So I am homeschooling a first grader for the first time. I bought this curriculum because it looked like it had a lot of valuable lessons (we supplemented with Singapore Math as far as a few extra drills for memorization-the speed drills with this aren't enough).

At first my daughter and I liked the colorful layout and she was liking the spiraling concept because it was bits of lots of new and exciting information in the beginning. However, halfway through the year she is bored out of her mind. It's sooooo repetitive. And although I do think that she has learned many different concepts, I don't think that she is fast enough with her addition or subtraction because there are so many other things that she was learning at the same time.

We will be using the last half of this book for 'morning work' practice and I just purchased Apologia Math for our actual curriculum. One thing that I noticed right off the bat with the Apologia is that there are really really good explanations in the STUDENT Book. It really lays everything out for your child so they are not left wondering how long the lesson is. This is something that I really did not like with Abeka, my daughter never really understood when the lesson was done because it wasn't laid out for her in her own text; she always asked how much longer. Because she was getting so bored, I just ended up circling sections on a few worksheets at a time that she worked on, rather than having her do the entire sheet and add up say, 'what does five dimes equal' again when she already knows this. I also didn't see enough family fact practice, although the lesson plans will tell you to write these out on the whiteboard many times. You will probably need to find printable worksheets elsewhere for this concept.

Although I can't say for sure, I am willing to bet that we will be staying with Apologia Mathematics. In my opinion, Abeka is good for parents who want to look over the lesson plans in the Teacher guide in advance, do the lesson, then give 'busy' work worksheets. Not so much a hands-on learning, doesn't allow for the student to apply his/her own critical thinking to following their own printed directions.

bright colorful and keeps interest. Fun lessons that includes animals with counting! I love that it introduces money early on as well. We couldnt be mote happy with this book and will be sticking with Abeka math in the future!!

We tried several other math curriculums before doing Abeka- let me tell yoo- nothing else compares! The lessons are bright and colorful, and very comprehensive. My kids do not get bored as they vary the work done each day. For example one day they may work on reading clocks, subtraction snd measuring items. The following day may have addition, place values and shapes. Its a wonderful math and I highly recommend it!! Also, i did NOT use a teachers guide for 1 and 2 because they were simple to understand.

Finally a workbook that my son hasn't tired of. He seems to really enjoy the work. Its colorful and keeps my son's attention. Easy to teach too.

This book has lots of colorful pictures and interesting visuals. Also shows the "why" of the math better than most books. Keeps the focus of my special needs learner better than dry math facts. Moves slowly with lots of review. One page per day is perfect!