I so appreciate your HONEST review! It's so real life to change mind after trying a curriculum (even a retry!), yes, I've done this many times too! That's why I love your channel, real help for real situations!! God bless you and your family, Janelle!

Thanks for this video Janelle, it HAS HELPED ME A LOT to LEARN things I didn't understand even about rote learning and critical thinking. Now I recognized i was a rote learner and always had good grades. English isn't my first language so when you mentioned rote learning I looked up the meaning and now I can see I do agree for my daughter to have program that embraces the critical thinking and where I am going to use the rote learning in the areas I consider will be useful. Also I have no idea about homeschooling and this video is directing me to pick BJU and other materials I've been considering for my child's need. This video has been a great foundation for my decision making.

Thanks! I always wondered why I felt the same way when they are comparable in so many ways. I made the switch back to BJU after doing Abeka last year. Love BJU for my family too! Its working great for my 10th, 8th, 4th, and 1st graders. Thanks for the info.

Very informative! Thank you so much for taking the time to share. :)

We used the video version of BJU based on one of your reviews and I am so glad we did. It was definitely what my first grader needed, she was a bit board by April but I think that’s normal as well.

Couldn't agree more on this, Janelle! Thank you for your feedback. I was just flipping through the 1st grade BJU distance learning material in prep for this fall with my son. This will be the first year to try the DVD program, and I am excited! We enjoyed the BJU Beginnings program last year. It was a lot to cover, but we finished and he did well with it. The teachers materials look very well organized for facilitating the DVDS. Can definitely appreciate how you said your mind "thinks the same way it's organized." I was also homeschooled on BJU and taught it for six years in a Christian school before getting married. Some of my choice comes down to familiarity and such a good experience personally with BJU, but I can heartily agree that it is a solid, comprehensive program. So glad to be following along here...! ♡

Thanks for the video!! By the way, your makeup always looks so pretty:) hope you're doing well!!

Thank you sooo much! This really helped me figure out WHY we are having a hard time. We use Abeka for all kids and subjects. For whatever reason I bought BJU English 5 and the teacher book is A.MAZING! I really love how it’s laid out. I think we might need to switch some kids/subjects over to BJU.

I’ve been struggling with choices. This has helped a lot. Thank-you.

Abeka is definitely a grade ahead in my opinion. That being said, I feel BJU is also a bit advanced, but in a good way. They take it slower in the younger years, but by the time they reach middle school, bju curriculum prepares them better with their critical thinking, instead of just memorization. :)

Thanks for posting this video. Sooooo helpful as a first timer looking into material. Abeka seems advanced for my 4 year old who will be 5 in aug when I plan to start K5. I was terrified after reviewing the material. Thank God, hes not really behind as I thought. I think I will look I to BJU.

Thank you for this video! It's very helpful!

Thank you so much for your well articulated reviews of both of these curriculums. I also watched your video comparing the video options from both companies. I was really torn as to which company to go through and you helped me understand the differences so well!

I have used both, but love abeka. I do agree with you that abeka is super accelerated and we have had to pull over and park a little extra with certain new concepts. Thank you for your insights.

We have used A Beka as well. I have 3 boys and have started them all out with it. I love A Beka math...and still do with my 1st grader. We have since switched for all other subjects for very similar reasons! I left the teacher's guides out very early on!!!😉😊 Thanks for sharing!

Totally agree about the teacher's manuals! Thabks for sharing!!

I completely agree with you about Abeka and it being more advanced. We used it for 2 years and switched. Also, we felt at times Abeka was overkill on certain things.

Excellent video, as usual. I'm going to save up this year and see if by fall I can afford to get distance learning with BJU at least for my oldest two boys. My younger crew will do just fine with book work and more one on one with mama time. Besides, as they get older is when I start pulling out my hair trying to teach it all and remember what I've forgotten (or never even learned in some cases).

