Language Arts Curriculum Comparison | Abeka vs The Good and the Beautiful LA Review | Pros and Cons
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- In this video, I'm comparing two well-known language arts curriculums for homeschool: The Good and the Beautiful LA and Abeka LA. Both of these curriculums claim to be all-inclusive language arts curriculums in elementary. One has been around for decades, while the other is much newer, but each has a strong following in the homeschool world. In this video I'll compare and contrast the two and talk about some of the pros and cons of The Good and the Beautiful and of Abeka.
The language arts curriculum that is right for your family is going to depend on what you're looking for and what your child needs. That's why this video doesn't have any definitive conclusion that one is "better" than the other, but I hope that it is helpful to be able to see some of the strengths and weaknesses of the two programs.
One thing I did mean to talk about, in regards to The Good and the Beautiful, is that my impression after using it is that it definitely has a less overtly-Christian feel to it, in comparison to Abeka or other Christian curriculums. The Good and the Beautiful definitely has a worldview based on one God who created the world, but other than that, it seemed to simply keep a focus on morality, rather than the applied theology that you might see in a more overtly Christian program.
You can find The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts available for sale (or free download for levels 1-5) on their company website, and Abeka Language Arts curriculum sets available for sale on their website.
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This is such a great and thorough overview of each curriculum. So helpful!
Glad it's helpful!
This was super interesting to see the differences! Thanks for sharing this ❤
Thanks for watching! Both programs have a lot of strengths!
Great comparison video! Thanks for this!
Thanks so much for watching!
I have never used either one of these curriculums for Language Arts. Thank you for an in depth look at both of them. God bless ❤️
Thank you so much for watching!
Thank you for your thorough reviews!
Thank you!
We love TG&TB. It’s lovely and thorough. I actually really appreciate the “ challenging words”. It opens up a good discussion and gives my kids confidence.
I like the challenging words aspect, but because there's no instructions to have discussions about meaning, I do worry that some parents might not realize that simply having their kids read words they don't understand can reinforce bad habits of reading without comprehension (a big struggle for many--they can read fluently but don't understand what they read). That's why I just wanted to point out the key importance of those discussions! :)
This was a REALLY great comparison!
Thank you!
Thank you this was helpful!
Thank you for a great overview of both curricula! 😊
Thank you!
Hey girl! Just subscribed! Love your fam and excited to see more from you!
Thank you! I've watched some of your videos before and think they're awesome!
When I went to school we used Abeka, so that took me down memory lane. Great video 😊
haha, I used it in high school so the books are quite familiar from my school days, too!
I love hearing your feedback on curriculums. These 2 curriculums are my 2 choices for LA for my 1st grader. It still a tough decision.🤔
I understand! They both have a lot of good points! A lot of people really like Abeka for the first couple of grades and then move away from it once kids have gotten that solid foundation of all the basics. It's definitely more organized/systematic in comparison to TGTB, which mixes different 'ingredients' together--for some kids, that makes language arts more interesting and fun, and for others, it can be more confusing.
This is a great comparison! I agree with you about the Copyright page. It would be nice to SEE where to find that info in a book!
Yes! I loved that they covered that topic, but having a diagram or example page would have made it easier for kids to really wrap their mind around the ideas and to complete the little assignment.
This video was super helpful! THANK YOU!
We have been using TGATB from K-3, and have been struggling with a few things.
1) the biggest challenge for us has been the writing assignments. My boys are not strong in imagination, which I think is one contributing factor.
So when I hear you say Abeka may be weak in writing, I’m thinking to myself “ That’s just what we need!” 🙃
2) I don’t love the amount of parental involvement that is needed. Given my schedule in the near future, we need to work more towards independence.
Your video here has given me some valuable insight into Abeka LA. I did Abeka Math and LA in my school years, and did fine with it, so I feel like my kids likely would be fine too.
Again, thank you! Your videos in general are well done!
Abeka's workbooks definitely don't require as much teacher involvement, or "imagination"--ha! They are straightforward and very solid on grammar instruction & practice. Glad this is helpful! I always think that actually seeing materials and seeing the workpages helps a lot with being able to imagine whether or not they will work in your real-life homeschool
Thanks for the video flip through. You just saved me some money
Thank you! I always want to be helpful so that families can buy what is going to work for them and not have to waste money!
Yeah because my kids aren’t ready to take manuscript and turn it to cursive so I’d rather hold off on this for now.
Curious thanks for helping me understand the comparisons
Thanks for watching!
We actually use both every year. Abeka is her busy work and we do TGTB three days a week. Starting a new level in January for TGTB since it’s so advanced. I love them both and can’t imagine not doing one. :)
That sounds like an awesome plan! In fact, I'm pretty sure that this past year, that's pretty similar to what my youngest sister was doing--the language book from Abeka as independent work and then TGTB with me.
