TheHomeSchoolMom may earn affiliate commissions from purchases made using links on curriculum reviews pages. Read our full disclosure.
Resource Description
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
Post Your Review »
(87 Reviews)
Before investing in any homeschooling resources, please read "How to Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum."
Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
I would like it to be known at how disappointed and disgusted I am with the A Beka Academy Christian homeschool program. My daughter is currently enrolled and using the video streaming lessons. She watched 3 of her lessons today (lesson 39) then shut the computer off to take a small break. At today's point she should be watching lesson 39 in all classes. When she logged back on, her classes set her as far as lesson 21. She was very close to taking her 9 weeks exams and was supposed to be preparing for them. I called the Academy and spoke with M**** in technical support. She informed me that "it must be you computer because we don't have a system error and we can't do anything about it". I then told her that I wanted a penalty taken off my account for a late progress report because she is now behind almost 20 lessons and, again, M**** was unable to "do anything about it". I pay over $800 for this service and it sets her back almost 20 lessons, and there's "nothing" the Academy can do about it. Is this some type of scheme to make more money with late progress reports? I can assure you that after this year, we will not be using A Beka Academy again for our choice as a homeschooled program due to a system problem that the system itself cannot fix.
Cons: a lot of busy work, poor customer service
Grades Used: k - 12
I have used a beka for all 12 years. Every year it seems I have an issue at some point with customer service, however I have continued to use them because I know that their curriculum works for my children. With that being said I am now at the point where my oldest is ready to graduate.
As a family we had planned on going to Pensacola so that he could attend the graduation ceremony. 5 months before graduation we are sent the very strict dress requirement. Our son has long hair and has had long hair for a few years. Due to his long hair he is not allowed to participate in the ceremony.
I refuse to make my son cut his hair because a beka demands him to. This breaks my heart as I feel every parent wants to see their child walk across that stage. How does a "christian" school judge someone by their appearance? We teach our kids not to conform to society but a beka expects them to conform to their expectations.
Cons: None for us
Grades Used: 2nd, 3rd, 5th
I have never written a review for homeschool material. For me to take the time to do this, is saying something. I have 5 children. 4 boys and 1 girl. I have homeschooled for 5 years now and this is my first year doing Abeka Academy. Let me start by saying that I went to a large Christian school from 5k-12th grade and after college I taught 6th grade. I have used a lot of homeschool curriculum. We have done the classical method, we have done co ops, etc. If it is there, we have done it. All that to say, this opinion is not based on not doing other things (classical method, Co ops, etc.) Abeka Academy has been a gift from God to our family in so many ways. Here are a few
1. Before doing this, I was teaching 4 kids all day long. I could not get the cooking done, the laundry, grocery shopping, or even a shower many days before. Although I was picking the best curriculum before, I was unable to execute it well with all my kids and all it takes to keep a house going.
2. I feel like my role changed from being the teacher to being their cheerleader and encourager. This is HUGE! If they are struggling to understand a lesson, I no longer have to re teach it. I simply can look at where they are getting confused and aid them. Their teacher will review day after day after day so the pressure is not on be to get them to understand.
3. My kids are getting a better education. The other day the phone rang and someone from church was in a crisis situation and needed to talk for 20 minutes. Before this, I would have NEVER thought about picking up the phone during a school day because everything STOPS when mom can't be there. Well, I answered the phone and as this person was talking I realized school did not come to a halt with someone else needing me. They were still doing their lessons, they were still being taught. I was overwhelmed with this as most homeschool moms know, if you take a phone call and you are the teacher the day stops until you are back with them.
4. This curriculum has made my kids very self governing. They have initiative now. They don't have to wait for me to get them going. I can be making my bed, brushing my teeth and my kids are in their areas doing their history. Has nothing to do with me. This was a shock to me as I have been used to having to get everyone seated to get them going.
5. The kids actually like it! They think it is interesting. Of course there are times when they say "I don't want to do school" but there were times they said that before. I am not stressed so I am able to come along side them and encourage them to do their best. They push through in those times and gain character. This happens for any curriculum though and I would say it is rare.
6. If you are going to do this, I would give yourself a month learning curve. Be prepared to do nothing but help them for a few weeks get accustomed to this. It is like starting a new school. Any change takes a bit of time to get used to so be prepared to give it a few weeks to help them a bit extra.
7. There have been a few times, maybe 3 that I can think of. That I have had to talk to a child about letting their mind wonder or working on seat work while the teacher is talking. The way I can tell they are doing this is if I am checking work and I am starting to notice 3 or 4 bad grades in a row. I will simply talk to them and ask if they are listening. Again, I am able to talk to them as this is my new role. The cheerleader or the encourager instead of the teacher. I love this!! So much better on our family.