Thanks for this review! From my understanding, I’ve heard that Abeka’s Reading focuses more on phonics and teaching kids how to decode words by sounds, while BJU teaches using more word families. I haven’t used either reading curriculums though, but that’s just what I’ve heard others say. I agree that Abeka is advanced by probably a grade level. I’ve used some of Abeka’s spelling and Language books and felt that it was advanced and moved very quickly. I had to slow the pace down with my son when we used those. This will be my first year using BJU English and I LOVE their teacher’s manuals. I do however feel like their English curriculum is also on the advanced side and I will have to see how the pacing goes with my son this year. I’ve used Abeka’s history and science for the primary grades that they have revised and I feel like they did a better job of trying to incorporate some more critical thinking than previous editions. My son has really enjoyed them. I liked their revised teacher’s manuals and felt like they were easier to use, however, this year we’re going to be doing their 3rd grade newly revised science and I am disappointed that they will not sell the teacher manuals to homeschoolers! They have a spiral bound homeschool parent lesson plan book instead which is basically a big black and white book of a bunch of words that is not organized in an easy way to use. I will try using it, but I am disappointed and probably will look into using BJU science next year.

Very helpful information. Thank you!

Agree, agree, agree!! I thought I was the only one who felt this way about these two ❤ we love BJU!

When I taught Abeka K5 for the first time it was a lot but I realized it was the pressure of reading everything and doing everything correctly. After teaching the K5 the second time I realized I could just glance at the teacher manual and I knew what I had to do, without having to read everything and feeling crazy. It’s worked fine for me now that I’ve taught K5 three times now.

Share your experience with using BJU Press and/or Abeka. It's always helpful to hear how curriculum worked for other homeschool families.

We just finished up our 2nd week of 4th grade in Abeka. We are already ready to find something else. I loved Abeka until 3rd grade. My son started having problems in math in 3rd grade, but we powered through and finished the year. In all previous years he LOVED math. Well, not really knowing any other programs and the fact my son had only ever used Abeka, I went ahead and purchased Abeka 4 DVD kit. I feel like I’ve made a huge mistake. As you stated in one of your previous videos the classroom setting is distracting to him. I will probably send it back. His homeschool day is lasting as long as regular school because of dvds. He doesn’t care for the “drill to death” part of any of the curriculum. I’m thinking of adding BJU math. Have you used BJU without the dvd before? I’m the mom that’s scared to death to make a move , but your videos are quickly helping me with that. Thank you! I would love to feel confident in choosing different curriculum. I’m so scared I’m going to “ruin” my child. Does anyone ever feel like that? Hats off to all of the confident homeschool moms out there and prayers to those like me who aren’t.

I completely agree about the teacher’s manual. The BJU one is much more user friendly and organized. Also agree about the instructional approach with critical thinking skills vs memorization. Abeka definitely emphasizes explicit teaching whereas BJU leaves more room for flexibility and student led activities/ideas. I think you’re right though about knowing what you need/want. I enjoy teaching both curriculums, but I prefer BJU for some subjects and Abeka for others. Side note, the primary grades history and science curriculum from BJU is leaps and bounds better than Abeka in my opinion.

I agree with everything you said about Abeka and more. We have just moved from Abeka TO BJU and are more hopeful that it won’t be the (honestly) nightmare that Abeka was. I’d like to add that Abeka Representatives have admitted to me to “advancing” the videos. To clarify, the representative stated that the videos are both sped up and pitched down to a normal talking tone. This required my son to repeatedly pause just to take notes…turning 30-minute DVD’s into over one hour DVD’s. And finally, it is not necessary to include the class and their “faster than human” responses. This set my son up to feel like a failure. Thanks for this video giving me hope that my choice of BJU Press Homeschool curriculum will give us a more pleasant experience.

This is so helpful ! thank you

I have used both and I feel like they are similar for grade level, but BJU approaches the material in a gentler way. Not sure if that makes sense. I agree with the teachers manuals, BJU has better TE’s!

We use Abeka and love it! My children are being challenged and are happy. We started in K5, so if it is advanced, they are on the same path since kinder so they are able to keep up with the pace. Happy to hear they are “advanced” in case we ever decide to make a change. 😉

We decided to just use the Language 1 book from Abeka (no teacher's guide required!). We are piecing together the rest: All About Reading, HWT, Explode the Code... maybe Wordly Wise once in a while.

This was such a great video. Thank you for sharing and the more I do my research the more I’m leaning towards BJU for core. Do you have any videos of breaking down their Bible truth workbooks? I’m interested in seeing if anyone does it as a group subject for more than one age and if that would work.

I used Abeka the past two years and just looked into BJU. I can relate to much of what you're saying about Abeka which is why I looked elsewhere. Being new to home schooling I bought the total curriculum both years and found the lesson planning very complicated, and received so many materials I didn't get to, or couldn't use. I'm excited to give BJU a try, as I share the struggles you have and others have mentioned. Thank you, this was very helpful!

