Wow, the part where you told about your friend who let you know you were doing the best you could with the info you had and especially that finding out a better way doesn't mean that you messed up or were negligent...thanks for that🤗 We have used abeka for two years and I am considering switching to alpha Omega now that our children have experienced the abeka reading and phonics program which I think is very good. This video was very helpful👍
Our children used abeka when they attended a private Christian school. So when we decided to hs, that's what we used. It definitely was to much for us, both paper wise and price wise. I was having to go through and mark everything I wanted them to do because there was so much busy work that they honestly didn't need to do. I did love the reading/phonics from abeka. I finally just decided to piece together everything that fit the individual kid and it has been wonderful ever since.
Glad your kids are doing experiments now. Hands on and computers are so important. I’m not sure who writes Abeka but it sounds like it needs to be updated.
This has been so very helpful! We are new to hsing and I have been praying for guidance on curriculum for our soon to be 9th grader...and we both work full time. So someone on a hs fv group suggested AOP and thats how I found Monarch. And just today started the 30 day free trial. Your review has really helped me feel like these 30 days will not be a waste of time. I looked at Abeka and the first thing that I did not like was the price. It is way too expensive for our budget. Monarch is very affordable.
Thank you so much for this! I stumbled across your video because I am currently looking to switch from Abeka. I've been using Abeka for almost 7 yrs and this past 2 yrs I've felt like its just not working for us like it was in the earlier grades. This current school year it is very obvious that we need something different to make sure that my kids are learning what they need to. I am wanting an all online program and came across Monarch and your videos. I'm still checking it out and I really hope its something that would work for us!
Monarch has a free 30 day trial. You plan it as if you're doing the full 180 days to get the feel for how a normal day would go. Let me know if you try it.
If I may... I'm switching AWAY from monarch and to abeka this year. I cannot review abeka, because I haven't used it. I can only review monarch. I did grade 4 and 7 this past year. 1st, the pros: 100%online Almost ZERO involvement on my part, no prepping, very, very minimal grading. The cons: EXTREMELY dry. Nothing colorful, engaging, or friendly about it. Extremely hard to get the kids stimulated by sitting at the computer with black and white reading. That said: the kids EASILY cheated. They never read the lessons, skipped straight to the assignment, guessed their way through it all until they got 100%, (everything is either multiple choice or matching on assignment and tests, with only a few "sentence/paragraph" type questions, which does require teacher review Because they could guess their way through assignments, but can't guess on tests, they failed many tests. I didn't feel my kids learned a thing with monarch, yet easily breezed through, and additionally... the curriculum is extremely dry. It was VERY EASY for me, and I have 2 toddlers, and pregnant as well, so I need the easy workload... but, at the expense of my older 2's education. Not worth it. I don't know if that helps anyone, but I wish I had known myself.
Thank you for the review. We plan to discuss how we handle these situations while using Monarch when we do our full school year review after our vacation.
I have used all of Alpha Omega products,I love them all. And there's test for everything they have for placement and I taught my kids to type using a product they sold me.i print off monarch and switched school house if they want to read and work it on paper. I love switched on school house and monarch. We have successfully mastered everything thanks to this company. Not Enough homeschool families understand how beneficial it is to have these and learning with with the computer and being able to print lesson off and customize. Switched on School House allows me to create curriculum as well,and I wrote a manners curriculum for my daughter's, set it,and they actually used it,it looked just like everything else. I love love love switched on school house and monarch.fyi, switched on allows you to create a transcript as it's a feature built in. The record keepings is amazing. Love your reviews.
We have really loved switching to Monarch so far. We had to delay our one year review since one of ours finished immediately before vacation prep began, but we look forward to filming it VERY soon.
Thank you SO MUCH for this!!! I’ve been really stubborn about the idea of not teaching my son myself, but I’m also very overwhelmed with homeschooling him (level one autism, ADHD signs but no diagnosis), chasing a very determined 1.5 year old explorer, in college and starting a business, the usual housekeeping and cooking, and a barely present husband, so I need to delegate some teaching. Though I hadn’t tried it, I thought Abeka was top-notch. Stumbled across Monarch and thought it looked pretty good. You’ve completely got me on-board!! I thought this would be great because I could have the time to create some fun hands-on activities based on the lessons - then you tell me they already tell us what hands-on activities to do!! I’m so excited for this upcoming year! Thank you for sharing and showing me that this is likely going to be a great fit for us!
How is it working? Your life sounds crazy like mine. I just switched my 3 younger kids to abeka academy k5 and k4. My older daughter couldn't do monarch so she is doing master books but I was overwhelmed so my younger will start abeka this month.
I've been homeschooling for 14 years, and my daughter is in college now. We did Monarch the last 3 years of school, and she does college online. The instructors are really impressed with her. They've all commented on how well she writes (types) papers. I really think online school is beneficial in today's world. I totally agree with you! We do still do cursive, and a writing class with our youngest, but other than that, I think Monarch is great!
