Discover the best homeschool curriculum for your family in 2023 with an in-depth look at Abeka! Join us as we delve into 50 parent reviews to uncover the ins and outs of this top-rated homeschool curriculum. With our comprehensive analysis, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the pros and cons of Abeka and make an informed decision for your homeschool journey. Find out if Abeka can take your homeschooling experience to the next level!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
Affiliate links are used on this page.
What we’ll cover:
- What is the Abeka homeschool curriculum?
- Accreditation questions
- What forum reviews say about this program
- The pros and cons of an Abeka home education curriculum and
- My experience with this curriculum
- Abeka vs Other Curricula (like BJU Press and Lifepac)
If you are a newcomer to homeschooling, I highly suggest enrolling in the Homeschool Parenting Program. This program will provide you with comprehensive knowledge of homeschooling, ensuring that you feel confident and at ease. The course is both engaging and enlightening.
But, for now, let’s get started with our Abeka review!
What is the Abeka Homeschool Curriculum?
Abeka is affiliated with an American College in Florida called the Pensacola Christian College (PCC).
PCC is a Christian, independent Baptist, not-for-profit liberal arts college founded in 1974 by two graduates of Bob Jones University, Arlin and Beka [Rebekah] Horton (hence, Abeka or A Beka).
Abeka (along with Alpha Omega Publishing and BJU Press) is one of the two major publishers of Christian homeschooling curricula globally.
Christian homeschool parents often choose between buying the Abeka or the BJU Press curriculum because they are similar.
What Homeschooling Method Does This Program Use?
The Abeka curriculum uses the traditional homeschool method. Using a traditional homeschool method means children perform their work primarily by sitting at a desk and completing workbooks as children do at school.
Abeka also tests children like a traditional school would (through paper testing methods), comforting parents who want to know exactly where their children are up to compared to their school peers.
If you don’t know much about homeschooling methods, sign up to my free homeschool methods quiz & course on the topic.
Abeka Academy Accreditation
Abeka vs Abeka Academy
Before we go any further, we need to clear up that the difference between Abeka and Abeka Academy is that the former is not accredited, while the latter is accredited. When a ‘homeschool program is accredited’, it means you’re no longer studying in a true homeschool program, but you’re actually studying in an online school.
So, Abeka Academy is acautally an online school as it is accredited. This means you’re no longer able to pick and choose subjects from different providers…your kids have to take the whole course.
The Advantages of the Academy
The advantage of an accredited course with traditional testing and education is that you can get accreditation by studying at Abeka Academy.
This said, although many people think accreditation is a must-have, this is a misconception as parents can easily get their teenagers into high school without homeschool accreditation.
Also, some parents want a program to be accredited more because it gives them peace of mind that they’re following an accreditation-approved course.
One of the great things about homeschooling with this program is that it offers accreditation for the same price as non-accreditation:
The Accredited Program is the premium package—except it’s the same price as Independent Study. You can choose to do either an entire grade in K5–12 or a single subject in grades 9–12…Your child’s education will be accredited by both MSA CESS and FACCS, which can help you meet state homeschool requirements and college admissions requirements.
The Academy will keep digital records for you and grade exams for Years 9 through 12. Accreditation gives your child a chance to participate in a homeschool graduation ceremony if they choose.
They’ll get a diploma at the end of their home education years with official transcripts.
It will be free if you want to do optional standardized testing to find out where your child is up to.
What Grades Does this Curriculum Offer?
Abeka offers all grades, kindergarten through to high school homeschool curriculum. Here are the different grades they offer:
- Kindergarten Abeka Materials (K4 and K5)
- 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade
- 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade,
- 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, and 12th Grade.
There are also electives that consist of the following courses:
- Physics
- Spanish (#2)
- Precalculus
- Consumer Math
- Business Math
- Speech
- Orchestra (#1 and #2)
- Keyboarding
- Document Processing
- Family/Consumer Sciences
- Home Ec. – Sewing and
- Physical Education
You can see links to all the Abeka electives here.
How Do I Choose My Homeschool Curriculum from Abeka?
Choosing your curriculum will depend on if you go for the Abeka Academy accredited version or the Abeka unaccredited version.
If you go with the Academy, you have to do the material they set out for you.