Love your videos! I agree with you. I like phonics the abeka way, I dont know another program that does it in a similar way, or I would try it. We have 9 weeks left of k5 abeka, I just felt it was enough for kindergarten. After 2nd grade phonices I plan to switch to bju. I will switch math and history before then. We do masterbooks. Science. When I started homeschooling my now 6th grader 3 years ago she was a 3rd grader doing 1st grade math. Her teacher often told me she wasnt intreseted. Finally we took the kiddos out of school. I started her in 4th abeka math, thinking thats where she should be, scince otherwise she was doing 4th. It was just hard and horrible, many tears later, I had her finish the year with 3rd grade math from abeka. Still bad results. This last year I tried bju 4th math dvds with her, simply because I just cant teach it all. After 6 weeks I just saw it improve, by end of year she was making passing grades.. I like bju teacher guides better too. I can use both, but bju does some thinking for me lol.

I am not a homeschooling parent but my children attend a school that uses the traditional abeka curriculum and follows it exactly how it is written so I cannot comment on the teacher's manual. However, I decided to pull him from the school this year (which breaks my heart because I love the culture of the school). I saw signs where he was drowning and he did not know how to ask for help. Yes, I can agree with the route memorization but the greatest problem of all was the volume and pace of the work which I do agree is a grade ahead or in some subject areas 2 grades ahead. My son, who was in 4th at the time, really needed on grade level work. Some of what he was learning in Science and History, I remembered learning in 6th and 7th grade. My husband and I looked at each other curiously when we read some of the information. I am not sure but maybe after a certain level Abeka may be more for a gifted student or honors classes...this is my opinion. I must say I do like the Phonics, I like the Language lessons of breaking apart sentences based on parts of speech (sentence diagramming), I like that the curriculum had spelling and cursive writing. The Abeka curriculum is the only one I know so far, I would conclude that for early learners it has a strong foundation in Language and Reading.

I totally agree on all 3 points! I did not like teaching Abeka AT ALL! Thanks for posting!

I've thought the same thing...getting ready to move into bju this coming year

We are using Abeka for phonics for my son for 1st grade. We did MFW for K, and the phonics for that ended where the Abeka K4 phonics ended, so either MFW is behind grade level or Abeka is ahead. I am having to do the K5 phonics book with him. I am just using the workbook, though. I didn't even purchase the teacher's guide. I'm using other things for the rest of his subjects..definitely not doing all Abeka :)

Your experience has been my experience with the two publishers. I did not like the Abeka teachers book at all. I found myself just teaching it my way as opposed to using the Abeka teacher's manual. Way back in 1990 when I schooled my kids Abeka was known to be more advanced than the standard grade and was said to have a lot of busy work. I used BJU for my kids and graduated them from high school.with it. Both have college degrees and careers. One graduated Suma cum laude in a science/medical field...critical thinking needed. The other in a business field also needs critical thinking. I started my grandsons on Abeka k4 which I found more like a true K5 program. The one could not do the writing and the other could not do the reading up to the abeka standards at age 4. This year I am using the tried and true BJU. We are so happy! I agree with you 1000 percent.

Yesss on the Abeka Manuel...omg!

With either program go at your pace make the teachers guide what you want. I teach my daughter in under five minutes with some lessons because I only do white board things and I do not do so much repetition. She gets it fast and doing charts daily can get boring. But Abeka has taught my daughter to read so well and she likes the worksheets but hearing bju does critical thinking I like that! I’m looking into it for maybe third grade since Abeka gets harder but we shall see. Great review!

First!! Love your hair by the way!!

I completely agree with you about Abeka. This was the first year doing homeschool and I feel that Abeka is lacking the critical thinking aspect to their curriculum. There is a lot of memorization. Also, I need something more engaging for my son. Abeka is kind of dry.

Thanks for this video. I was wondering what abeka is like, it's helpful to know there's a lot of rote memory, which isn't my thing.

Excellent comparison!! Do you think BJU 2nd grade teacher manuals are needed or are student workbooks enough?

I feel the same exact way about the Abeka teachers manual and your highlighting system is the same method I’m using to try to make sense of it! 😂

lol..yes! The first thing I had to do was highlight like crazy. I hate wasting money but I think we are changing back to BJU for Grammar. When my son moved up to 7th, I changed to Abeka for grammar. I do not like it at all!

