A Beka Book
ABeka was one of the first complete publishers of Christian textbooks. Although they advertise
heavily for the homeschooling market, their philosophy is clearly that all children belong in a classroom
(after the socialist model followed by the 
public schools). They are very drill and repetition oriented, which
may be good for younger students memorizing multiplication tables, but it is very bad for algebra, or for any
student you want to teach how to think as an adult. Many homeschoolers love ABeka, and it does work if
used by students who are very early readers and clearly advanced in most academic areas. ABeka prides itself
in covering material a year or two ahead of most public schools. Sometimes this reaching is appropriate,
given the state of most classrooms, but often they seem to reach ahead to cover parts of a subject that will not
be completely dealt with for a year or more in the future.
Students new to ABeka in the later grades will find it difficult to keep up because the text assumes they have touched on concepts they have not had. Students who have been in the series have spent so much time memorizing for test and drills their concepts and thinking skills suffer. Because of its overriding classroom mentality, ABeka offers a video series from the day school they operate in north Florida. In essence, your student can be “in class” even at home.
One book we
love is a reprint of the handbook for reading, which is a great step-
by-step guide to teaching phonics with
any age student. A-Beka even provides a PDF of the six steps that the handbook teaches. The entire phonics approch is described in this simple to follow guide. We know of parents who followed this guide. Used old mazagines as a source of pictures, poster board with the pictures gluded on by the "students" in the daily lesson activities. The result a very small investment in money, but a great readers as the result. He is the six steps in a color brochure.
Six Steps To Teach Phonics Brochure.pdf
Please do not get the idea we don't want anyone to use A-Beka Books, it just that the "drill and repetation" methology that they employ lays a great foundation in
young readers, but as students mature they need to learn to think, develop deductive reasoning skills, not just memorize the answer to a long list of questions that are based on the conclusion of others. The history texts that A-Beka offers for the upper grades 7th-12 are some of the best ever written. They are well worth using, but be sure to add open-ended questions to your lessons. Questions that require the student to do independent research, draw conclusions but they must be required to back up those answers with facts and evidence.