If you choose to buy Abeka you can pick and choose subjects – and even get all subjects to cover your child for a year. And you can do this for your children, no matter their age.
You can buy all the books for ‘Grade 1 Enrollment’ or a particular subject you fancy.
When we were homeschooling, my parents chose different subjects from different curriculum providers, depending on what they thought suited us best. (This was facilitated because they visited warehouses with hardcopy home education curricula for sale.)
Can I Get Abeka on Sale?
Yes. You can often find Abeka on sale at this homeschool curriculum provider.
How Popular is the Abeka?
The Abeka curriculum is quite popular among home educators today as it has been around for decades.
Many children raised using this curriculum are now considering using it for their own children (one study says 82% of homeschooled children will choose to educate their children at home, either full-time or part-time).
In addition, the Academy gets good reviews on its Facebook Page. If you look at the Abeka Academy Facebook reviews page, the curriculum gets 4.2 out of 5 stars (based on 270 reviews to date).
As you will see below, I distilled 50 comments from 4 websites (including TheHomeschoolMom and Top Consumer Reviews), and most were positive.
Can You Look at Samples of the Curriculum Before Buying?
You can look at some sample Abeka videos lessons at this link.
You can also go into the Grade subjects you’re interested in and watch videos about the program (for example, on these links, you can see Grade 1 Arithmetic, Science, History, and Bible Enrollment.
What the Reviews Say About Abeka
When looking at forum reviews for this curriculum, you’ll find a few common themes.
Many like the program’s Christian perspective. Others like that there is so much video included, and children can feel part of a classroom (in a small way) when they watch the video.
And as far as the price goes, you get a lot for what you pay – and accreditation for no extra if you choose. (More on the cost below).
Many parents on different forums said the Abeka curriculum can get repetitive (e.g., busy work) and not overly hands-on. (It’s mostly video-learning or book-learning.)
Keep in mind that the curriculum has a very patriotic American flavor that may hit the right notes for some parents and the wrong ones for others.
Pros and Cons of an Abeka Homeschool Curriculum
When I looked into the pros and cons of an Abeka curriculum, I found a surprising amount of conflicting reviews (albeit most were quite positive).
Some people found the busy work a pro, while others considered it a con. Other families loved the strong, Christian, patriotic flavor of the Abeka program, while others intensely disliked it.
Some parents found the work engaging and helpful, while some found it painful and lacking motivation. Let’s have a closer look at what some parents said below.
Pros of the Abeka Homeschool Curriculum
Some of the advantages that seemed apparent from reading these reviews included:
- The price for curriculum materials is the same whether the material is accredited or not.
- If you’re a Christian, you’ll love the philosophy behind Abeka. Their philosophy is Christian Protestant.
- If math lessons become too hard for you to teach, you can buy DVD/online classes so children can learn through online teachers instead. (You can purchase video lessons from the beginning for only about $100 more).
- You don’t have to teach your children always – only at younger ages. You can set your children up with an Abeka homeschool curriculum and watch them learn independently.
- Some parents liked the repetitive nature of the Abeka program as they said it helped their children memorize things more easily.
Cons of the Abeka Curriculum
Most Abeka reviews were positive.
But, although many parents were thrilled with this curriculum and had (in some cases) used it for many years with no complaints, other mothers felt differently.
Some Abeka complaints I encountered among the reviews were:
- Abeka isn’t very hands-on. While you might do a few science experiments, arts, and crafts, the Abeka isn’t as hands-on as other homeschooling curricula might be. While you can supplement the material with your own hands-on activities, this is a lot of work on top of a full curriculum.
- Textbooks are not reusable, so you can’t use them for subsequent children.
- You have to buy the teacher’s copies of the answers separately, which is recommended to save time checking the children’s work.
- Some Abeka complaints centered around the vast quantity of quizzes and review materials in this curriculum. However, some families have side-stepped this issue by exempting their children from specific tests/quizzes. Another mother said that while Abeka was a lot of work, it was worth it. But, other parents countered this by saying the Abeka workload led to homeschool motivation problems and boredom.
- Some Abeka complaints also centered on too basic texts such as the Science subjects. Other subjects were praised, however, such as Social Science and Reading.