Hi, in terms of the critical thinking that you mention, which subjects do you think that Abeka is pure rote memorization and no critical thinking? Thank you

I was home schooled myself using BJU. (It was Bob Jones for Christian schools at that time. Very little homeschool curriculum was available to my mom.) I have very good memories of being homeschooled with BJU. However, I tried to use the BJU English with my son this past year and it did not go well for him. I'm not sure I can even explain why it didn't go well. He has done better with A beka over the years, but I have found A Beka difficult to teach. For traditional curriculum I have had the most success with Rod and Staff. (Though I find myself moving away from traditional curriculum a little more each year.) I think both BJUPress and A Beka are good curriculum, but my personal opinion is that they fit best in a Christian School setting.

Great video! I have my son in a private Christian school he is in kindergarten but is testing at 3rd grade level in both math and reading. I'm noticing he is talking a lot in class & when I talk to him about it he says its boring he already knows that. As someone that has been home schooling for over 15 years what are you thoughts should we skip a grade or change schools. Also I didn't realize the school teaches core math witch I'm not a fan off. Any advice is much appreciated!!

if youre saying abeka is like one grade level ahead how do you catch up if you use one level down when you start homeschooling? im thinking of homeschooling my 2nd grader this year, he came from public school.

Thanks for replying. I'm trying to decide between all about reading w math u see or bju for kinder. I want it to be open and go. I dont really want them to watch a video for kinder. Is bju hard to teach? I like God integrated in but all about reading looks like I can do it

Can I do as a student led curriculum? Without dvds or online? How does that work?

I’m considering homeschooling my son. He’s in 7th grade. I’m researching heavily now, because if I do this then I’ll start in 8th grade. I’m torn between A.C.E. (specifically through Lighthouse Christian Academy Homeschool) and BJU. Any thoughts?

Any opinion on BJU high school math? We love your videos ..thank you soooo much

I found that by the middle of Abeka grade 1, my 1st grader was so frustrated bc the reading was advancing way too fast! I've decided to slow down and go back and review all the sounds we're struggling with and I'm supplementing readers with some other reading material. The 1st grade readers advance very fast and they use so many sight and unknow words, in order to make their reading more interesting. I'm frustrated with it. However, it worked well with my eldest child and may be fine for future kids. Abeka is definitely a grade or 1/2 a grade ahead. BJU English 3 has been ok. Kids like it and I appreciate the mix of writing and language from week to week. However, I'm not as hip to the teacher's guide layout, but it is super easy to use overall. I just prefer bullet points. I did however find a lot of pages printed in the wrong order/out of order and mistakes of that nature between my manual and the student workbook. I don't know BJU grades below 3, so I can't compare. I do really like teaching phonics in reading and I've found great success with it. Just have to go at our own pace for sure. Apprehensive to switch btw Abeka and BJU from grade 1 to grafe 2. I don't wanna miss phonics instruction from Abeka. I dunno what I'll do. I didn't use Abeka grade 2 with older kids, bc they were burnt out at end of grade 1... I tried to get it all done and Abeka was too much work (so many books and pages!) even for my advanced kids. The Abeka overload.

Abeka almost made me gave up on homeschooling, as a mom of a child with adhd I started kindergarten at home with abeka and I started to doubt myself and felt defeated I felt like she was way behind…

The only Abeka I’ve ever used was World Geography when my daughter was in 9th grade. It was fine, fairly easy to grade, but very dry & boring. My daughter hated it.

I agree with you about the Abeka teacher manual. That manual is completely ridiculous.

Good morning! My son is currently in ninth grade at a public school I am looking to switch him to homeschool. Not that this has anything to do with what you’re talking about but how do they go about switching from a public school to one of your homeschool programs are talking about in the middle of the school year?

6th grade abeka spelling words are hard but the bju spelling words challenge me but they are not as hard as abeka and even my spelling teacher said that I go to a Christian private school and we changed from abeka to bju and bju is different from abeka so it’s taking time for me to adjust but I like bju

I'm wanting to switch from Abeka, but my reason is that I have 4 kids and I don't see how in the future, my 4 littles will use a curriculum that takes 7 hours to complete all at the same time. Do you have any videos or recommendations for a "one classroom" setting with multiple elementary kids? I haven't tried parent led because it's so intimidating to think about with so many kids. We've only done the Abeka DVDs. HELP! 😭😵

So Janelle, do you still recommend Abeka’s Language 1 or would you choose BJU Phonics and English 1 instead?

