abeka.
If you live a normal life that comes with normal challenges, do not choose Abeka. If you do, maybe try going with the teacher led program and create a better schedule. Don't do the online streaming as it is a headache and causes too much stress.
Customer service is not that great and will cause even more stress.
Cons: 6th and 7th grades have been a waste of time and money.
Grades Used: K-7
Great for elementary grades. 6th and 7th grades have been a disaster. The DVD's are not user friendly, the classroom setting is not helpful for homeschool kid's. I feel the math is the biggest problem, the 7th grade instructor speaks too fast to understand. I feel spending close to $3,000.00 for the last 2 years has been a complete waste of time and money. I have opted to not use the DVD's and only use the books to instruct my child. We will be switching to Monarch.
Cons: Overwhelming work, long videos, poor teaching
Grades Used: 3 - 11
I’m not a parent, but a student who is currently a junior in grade 11. I have been enrolled in Abeka Academy since grade 3. Abeka is quite convenient as you can choose your desired schedule, and also have the ability to rewind/pause videos. After having been enrolled in Abeka Academy for nearly eight years, I can say the curriculum contains a fair amount of downsides. I understand the importance of testing, but at times it seems as if quizzes/tests are overly-assigned. On average, the videos are around 40+ minutes in length, which seems unnecessary for certain subjects. There have been times where I’ve spent eleven hours finishing one day of work.
Some teachers have peculiar teaching styles and are constantly crack jokes, which I find disappointing— especially for a high school learning level. The Abeka Academy curriculum can surely work for some, but not all. Perhaps you could try it out if you can afford it.
Cons: Poor customer service; accredited program too rigid.
Grades Used: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th.
I have used Abeka, parent-led products since 2015. This year, my son asked to be enrolled in Abeka Academy and chose digital books. We began classes on 8/10/22. On 8/15/22 we chose to switch from accredited to non-accredited. Unfortunately, they removed access to digital tests and quizzes immediately and the print materials did not arrive until 9/12/22. I could not administer a test or quiz from Aug.15 to Sept.12. A few days ago we decided we also wanted print books as opposed to digital. I knew we'd have to wait a while for print books but I never thought they'd remove access to digital books immediately as well, but they did . Print books won't ship until approximately 9/22/22. So starting today, 9/14/22, my son can't do school until print books arrive. If the books actually ship on the 22nd, we might have them by 9/26. If they ship later, who knows? Their customer service was not very good either, as each dept does not seem to know how the others work. When I asked for a supervisor, they told me one was not available, that one would call me back. I'm still waiting ... Needless to say, their poor handling of curriculum switch has left my son with interrupted school work and end of year delays.
Cons: Quiz questions are not consistent with the review material
Grades Used: 7th & 9th
I love the material and love the video lessons. They are Bible centered which is why we went with Abeka. I do appreciate the challenging material, but my children are failing nearly every quiz. We do the online assessments so I can’t see the questions on the quizzes before hand. My children study hard. My daughter even works a grade ahead. When I review with them, they know the material, but most of the questions on the science and history quizzes have nothing to do with the review questions they have at the end of the sections or the chapter review. It’s very hard to study every single point in the sections and still keep up with the other subjects so we hit hard on what is in the review questions thinking that’s what is most important. My children don’t study to test, but at the same time it is demoralizing when they study hard and fail or nearly fail every quiz. My daughter broke down and cried today. She puts in hours of study time only to get a 64 on a quiz.
Cons: your child may want to join outside clubs like a homeschool club, church activity group for socialization.
Grades Used: 7th & 8th soon 9th
My daughter is in the 8th grade, we came from a private Christian school. We started Abeka Academy during the pandemic because the "virtual" classes were chaos. We wanted her to stay focused and on track with her grade level. She has thrived since. The biggest difference is in the math, no common core! Her old school used common core and the tutoring department was flooded because kids and parents were having difficulty. We don't have to worry about paying extra for a tutor and if we need extra help we can get it. She also can focus in a quiet setting without the distractions she had before. She is doing great and loves the teachers. The curriculum does challenge her, which we like. She has formed good study skills and loves the flexibility of starting class at 9am or even doing school in the evening hours. We love to travel in our RV and she takes her lessons on the road. We stay in campgrounds with internet so she can continue with her lessons if she needs to. Abeka is a great for families who travel and for families who want to be directly involved with what their children are learning. We have done our own fieldtrips and done some with our local homeschool club in our county.