A Pro or Con of Abeka Homeschool: Creationism
Depending on your theology, you may or may not agree with the creationist perspective. If you have a biblical worldview that accepts that creation came about in six literal days (with God resting on the seventh), you will like Abeka holds this perspective.
As such, Abeka reviews either thoroughly praise the creationist worldview or want to send it out of business for having (as they claim) ‘an unscientific worldview.’
In one state, California, this came to a head when a judge decided that Abeka was teaching things that were ‘inconsistent with the viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted in the scientific community.’ You can read more about this case in Association of Christian Schools International vs. Roman Stearns.
Confused About Homeschool Curriculum?
By the way, if you’re new to homeschooling and you’re finding everything confusing and overwhelming, make sure you do the online course on how to homeschool. This program (called the Homeschool Parenting Program) will teach you:
- the fundamentals of how to homeschool
- all about homeschool curriculum and how to choose a good one
- the homeschool methods and how to pick one that will suit your family
- basic things you really need to know before starting homeschooling (like deschooling and how to keep your home tidy while home-educating!)
Look into the course more here.
Flexible Options with the Abeka Curriculum
You can get around some of the pros and cons of the Abeka curriculum by choosing to customize your homeschooling curriculum.
Selecting a personalized program (by creating a bit of an eclectic program) means you can still add special projects and field trips into your homeschool routine or adjust the pace of the curriculum to meet the needs of your students.
To help you customize your child’s education, Abeka has the Home Education FlexTeach option, which allows you to buy extra components to supplement your Christian curriculum, including:
- videos
- kits containing physical textbooks
- specific textbooks to supplement an eclectic homeschool
- parent guides and
- standardized tests.
Essentially, you can mix and match the curriculum according to your desires. This also means you can get engaged and teach the subjects you like or feel confident teaching. But, if you don’t want to teach some subjects, you can leave that to the video tutors.
Many parents like teaching English and History but struggle with Math and Science. Therefore, FlexTeach might be an ideal option for them! Abeka says, ‘They are your tools – not your taskmasters!’
How Much Does the Abeka Curriculum Cost?
The Abeka curriculum costs $1074 for Grades 1-6 and $1365 for Grades 7-12.
Compared to other curricula, the Abeka curriculum comes in at an average price. You can look at the graph prices below (as of Februrary 2022).
Buying videos on top of the curriculum doesn’t cost too much extra, taking instructional pressure off you to teach your children yourself all the time.
(If you want to know a little more about the cost of home education in general, read this article on how much homeschooling costs.)
What are the Abeka Teachers Like?
Abeka offers video lessons. These lessons allow students to learn from teachers, while parents can sit back with a cup of tea and have a break.
Abeka’s teachers are warm and friendly and (in my experience, quite funny at times). I enjoyed watching the videos.
You can look at a sample of Abeka Teachers in action here.
Abeka Kindergarten
Abeka runs a K4 and a K5 curriculum for kindergarten students. These cost a fraction of the price of older years, so it is a great way to get kids into homeschool curriculum work slowly.
Abeka Kindergarten (K4)
K4 comes as an unaccredited version only and costs $276. You can check out the Abeka Teacher, Mrs. Stewart, for K4 here.
Abeka Kindergarten (K5)
K5 comes in accredited and unaccredited versions. The accredited version costs $706, while the unaccredited version costs $677. The Abeka teacher for this subject is Mrs. Turner. You can read more about her here.
My Experience with the Abeka Homeschool Curriculum
I’m a homeschool graduate, and my parents bought the Abeka homeschool math curriculum, which my brothers and I used for most of our elementary years. We used the curriculum from Grade 5 through to Grade 9.
Because I’m not excellent with math, I found the repetitive nature of the curriculum quite good. I needed a good amount of math repetition to get the concepts in my head, so I believe the Abeka curriculum was quite good.
My two brothers also studied the math curriculum and had no complaints.
Some might say repetition isn’t the way to go and that I should have found another curriculum that worked for me better. I’m not sure about this…all I know is that I learned my math well with this program and don’t have any problems recommending it.
How Abeka Helped my Parents Homeschool
A little while ago, I wrote an article called Why You Can STILL Home Educate Despite Not Being a Teacher! I wrote this article because I have heard a lot of people say, ‘You can’t homeschool because you’re (1) not a teacher, (2) not highly educated, or you’re (3) dyslexic.’
