A Beka Vs. BJU

[Lanette]

Next year will be our second year homeschooling. I have been using A Beka and BJU this year and I'm trying to figure out what to do next year in English, reading, and Spelling. This year for my 8 yr old, I used BJU in reading and spelling and A Beka in English. However, I wasn't able to obtain any extra books other than the answer guide book, so I don't have any "help." Obviously, that's a negative. And we LOVED the BJU Reading and Spelling BUT I don't know anything about the A Beka Reading or Spelling.  So I don't know if those two would be better or worse than the BJU. And I have used one grade level of the A Beka English and I'm not very familiar with the BJU English. :)

Background info: My student has strong reading and spelling skills. He LOVES historical fiction and it seems like this year's BJU reading book has quite a bit in it. I don't know if it's just this year's book or if it's a BJU thing.  

My question for any homeschooling veterans out there is this... What comparisons and advice can you give me between these two programs? I am also a big advocate of strong reading skills and writing. But it doesn't look like the A Beka English has much of a writing focus going into the Language B book. And, granted, the only thing I've been able to look at is the full table of contents on christianbook.com. 

[Ellie]

In general, I prefer ABeka for first grade phonics. I don't care for the English (grammar/composition) because I think ABeka beats grammar to death every.single.year and doesn't have enough writing. I think the spelling is weak.

 

I prefer grammar/comp, spelling and literature. I think BJUP's first grade phonics/reading has just a slight sight-reading element which I cannot bear. The grammar is a little awkward, but there is more writing, and each year (beginning around 8th grade) there's less grammar and more writing.

 

I don't use readers and workbooks that go with them. I prefer good trade books (books you would find in the library or in a bookstore).

[Lanette]

Yeah, I like that about A Beka's English, too. And that's one thing that bothers me about BJU's English. From the sample I've seen, it doesn't look like the BJU provides much practice on grammar. BUT it doesn't seem like A Beka is very strong in writing. Or maybe grades 3-5 are still too young for much writing. I don't know. When my oldest son was in public schools (grade 2), he was "taught" (and I use that word loosely) how to write essays and other things but I felt like he was expected to do too much. 

 

Anyway, we use BJU in history, and spelling for both kids and really like it. And we use A Beka in health and science and love those as well. :) My older student has been doing the A Beka English this year and he's done well in it. And honestly, I'd rather have "overkill" in the grammar and occasionally decrease the amount of questions on a section instead of paying an arm and a leg for one child's English curriculum and not feel like I'm getting my money's worth. 

[Amy M]

Between grammars, I would pick ABeka over BJ. BJU has some different terms and categories that I don't think are in typical programs, and it was hard for my brain to adjust to it, having already learned the ABeka way. I don't really like BJ grammar. However, ABeka's writing is weak. It includes a lot of creative writing without much instruction, except for a book in 6th grade. If I were using ABeka language, I would also buy a writing program to go with it. Have you looked at Rod and Staff English? That is a similar, Christian, traditional curriculum that would be stronger than BJ on grammar and stronger than ABeka on writing, just my opinion.

 

For spelling, it's up to you, but I think many prefer BJ. ABeka, some critiques say, have too many difficult words that aren't as commonly used as other curricula. I think BJ was waaay too easy in the first few years compared to ABeka, but supposedly is better overall. I don't know. I switched from ABeka 1st grade spelling this year to All About Spelling. Again, you might want to consider Rod and Staff spelling, which sounds great from about 3rd grade on.

 

Re: reading. I myself and trying to transition out of reading textbooks into actual real literature. However, if you want to stick with a reading program, I prefer ABeka's. BJ's has some fun stuff, but it is all "generic prose written by textbook writers instead of stories written by masters," as The Well-Trained Mind says. ABeka's is more phonetically based in the first years, and they use more stories and poetry from actual literature, even though it is in snippets.

 

I hope you find what works for your family! My sister uses only and all ABeka, so if you want someone to review exactly what's covered in it, I can get you her contact details. :)

[Lanette]

Amy, thank you so much for your input!! I'm seriously leaning toward doing A Beka all across the board. So I would LOVE to talk to your sister if she does the same thing. There are questions I have about stuff that's covered. 

 

Yesterday I went to a curriculum library that has a lot of A Beka stuff and some BJU. I was able to finally get my hands on an English BJU textbook and...wow! I was so disappointed! So yeah, I'll be sticking with A Beka. :) 

[Lanette]

And... I forgot to mention this before submitting the reply... One thing I noticed while comparing the BJU Reading and A Beka reading, it seems like BJU goes into "overkill" mode with Language Arts. They have reading workbooks that go along with the reading and it covers the same stuff covered in the A Beka Language Arts workbooks. AND because of that, my older student had gotten to where he didn't like reading. So we ditched BJU reading and as of today, we're starting on A Beka, which we're both excited about. :) Lol Another thing that always bugged me about the BJU reading was when it came time to do the workbook pages, the answers could not be found in the text!! I would even go through there looking for the answers and I couldn't find them after reading the story numerous times! So that led to more frustration...

[Ellie]

And... I forgot to mention this before submitting the reply... One thing I noticed while comparing the BJU Reading and A Beka reading, it seems like BJU goes into "overkill" mode with Language Arts. They have reading workbooks that go along with the reading and it covers the same stuff covered in the A Beka Language Arts workbooks. AND because of that, my older student had gotten to where he didn't like reading. So we ditched BJU reading and as of today, we're starting on A Beka, which we're both excited about. :) Lol Another thing that always bugged me about the BJU reading was when it came time to do the workbook pages, the answers could not be found in the text!! I would even go through there looking for the answers and I couldn't find them after reading the story numerous times! So that led to more frustration...

 

Oh, the last word I would use to describe BJUP is "overkill." :-)

 

Also, ABeka and BJUP cover the same topics in different areas. Sometimes ABeka's thought processes on where to cover something makes me go :huh: , as in doing spelling and poetry together. BJUP is more logical, IMHO (although as I said, I'm not a fan of BJUP's initial phonics instruction. I'm also not a fan of using basal readers and workbooks, from any publisher.)

 

Having said that, let me say this: If ABeka works for you, it works for me. :-)