Cons: Price, testing portal marks correct answers wrong, classes are needlessly long
Grades Used: Vpk, 2, 5, 7
As a homeschool of 8 years we tried Abeka Academy Accredited this year for our 3.5yr old VpK, 7 yr old 2nd grader, 10 yr old 5th grader, and 12 yr old 7th grader. It's been a nightmare. We immediately. Hours and hours of mindless videos are required to complete work that is often behind in curriculum from our previous programs. The process of moving a child from accredited to self led takes 6 weeks so even though you are paying for this lovely service your kids account is locked and they cannot watch the videos if needed. Extremely frustrating and not worth the money.
Cons: If you want your grades kept by them then you'll have a full time job!!!
Grades Used: K5 thru 7th
Abeka is a great program. Of course there will be those who have negative comments bit in reality there will never be a perfect curriculum. So that said, Abeka for kids does have a lot of work but you can also tweek it. I use the video streaming classes of Arithmetic and Language. They're great. I bought just the text books for Science and History because they have questions and I create a test. It works, she's happy and works independently for the most part. Part of parenting is educating your kids. Create the right system each day and good habits. You'll be fine.
Cons: Light on the critical thinking skills, so we supplement with extra math reasoning, word problems, etc; also for reading, we have longer discussions on higher order thinking skills. Light on the science/history/art, and my daughter loves science so we bought extra science units from teacher pay teacher.com to go along with it. There are large sections of the video that are not necessary and we skip along, so you have to be nearby to know what is being taught and what could be skipped, keep the kid accountable and paying attention. The system isn’t easy to fast forward or skip videos, you have to make it think you watched it by fast forwarding to the end.
Grades Used: 2nd
We’ve switched to Abeka Academy for my second grader. We have been homeschooling for 8 years, and this is the perfect fit for our youngest. Every child is different!
Cons: Busy work
Grades Used: K5
I have used K5 parent led with supplemental streaming videos for my gifted 4 year old. She learned reading within a few weeks and understands basic arithmetic concepts. She loves the colorful work books. We like it so much i bought the full first grade kit with video for her.
Cons: None.
Grades Used: 1st & 6th going into 2nd & 7th
We have used Abeka for one full year. My daughter is in 1st-grade, and my son 6th-grade, and they both love it. It is amazing how much more my son has learned this year versus his years in public school. This curriculum is perfect for our family. We travel a lot and it is such a blessing the kids do not have to miss school when we do. We just pack up our worksheets and whatever books we need. Others mentioned the amount of class/homework but we appreciate the workload. Which we believe instills good time management and work ethic. Also, my son needs extra study time, and he is learning responsibility and control over his grades. My son tested at an average of 8th-grade level on the standardized testing this year. In years past, he regularly tested average or just below mainly because he had to sit for 4 hours at a time for the testing. His biggest issue is sitting still. At home, he takes short breaks in between each class and does physical activity. In public school, he was constantly in trouble for talking, fidgeting, or making noise due to his hyperactivity. Both our children are excelling in Abeka due to the flexibility, workload, Christian values, and Abeka's high standards!!!
Cons: Your child may need to join outside clubs or activities for socializing. It helps being involved in youth programs at church.
Grades Used: 7th & 8th
Abeka is a good quality Christian Education. Reading through some of the negative reviews, I wondered why some decided to choose a Christian education.
They do teach cursive writing which is wonderful, considering all of the important historical documents such as the Constitution are in cursive. The bible verses are key to any student and will be used through out their Christian life. The work can be rigorous but my child came from a private school and we were used to that. That being said the teachers are great. Our daughter loves the 7th grade history , bible and science teachers.
We love the flexible schedule. She does one extra subject a day so she can take off on Fridays and have a 3 day weekend. The flexibility has allowed our family to travel in our RV and take a vacation on our schedule. We are self employed and this has given our family the freedom to spend more quality time together. During the Covid 19 pandemic, she continued to learn and get ahead. She just completed the Standardized test and soon will complete her 7th grade year
. She is very eager to continue as an 8th grade student next year. We have had positive customer service experiences. Abeka does provide help for students who reach out. Also some of the subjects have extra supplemental classes to watch.