What do you think is better for older grades... My daughter now is in grade 7 ? I want Saxon or abeka? I want math with DVD cuz I want her to understand from the teacher on dvd. I thought abeka is best cuz the dvds seemed nice like real class. Saxon dvds seems boring. But which of them gives more information and more advanced in math and makes kids smart math? I see many people say saxon makes kids smart in math but i see the box and dvds is boring. Abeka has beautiful books and dvds Or what else do you recommend for 7 grade math? Something with dvds for her self study and strong math that makes her smarter

What curriculum would you suggest for bilingual kids? I would like my kids to keep their native language but at the same time progress in English speaking school

When it comes to the middle/upper elementary ages(3-5), which curriculum is more teacher intensive? I’ll be adding a Kindergartner into the mix and are licensing to foster so I need my older kids to be fairly independent.

Which curriculum is more expensive? Abeka or BJU Press?

Thank you for this video... it has been 4 years, so you may not be able to help... 🤞 We are finishing up Abeka grade 1 & K5. I really loved both. I am planning to do Abeka grade 1 with my daughter this next school year. After doing research (we love our research, lol) I think 2nd grade I'll make that switch to parent led BJU. We aren't struggling with the materials, but I feel as though it could be better & I totally agree with the Abeka teaching manual as being too much. Do you still think 2nd grade is a good time to make that switch? Or 3rd grade? Thank you so much!!!!

My daughter is coming off Abeka 2nd grade...would BJU 3rd grade math be a good fit or do you think she would be bored...we did Kindergarten BJU with my son and I love it so I am considering it for her but don't want her to be bored

I have used Abeka for English and found it overwhelming but I have used BJU for history through eighth grade. I can clearly see what you are explaining but have noticed that my child is having a hard time with some of the material in BJU. So would the "overkill" would be helpful to him? I do not really want to have this level of struggle all throughout high school but yet want him to have a good education as well.

I have used K12 for my oldest 4 years ago when I started my homeschool journey. However I have used Christian Liberty Press parent led, and I have used BJU DVDs with my 2 children. (my son is going into the 9th grade this year and my daughter is going into the 6th.) This year we are using Abeka Academy DVDs, and we start this tomorrow. I know parent led is not for me at all, lots of tears, and yelling and such come into play with this and that's to much stress for school and for me. K12 is public school at home and my kids still have to take the state mandated tests, and its not as flexible as they say that it is. BJU a little to flexible for me, and I personally need a plan and schedule and requirements on my end. I work great under a deadline, and BJU was to loose for me. All of that being said, I think my children benefit more from a classroom setting with a teacher, and I feel that Abeka is going to give that to them. They didn't do horrible with BJU bur I felt that they could do much better. The plus for me is also they keep all of the transcripts, and send out report cards for my kids so I don't have to try to keep up with a billion sheets of paper all year.

Hi, I tired to look through your videos, but I have a question: can you compare BJU Press with IEW? I know they're very different but it's hard to decide when I can't see or touch them. I really want to know BJU Press's method of teaching, for their English, and how it compares to IEW. We actually are currently using Logic of English (LOE) Foundations and I am trying to plan for 2nd/3rd grade. I love the biblical foundation that BJU Press has... but IEW seems to do a good job at teaching writing...I just don't know which curriculum to go with. My daughter is great at math and science, but when it comes to English she needs to know the rules of reading and she hates writing...LOE has been great for her, but I don't want to go into their Essentials program... I'm thinking about going with another curriculum. Which program, IEW or BJU Press, has been helpful in 2nd or 3rd grade level for your family and why...I know we're different with different needs, but it helps for me to know these things. Thank you.

I'm going to be teaching kinder to my 5 year old and my special needs 2nd grader. I'm looking into bju and the good and the beautiful. I want something open and go w all materials at my fingertips, but I'm not sure I can get past the mormon roots. Help

Thanks for the comparison. First year using Abeka k5, it is overwhelming. Been trying to pick what I like and just make it fit.