You just took me back to my schooling...I had totally forgotten about diagramming Bible verses!
haha, yes, diagramming Bible verses is a thing in Abeka and I wouldn't be surprised if other Christian curricula do it too. I'm a big fan of the Bible...less of a big fan of diagramming Bible verses because they aren't the best examples of natural English grammar (since, of course, they're translated from ancient texts!)
You look so cute!!! Love your hair and earrings. And I'm not just saying that because you complimented mine! 😉
haha, thanks, Dina! :)
We have done both, abeka and tgtb. And with the TGTB is the only time I have seen my son remembering the subjects while on vacation, he enjoyed his classes so much, he has learned so much more that he is retaining compared to abeka. Having the books or readers included in the classes also help him to keep engaged in book summaries and books reviews while on abeka we didn’t know about any of that unless I read the end of the parent book. I don’t think I will ever go to abeka with all those books just for a parent and then all the books for a kid. The writing curriculum in tgtb is awesome while the one of abeka is dry to the bone.
That's awesome that you found the curriculum that connects with your child!
I was wondering, you are using level 4 the 1st edition? Did you print the companion? The parts of a book are discussed in that book with all the art, etc. I haven't started it yet but was going to make a note to myself. But noticed it is discussed. However, it is a good point that some things need more practice or discussion. :)
We are using the new edition of Level 1--when I printed it I combined the Course Book with the Spelling and Writing Workshops, putting each lesson 1, lesson 2 together. It was just our experience that when our 5th grader completed that lesson, she wasn't able to find the information required for those parts of a book (her assignment) without help and further discussion. It's just that it would have been a more independent activity if they had included an example copyright page for her to see, and pointed out where to find different parts. It's not a big deal, obviously, it's just good to note that there ARE times when parents should still expect to get involved in teaching and discussing the material, even when a certain subject is intended to be more "independent." We're still the teachers. :)
Our family has used both. I love the beautiful layout of TG&TB. I feel like Abeka keeps my son academically challenged. He likes TG&TB so much more and I love Abeka. What program do you believe is a better for new homeschool Moms?
That's a good question--I think either one of these would work well for a new homeschool mom--but I would recommend that a new homeschool mom get the homeschool guide or parent guide for the Abeka LA--because the workbooks alone don't provide a teaching script--yes, the information is there to teach the concept, but there's not any ideas for applying the concept in different ways or explaining why the concept is important. I know in the very early years of Abeka, the parent/teacher guide has more activities, etc, lined up, but I'm not actually sure how much extra there is in the parent guide once you get to middle elementary. But I do know that the workbooks alone are great for "doing the work" of mastering phonics/grammar/spelling, etc, but I would say they aren't enough for communicating the beauty and fun of the English language--for capturing the child's imagination as far as what can be done with words.
TGATB looks more up our alley. Sadie likes when things circle back and she can show off her skills haha.
haha, I think a lot of kids love it when concepts are repeated and then they get an "easy" assignment to do.
Hi! If I’m just covering the grammar portion of abeka language A do I need to get the Homeschool Language Arts 4 Curriculum Lesson Plans? Would the answer key and student work text suffice?
If you're using it solely for grammar, I don't think you would need the full lesson plans. The answer key would be helpful at the 4th grade level, though.
My fourth grader is using TGATB level 4 this year and we like it but I do think he would benefit from more writing instruction. What writing program do you like to use for fifth grade?
What our 5th grader is using this year is Writing with Skill level 1, for very structured fundamentals of writing. So far, (we're year rounders and she's been doing her 5th grade work for a little over a month), it's been focusing on the skills of creating good summaries. She doesn't have 'intuitive' writing skills (I know that some kids don't seem to need to be taught how to write summaries, etc, they just latch onto the idea on their own) and needs the guidance and practice in what should and should not be included in structured writing. I know there are a few other options out there I've heard recommended, but we haven't yet tried anything else that has explicit writing instruction for upper elementary.
Yes we like to add other reading books. We do readers to warm up sometimes....then get into real books 📚 that we are working on as read aloud and topics my kids are interested in. We take and leave what we want...abeka is as flexible as the teacher (mom) 😅😊
Readers are great, especially when kids are still working on phonics sounds and blends and so it helps to use readers written for that purpose...but reading "real" books is where an actual love for and interest in reading really begins. :)
Did you use abeka math also? Which math did you us in the early years and currently?
I have an elementary math curriculum comparison video as well: czcams.com/video/fZgji0Jr0Ms/video.html
We have mainly used Math-U-See and/or Abeka in Early Elementary, with Life of Fred for the fun of it, because those books are truly delightful!
Which in your opinion is better and stronger in the early years?
As far as stronger, I'd lean toward Abeka for solid phonics instruction with repetition and lots of LA concept review in the early years. I have heard that kids who need more practice or more review can struggle with TGATB because it's lighter and doesn't have as much review...while kids who DON'T need as much practice to master a concept can find Abeka tedious.