Cons: No real flexibility, Outdated, Excessive amount of homework & busy work,
Grades Used: 1st & 6thThe amount of memory verses they give the students to remember are also ridiculous being that they have spelling words and poems and other things to remember as well. When I teach Bible lessons will take a week and study one lesson and then I’ll give the kids a quiz over it this one studies one lesson per day and then gives a big test.
We used the accredited program for my 6th grader. There is no room for flexibility, the videos move very fast, seemingly faster than if she were in a traditional setting.
My daughter has to work a bit harder in Math. There is no way to slow down any concept while staying on track, unless you want to move to the all year program. Some of the concepts my daughter was taught in math were very confusing and unnecessary ( who cast out 9s). There is a test/daily, which is hard because there is no time to process what was taught the day before! They give homework almost every day, which is added to the load you get from the other subjects.
Now let’s change subjects, to History, there is no diversity! Spelling words are outdated and hard to spell! Some of the words my 6th grader had were listed on the 9th grade list. When I say the words are outdated, one of the words I distinctly remember on the spelling list was confederate.
The videos look to be made in the early 90’s, the teachers talk so quickly as if they think the students are in front of them and can ask questions.
The religion part..most schools that have religion are general, this one is very specific. I found myself re-teaching concepts to my daughter, because some were just opinions versus beings only scriptural. The amount of memory verses they give the students to remember are also ridiculous being that they have spelling words and poems and other things to remember as well. When I teach Bible lessons will take a week and study one lesson and then I’ll give the kids a quiz over it this one studies one lesson per day and then gives a big test.
Overall this program was more work on me, trying to reteach concepts & making sure everything still gets turned in on time. The homework load was close to my college student’s work ( once you add all the homework).
The 1st grade program was okay. It did help as a starting platform for reading, but even that goes very fast. I stopped following the lesson plan all together. This program also has busy work, which we didn’t use most of it.
Cons: everything
Grades Used: 5th 6th 7th
hi im a student at abeka and i used to do public school i got average grades but my grades have drop so much my stress levels have gone up and they dont do things the simple way its a pain to keep up with all the work our books got sent in late we had to wait till November to start so yeah parents dont put your kids through this
Cons: very biased teachings, "cliché" traditional and outdated, huge work load
Grades Used: 3rd, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th
The ABEKA curriculum has good intentions in their teaching, but it is very flawed, in my own opinion.
The Bible classes are fairly good. They base their teachings on God's Word, and are straightforward with topics like salvation and such. however it does seem like they focus a lot on the religious aspect of it all and not so much on the relationship with God. The teachings lean heavily towards the Baptist denomination, to give a better understanding to anyone wondering what "kind" of Christian education this curriculum gives.
The cool thing is that this curriculum can be used with whatever schedule you want. There are so many private schools that use it, and they often ditch the video classes and just use in-person teachers. Very flexible to use. Want to finish school asap? Very much possible. Confused and need more time? stretch out the school year for as long as you want.
The flaws, however, are in the education itself.
It is important to mention that in high school math classes, they do not always give you the easiest ways to solve the problems, neither is the algebra teacher [redacted] very thorough while explaining it. She speaks quite fast and gives you a load very complicated things to learn in one 45 minute class. She explains how to do it well, but she gives you a lot to do, and doesn't always give you enough time to process what you just learned.
The fact that they emphasize cursive learning from such a young age and not so much on knowing how to type is just nonsense. Cursive should not be mandatory; nobody uses it these days, and it shouldn't be forced either. (i believe they only teach how to type in freshman year of high school).
The English classes focuses far too much on diagraming sentences and parts of speech instead of on writing essays effectively, and different kinds of essays is hardly even mentioned. They literally have the same thing repeated grade after grade; the only difference is that they add a thing or two that wasn't mentioned in 9th grade to the 10th grade book. The video teachers give far to many things to do at once, which is very overwhelming (example: essay, book report, parts of speech, spelling test, long poem: all due around the same time, and you have a science project and math test to do as well).
The date at which the videos were filmed is vague, but when I googled it, it said 1985. I'm not sure whether that is when their first videos where filmed, or if they reuse those old videos, or if they film new ones every few years. But the quality of the videos does seem as if they were filmed a decade or two ago.
They also seem to teach things very early to students; they will teach a sixth grader terms and things that would normally be taught several grades later, such as some hard spelling words and some parts of speech.
