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Hi everyone! I am trying to decide on what curriculum to use for my 4th grader next year. This will be our first year homeschooling, so I would prefer to go with an entire curriculum to start with. I think I have narrowed it down to either the Alpha Omega Lifepac or Abeka. Do any of you have any experience with either of these and maybe be able to offer a little bit of advice on which one you think would be better for a 4th grader who has been in public school until now? Thanks in advance for your help.
I can't comment on Lifepacs. I haven't used them. They're just as popular as Abeka, though, so it's not like they're a terrible choice or anything. You'd be fine with either, I'm sure.
Abeka is a good, solid program. If you're close to a display, you can view all the materials and order in person (free shipping). Abeka is written with private Christian schools in mind, so you'll occasionally find things that apply to a classroom but not to individuals, but it doesn't happen often enough to cross it off your consideration list.
I've used both and Abeka was better suited for my kiddos than the Lifepacs. The Lifepacs are very independant work, the child basically reads through a page or 2 of instruction and then does a few answer and questions on his own. It's pretty much self taught. My 3rd grader found the Math and Language Arts to be too easy, but he did enjoy the Science and History. Also, there was no reading program, just a few short stories for my son to read and then answer comprehension questions. I had to order the 3rd grade readers from Abeka to supplement.
I agree with BensMom, if you can go and look at the curriculum it will probably help you make a more informed choice.
Goodluck!!
__________________ Becky, Wife to Dan and Momma to Danny (15), Andrew (9), Lizzie (8), Matthew and Sarah
our Twin Angel Babies taken home to be with Jesus on 11/7/03, Joshy (4), Gracie (2),
Baby Emma born 11/11/10 and Baby Bean Due 10/02/11
I didn't care for lifepacs when I was school age, and ABeka always looked so much more fun, lol. Lifepacs are easily completed in very short periods of time, and the students do not get nearly as much out of them (usually) as they do the ABeka materials, in my experience.
Yeah lifepacs are dry as heck.. Noah hates them..with a passion..we are only doing them because it was the cheapest way to finish the 9 weeks of school he had left this year
__________________
~Alison~
Homeschooling "soccer mom" by day.. crazy bartender by night
Noah 17,Declan 10, Jadziah 8, Taejan 6
We've done LifePacs for Science, Math and History and we did not like them. I agree it is more for independent work. We have seen Abeka and think it is much better than the Lifpacs.
It is just my opinion but I think LIfepacs is better in the higher grade levels than elementary age. If it were me, I would chose Abeka over Alpha Omega Lifepacs.
__________________
Sandra. Wife to Timothy and Homeschool mom to Michael and Matthew
Married for 14+ years to the love of my life. Currently TTCing.
Last edited by Sandra314; May 27th, 2010 at 08:47 PM.
Thanks for all the great advice! I guess that kind of just confirmed what I was already thinking. I really liked the looks of the Abeka material, but the Lifepacs were so much cheaper. After hearing what you guys have to say about the Lifepacs, though, I think I would rather pay a little more and go with Abeka. Thanks again!
I have used both...kind of! I chucked LifePac after about a month. It was K though, and seemed SO slow. My daughter was not a genius or anything, but it bored her to tears!
We used Abeka for 1st and 2nd. After that I got brave and became eclectic and use a little bit of this and that. Abeka gave my daughter a solid foundation for phonics and math, but it was a lot of work and very workbook-y. It is made for a classroom environment and works well for organized, teacher-type moms.
We have done lifepacs for history and up through grade 3 they are ok, after that forget it! I don't like them, my kids don't like them, we won't be going back. IMO there is way too much information thrown at them that they are supposed to learn in a short amount of time. My daughter is in 6th grade and seriously we could have taken one of those life pac books and spent a couple months going through it there was so much information. They were bored to death with them also. I can't comment on the other subjects, only history.
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