Monarch has a great foundation on teaching how to write papers. It was shocking to us that the largest complaint about homeschoolers enrolling in college is most don't know how to cite work. I'm thankful Monarch taught our girls how to do that.
You have no idea how helpful this was. My kids (going to 9th and 6th grade) have been doing accredited abeka for about 6 years now. Everything you said was spot on, especially the lack of how to research using online tools. Neglecting something that is so fundamental in today's day is not good. Like you said, "outdated". And why waiting until high school to type is beyond me. Kids get A's and B's in accredited abeka, but that doesn't motivate them anymore, they are completely burnt. Thank you for confirming my concerns!! Will be switching!
I agree. Accredited is just more time for moms. I know some moms that need that, but we don't. We chose to walk away from high maintenance homeschooling.
This is the most accurate and honest review of Abeka that I’ve seen. I, too, will be switching my kids from Abeka to Alpha Omega. Not sure what curriculum I’ll purchase from them, though. There’s quite a few to choose from. 🤗
My son is currently in Abeka and it has been more frustrating for him than anything. We are going to start doing homeschooling and I have been looking into other Christian programs. Thank you for this review. Every parent that has posted has helped me look into other options. Thank you again
I wish I would have seen this sooner. We went from virtual online to abeka. I didn't like there was no online but as this time we couldn't get into any school so I was just going to what others had done. I had no idea where to start. Will keep this in mind for the next year. Thanks for this video.
Abeka has an amazing phonics/Language program! It helped my daughter so much with reading. I do parent led instead of videos which is less stressful in my opinion. Remember make the curriculum work for you! I did have to make some changes to make our day shorter so I made it work for me and my child. If I would ever change curriculum I would definitely keep language.
We do like the Abeka language curriculum, but we no longer find Abeka practical for our family to use. I would still recommend Abeka for up to 4th grade.
I just finished doing Abeka like a month ago as a student doing it for the first time😂. My parents are looking to put me in monarch . I definitely struggled with doing abeka not because I am a struggle but because they were to advanced for my level ! And it was complicated as well because of you didn't spell a word right you got the question wrong even though the answer was correct . I was always in public school or at least in school for my whole life so I always did hands on activities which is why I love in person school better . Yes they did hands on activities in the videos and they had activity instructions in the textbooks that we could do along with the students in the videos but my parents never had most of the materials we needed to do the craft . And it was unpredictable about when I got some with school because sometimes I would have to stay up very late just to get my schoolwork done because of all the work they made me do ! Which I could've gotten done at like 2:00 if I was at regular school! which makes me sad is that the cost to be in this school is MIND BOGGLING! Not to mention they had me study 3 pages of vocab and spelling when most of them WERE NOT ON THE TEST! not to mention they never told you what was gonna be on the test you'd think they would give you a study guide for what would be on your upcoming quiz or test which they did not! This is coming from an 8th grader not to.mention of how much bold terms they made me do!! I have like 2 pages filled with bold terms? And I went through 6 notebooks in just 1 year!!!
If you mean just using Monarch, mostly yes. We also supplement as we feel needed. If you meal using Calvert online, no. We are parent led with Monarch.
Abeka Accredited is better!! We used the DVD’s and had a Great Experience. We used Abeka for K, 1st, 5th and 6th grade My 2 children enjoyed the freedom. The problem I hear a lot is that it doesn't work so good for ppl that are more hands on homeschoolers. For us, it was about making sure our children followed through on their work. In my opinion Abeka is better for ppl that need a little more help with the teaching like us!! Plus it taught my children to be self-starters. Every year we would just order the entire curriculum for each child, that way it was only one price!!🤷🏽♀️ I would do the binder method and it worked!! Monarch sound pretty cool I'll have to take a look, Thank You for sharing!!💝💝💝
That's why we love homeschooling. You can choose what is best for your family. Abeka was not for our family anymore, but I'm glad it works for your family.
We love abeka, there are some things in this video that seem incorrect. I’m not going to say I’m right and she is wrong, but for starters accredited is not more money, it is the exact same price. She has great points about a lot of reading and writing and doing it on paper and researching from a hard copy. I am grateful for this video though. I just enrolled my daughter in 4th grade with abeka and I have no regrets, but I will be looking into alpha omega for the future. Mold homeschooling to fit you, a bunch of our friends are also in abeka and everyone does it a little different. We don’t watch all videos, I have a friend that only watches Bible and then she does the rest of the teaching.
Monarch sound great! We are considering homeschooling (well I am, he’s just disgusted with public school in our state) so we are at square one! Can anyone suggest a good place to research all our options? Dad and I are divorced but are on the same page on most things when it come to the kids education. We both are able to work from home most days but neither of us are equipped to be our kid’s teachers or make lesson plans! I will look into Alpha Omega/ Monarch for sure!!