Speaking of spelling, they devote a lot of time to that. Their vocabulary is slightly flawed: they do not always give all acceptable pronunciations. And memorization of poems, Bible verses, literature and knowing who wrote what is also quite big. Whether that is an essential thing or not is controversial, but in my opinion so much time shouldn't be spent on it. It only adds extra work to the giant pile of it that already exists with the history, math, and science terms, and unless one plans to study this in college, it will not be beneficial for the student's future.
Their history books are very flawed, and it is obvious that they are trying to indoctrinate the students to be conservative republicans. I'm not against conservatism, but please, when they are starting to hate on abstract art and somehow associate it with liberalism (this is in 10th grade world history)... please, that is an opinion, not something that should be taught in schools. Not to mention that they tend to leave out historical information every now and then.
They give quizzes daily, and tests every couple weeks (this is VERY hard on elementary school students). Their methods of quizzing, testing, and grading are very traditional and not creative. From my own observations (of students in Christian schools who use abeka), it just goes through one ear and out the other, and they only remember terms for the test and nothing else. It is not the most effective in helping a student genuinely LEARN. However, this also depends on the student him/herself. I have noticed that if the student uses the textbooks but not the video, and has an on-sight teacher who interacts with them, the student learns wonderfully. But if there is the video, the books, and a "teacher" who just turns on the tv and sits back letting the student do whatever, the student will not necessarily learn well.
To say the very least, Abeka is very, very biased in their teachings. They lean heavily towards conservatism, and all their Christian teachings coincide with those of conservative Baptist teachings. If you aren't really into that, then this curriculum is not for you: you will hate it, your kids will hate it, and your kids' learning experience will be miserable. However, if you are into conservative Baptist teachings, or if you yourself are Baptist, then you will likely enjoy this curriculum and benefit from it.
Cons: I haven't founs one con yet.
Grades Used: Preschool 2 & 3, K4, K5, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th grades
I dont know who is writing all the bad reviews, but I almost think its the same person. If you have a problem with a Christian curriculum, for starters, don't use it. Abeka has ALWAYS been a Christian curriculum and they have never hid that fact. Second of all, someone said they are not up to date videos. Well, you could have fooled me since we currently use Abeka and they often mention who the current president is during the school year and at that time of those lessons. They MIGHT use a year old version as they have to have time to record their lessons for homeschoolers. So, by next year or so the new president will be mentioned. So, whoever said that the dvds are from the 90s is flat out lying. Third, the history lessons are NOT, "white washed", as they are filled with positive role models who are black, Hispanic, and other nationalities. If you have a problems with history thats just too bad. History is what it is. Sorry you dont like it. So, whoever is saying that is being hateful, is lying and purposefully so. As stated before my family and I have used Abeka Academy since my child has been in Preschool at 2 years, at which you can buy the 2 year books from Abeka. My son is 1 year ahead of where he should be because of this excellent curriculum. He is far ahead of all the kids his age who attend public school. He spells words in 4th grade that his cousins who are in public school can barely even spell at their "6th grade " level. He has been writing in cursive since k5 where as his cousins in public school can only write their first names in cursive . The curriculum is well rounded and I have had so many compliments about the school we use. Where we have seen other parents struggling just to keep up with state funded homeschools, and watch their children struggle in public school, Abeka has kept things very smooth for us. Now, I dont get why there are reviews about bad customer service, we have never had one problem with their customer service. They have always been very helpful and very informative. Also, there are independent and accredited studies that are available through Abeka . If it is not accredited then you will have to save some samples of work and tests for each school grade and sign off on having them accredited at the end of their schooling saying they completed all the dvds and such . That is it. If you choose accredited then you must complete and follow guidelines they set to reach graduation. We have been doing school with our son for 8 years total now using only Abeka and I highly recommend it. If anyone is having that much difficulties with this program, then you need to read over all the rules, requirements etc. Give them a call. Ask for help when needed. They have phone numbers you can call to get that type of help and they are very helpful.
Cons: Poor customer service, misrepresentation of the program, ZERO flexibility on anything! Uncaring attitude,, dishonest
Grades Used: K4-12
We have done Abeka Academy since K4. Now my daughter is a senior and they will not approve her graduation. She is heart broken. We wanted to give her a head start on college, as all of her friends were doing.
Having dealt with them for 20 years with 2 other children, I called them first. For some stupid reason, they said they didn’t offer dual enrollment for their own students! So we found another college that did. Knowing they’ve always been difficult to deal with, I checked with them before signing her up. In fact, I LET THEM CHOOSE THE CLASSES!