8. My kids like to do their Bible at night before bed. It makes their school day shorter. When it is bed time, the older kids like to go do their Bible and then go to bed. I like this for them as well.
9. I always tell my kids, if they need a break, take it. Usually they like to do 2 subjects and set their timer on their watch for a 20 or 30 minute break to play outside, or do something. I never let them have free time on electronics during the school day as I explain they are already on the computer for a long time, they don't need any more. It took a few days and now they never ask.
10. I feel like a mom and a wife again. We are called to be more than teach them everything academically. I could not do everything and I tried for years. I thank God almost every single day for this. I will hear my kids studying geography or math or science and think, I didn't know they were learning about that. And then realize how wonderful it is that I don't have to have my mind fried over every single detail of their education.
11. This is worth every penny. Again, I don't write reviews for anything. I am taking the time to do this knowing that we homeschool moms can be frazzled in our homes and trying to do too much. This is a gift from the Lord for your home if you can relate!
Cons: Accreditation system sucks
Grades Used: 1,2,3,5,6
We do video streaming and it's very convenient when Internet works. Never had any problems with buying stuff from them, but I really needed the accreditation, so I turned the work in and when I call them about the grades they tell me they had my permission not to grade them. Very unhappy with them will research for different school.
🙁
Cons: Video's can be long and somewhat boring
Grades Used: 1st 3rd
Over all I really like the program. This is our third year homeschooling and I was feeling stressed, being pulled in different directions, and felt like I was "missing" things trying to put everything together myself to teach 2 boys. This is our first year using the A Beka Video program and we are doing the accredited version. I needed to hold myself accountable and make sure my boys were really learning everything they needed to be learning and after reviewing this curriculum I felt it would be a good fit for our situation. I actually like the rigorousness and longer day in order for us to complete all of the material. The extra work sheets and video's really explain the material in a way that my kids get it. Maybe it's not "fun" or "relaxed" but I take teaching and learning seriously and I want my boys to as well. Before A Beka they had already learned how to negotiate shorter school days and fuss about certain subjects to try and get out of doing them completely or correctly. My oldest son hates to write and I found myself giving him less writing assignments just to avoid the conflict. A Beka gives us more structure and holds us accountable. He now knows what is required and gets his work done. My only complaint would be that some of the video segments show the children in the class room interacting with the teacher doing various math and reading exercises and my youngest feels left out. Sometimes after the lesson is introduced we turn the video's off and use that time to work together doing similar exercises to practice the concepts. I have lots of extra manipulatives so it's not hard to jump in and take over. I very much enjoy working at home with my children helping them to learn and with a little tweaking A Beka has allowed me to do this in a manner that I am confident with.
Cons: Regimented and ordered
Grades Used: 4th, 7th, 9th
Abeka has it all. They leave nothing out. We use the DVD Abeka Academy and to me it's priced reasonably for all they provide and considering what private school would cost. Both my husband and I work outside the home and this program is so well laid out that it allows him and I or any other person how has to run school for us to never miss a beat. It really boggles me how people complain about how long it takes to school your kid with this method because it takes us about 2.5 (4th grade) -4.5(7th/9th grade) depending upon the child's enthusiam for a particular lesson. We augment the scheduling and homework/seatwork to fit our child's needs. Yes it requires that I check and give quizzes, test and such, but that's realistically what kids have to do if they decide to apply for a job or go to college. My kids are not bored by the videos - not anymore than they would be if they were in school (up til last year they were in public/private schools and are used to that environment.) Now, in addition to using the full Abeka DVD based curriculum, my kids who are used to a traditional school day have ask to add on other subjects to their day and even so they are finished in about 6 hrs tops. As for the cons: the fact that the curriculum is limited to workbooks and videos may not appeal to all types of learners. So why the dvd teacher is doing the drills and review with the students, I put my son on xtramath.com or teaching textbooks. It gives him a break. However, I have tried many other curriculum and they just never seemed as complete or thorough as Abeka especially when I look at the detailed curriculum on thier website and compare it to others I've tried. Lastly, my kids who enjoy structure and the traditional school model request this curriculum time and time again - so that says it all.
Cons: "It can be tough, in lots of ways"
Grades Used: K4, K5, 3-10, 12
Wow between me and my two children, I have been exposed to ABeka now for all grades except, 1, 2, and 11. I went to Christian Schools that used only ABeka and we loved it as a school. My mother used ABeka for High School in her own Video School, she loved it as did I . I personally returned to public ed. for 11th. hated every minute of it. I graduated from ABeka with a Diploma, and was able to wake up late, do my lessons and go to work my senior year, not having to be up at the crack of dawn was the best part, with my life at the time!!! I had to work until midnight most nights.