Thanks for sharing! We are new to homeschooling (kindergarten and grade one) and we are using BJU for both children. I am finding the teachers manuals overwhelming and to me it seems like a whole lot of prep work and words on a whole lot of pages... like how you felt with Abeka... so I'm thinking, boy, if I feel this way with BJU then I can only imagine how I would feel with Abekka! It's good to hear veteran homeschool moms give their opinions and reviews, thank you ❤️

It is not easy for me to understand something, since I am not from the United States and I do not live there either. If your children decide to enter any University, how will they do it? BJU is accredited? Doesn't it need to be? Thanks for answering. From Colombia

Thank you for sharing! This is my first year homeschooling and my oldest is in kinder. We are using BJU Math (other programs for other subjects), which has worked amazingly for both of us! Love it. Could you please share what other BJU subjects you have done and did you ever mix in the same year doing some subjects as distance learning and others teach yourself?

I’ve used Abeka Academy Accredited for the past two years. While my kids do well, I feel the classes are not as nice as what I’ve seen looking at BJU and I think my 5th grade son needs something to keep him engaged. I just hoped to have a program that provided report cards the way Abeka does.

Hi thank you so much for doing this video. I have been using abeka 3rd and now 4th grade and this is exactly what I’ve noticed. We aren’t able to keep up with the workload. It’s not working out and I am not sure what to do. Is there any way to speak with you? Blessings

Roughly how long are bju lessons for 1st grade? Can it be done in a 4 day school week?

I have never used BJU but considering it for the critical thinking. But I love Abeka because it is advance, but I feel it balance it self out but talking its time on new material. Each year it reviews the year before material which my 4th grader needs. She has characteristics of dyslexia and in public school she had a 40 in reading. Transferred to private school and was in the 70's in 2 months and they used the Abeka curriculum. Then I chose to homeschool her and now her reading is in the high 80's. So Im nervous to switch but she needs more critical thinking instead of memorization.

For my 1sy grade daughter Abeka was great! She is a fast learner. For my Kindergartener Abeka moved way too fast. My second daughter learns at a slower pace so Sbeka didnt work. Every child is different! I will be trying BJU for my second girl!

I agree that bju is more teacher friendly and not overwhelming.

I’m really torn between the two 😩 I’ve never been homeschooled and I haven’t taught it either. My husband and his siblings however were homeschooled. There’s certain things I’ve heard them say with such certainty that makes me scratch my head. A small example is they say pacific (yes like the ocean) instead of what the situation calls for which was “specific”.. (my mother in law) she’s always used Bob Jones, so it makes me wonder if these things are user error or things like that are actually in the curriculum? I want to like Abeka. Mainly because I’ve heard it’s more advanced, and now I’m slightly biased; but I also don’t want to put my kid in over his head. Or have a manual that confusing. 😖

We have used Abeka for a few years and it’s definitely more advanced and some might say “the gold standard” - However, it’s way too time intensive, especially with the video lessons! We routinely pull in 8-9 hours per day and it left very little room for fun. If you pick and choose what you use out of the curriculum you feel like you’re wasting money by not using ever single lesson and activity. It is also far more advanced than most curriculums. We are trying BJU this year, I’m pretty excited! It’s comparable but I have a feeling it’ll be more user friendly.

I'm curious to know if you used abeka k4 with any of your children. Also, my biggest reason for using abeka in the early years was for their phonics. Curious, do you find the phonics to work well? I have also used both Abeka and BJU press. I like both and it's so hard to choose which one would work better with my four year old. We are planning to use abeka k4.

I have never in my life , despised a curriculum more ,than I do with abeka. I’ve homeschooled with the hood and the beautiful, and sonlight. We did abeka teacher led last year and it was just ok. So I opted for the academy this year because a dear friend said it’s all inthe dvd and east for parent. Well…..after I received the 56 teacher guides, quizzes, tests, answer keys etc and then the next shipment of books for each of my sons…..I was absolutely and thoroughly confused of where to start. Took me weeks to jump in. Took me hours to prepare lesson with daily quizzes and tests because the quizzes are SO often and they are not all in one place. I was bouncing book to book with everything being separate and AAAAAH I was ripping my hair out!!!! I also noticed that our days went from2-3 hrs of teaching and learning to 6+ and my kids were so frustrated, as was I. Added in to the fact that abeka took3 weeks to send our books and “refused” to let them start online without the books, until I threaten a full refund and finding a new curriculum if they did not comply. THEN when we switched to dvd because the platform glitched constantly, they charged us a$75 fee for the dvds. I can’t wait for this nightmare to be over. My kids have a calendar countdown of when we can burn the books In the backyard (true story) and that’s all that keeps them going lol. Next year I will try bju and entertain keeping abeka history, Bible, and spelling because I feel the history shouldn’t skip around and the Bible/spelling truly are good. I’ve told my friends to run from this curriculum though! Just say no to abeka unless you want early grey hair lol

We will be using BJU for first grade math

What do you recommend a first time homeschooling of first grade? I’m afraid of Abeka will be too much fir my son. He is 7.

