Abeka, Sonlight or Alpha Omega lifepac

MrsEKC

I am torn between these 3.  I am new to homeschooling and want to buy a boxed curriculum (everything you need for the school year).  I have 4 kids and this is new to me, so I thought a complete package would work best to help me get started.  I will be teaching Pre-K, K, and 2nd.  (I plan to do my own thing for Pre-K).  Any recommendations?  I want a curriculum that works good for teaching multiple children.  I also want to be able to use the materials from my oldest for his younger siblings (with the exception of their workbooks of course).  I hope they don't change the curriculum so that you can't use previous parent guide books.

Mama-Bear

If you're torn between them just because they're packaged, there's also MFW (with MFW you have to buy math and LA, but they have recommendations) and BJU.  I don't know much about AO, and very little about Abeka.  Sonlight (and MFW) are both literature based (Sonlight more than MFW).  Much of your teaching will be through the literature in the program.  A big difference between Sonlight and MFW is that with Sonlight you buy all of the books, with MFW you check many out from the library (and the IG won't tell you to read page x-x in book y like Sonlight will, you're just supposed to pick up and read what your kids are interested in).  MFW seems to more easily combine a larger age range, 2nd grade-8th grade I believe, but at the convention we went to it seemed very light.  

BJU and Abeka are more traditional.  Both are closer to what children are doing in PS (as far as book work, not content).  You'll have "text books" (paperback) and more workbooks.  We opted for BJU over Abeka because I've heard that Abeka is a lot of memorization and not so much critical thinking.  Both BJU and Abeka have video's you can use as supplemental instruction, BJU is set up more for homeschool and gives more of a 1:1 feeling, Abeka is taped in a classroom so it makes it feel more like your child is part of the class.  BJU and Abeka aren't set up to be able to combine children but you can always tweak (DS1 will be in 1st and my twins will be K4,we'll be doing the grade between for bible, history, and science).  

Search FB, you should find groups for each specific provider (I know I've been on MFW, Sonlight, and now BJU groups).  There are also a TON of generic HS groups.  

Also, look around and see if there's a convention coming to your area.  I really like Sonlight but had settled on MFW (for cost) for this coming year but when we got there DH and I fell in love with BJU.

CiderWench

I think it depends on what your family likes. At our house, we love a more literature based curriculum and are not looking to make our homeschool similar to public school. If this is the case for you, I'd go with Sonlight in a heartbeat. I do recommend you reading their list of reasons not to use Sonlight, though ~ it is a lot of reading aloud by mom. Sonlight is also an easy curriculum to adapt to many ages/grades.

Aside from the religious conflicts with our family, Abeka and AO have too much busy work for my taste. From my research and speaking with other moms who have used these curricula, I feel like Abeka is probably the stronger program of the two.

In addition to Facebook groups, all of the above curricula have Yahoo Groups you can join to answer questions and find support. I especially love the files they offer.

KEfam5

Hi, I was just passing by here and thought I could add that, I was homeschooled using Abeka and I loved it. I did Abeka video and I loved the teachers, curriculum, everything about it. I feel it was very thorough and every year it builds off of what was taught the previous year. If you have any questions, I would be happy to help. I fully plan on using it for my children. *Goes back to lurking*

tamarar5

I did Life PACs as a student and enjoyed them. We started out using AcePaces (LifePacs/Alpha Omega by s different publisher) with my first grade this year and we have absolutely hated them! But that is my daughter's learning style. She isn't coping well with the workbooks.