I did prek with my daughter, it was good, K5 with my son, it was ok. and now 6th. with my daughter this past year, it was good but we had to move several states to and from and relocate for 6 weeks temporarily for work in a hotel and it made it very difficult..... The DVDs can loose your attention at times but still are quite good, in teaching the lessons, and there is tons of work to be done, makes it kind of stressful.....Hoping to do 7th. independently with her this year, and 12, accredited with my son.
Cons: Boring videos
Grades Used: 1st through 7th
I have 2 boys and 2 girls. I have used the traditional approach, DVDs, and online streaming. I have been home schooling for several years. Both my boys learned to read very quickly, and now have a love of reading. My 5th grade son loves the math drills and always is able to do the speed drills very quickly.
I started with the traditional Abeka program and used it fully. LOVE the traditional! We switched to streaming but found that we didn't always have a good enough Internet connection since we were traveling. We then switched to the DVDs. I have to say that the DVDs are too boring for a home school setting. Both of my boys have lost interest in learning with this method and its hard to keep them working unless i badger them. This isnt the relationship i want with them. We have tried two years of DVDs and streaming combined. This will be our last year with Abeka for the boys unless they come up with a better solution. I'd go back to the traditional, but I want an accredited homeschool curriculum and above 5th grade you have to use the videos to get their accredidation.
Cons: Demanding
Grades Used: K5
We used the traditional program, not the DVD program. The lesson plans were straightforward, however it became too demanding to keep up with all the worksheets. We ended up only doing the worksheets that were required for submission to Abeka. It was difficult to do the reading by phone assignments and beat the 2 minute timer. The phonics learning is a great foundation for reading.
Cons: Too Much Required DVD time, Too Fast, Lots of Busy Work
Grades Used: 2nd
It was our first year of homeschooling and the ABeka Academy was a good start. We have learned a lot. This program basically recreates a classroom in your home through the use of DVD's which you're required to watch. The books and workbooks are all really colorful, interesting and full of information. The teacher is really amazing and she does a good job at remembering the "boys and girls at home". My son absolutely loves Bible class lessons and I like the mix of fun songs, hymns, and patriotic songs that they learn. I'm really impressed with the Language Arts program. My son really likes to read the stories and they teach wonderful Christian values. That being said, it's not the same as having real feedback.
The problems we encountered were with the dvd's and being required to watch them in order to be part of the academy. To put it simply, our child was very passive with the instruction on the dvd's and required constant reminders and participation on my part in order to pay attention and follow along with the class drills/activities. He normally doesn't have a problem paying attention, but even when his little sister and I participated with him, he'd get bored and lose his focus. It was also very frustrating for him to not be able to keep up with the math drills.
It is a very rigid program and it takes a full school day to watch all of the dvd sections and complete the work. This, unfortunately, does not leave any room for any modification or personalization of any kind. By the time the required work was completed, my child had no desire to do anything even remotely related to learning.
In order to fix the problems, we started using the materials as strictly a resource and made some changes. We now watch the Bible section, participate in the Spelling/Phonics practices as needed, fast forward through the Math drills/games to where the teacher is introducing new material, do our Seatwork and Reading on our own, and either participate in the Activity Section or do it on our own. We've also shaved off some of the busy work. This has left time to practice math drills and other skills at our own pace and to do our own enrichment activities.
We're all much happier with the modifications and our son still likes school. We don't plan to enroll in the academy program again, because of the DVD requirement, but next year we're planning to get the Language Arts and Bible DVD combination and use other curriculum for Math, Science, etc. We also plan to use their materials for our daughter's Kindergarten. Having the freedom and flexibility needed to meet your own child's individual abilities/interests is part of training up our children in the way that they (specifically) should go.
Cons: Moves a little too fast
Grades Used: A-F per curriculum
It was a great curriculum to start with since I didn't know anything about homeschooling, but my son was very bored with it, he hated having to sit down and watch his lessons, he could't keep up with the numbers portion, and participation was a little low. However, on the flip side, he did learn how to write in cursive by age 5 and he learned all his alphabet and reading. He still struggles with reading though because he was just memorizing everything for the lesson and not really retaining anything for the longevity.
Grades Used: 1, 2, 3
We love the systematic approach A Beka takes with mat. I like that the concepts are easy to introduce and it's easy for me to grade even without the teacher's editions.