Thank you for the feedback...I feel like I will stay on my curriculum which is Seton Home Study...

I've been looking at some videos about bju press I am interested however I wanted to know does it speak of religious doctrines in like their math and science and things like that?

Abeka seems too fast for my son too. 5th grader

Hi Janelle! Can you please tell me, for Abeka DVD program vs BJU online program, how many hours does it take to complete, in general, for the average child? Which program requires less amount of time? I have 4 kids, and 3 are to be in 4th, 3rd and 2nd grade. I've never homeschooled before. But to choose which child to keep at home - I can't do it. It's either all or none. Don't want to burn out. Also, what are some minuses of BJU that Abeka was better at? Thanks!

Goodbye, Abeka, and hello to BJU!

I've seen the 7th grade science teacher it's not science she keeps saying bible stuff and not what the class is about I sent him back to school for 8th grade and he did worse in science I was so mad

I started my daughter with hooked on phonics (prek-1st) and the big schoolastic books (pre k and kindergarten) before starting abeka in first grade. And i recommend this all the time because i would do the same thing if i have another child, unless it doesn't work for them. HOP taught my daughter how to read quickly and it was fun and schoolastic made sense in our minds for how to learn the other subjects, like how to write letters i prefer it over other curriculums I've seen (i don't know anything about bju so I'm not comparing it). My daughter did well in abeka first grade, and i agree, i hate the teacher's manuel. I don't even read it. I'm parent led and we just do the worksheets, if my daughter doesn't know something then i explain it to her. For example, she's in 2nd grade now and she had to find 1/2 of 30 so i showed her 3 different ways that she could do it. And she has an amazing memory, she's smarter than i was at that age, i think she's gifted because she just remembers things so well and learns most things quickly. Her memory helps me out lol. So abeka goes at the pace that she needs. Doing only the workbooks and quizzes without me giving lessons works well for us. And abeka makes sense in our minds as well. I like the way the curriculum teaches math. Obviously differently wired brains need different curriculums. Another thing i like about abeka is that, unlike some other curriculums I've seen, math isn't just math every day, (or letters and sounds or language, etc). Sometimes abeka has activities to do instead of the same old same old. And that helps us with a little bit of fun to not get burnt out. Abeka curriculum teaches the children how to draw things or they do the math to figure out how to color a picture. And abeka has beautiful pictures and we like talking about them and joking about them. Also i want to add, I like to cut out things from the curriculum that my daughter doesn't need. My daughter can read the readers if she wants to for fun, but we try to study the bible daily because that's our spiritual food. And the bible teaches us so much, and it helps her learn how to read. But i do have her do reading comprehension so that she doesn't get behind in that area like i did in school. I really couldn't focus on books that didn't interest me. Another thing i cut out is memorizing poetry because i don't see any purpose for it, it's a waste of time. (No offense to those who love it). I also don't grade my daughter, i don't say "you got 30 out of 40 try harder next time." If she gets it wrong then i have her correct it and I call that 100%. I don't see the purpose of grades for little children. One thing i like about abeka is the way they review things! In first grade I saved like 3 papers in a review file because she couldn't understand the concept no matter how hard we tried. When we finished first grade, i took out the review papers and she already know all the answers! That was a nice surprise :) so abeka is really good at going over concepts again

I used A beka for 4 years & I actually switched my oldest daughter to a different curriculum. Last year she did 1st grade A beka & she was so stressed & it bothered me that a 6 year old could be so stressed out & overwhelmed. I was happy with the k4 & k5 A beka but 1st grade was a bit chaotic!

BJU videos are way too outdated and thats why i am purchasing Abeka instead

And lastly…..abeka math is atrocious. It gives one tiny paragraph to describe something I can’t remember how to do from 20 yrs ago. Constantly having to go online to figure out how t help my 7th grader with geometry! Ok I’m done ranting lol