In your situation, monarch is probably the easiest solution. 100% online so no books to haul between the 2 houses and zero lesson planning almost no parent grading. That said, I did make a comment on how easy it was to cheat and how absolutely bone dry the work is for kids. No real videos, no color, just dry reading on the computer. They can choose to have the lesson read aloud to them by a robotic voice which is like nails on a chalkboard. But, (personal opinion here) I think homeschool is more about moral and character development and the BEST AND OBVIOUS alternative to public school. I can't imagine using public school in today's world anymore, especially this year. So while I shy away from recommending monarch, I am also divorced and if i had to share the homeschool load with my ex, monarch would be the least complicated way for all of us. Good luck and I'll say a prayer for you because your situation is very personal to me. You're doing the best you can, and you should be proud of yourself. God bless you
One thing I would add is that depending on your son's age, you need to research high school diplomas. I don't believe monarch offers a diploma program, while Abeka does, which is one more reason I switched to abeka for this next year, as we are doing 8th grade for our oldest and I wanted to try abeka for the yeast before high school just in case I didn't like it. But I just got abekas curriculum... boxes and boxes of books I can't imagine sending the kids to dads house with that volume of paperwork and I'd resent it if I had to do all the lesson planning for his scheduled time, as it looks like it will be kind of intense. I know my response was long winded but I really understand the complexity and delicacy of your situation!
@@Knittingmylifeaway Thank you! I really appreciate your taking the time to respond to my post! The kids dad and I are finally now BOTH on board with homeschooling so I am back to doing the research. I’m thinking I can do the majority share of the homeschooling but 100% online to start will likely be the way we go. As a newbie I need some handholding The plan is homeschooling for middle school and then decide to continue or try high school. Lots of books going back and fourth doesn’t appeal to me- they leave stuff all the time already!
The placement test is just for the parents to know what grade in Monarch they should be in. They should average between 50-70%. Monarch does grade most of the work for you. Written assignments are graded by the parents (such as book reports, outlines, drawings, etc.).
Question this is first time home schooling my daughter is a junior this year would monarch be good for high school students u said that accredited would be better is that true what is the difference thanks
We just started monarch today from abeka and I'm really struggling with the writing aspect. My kids are 3rd and 4th grade. Did you feel any type of way going from all writing to basically all typing?
We definitely struggled with this for the first few months. Their typing was so slow, and one hated it completely. After 3 years of virtual, their typing is drastically improving. The way my husband and I see it is more work experience today requires kids to be able to type. So we invested time into teaching typing, removing assignments to allow longer to complete base assignments, and for my dyslexic student, we enabled voice to text to allow her to speak her reports instead. Also, type your reports into Google Docs, not Monarch.
Great info! I currently am using Abeka and thinking about switching to Monarch. I have 3rd, 4th and 6th graders. Do they just read the material online, or do they have videos and interactive learning for the subjects?
Yes it does! They have hands-on activities, digital spelling bees, short videos, and more. You can also buy science kits through the Alpha Omega website that correspond with each subject.
I am considering Monarch for next year. I had the same question about "read the material online". From my research it seems that there is more reading for the student than video lectures. I am currently trying to find out if that is the case. It will be a determining factor for us.
We are doing abeka academy and I absolutely loathe it. We did the good and the beautiful before And loved it. Just fyi. Abeka DOES teach negative numbers and number line and square root. My seventh grader is learning this and my fifth grader does number line etc. …..regardless I’m with you. The book load is horse💩. I have 56 books for tests quizzes keys exams essays book reports just for me as the teacher for two kids!!!!! The math goes CRAZY fast and the book gives two lines to explain the problems 🙄. School takes us 5-6 hours. I AM COMPLETELY FRUSTRATED WITH ABEKA ACADEMY and the amount of work I have to do each week (hours a day) and the lack of help and the amount of money. I’m done-but I don’t want all virtual for my kids. I want them to know paper math. Ugh. Help!
I'm glad to hear Abeka finally changed to teaching negatives. We have a Playlist of all our homeschooling videos over the years, including what we switched to the past two years for us. We found doing virtual math by requiring our kids to write the problems out has become the best solution for us. My two dyslexics have video instruction with Khan Academy to show them how, and my two APs can read the transcript for each video and see a written version of the step-by-step instructions. The virtual allows us to video instruction and auto-grading. Requiring them to keep a pronged pocket folder keeps both them and us accountable for making sure the problems are written out. If they miss the problem, they're required to go back, write down the example, and do it again. If there's a lesson we want to skip, we do. We also sometimes take days off completely from virtual learning and print themed worksheets for math. I found those days help our kids reset when they're struggling with advanced math. I encourage you to go back and watch our other videos this year on what our kids are using for math and other subjects.
Thanks for this. I was starting to doubt our online route with all the old fashioned friends criticism. You have hit the nail on its head. Most jobs today are in IT, even nurses and Dr's rely on tech.... Abeka keeps trying to go back to doing things the way it was 15 years ago(which is stone age compared to today). I also find that interactive online learning keeps a lot of knowledge in long-term memory. Paper learning kept most of our lessons on short term memory. Crazy, but online has really rooted knowledge. Shout out from South Africa 🌍
I think it's still important for the kids to learn things like long division. What if they are in a position where they don't have access to electronic devices? It also helps them to understand how math works.
