My Thoughts on Our First Day in Abeka Homeschool
We started our first run in our Abeka Homeschool yesterday. We decided to transfer providers this year because I felt that there is not enough support for my son's unique abilities locally. I'm also not sure if he will be able to move on to high school at such a young age. At age 7, he has already finished 3rd grade.
I digress. Abeka allowed us to enroll with the condition that he repeat 3rd grade thus the "first day of 3rd grade again" sign. It's okay with us as he is still young and from what I've researched, Abeka's curriculum is advanced so that's perfect for my boy.
Like what most people say, Abeka is a lot of work. Lots of books and lots of work. Here are the student books. There is a set for the parents and a Video Manual as well.
Learning is two-fold in Abeka. There is a video lesson, there are the workbooks that the child will answer with the online class and then there's seatwork which you can do with your child at the time of your choosing. Our first day in homeschool was roughly 5 hours. We did not do Math as my materials are still incomplete. The 5 hours don't include the time we spent on seatwork.
I'd have to say that it sucked up all my time. My son is twice exceptional and being ADHD, he needs to be reminded every now and then to listen, focus, etc. The online teacher was already telling them to underline some words in the book but my son's brain was somewhere else. Sometimes we had to rewind so that he could understand what the teacher was saying.
Since this is an American school, we will now also be studying American History. This is both exciting and challenging for us. Me, I love history and am eager to learn something new. For my son, it can be quite hard because we will still be studying Philippine history. (By the way, if you know of a good Philippine History book, I'd appreciate a comment or shoutout.)
One of the things that we like about it though is the Handwriting lessons. The explanation is thorough and I believe they are very strict with it. My son doesn't have the best handwriting though he can already write cursive. He and I agreed that this is a good thing for him.
Abeka already has the lessons planned out. You just need to read what you need to prepare for the day. I have my guide with me at all times so I can keep up with the lesson and videos. This is a welcome change because ever since we started homeschooling with a provider, I've been doing most of the work. The school books don't usually contain the topics in the syllabi so I had to plan my own lessons.
Although there was a lot of work yesterday, my son said he enjoyed it. We finished around 6:30 pm and then he said that he will still do his CTY. I feel that my son works better and more efficiently if he has a lot of schoolwork. We had a 2-month break from homeschool and he was just doing some supplementary lessons along with his CTY but I feel that it wasn't enough to stimulate him intellectually. He reads a lot and I also observed that he doesn't play as much anymore. I would often see him walking around, looking for things to do. I guess this is how gifted kids are.
So, Day 1 for Abeka was us was very informal and still a bit relaxed. It was good overall. I might write another review after a month or so.
What's your experience with Abeka? Please share in the comments!
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