It’s difficult to be objective when you’ve grown up using a particular curriculum. That being said, I try really hard to evaluate my curriculum choices for my kids without going along with something simply because it’s familiar. In this post, I give an honest Abeka math curriculum review, despite the fact that I have fond memories of these familiar books.
I introduced Abeka arithmetic into our math curriculum rotation to get us through the summer between Kindy and 1st grade. At the time, I had just transitioned from Montessori materials to the Singapore math curriculum and my daughter was flying through the material. I didn’t want to get too far ahead, but I also didn’t want to take the summer off. So I decided to add a second curriculum. I have an entire post about that HERE. My daughter and I both liked Abeka and I decided to keep it in the rotation.
Spiral Approach
Both Montessori and Singapore use the mastery approach to mathematics. Of course, mathematics builds on itself, so there is always some type of review. But for example, in the Singapore textbook, if there is a chapter on currency, that chapter will have only exercises counting money. Then you move on to another chapter and there will be no more money problems, unless there is a chapter review.
In contrast, Abeka’s math curriculum uses a spiral approach. If something like rounding is introduced in one lesson, there will be rounding exercises in subsequent lessons. So the student is constantly coming back to this skill and practicing it off and on for the rest of the school year.
Both approaches have their pros and cons. But the way I see it, using one of each approach is the ideal. They complement each other so well. So this is why I continue to keep Abeka arithmetic in our rotation.
Teacher Friendly
There are 170 lessons, so if you were to follow a typical schedule and get 5 lessons done per week, this textbook has exactly 34 weeks of material. Of course, I don’t do this and we’re only getting 2 or 3 of the Abeka math lessons done in a week. But I appreciate how each lesson is self-contained. You don’t need a teacher’s guide and very few manipulatives, if any. We had to pull out the Montessori golden beads to review when my daughter got to higher place values last year. And we still occasionally use the number blocks to review abstract concepts. But overall, these textbooks are stand-alone and easy-to-use.
Kid-Friendly Aesthetic
This might seem a bit shallow to include in a math curriculum review, but the Abeka arithmetic books are so bright and colourful. And they include themes from other Abeka material. For example, the second grade Abeka English textbook and the second grade arithmetic book both covered a geography theme, with different lessons including facts from different countries. For third grade, the themes are a bit different. In this book, many of the pages include pictures of animals from around the world and the story problems often include these animals. Attractive textbooks – although not a necessity – definitely help keep young students engaged.
Speed Drills, Quizzes & Tests
For second grade (using Abeka’s 3rd Grade Arithmetic), I decided to introduce proper speed drills, quizzes and tests. Not that I am keeping grades for any of these. But there were two reasons I thought they would be a good addition this year.
(1) Accuracy. I wanted my daughter to get used to working on her own and checking her work without help from me. By taking quizzes and tests, she can get used to the idea that she is solely responsible for the outcome of a problem. She also is motivated to use the techniques she has learned to check her answers. \
(2) Timeliness. The other reason I chose to introduce these more formal elements was for the sake of doing timed work. I want my daughter to have practice focusing for short periods of time and getting something done quickly. Accuracy is great, but it’s important to also get work done in a timely manner. Of course, she wants to know how she did. So I do grade her work, but I don’t keep records of any of this. It is solely for me to see how she is doing on her own in terms of accuracy and time.
How We Use It
Currently, in second semester of second grade, we spend an hour on math every weekday. We use the 2nd grade Singapore curriculum for Monday, Wednesday and Friday math class. We use the textbook and workbook, then typically end with one of their Mental Math worksheets or flashcards. On Tuesday and Thursday, we are usually able to get a complete Abeka lesson done as well as one of the daily speed drills. The tests and quizzes are scheduled for the same day as lessons. But we prefer to make the test its own thing and make test days a lighter math day for us.
Have you tried Abeka? What do you think? Do you use a different spiral math curriculum you like?
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