My kids have never been in public school, so I can't compare my own children's work vs public school. Monarch is definitely not as extreme as Abeka. I still feel that the girls are receiving an overall better education for the real world with Monarch than with Abeka.
@@MsKati30 after this initial comment, we checked around with several teachers and schools in the area. Monarch is on par or above grade level with schools in our area. It just depends on where you live.
I would say after using monarch last year that it feels below grade level. We never used public school but compared with the neighbor kids who were always at our house and in the same grades as my 2 kids, and compared with the material they learned the previous year in private school, it was borderline embarrassing. This is one more reason I switched away from monarch, besides not offering a high school diploma.
Thanks for the inf. How is going with the switch. I have been with abeka for 7yrs and I totally I understand I am looking for switch too. Any pros that you have find on monarch?
We'll be doing our one year review at the end of this school year. I will quickly summarize with I'm glad we made the switch and am overall happy with the differences between Monarch and Abeka.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I did and I found it even more helpful thank you. Making a solid decision this week.(between this program and liberty online academy) Allthough we are looking at Ignite christian academy it seems to be the exact same program
The entire lesson was built around using physical encyclopedias. It was not just "use an encyclopedia." It was "here is how to use a physical copy of an encyclopedia. Now write down the words at the top of the page to let you know you found the right page." While I believe teaching how to use guide words is still important, it was not possible for us to finish this assignment.
how many assignments do they have per day? my daughter is in public school doing virtual and they are absolutely drowning her in work and she is in the 7th grade. I am definitely thinking of switching to something else to help her better!
With Monarch, you choose how many assignments they have per day. Usually, mine only have 1 per day with a 180 day school year. They also have days off per subject before tests to allow for just. studying
We use parent led teaching in our home. I've never used the Abeka academy. I would still recommend Abeka for K-2nd grade for the strong emphasis on phonetics. I have no experience with AOP's K-2nd grade curriculums.
No! Do not do it. The Abeka Academy is too much. She said the workload in parent led is a lot well it's worse with accredited. You have to watch the videos because they track that and you can't skip ahead past the fluff. I'm doing accredited 2nd grade with Abeka and so far I regret it. We have no life and everything revolves around this ridiculously long school schedule. It's literally like bringing the traditional school into your home as far as time involved. Very little wiggle room and you can't go shopping, socialize the children, doctor's/dentist appointments without falling behind because you feel like your chained to the desk for 7+ hours 5 days a week. And good luck if you or your child get sick with the cold or flu for a week (happened to us). I know I'm not supposed to be this stressed out homeschooling.
It depends on how many children you have and if you take advantage of their yearly sales. Monarch is still cheaper than Abeka, though. You can calculate a quote on the AOP website before committing to purchase.
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Thanks God I chose Monarch , we are all so pleased 🙌🏼
That's good to hear.
Wow, the part where you told about your friend who let you know you were doing the best you could with the info you had and especially that finding out a better way doesn't mean that you messed up or were negligent...thanks for that🤗 We have used abeka for two years and I am considering switching to alpha Omega now that our children have experienced the abeka reading and phonics program which I think is very good. This video was very helpful👍
I am so glad we helped.
Our children used abeka when they attended a private Christian school. So when we decided to hs, that's what we used. It definitely was to much for us, both paper wise and price wise. I was having to go through and mark everything I wanted them to do because there was so much busy work that they honestly didn't need to do. I did love the reading/phonics from abeka. I finally just decided to piece together everything that fit the individual kid and it has been wonderful ever since.
Same here. We love their phonics program and still love it, but Monarch is a better option for us.
Glad your kids are doing experiments now. Hands on and computers are so important. I’m not sure who writes Abeka but it sounds like it needs to be updated.
I agree.
This has been so very helpful! We are new to hsing and I have been praying for guidance on curriculum for our soon to be 9th grader...and we both work full time. So someone on a hs fv group suggested AOP and thats how I found Monarch. And just today started the 30 day free trial. Your review has really helped me feel like these 30 days will not be a waste of time. I looked at Abeka and the first thing that I did not like was the price. It is way too expensive for our budget. Monarch is very affordable.
Monarch is very affordable and is a great all-in-one curriculum.
Thank you so much for this! I stumbled across your video because I am currently looking to switch from Abeka. I've been using Abeka for almost 7 yrs and this past 2 yrs I've felt like its just not working for us like it was in the earlier grades. This current school year it is very obvious that we need something different to make sure that my kids are learning what they need to. I am wanting an all online program and came across Monarch and your videos. I'm still checking it out and I really hope its something that would work for us!
Monarch has a free 30 day trial. You plan it as if you're doing the full 180 days to get the feel for how a normal day would go. Let me know if you try it.
If I may... I'm switching AWAY from monarch and to abeka this year. I cannot review abeka, because I haven't used it. I can only review monarch. I did grade 4 and 7 this past year.
1st, the pros:
100%online
Almost ZERO involvement on my part, no prepping, very, very minimal grading.
The cons:
EXTREMELY dry.
Nothing colorful, engaging, or friendly about it. Extremely hard to get the kids stimulated by sitting at the computer with black and white reading.