I paid the other college for the classes. Now Abeka is lying and saying they never approved it! [Redacted] was very unChristianlike when I tried to work it out. I asked her to work with the college and she blatantly told me they have “no desire to partner with them on anything!”
If you’re homeschooling, choose ANYONE else! We’ve had trouble with them every year with payments or something. They act like they’re better than everyone and you can’t get supervisors to the phone, which is why we have this problem. You can only speak to college kids! You’re a number only. They really don’t care if you graduate or not!
Cons: No diversity, Dated videos and material, not really online; everything is written
Grades Used: 6
Abeka is OLD! Lacks diversity! Super religious like dangerously so and still uses too much paper.
My son always pointed out something in his video lessons that was a far fetched opinion versus a fact or extremely offensive in the name of religion. The videos seem to be from the 90s and don’t discuss anything going on in current world. The workload on the parent is extreme and you literally have to grade papers all year long. Documents have to be sent in by mail and then you wait and wait and wait and wait for grades.
It was boring. We’re so glad to be finished but of course still waiting for our transcript to transfer.
Cons: Disorganized, horrendous customer service, demanding workload
Grades Used: 12th.
As an on-and-off homeschooler up through high school, I've experienced both in-person school, and homeschooling. Thus, I've had basically the best of both worlds. The Abeka online program (for 12th grade), however, has been a horrible experience.
1., The customer service is absolutely awful. I have no idea who is asleep at the wheel, but they aren't doing their job. As in, not responding to emails for 20 consecutive days. Need I say more?
2., The quizzes (keep in mind that I took the online program, which I believe uses an electronic grading system. I may be incorrect- customer service never replied to my question about that one. Go figure). Where a teacher would be more lenient when it comes to minor errors here and there, there is no room for that in the online quizzes and tests. Additionally, there have been many questions that have lowered my grades due to poor format, explanation, or just lack of description. I.e., for one of my courses, I took "Business Math." One of the quizzes, I failed, because the problem had two different slots for two answers, but didn't specify which answer should be input where. It marked some of my answers incorrect, and some correct, but overall I failed the quiz. Basically, a guessing game-- an accredited guessing game. (Summary- the quizzes are poorly format, and there isn't a human using their better judgment to decide whether or not your answer is correct.)
3., The workload is, if nothing else, overbearing. As the Bible course is required for the accredited program (If I'm not mistaken), so is the "memorize long blocks of text taken from the same Bible the Pope used to use" course. every. week. Don't get me wrong, the sentiment is good. Memorization is an important skill... but within reason. Also, there is quite a bit of homework, not to mention several quizzes (the same quizzes dissed in point #2) every week. For the history course, there are also these little devils called "Editorials" due every week, not to mention the busywork for said same class. For English, there is a long poem (un-rhyming, most likely-- they're fun that way) to memorize each week. (Summary: too much work, hard to keep up with.)
4., The videos are outdated, but you still have to watch them. Technically. Each video typically runs from 30-50 minutes long, and consists of the teacher rambling on about random topics for a while. Really, like a normal school. However, the videos are outdated and can be distracting at times. Truth be told (here I go confessing my sins), I stopped watching them after a few weeks because of how unnecessary they are. If your child is, like me, someone who dislikes long, drawn-out instruction and would rather learn through a fast-paced, experience-based curriculum, this program isn't right for you. (Summary: Boring, outdated, and unnecessary video instruction)
5., Disorganized video manuals-- the only thing they are good for is telling you what the homework is.
6., Even in the online program, you (the parents, I'm assuming) will have to grade papers, homework, and other things of that nature. You're probably expecting it, but get ready for the nightmare, anyway.
That concludes my review of the wondrous Abeka online program! If you actually got this far, I commend you. Happy homeschooling, I hope my *rant* review was helpful, and best of luck finding the right program!
Cons: Bible, white washed history , Too religious , too much singing.
Grades Used: 6th
We are Christians but this program is out there. My child got so upset at the history teacher because she was talking negative about other religions. They make everything about God. The history doesn't talk about slavery as it was. They only talk about missionaries and how they ministered to the slaves. I have begun teaching her my own curriculum of history because its ridiculous. Mr Howe is an amazing teacher and she loves him. But she has no respect for the other two teachers.
Cons: Where to start...
Grades Used: 5
One of the WORST homeschool curriculums out there. Overall, I'm not talking just material, as a whole. No good.