These comments assumed you have to know a bit about education to teach your child. But that’s not true because my parents, especially my mother, weren’t teachers, weren’t highly educated, and, in one case, was dyslexic.
However, they managed to educate three children who have had very successful academic careers and lives. (You can read about my brothers’ (and my own) home education experience here.)
And, for my parents, I think Abeka helped take out the uncertainty of homeschooling. My parents knew they could sit us down with a curriculum, and we would do it, and we’d be ‘getting an education. When they started with home education, this was an immense comfort.
Other Curricula Similar to Abeka Homeschool Curriculum
If you’re still not sold on Abeka, maybe you’d like to check out other curricula that are similar to this package. Three very similar curricula to Abeka are the:
- Bob Jones University (BJU) curriculum
- Switched on Schoolhouse (now discontinued) and
- Monarch.
BJU Press vs Abeka
BJU Press is probably the most similar to Abeka in terms of content as it offers textbooks with teachers’ manuals and /or online video tutorials.
Both programs also have an accredited version (which is an online school) and a homeschool version.
BJU Press is a little more expensive, but I think it’s worth it (you can read BJU reviews by clicking this link).
BJU Press also generally gets better reviews at thehomeschoolmom website. In particular, I compared the curricula using forum-sourced comments from about 30 people. I’ve copied the section here for you to see:
Compared to Abeka, the BJU program is a bit of a favorite. Home educators love that the BJU videos are brief (whereas Abeka videos are pretty long). The program is also quite media-rich. An Abeka program is more labor-intensive compared to BJU. One mother said BJU assignments were manageable, but Abeka assignments were ‘never-ending.’ This said, Abeka is an inexpensive option compared to BJU, particularly if you’re considering accreditation costs.
Of course, if the cost is a huge factor for you, I recommend you look at free home education curriculum packages.
One of my favorites is Easy Peasy All-in-One. Although it’s not accredited, it ticks many boxes as it is a Christian online curriculum with printable sheets available if you want to do some offline study.
You can check out BJU Press here.
Switched-on-Schoolhouse vs Abeka
The SOS program is a Grade 3-12 Christian home education curriculum on the computer. It is entirely computer-based but can be done offline if you install the CDs or USB software (you can read SOS reviews by clicking this link).
As of 2022, SOS has been discontinued. So they’re not making new curriculum. However, you could pick up an old USB copy of this course.
There is also hope that they might start making it again in the future.
Monarch vs Abeka
Monarch is the same as SOS (because they’re both published by Alpha Omega Publishing), except it’s entirely online – meaning you need an internet connection to access the curriculum.
Monarch is a similar price to Abeka, but Abeka will send you workbooks, whereas Monarch is all online.
Monarch is also accredited!
You can check out Monarch here.
Schoolhouse Teachers vs Abeka
The big difference between Schoolhouse Teachers and Abeka is that the latter will send you workbooks. You can teach the program entirely offline using workbooks.
In comparison, Schoolhouse Teachers has all its work online, but you can print out the program you wish to use.
Both are comprehensive programs; only ST is a more affordable curriculum and offers many more electives.
ST also goes on sale VERY often, meaning you can often find the program half-price or discounted.
You can check out ST here.
Lifepac vs Abeka
Lifepac and Abeka are similar in that they both have curricula you can use offline. Perhaps the big difference between the two is that Lifepac is self-paced (a mastery-learning curriculum), whereas Abeka is spiral-learning.
With a self-paced curriculum like Lifepac, you can often leave students to do the work entirely by themselves. In contrast, a spiral-based curriculum needs to be a little more teacher-led.
You can check out Lifepac here.
Compass Classroom vs Abeka
The big difference between Compass Classroom and Abeka is that Compass is a classical curriculum, whereas Abeka is a traditional curriculum. This means that Compass models itself after the ancient trivium way of learning that the Ancient Greeks and Hebrews employed, whereas Abeka uses modern methods.
Both ways of learning have their pros and cons, but if you are curious about classical education, you can check out this classical video.
Compass Classroom is also a course that’s delivered online entirely. It is more suitable for high school students also due to the nature of complex ideas and subjects raised (such as philosophy).
You can also check out Compass Classroom here.