That said: the kids EASILY cheated. They never read the lessons, skipped straight to the assignment, guessed their way through it all until they got 100%, (everything is either multiple choice or matching on assignment and tests, with only a few "sentence/paragraph" type questions, which does require teacher review
Because they could guess their way through assignments, but can't guess on tests, they failed many tests.
I didn't feel my kids learned a thing with monarch, yet easily breezed through, and additionally... the curriculum is extremely dry.
It was VERY EASY for me, and I have 2 toddlers, and pregnant as well, so I need the easy workload... but, at the expense of my older 2's education. Not worth it.
I don't know if that helps anyone, but I wish I had known myself.
Thank you for the review. We plan to discuss how we handle these situations while using Monarch when we do our full school year review after our vacation.
I did 3rd grade Alpha and Omega with my child. It's SOOOOOOO BORING!!
What grades were your older two kids?
@@nikkicatron5215 they were in 4th grade and 7th grade when we used monarch.
I will say, 7th grade Monarch is harder for hands-on kids because there's less hands-on activities.
I have used all of Alpha Omega products,I love them all. And there's test for everything they have for placement and I taught my kids to type using a product they sold me.i print off monarch and switched school house if they want to read and work it on paper. I love switched on school house and monarch. We have successfully mastered everything thanks to this company. Not Enough homeschool families understand how beneficial it is to have these and learning with with the computer and being able to print lesson off and customize. Switched on School House allows me to create curriculum as well,and I wrote a manners curriculum for my daughter's, set it,and they actually used it,it looked just like everything else. I love love love switched on school house and monarch.fyi, switched on allows you to create a transcript as it's a feature built in. The record keepings is amazing. Love your reviews.
We have really loved switching to Monarch so far. We had to delay our one year review since one of ours finished immediately before vacation prep began, but we look forward to filming it VERY soon.
Thank you SO MUCH for this!!! I’ve been really stubborn about the idea of not teaching my son myself, but I’m also very overwhelmed with homeschooling him (level one autism, ADHD signs but no diagnosis), chasing a very determined 1.5 year old explorer, in college and starting a business, the usual housekeeping and cooking, and a barely present husband, so I need to delegate some teaching. Though I hadn’t tried it, I thought Abeka was top-notch. Stumbled across Monarch and thought it looked pretty good. You’ve completely got me on-board!! I thought this would be great because I could have the time to create some fun hands-on activities based on the lessons - then you tell me they already tell us what hands-on activities to do!! I’m so excited for this upcoming year! Thank you for sharing and showing me that this is likely going to be a great fit for us!
I'm so glad this was a help to you!
How is it working? Your life sounds crazy like mine. I just switched my 3 younger kids to abeka academy k5 and k4. My older daughter couldn't do monarch so she is doing master books but I was overwhelmed so my younger will start abeka this month.
@@largefamilychaos1837 may I ask what your older daughters issue was with monarch?
I've been homeschooling for 14 years, and my daughter is in college now. We did Monarch the last 3 years of school, and she does college online. The instructors are really impressed with her. They've all commented on how well she writes (types) papers. I really think online school is beneficial in today's world. I totally agree with you! We do still do cursive, and a writing class with our youngest, but other than that, I think Monarch is great!
Monarch has a great foundation on teaching how to write papers. It was shocking to us that the largest complaint about homeschoolers enrolling in college is most don't know how to cite work. I'm thankful Monarch taught our girls how to do that.
What did you use for her earlier grades?
My oldest used Abeka for K-5 to 7th grade, my middle through 5th, and my youngest through third. They all switched to Monarch for 8th, 6th, and 4th.
You have no idea how helpful this was. My kids (going to 9th and 6th grade) have been doing accredited abeka for about 6 years now. Everything you said was spot on, especially the lack of how to research using online tools. Neglecting something that is so fundamental in today's day is not good. Like you said, "outdated". And why waiting until high school to type is beyond me. Kids get A's and B's in accredited abeka, but that doesn't motivate them anymore, they are completely burnt. Thank you for confirming my concerns!! Will be switching!
We are so glad we could help.
I'm surprised you did accredited for so long. It sucks! It's like bring regular school into the home. Takes up WAY too much time.
I agree. Accredited is just more time for moms. I know some moms that need that, but we don't. We chose to walk away from high maintenance homeschooling.
This is the most accurate and honest review of Abeka that I’ve seen. I, too, will be switching my kids from Abeka to Alpha Omega. Not sure what curriculum I’ll purchase from them, though. There’s quite a few to choose from. 🤗
I love that there are several options to choose from for Alpha Omega. I plan on doing a one year review of Monarch at the end of the school year.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I forward to hearing your review on Monarch!
My son is currently in Abeka and it has been more frustrating for him than anything. We are going to start doing homeschooling and I have been looking into other Christian programs. Thank you for this review. Every parent that has posted has helped me look into other options. Thank you again
I'm so glad to help.
So Alpha/Omega is Monarch?