This will be our second year homeschooling, we used spectrum last year on everything aside from science which we got the abeka science kit and loved, using. TGATB price point however and popularity keeps grabbing my attention. Which would you say is more advanced I dont want to put my kids into a level where they would be struggling.
I would say that TGTB is more advanced in term of the creative writing assignments woven in to the curriculum, and that they are probably similarly advanced in terms of grammar/diagramming, but I think Abeka covers more topics in one year, however, they repeat the same concepts year after year while TGTB does more moving on from one year to the next, if that makes sense.
Oh yea, that makes sense so abeka just builds on itself then ?
We love the good and the beautiful. I can’t remember wat we used wen I was part homeschooled as a kid. I don’t think we used a language arts curriculum. We love the spelling in the good and the beautiful!!! We don’t do testing. I’m sure we did our language arts wivin the other subjects. The good and the beautiful level 5 has notebook tasks 4 the child to use there own notebook. I thought Abecca looked like a school curriculum instead of a homeschool curriculum. We love how integrated the good and the beautiful is!!! We do tons of geography but thru CZcams videos mainly. I’m passionate bout teaching geography. I learnt to write small as a teenager. As we didn’t print it but used our own notebook from the digital I’m not sure bout the size of it. We do talk bout the meaning of the words even tho there’s no instructions to talk about it. We all have dictionaries on our devices. We wanted more parental involvement.
It was great to hear about your experience!
Maybe I misunderstood what you were saying about TGTB reading the hard words....
But it looks to me like the intent is to be able to decipher the meaning of the words bc of what the prefixes and suffixes mean. So defenseless....if you take away -less, they know what defense means, so what is defenseless? Without defense. :)
The Christian school my oldest went to before we homeschooled called this “orthography” which teaches all the root meetings (sometimes in latin) and it helps to build spelling as well as vocabulary, improving reading comprehension, if that makes sense.
My daughter struggles with spelling, so pointing out the prefixes and suffixes and how they are the same and have the same meanings, really helps her to understand how to spell and read these larger words.
(I couldn’t see all the instructions in the page you were showing, but noticed that it did give definitions at the top...so I’m guessing that’s their intent there??? :)
On this page, they did do a quick lesson on the meanings of the prefix/suffixes, and those weren't challenging, but if you take a look at some of those root words...holy smokes, a lot of them are not commonly used by 9 year olds. TGTB regularly had these challenging reading pages throughout the year and always encouraged focusing on fluency, not on whether the child understood or could use the word in context. And this is also probably just my own bent, because with this particular child...she's great at reading...but it's been a long road to teach her to CARE about the meaning of what she reads instead of just reading as fast as she can and not understanding anything. So with her, I will always, always take the time to stop and talk about each individual meaning and practice using the word.
@@SevenInAll I think it’s just the nature of teaching the whole child. 9 years old seems advanced for level 4! :) but that’s soooo the beauty of homeschooling!! Working at the child’s levels, not the “grade’s” levels. so may your experience is they are advanced in so many other areas and breezing ahead. My daughter is 11 and tested into level 4 for next year! ;) she could’ve done level 5 (she was borderline) but I‘s rather them do something a little below their level and really master it than push them ahead and struggle.
So anyway....I see your point. 😜 9 year old vocabulary vs my daughters 11.5 year old vocabulary could be very different. :)
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan That page I showed was from level 3--she's 10 now and has just begun level 4.
@@SevenInAll oh wow!!! Ok. I have no more comments. 🤔😊 those are big words! 😉
Wow! Those words are quite challenging !
They are! Both challenging to read and challenging to understand. I think TGTB's goal is really just working on reading fluency, but especially with this child in particular--she has a temptation already to simply read without thinking about the meaning of what she reads, and I don't want to reinforce that bad habit, so I would always take the time to talk about the meaning of each challenging word and how to use it!
Very helpful! Would you choose Abeka or TGATB for early years? My daughter is going into 2nd grade. She is currently using TGATB but I wish her reading was more fluent. I am considering switching to abeka just not sure
I would lean more toward Abeka for very thorough reading/phonics instruction....or in general, I'd lean more toward Abeka in the beginning and TGTB later. I think TGTB can definitely work from the get-go, but I've heard from other parents that it's not necessarily systematic and repetitive enough for those who don't pick up on reading super fast. There are other options out there as well, of course, but I haven't tried many others.
@@SevenInAll thanks for the reply! Do you know much about bju? I have been considering abeka or bju...I used abeka growing up and very fond of it but I do think it's a bit advanced
@@elizabeth0265 I have never used BJU myself, but I think it has a lot of similarities to Abeka. Both curriculums are often talked about in very similar ways.
I just bought a couple abeka books to try. 😬
Hope they work well! They aren't the most 'exciting' but systematic, thorough, and good practice.
How are you liking it’ im torn between tgatb and abeka 😅😅
@@Lipstickncurlsfitness the abeka language 1 book is amazing. It's just 1 book with 1 page (front and back) for each lesson. And you don't break the bank.