Abeka Math?

[countrymum]

Do any of you like Abeka arithmetic for k-6? Does it prepare kids for upper level math and everyday life well? Do your kids know their facts with no finger counting? Did you supplement? If so why and with what?

Edited June 15, 2017 by Rjha

[heartlikealion]

Ds did Abeka math in school last year. He was in third grade. I've been going over some concepts with him this summer that I noticed were in his 3rd grade Math Mammoth that were not covered in his Abeka math. It doesn't mean it's better/worse, just different. Today we went over a mileage chart (didn't even know that was a thing, but maybe it's just this program) and soon I'll go over area and perimeter. Apparently many programs don't do that in third, but since he'll be using MM4 I want to make sure he understand the main concepts covered in MM3.

 

You can look over the scope & sequence of Abeka online. I remember when he was in school I felt like they spent a lot of time on roman numerals and I was kind of scratching my head at that lol. It's a spiral program so I guess it would come up again. I was used to a mastery program. His teacher told me she didn't feel like the book gave enough problems in a given area at a time so she would jump around the book to give them more. I don't know if this reflects how others feel, though.

 

We used to use Xtramath.org and Moby Max for fact practice, but haven't used the site in a while. I actually need to see where he stands on the facts. I've really slacked. For multiplication he learned a lot through Times Tales. We went through part of Two Plus Two is Not Five and also got the next in the series but didn't get around to using it. He doesn't always use his fingers, but sometimes I see him do it.

[mumto2]

My dc's are in college so my experiences are several years old. We were and still are pretty focused on math. Two math degrees. We did lots of math but things like Beast Academy and Math Mammoth did not exist to my knowledge. We almost missed Life of Fred completely.....algebra is where they came in to our program. With that in mind we loved Abeka math in elementary. It was our spiral core program. It was colourful and Saxon isn't. Neither child liked the look of Saxon. The early grades are write in. It had good story problems which is what I was looking for because that's what math in the real world is imo. I also liked the practically of all the work with things like measurements and roman numerals. These topics need to be somewhere and Abeka did it well. I didn't really see that in the other curriculum we used. We did other things but used Abeka at some level all the way through precalculus. No regrets.

 

What did we supplement with.....all sorts of things. In the lower grades I had many manipulatives and games. We did a lot of jigsaw puzzles from garage sales. Tangrams, pattern blocks, linking cubes, all fun. Dot to dot with high numbers are particularly good for counting fluency. One book will take care of everyone unless one of your kids loves counting to 2000 repetitively! Curriculum wise I probably bought at least one book of everything that was available at the time, we tried them all.

 

The curriculum that stuck was Singapore which had an excellent supplement called challenging word problems. As much as I loved Singapore I think a spiral is needed for all kids including mine. They forget.

 

We also did all of a program called Professor B using the books (now has an online choice). It was great fun. Mostly verbal but will probably be cringe worthy to you because it actually encourages finger counting at one stage. That being said I think my dc's mental math abilities which are huge stem in a large part from that program. They are really fast.http://www.professorbmath.uniquemath.com/profb-mpl1.php#.WUJEiXoXYv4

 

Because I mentioned LoF earlier.....I have seen the early books and probably would have bought them because I had a generous math budget and would have appreciated one book for storytime supplement. I wouldn't buy them if it hurts the budget. I used every math story book I could find. Usbourne makes some lovely ones. I used my library frequently....

[Katiebug1976]

We have only used the early grades of Abeka (K-3)...it is fun, colorful, and very thorough. I have no complaints without Abeka...it has worked well for our family as a jumping off point. My son just finished grade 1 and really enjoyed it, but we are switching gears & going with Math Mammoth this next year...partly because we own the whole series & that's good for the budget, and he overheard me reviewing it with my daughter and wants to do it himself. I think they are both really good programs and have no complaints about either one. 😊

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We have used it K-4. It has a lot of moving parts and a ton of built in review, and we sometimes streamline it. The kids like the colorful workbooks as The black and white workbooks started really getting to them. In 4th grade, the colorful images decline, but still not b/w. I like the order they present the facts, and with diligent practice, the facts do solidify. I sometimes supplemented with some manipulatives that I already owned. I occasionally supplemented with some fun math like LOF or more challenging word problems. Around third grade, we supplemented with Beast Academy for more conceptual math understanding. Many people switch from Abeka around 4th or 6th grade. We love the early years for the solid arithmetic foundation, and my oldest is now fully transitioning to Beast Academy and Art of Problem Solving math.

 

I like the detail in the teacher's manual, although it seems that the older grades have less detail in the manuals. I like the plethora of math fact games and fact practice suggested, but it can sometimes be overkill. There are too many lessons, so we combine a few throughout the year or do every three tests so that we can finish on time. We don't always do the speed drills. However, I love the built in review, the facts presented in order, the measurements and Roman numerals included that other programs don't always include and the colorful tools. Some of the extras can add up, but eBay helped with that. We are sticking with it!