THANK you for your honesty!!! Jesus loves you and your soul is priceless!
I appreciate that!
I wish I would have seen this sooner. We went from virtual online to abeka. I didn't like there was no online but as this time we couldn't get into any school so I was just going to what others had done. I had no idea where to start. Will keep this in mind for the next year. Thanks for this video.
I didn't know about it, either, until a friend recommended Monarch.
Abeka has an amazing phonics/Language program! It helped my daughter so much with reading. I do parent led instead of videos which is less stressful in my opinion. Remember make the curriculum work for you! I did have to make some changes to make our day shorter so I made it work for me and my child. If I would ever change curriculum I would definitely keep language.
We do like the Abeka language curriculum, but we no longer find Abeka practical for our family to use. I would still recommend Abeka for up to 4th grade.
Can you tell me more about what changes you made to make it work? I really want to go with Abeka but I'm very intimidated By how involved it is.
I just finished doing Abeka like a month ago as a student doing it for the first time😂. My parents are looking to put me in monarch . I definitely struggled with doing abeka not because I am a struggle but because they were to advanced for my level ! And it was complicated as well because of you didn't spell a word right you got the question wrong even though the answer was correct . I was always in public school or at least in school for my whole life so I always did hands on activities which is why I love in person school better . Yes they did hands on activities in the videos and they had activity instructions in the textbooks that we could do along with the students in the videos but my parents never had most of the materials we needed to do the craft . And it was unpredictable about when I got some with school because sometimes I would have to stay up very late just to get my schoolwork done because of all the work they made me do ! Which I could've gotten done at like 2:00 if I was at regular school! which makes me sad is that the cost to be in this school is MIND BOGGLING! Not to mention they had me study 3 pages of vocab and spelling when most of them WERE NOT ON THE TEST! not to mention they never told you what was gonna be on the test you'd think they would give you a study guide for what would be on your upcoming quiz or test which they did not! This is coming from an 8th grader not to.mention of how much bold terms they made me do!! I have like 2 pages filled with bold terms? And I went through 6 notebooks in just 1 year!!!
Please excuse the autocorrect 😂
All of those are good reasons to switch curriculum. That's why our girls are doing Monarch now.
I have heard great stuff about Monarch. I look forward to hearing an upadate!
We posted our update video last week: Monarch 1 Year Review.
I like monarch we just started using it!
We're really enjoying it so far.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure are you using Monarch as an all in one?
If you mean just using Monarch, mostly yes. We also supplement as we feel needed. If you meal using Calvert online, no. We are parent led with Monarch.
Great info! Thank you for the time. GOD Bless.
Thank you for watching!
Abeka Accredited is better!! We used the DVD’s and had a Great Experience. We used Abeka for K, 1st, 5th and 6th grade My 2 children enjoyed the freedom. The problem I hear a lot is that it doesn't work so good for ppl that are more hands on homeschoolers. For us, it was about making sure our children followed through on their work. In my opinion Abeka is better for ppl that need a little more help with the teaching like us!! Plus it taught my children to be self-starters.
Every year we would just order the entire curriculum for each child, that way it was only one price!!🤷🏽♀️ I would do the binder method and it worked!!
Monarch sound pretty cool I'll have to take a look, Thank You for sharing!!💝💝💝
That's why we love homeschooling. You can choose what is best for your family. Abeka was not for our family anymore, but I'm glad it works for your family.
I wish I had seen this before I enrolled my daughter. This will be our first year with Abeka.
You can do this. It's not my favorite curriculum anymore, but you can make it work for this year.
We love abeka, there are some things in this video that seem incorrect. I’m not going to say I’m right and she is wrong, but for starters accredited is not more money, it is the exact same price. She has great points about a lot of reading and writing and doing it on paper and researching from a hard copy. I am grateful for this video though. I just enrolled my daughter in 4th grade with abeka and I have no regrets, but I will be looking into alpha omega for the future. Mold homeschooling to fit you, a bunch of our friends are also in abeka and everyone does it a little different. We don’t watch all videos, I have a friend that only watches Bible and then she does the rest of the teaching.
We were doing parent led, which is not accredited and is cheaper than with video.
Accredited is more money which is why we chose unaccredited
Monarch sound great!
We are considering homeschooling (well I am, he’s just disgusted with public school in our state) so we are at square one! Can anyone suggest a good place to research all our options? Dad and I are divorced but are on the same page on most things when it come to the kids education. We both are able to work from home most days but neither of us are equipped to be our kid’s teachers or make lesson plans! I will look into Alpha Omega/ Monarch for sure!!
Home School Legal Defense Association is always the best place to start.
