Abeka vs The Good and the Beautiful
The main differences
Abeka sells a school-style year: a kit of textbooks, readers, workbooks and tests for each subject, with 170 days of lesson plans for a parent who teaches each lesson, at over $1,000 for 3rd grade. The Good and the Beautiful sells open-and-go course books, with one language arts book covering reading, spelling, writing and grammar, a 3rd grade bundle of $147.94, and family-style science and history bought separately. Abeka runs through 12th grade; The Good and the Beautiful's high school covers language arts and biology only.
| Abeka | The Good and the Beautiful | |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects | All subjects: math, reading and phonics, language arts, science and history and geography | Math, reading and phonics, language arts, science and history and geography |
| Grades | Pre-K (K4) to 12th grade | Preschool to 12th grade; high school has language arts and biology only |
| Method | Traditional | Traditional, Unit studies |
| Format | Books and workbooks | Books and workbooks |
| Faith label | Faith-based | Faith-based |
| Cost a year | $1,094.05. 3rd grade child kit (26 items: textbooks, readers, workbooks and quiz and test books) plus the essential parent kit (lesson plans, teaching charts, answer keys): $1,094.05 on sale today, list price $1,215.55. | $147.94. Level 3 basic bundle (language arts course book, spelling practice book and four read-together books; handwriting workbook; math course book and math box of manipulatives): $147.94. Science units and a history course are bought separately, one set per family. |
| Placement | None on the publisher's site | Free placement tests ↗ |
| Parent time | Not stated by the publisher | Not stated by the publisher |
| It fits | A parent who wants a complete, school-style year in one order, with the lesson plans written out and the option of video teachers later. | A family that wants low-cost, open-and-go printed lessons and likes teaching science and history to several children at once. |
| It doesn't fit | A family on a tight budget, or one that wants a child-led pace, living books or project-based learning instead of textbooks and tests. | A family that needs a complete high school program, or one that wants the child to learn mostly alone on a screen. |
Abeka
Abeka sells a full set of textbooks, readers and workbooks for each grade from pre-K (K4) to 12th grade, covering language arts, reading, arithmetic, history and science. In the parent-led option the child works from a child kit of books and test booklets while the parent teaches from a parent kit with 170 days of lesson plans and answer keys. Abeka Academy pairs the same books with a year of recorded video lessons on streaming or DVD, for a higher price.
Does well: A full grade comes as one kit with every textbook, reader, workbook and test booklet the child needs for the core subjects.
Watch for: One grade with the parent kit costs over $1,000 even on sale, and the video option costs more again.
The Good and the Beautiful
The Good and the Beautiful sells separate courses by level: language arts (reading, phonics, spelling, writing and grammar in one course book), math, handwriting, and family-style science units and history courses that children of different ages do together. Lessons are open-and-go from printed course books, and the kindergarten to 8th grade language arts and math courses are also free to download as PDFs. A grade bundle covers language arts, handwriting and math; science and history are chosen and bought separately.
Does well: The kindergarten to 8th grade language arts and math courses are free to download as PDFs, so you can try them or use them at no cost.
Watch for: Science and history are not in the grade bundles: the publisher suggests 3 to 5 science units and one history course a year, bought separately.
The full The Good and the Beautiful card · Publisher’s site ↗
Lists with both
- Faith-based homeschool curricula 22
- Traditional homeschool curricula 24
- Homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 48
- Homeschool curricula for middle school 51
- Homeschool curricula for high school 38
- Print homeschool curricula 44
- Faith-based traditional homeschool curricula 9
- Faith-based homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 19
How we label
Every fact on a card was read on the publisher's own website on the date shown, and the page it came from is linked. A fact we could not confirm there is left out. Costs are for one child and one year of the main package, as the publisher's page showed them that day; prices and sales change. Method and format are the publisher's own description where it gives one. The only thing we say about religion is one label, secular or faith-based, given by the rule above; where the publisher's pages don't settle it, the card has no label.
Something wrong or out of date? Send a correction; publishers can send corrections, never money. Every program compared