abeka math ?

[lgliser]

I was just reading the thread on why Abeka is so hated.  It was interesting and brought up some questions.  

 

We chose Abeka just for math - so far it's been fine.  It does take longer than anything else and I saw that people commented on that in the post.  Like if you don't do everything you feel like a failure.  But how do you know what you don't "have" to do?  Does this just come with confidence on my part?  It's our first year so I am still gaining confidence!

 

And please forgive my ignorance but something was said about how this is a Classical education board so it's not surprising to hear people not liking it.  How is it not classical?  At least the math?  Like, what kind of math curriculum is classical?  And TWTM did recommend it for math... so was that comment more for other Abeka subjects?  Just curious!

[Freckles]

We use ABeka math. I assign evens or odds depending on my mood. I taught first grade using ABeka, and my kiddos did all that was assigned for the practice. Everybody's opinion might differ. Follow your gut for the amount of practice your child needs.

[mumto2]

We use abeka for math. Dd stopped after Algebra 1 only because I was irritated with abeka shipping policies--I know that sounds a bit over the top but their overseas rates were insane. Last year I bought the rest for ds off ebay. Good solid spiral that my Saxon hating son will tolerate. Black and white with full pages was too much. Abeka has color and better spacing. I have heard Saxon is changing.

 

At one point it was a SWB pick I think. In the first edition WTM she definately recommends the language skills abeka track. Also Cathy Duffy used to recommend doing abeka and Singapore together which is what we did. She felt it made the most complete math program for elementary.

 

I think this board tend to get caught up in the new stuff because it is more fun.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

we use abeka and add in other things from many places including some classical learning ideas.....I don't have any problems with the math--lost my train of thought.....  :closedeyes:

[Amy M]

Hi! I'm using almost everything that you use, except we'll start MFW in ADV, and I went with MUS for first grade math, after using ABeka for K4&5. I use ABeka still for phonics and handwriting. I missed ABeka at first when I switched to MUS. I felt that it taught me how to teach, since it scripted everything out day by day. I felt more uncertain at first with MUS. I try to drill and review a lot with MUS, even though MUS doesn't explicitly tell you how to do that.

 

ABeka is a strong math program with lots of drill. In that sense I suppose you could say it fits the classical philosophy, because of how much the kids memorize! I don't think there is a specifically "classical" math curriculum. I wondered that too when I first learned about classical education, if there were some company like ABeka that carries a specifically classical version for every subject? According to the WTM version of classical education, math facts should be drilled in the grammar stage; and one day a week should be set aside for "living math."

 

ABeka was recommended for grammar stage math in TWTM, but I did not feel that it did a good job making it "real." So something like the book Kitchen Table math or Life of Fred making it more real than charts and pictures of pennies in a workbook should be happening along with ABeka.

 

After using MUS Alpha, I feel that conceptual understanding is lacking in ABeka. I suggest using Cuisenaire rods or MUS blocks to explain the concepts. Or if you're using MFW 1st grade, supplement with their math games to make it more real. I have heard many critique ABeka math for just teaching to memorize steps for how to arrive at a solution without having real understanding of how or why the math works that way. I still think it's a good program, but I would supplement like the pp post said she does with TT. But I would feel that way about several other math curricula.

 

Two examples of how I felt MUS taught the concepts better than ABeka were place value and how they approached addition. ABeka taught addition through families: the "6" family included all the equations that added up to 6. MUS only does that for equations equalling 10 and 9 (after learning +0, 1, 2, 9, 8, and doubles). For the others they do all of the +0 equations at once, etc. The MUS way seemed more logical to me. I'm not trying to convince you to get MUS; it's just what I have to compare.

 

You asked how you will know what to leave out. I think you will know that more after using it longer, and it will probably depend on your children as well. For math I didn't leave anything out. For other language arts with ABeka, I leave out the seat work and some of the review. They have math stuff in the seat work that I wouldn't do either--things like, copy these equations and write the sum, or, copy these number tables and circle the greatest number in each pair. If you're doing all of what the TM says, you don't need to add the math from seat work. IMO they didn't have too many problems on a page in K5, but I wouldn't know beyond that.

 

I think the comment about ABeka not being classical applies the least to ABeka's grammar and math. It is not classical in history, science, and writing; and all of the subjects have TM, textbook, workbook, teachers keys, and tests books, which is usually a characteristic of "traditional" education (vs. classical), so I think that comment was more general, speaking of ABeka as a whole.

 

If you're happy with it, keep going with it. WTM says that too. :) Maybe just use MFW math as an extra here and there to help make it more real. Someone on here has a blog Lets Play Math that might give good ideas as well.

 

 

[Thia7278]

You will get a sense of what your child needs.  The first thing I dropped was all games.  They take too much time and it's hard to get everyone back on track after.  What I generally do is look through the lesson and combine things.  Sometimes they'll have something in the review section then again at the end in the thinking skills section.  I combine them when that happens.  I review what I think my children need to review, then we move on to the new stuff.  As far as the work, I do have them do most of it.  My own math education was poor and I don't want them to struggle later like I did.