In your situation, monarch is probably the easiest solution. 100% online so no books to haul between the 2 houses and zero lesson planning almost no parent grading. That said, I did make a comment on how easy it was to cheat and how absolutely bone dry the work is for kids. No real videos, no color, just dry reading on the computer. They can choose to have the lesson read aloud to them by a robotic voice which is like nails on a chalkboard. But, (personal opinion here) I think homeschool is more about moral and character development and the BEST AND OBVIOUS alternative to public school. I can't imagine using public school in today's world anymore, especially this year. So while I shy away from recommending monarch, I am also divorced and if i had to share the homeschool load with my ex, monarch would be the least complicated way for all of us. Good luck and I'll say a prayer for you because your situation is very personal to me. You're doing the best you can, and you should be proud of yourself. God bless you
One thing I would add is that depending on your son's age, you need to research high school diplomas. I don't believe monarch offers a diploma program, while Abeka does, which is one more reason I switched to abeka for this next year, as we are doing 8th grade for our oldest and I wanted to try abeka for the yeast before high school just in case I didn't like it.
But I just got abekas curriculum... boxes and boxes of books
I can't imagine sending the kids to dads house with that volume of paperwork and I'd resent it if I had to do all the lesson planning for his scheduled time, as it looks like it will be kind of intense.
I know my response was long winded but I really understand the complexity and delicacy of your situation!
@@Knittingmylifeaway Thank you! I really appreciate your taking the time to respond to my post! The kids dad and I are finally now BOTH on board with homeschooling so I am back to doing the research. I’m thinking I can do the majority share of the homeschooling but 100% online to start will likely be the way we go. As a newbie I need some handholding The plan is homeschooling for middle school and then decide to continue or try high school. Lots of books going back and fourth doesn’t appeal to me- they leave stuff all the time already!
Thank you for the video.
Is the curriculum at mixed grade levels based on the placement tests?
Do they grade the work or is that up to the parent?
The placement test is just for the parents to know what grade in Monarch they should be in. They should average between 50-70%.
Monarch does grade most of the work for you. Written assignments are graded by the parents (such as book reports, outlines, drawings, etc.).
Question this is first time home schooling my daughter is a junior this year would monarch be good for high school students u said that accredited would be better is that true what is the difference thanks
For a first-time mom, Monarch is a great option. Honestly, the accreditation or not doesn't matter. Check with your state for graduation requirements.
Thank you! Super helpful!!!
Glad it helped!
We just started monarch today from abeka and I'm really struggling with the writing aspect. My kids are 3rd and 4th grade. Did you feel any type of way going from all writing to basically all typing?
We definitely struggled with this for the first few months. Their typing was so slow, and one hated it completely. After 3 years of virtual, their typing is drastically improving. The way my husband and I see it is more work experience today requires kids to be able to type. So we invested time into teaching typing, removing assignments to allow longer to complete base assignments, and for my dyslexic student, we enabled voice to text to allow her to speak her reports instead. Also, type your reports into Google Docs, not Monarch.
@This Homeschooling Adventure ok I'm glad I'm not the only one. And thank you. That is all fantastic information and reassurance.
Great info! I currently am using Abeka and thinking about switching to Monarch. I have 3rd, 4th and 6th graders. Do they just read the material online, or do they have videos and interactive learning for the subjects?
Yes it does! They have hands-on activities, digital spelling bees, short videos, and more. You can also buy science kits through the Alpha Omega website that correspond with each subject.
I am considering Monarch for next year. I had the same question about "read the material online". From my research it seems that there is more reading for the student than video lectures. I am currently trying to find out if that is the case. It will be a determining factor for us.
We are doing abeka academy and I absolutely loathe it. We did the good and the beautiful before And loved it. Just fyi. Abeka DOES teach negative numbers and number line and square root. My seventh grader is learning this and my fifth grader does number line etc. …..regardless I’m with you. The book load is horse💩. I have 56 books for tests quizzes keys exams essays book reports just for me as the teacher for two kids!!!!! The math goes CRAZY fast and the book gives two lines to explain the problems 🙄. School takes us 5-6 hours. I AM COMPLETELY FRUSTRATED WITH ABEKA ACADEMY and the amount of work I have to do each week (hours a day) and the lack of help and the amount of money. I’m done-but I don’t want all virtual for my kids. I want them to know paper math. Ugh. Help!
I'm glad to hear Abeka finally changed to teaching negatives. We have a Playlist of all our homeschooling videos over the years, including what we switched to the past two years for us. We found doing virtual math by requiring our kids to write the problems out has become the best solution for us. My two dyslexics have video instruction with Khan Academy to show them how, and my two APs can read the transcript for each video and see a written version of the step-by-step instructions. The virtual allows us to video instruction and auto-grading. Requiring them to keep a pronged pocket folder keeps both them and us accountable for making sure the problems are written out. If they miss the problem, they're required to go back, write down the example, and do it again. If there's a lesson we want to skip, we do. We also sometimes take days off completely from virtual learning and print themed worksheets for math. I found those days help our kids reset when they're struggling with advanced math. I encourage you to go back and watch our other videos this year on what our kids are using for math and other subjects.
Thanks for this. I was starting to doubt our online route with all the old fashioned friends criticism. You have hit the nail on its head. Most jobs today are in IT, even nurses and Dr's rely on tech.... Abeka keeps trying to go back to doing things the way it was 15 years ago(which is stone age compared to today). I also find that interactive online learning keeps a lot of knowledge in long-term memory. Paper learning kept most of our lessons on short term memory. Crazy, but online has really rooted knowledge. Shout out from South Africa 🌍
That's exactly how we feel. We'll be doing our one year review of Monarch very soon.
