RUSSELL HOMESTEAD LLC
  • Home
  • Mini Schnauzers
    • Mini Schnauzers - The Basics
    • Current & Upcoming Litters
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Nutrition >
      • Nutrition - The Basics
      • Recommended Products
      • Life's Abundance-FAQ
    • Past Puppies
    • Puppy Photo Updates
    • Testimonials
    • Past Puppy Blogs
    • Documents
  • Goats
    • Our Goat Herd >
      • Goats - The Basics
      • Velvet
      • Nickel
      • Llama
    • Available Goat Kids
    • Past Goat Kids
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog

A Review of Abeka's K4 Program

4/13/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
As we began our homeschooling journey last spring, we gravitated toward something that sounded familiar – Abeka.  Amidst lots of new ideas and new curriculums – Charlotte Mason, Math-U-See, Sonlight, unschooling – we felt comfortable with one we knew.  I had used Abeka for high school English at a local private school, and felt it prepared me (over prepared, in some cases) for college.
 
Now, after almost a school-year of using Abeka K4 (kindergarten for four year olds), I decided to review the curriculum for any curious moms out there who may be considering purchasing it.  I used the program with AJ who was 5 years old because I wanted something that would be easy for him (and me) to complete with his 3 younger siblings needing attention as well.
 
First, an overview of the program – Abeka’s K4 program covers phonics, reading (beginning at Lesson 73), writing, and numbers.  There is also an optional Bible curriculum that we purchased.  The whole curriculum (Bible included) is designed to take 50-60 minutes a day.  Some of the scope & sequence elements are counting 1-100, learning letters & sounds, learning basic phonic rules, blending consonants with vowels, reading short words & sentences, and writing the alphabet & first name.
 
On a day-to-day basis, we were doing a Bible lesson with all my kiddoes, and then a phonics & math lesson with AJ.  We didn’t do handwriting every day, but worked steadily at his book.
 
What I Liked
 
-Abeka is known for being rigorous academically.  K4 was no disappointment here.  AJ could read simple words several months into the program, count to 100, and recognize numbers up to 20.  Keep in mind, this is written for four year olds!
 
-Since we purchased the whole kit of materials, we got all the games and activities.  While the meat of the lessons was very repetitive, the curriculum did use various, colorful hands-on things to practice the concepts.  For example, there were several “scenes,” I will call them – a farm, a meadow, a doghouse, etc.  Each one had things to put on it.  The farm had animals, the meadow had flowers & woodland creatures, and the doghouse had bones & balls.  (Pictured below is the meadow scene.)
Picture
There were many, many more scenes, but you get the idea.  After completing a lesson on the short i sound, you might do something like this – get out the blank farm scene, read a word, have the child say whether or not it had the short i sound, and, if they gave the correct answer, they could add an animal to the scene.  My kids thoroughly enjoyed these!  I laminated them all, and they will last for years.
 
-The teacher’s manual was fairly easy to use, but I had to do a lot of flipping because AJ didn’t go at the same pace for phonics & numbers.  The manual groups all of Lesson 1 – phonics, handwriting, & numbers at one place.  So, a few weeks into the year, we were on Lesson 15 for phonics and Lesson 22 for numbers.
 
-I liked the Bible curriculum.  It was simple, but very good.  It is a set of many pictures to go with Bible stories that are taken straight from the Bible, but written in story format for kids.
 
What I didn’t Like
 
-My main complaint about the curriculum is a lack of any science and social studies activities.  There are no activities for either of these subject areas.
 
-Second to that complaint is that there is no children’s literature.  No stories, nothing.  To me, science, social studies/history, and children’s literature are very key elements in a child’s education from day 1.
 
Overall, I did not like Abeka K4.  While whining to my husband part way through the school year, he kindly reminded me that it is working and the kids love it.  Yes, I had to agree on those two points, but if mom is bored….  The main reason I was bored is that every day all we were doing was learning phonics and numbers.  Yes, those skills are important in kindergarten, but there’s so much more!  Real books to read and enjoy, simple science experiments, nature walks, and social studies activities.

If you are looking to teach your four or five year old phonics and numbers, this program will work, but, for me, kindergarten should be much more.

So, alas, I will be selling my Abeka K4 program, even though I’m determined not to be a mom who switches curriculum every year.  I won’t be making that an “I will never” statement or it may end up like my other never statements.  I won’t be selling all my curriculum – I’ll be keeping some of the nice supplementary materials that can be used with any curriculum.  And I will keep the Bible curriculum because it could be used for family devotions, Sunday school, or Bible school.  Check back to find out what we are planning for next year!
3 Comments
Tara
3/21/2019 04:21:39 pm

Why couldn't you just supplement stories and science into the abeka curriculum? You can find all that at a local library.

Reply
Katy
5/23/2019 11:18:07 pm

Did you supplement any literature, science, or social studies? If so, what did you use?

Reply
Cougars in Nevada link
12/4/2022 11:15:20 pm

Interestinng read

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Vanessa from Russell Homestead.  Follower of the Lord Jesus, wife of my knight in shining armor, mother of 5 wonderful children, and joint-keeper of the Russell homestead.  Thanks for stopping by!
    Read more about me here.

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    Chickens
    Faith
    General
    Goats
    Homeschool
    Homesteading
    Motherhood
    Puppies
    Recipes

    RSS Feed

    Follow this Blog
    Vanessa Russell
    Independent Field Representative
    ID#20249934.

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Psalm 24:1

All photos and text are property of Russell Homestead.  Use only with permission.
  • Home
  • Mini Schnauzers
    • Mini Schnauzers - The Basics
    • Current & Upcoming Litters
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Nutrition >
      • Nutrition - The Basics
      • Recommended Products
      • Life's Abundance-FAQ
    • Past Puppies
    • Puppy Photo Updates
    • Testimonials
    • Past Puppy Blogs
    • Documents
  • Goats
    • Our Goat Herd >
      • Goats - The Basics
      • Velvet
      • Nickel
      • Llama
    • Available Goat Kids
    • Past Goat Kids
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog