Using the Abeka Curriculum

Here is a journal entry I wrote almost 2 years ago.

Oct. 7, 2006 - Abeka Makes the Grade


We chose to use the full grade 3 Abeka program this year, and this is why. Our daughter, Caitlin is 12 years old and reading at the 3rd grade level. Caitlin has always been an easy child; quiet, entertains herself well, plays with her siblings without rivalry. In short, what most would call the perfect child. But she is lazy and lacks motivation or drive. As my husband says, she stays under the radar. But for the last 2 years, her annual evaluation was filled with dread. Not because I am a new homeschooling mom, but because I am fully aware that my daughter is not showing “progress commensurate with ability”, as required by our State requirements, and her evaluator that we've utilized for years, knows it, too. I know that she is fully able to be on grade level, but she’s not. Her written work looks like it was done by a kindergartener! So after much prayer and searching on the internet, I finally came to the point that I decided that Caitlin had to experience some “real” school. We have always been more of a “Charlotte Mason” follower. Not an unschooler, but definitely more laid-back than some. We had tried almost every reading curriculum out there. Never pressuring her, but encouraging. As some experts said, to present the material and if it doesn’t seem to be the right time, put it aside for a month or so. So later, we would pick up another product to try out, without that huge success we were looking for. She did have 2 older siblings who were late-blooming readers, and they became very competent readers, almost overnight. So, I was waiting for the “ah-ha” moment with Caitlin. It never came. When she was close to turning 12, my husband and I finally came to the conclusion that she was not motivated by any other means, so we were going to have to motivate her. I tested her reading level with some online freebies, and picked up some Abeka readers, and by having her read the first page of some of them, was able to determine that she was about mid-3rd grade for Abeka materials. We bought the entire 3rd year curriculum! Beginning the first day of school, she had about 7 hours of school a day, every day, plus some homework assignments. Believe me, there were many tears shed the first few weeks. But my husband, being the strong leader that he is, kept both Caitlin and I accountable to the task. She is doing all the language arts, including phonics, readers, penmanship, and grammar. She also is doing the science and history, poetry, memorization and health. It is a full load. Very different for a homeschool mom of 6 who loves the Charlotte Mason style! But I am fully convinced it is what Caitlin needs at this time in her life. Check in later in the schoolyear for an update on how the year went!