I think it's still important for the kids to learn things like long division. What if they are in a position where they don't have access to electronic devices? It also helps them to understand how math works.
I have read that alpha and omega is not that rigorous and that it might be at public school level. What is your opinion?
My kids have never been in public school, so I can't compare my own children's work vs public school. Monarch is definitely not as extreme as Abeka. I still feel that the girls are receiving an overall better education for the real world with Monarch than with Abeka.
Thank you for asking! Also, we will be doing a 1 year review of Monarch very soon, possibly towards the end of the school year.
My kids have been in public school- Monarch is WAY beyond the low bar the school systems set.
@@MsKati30 after this initial comment, we checked around with several teachers and schools in the area. Monarch is on par or above grade level with schools in our area. It just depends on where you live.
I would say after using monarch last year that it feels below grade level. We never used public school but compared with the neighbor kids who were always at our house and in the same grades as my 2 kids, and compared with the material they learned the previous year in private school, it was borderline embarrassing. This is one more reason I switched away from monarch, besides not offering a high school diploma.
WE experienced the same with abeka!!
You're not alone.
Thank you for the information 😊
We hope it helps!
Thanks for the inf. How is going with the switch. I have been with abeka for 7yrs and I totally I understand I am looking for switch too. Any pros that you have find on monarch?
We'll be doing our one year review at the end of this school year. I will quickly summarize with I'm glad we made the switch and am overall happy with the differences between Monarch and Abeka.
Do you konw anything about all digital for abeka?
No, I don't.
I’m new to homeschooling
I need so much help
Monarch is it very expensive
It was cheaper for us than buying Abeka books and teacher keys. It may be more expensive than some curriculums, but we considered it worth the cost.
We used Monarch for our daughter's 5th grade. She loved it. It cost $40 a month
We just started 5th grade with one of ours with Monarch.
Oh my goodness this was so helpful
We're glad it helped. Don't forget to check out the one year review recently uploaded.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I did and I found it even more helpful thank you. Making a solid decision this week.(between this program and liberty online academy) Allthough we are looking at Ignite christian academy it seems to be the exact same program
I'm sure abeka won't mind if you use an online encyclopedia instead of going to your library for a physical one.
The entire lesson was built around using physical encyclopedias. It was not just "use an encyclopedia." It was "here is how to use a physical copy of an encyclopedia. Now write down the words at the top of the page to let you know you found the right page." While I believe teaching how to use guide words is still important, it was not possible for us to finish this assignment.
how many assignments do they have per day? my daughter is in public school doing virtual and they are absolutely drowning her in work and she is in the 7th grade. I am definitely thinking of switching to something else to help her better!
With Monarch, you choose how many assignments they have per day. Usually, mine only have 1 per day with a 180 day school year. They also have days off per subject before tests to allow for just. studying
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure thank you so much!! Been considering monarch for a while now. Definitely think it’s the right move!
Are you still using monarch???
We recently shared our one year review and discussed our plans moving forward.
Do you know of any good homeschool programs that don’t inject religious or political views and just focus on the basic subjects?
Actually monarch has an option that doesn’t throw the Bible at you it’s nice
I am unaware of any at this time.
It does have Bible mingled into other subjects in some of the grades.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure yes it randomly mentions it but if you don’t click the option for bible studies I noticed that it’s not nearly as bad
Would you recommend ABEKA academy for K5?
We use parent led teaching in our home. I've never used the Abeka academy. I would still recommend Abeka for K-2nd grade for the strong emphasis on phonetics. I have no experience with AOP's K-2nd grade curriculums.
No! Do not do it. The Abeka Academy is too much. She said the workload in parent led is a lot well it's worse with accredited. You have to watch the videos because they track that and you can't skip ahead past the fluff. I'm doing accredited 2nd grade with Abeka and so far I regret it. We have no life and everything revolves around this ridiculously long school schedule. It's literally like bringing the traditional school into your home as far as time involved. Very little wiggle room and you can't go shopping, socialize the children, doctor's/dentist appointments without falling behind because you feel like your chained to the desk for 7+ hours 5 days a week. And good luck if you or your child get sick with the cold or flu for a week (happened to us). I know I'm not supposed to be this stressed out homeschooling.
I agree. You should never be chained to a homeschool curriculum. Always explore all available options and pray about it.
We did abeka, and it was not fit for my family.
We were the same. That's why we switched. It's okay to choose what's best for your family.
@This Homeschooling Adventure everyone I know does abeka. My son has autism. We are still looking for a good curriculum for him.
Are u still using this
Check out our 2 year update video.
Can not find it
ruclips.net/video/kiQHeOCM6dc/видео.html
How much does it cost
It depends on how many children you have and if you take advantage of their yearly sales. Monarch is still cheaper than Abeka, though. You can calculate a quote on the AOP website before committing to purchase.