Curriculum Dissimilar to Abeka
If you’ve just started homeschooling and you want to explore educational methods that suit a home education well, but you still want to do a curriculum, check out different choices below:
- Charlotte Mason method – investigate ten different Charlotte Mason curriculum packages here
- Classical method – investigate six different Classical curriculum packages here
If you don’t know anything about different educational methods, you can explore them more here.
Contact: Abeka Phone Numbers
Customer Service (U.S. and Canada)
1-877-223-5226
Mon.–Fri.7 a.m.–6 p.m. (CST)
Customer Service (International)
1-850-478-8933
Mon.–Fri.7 a.m.–6 p.m. (CST)
Abeka Academy Academic
1-800-874-3592
Mon.–Fri.7 a.m.–6 p.m. (CST)
Want to Learn How to Homeschool?
There are two great ways t learn more about homeschooling: one is free, and one is a $67 fundamentals course.
The $67 Course
Looking to take your homeschooling to the next level? Join Rebecca Devitt’s online Homeschool Parenting Program and learn the strategies and techniques needed to make homeschooling a success! Learn more about the HPP here and signup here.
The Free Youtube Channel
Also, make sure you join the How to Homeschool Youtube channel, which will give you a fun and exciting look into the homeschool world and help homeschool your children. Check out the channel here, and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE.
If you’re not sure where to start, start with the following playlists:
- Starting homeschool playlist
- Homeschool Methods playlist
- Homeschool Curriculum playlist
- FAQs on Homeschooling playlist
You’ll love it and find it helpful and entertaining! Discover the channel here.
Conclusion
Abeka reviews suggest this curriculum is a great way to go if you don’t mind replicating a school-at-home approach. I would recommend this program for new homeschooling parents as it is familiar to many of us who are used to this approach. However, the reviews suggest that Abeka lacks individuality, which I would like to see more of. Overall, however, this program is hard to go past, and you can feel confident your children will be getting a good education if you choose this Christian curriculum.
This program is about as effective as Trump Academy. Our enrollment was constantly being messed up, then after hours on phone I would be told it was fixed, only to learn later is was not. While we were considered “unenrolled” they sure kept auto payment running smoothly. The streaming videos consist of a teacher that speaks like she is talking to toddlers, my kid is in 6th grade, and constantly watching some poor kid named Isaiah get corrected for everything. Waste of time and money
Graduated from school having used this program exclusively. Tested great but was not ready for college. Managed ok but knew my friends and I were far behind. Used it to teach my kids the first several years of school. They tested fine but pulled them out by middle school. Their high school education was equivalent to my university education. If things have not changed with their curriculum, I wouldn’t use it now.
I am on 4th year of using Abeka Academy. I started my first daughter with K4. She is now in the 3rd grade. My 2nd daughter is now 1st grade and doing the same. Although it is heavy classload wise it is not impossible. My daughters do all the work Abeka assigns. They do a lot of hands on stuff on their own day to day naturallt so we don’t particularly miss it with Abeka. We use the videos and the workbooks. The screen time originally bothered me but my girls have learned to work independently for the most part and have scored well on assessments tests so I personally am very happy with Abeka and will continue to use it.
We are currently using the accredited 5th grade and I pulled her out of public school during the pandemic. We have loved it so far. She is good with math and likes the way videos make you feel like a class room. It is rigorous and heavy writing, some it does repeat, but it reinforces her memorizing and she was doing the same thing in public school, just now she gets Bible and is learning cursive which wasn’t being taught to her. We do combine another science as well to get some hands on projects to mix it up a bit but so far, we both have been very happy with it.
That’s great to hear, Devan.
I really like Abeka too!
This has been one of the most disappointing interactions we have ever had involving an educational facility. They are only focused on the money. We were in need of canceling because our student is Autistic and over time it became evident that the curriculum was not a good fit. The run around we got in order to cancel was beyond frustrating and they are saying we still owe over $500 because it has been over 90 days since we have been using their curriculum. Plus we also have to return the DVDs because the exorbitant cost is only for renting them! The fact that financial hardship is also involved for the mother meant nothing to them. “Pay up, we don’t care!” That was their message loud and clear. I was told “Yes, we are a Christian organization but we are a business!” What a shame that the name of Our Lord is used by people like this!!! Pick a different company… one with scruples!!