Academics

Comprehension

Comprehension skills increase in direct proportion to how much reading they do. In the pamphlet What Works, the U.S. Department of Education stated, “Children improve their reading ability by reading a lot. Reading achievement is directly related to the amount of reading children do in school and outside. Unlike using workbooks and performing computer drills, reading books gives children practice in the ‘whole act’ of reading, that is, both in discovering the meaning of individual words and in grasping the meaning of an entire story.”

Vocabulary

The purpose of vocabulary study is to enlarge the student’s speaking and listening vocabulary, to aid in his reading comprehension, and to help him develop an interest in and an appreciation for words. With the A Beka Book Reading Program, challenging, new words for each story are introduced to the children throughout each subject.

Attention to individual differences

In kindergarten through second grade, students are grouped to meet their individual reading needs. The needs of slower learners and higher achievers are provided for with activities, special teaching strategies, and practice within groups.

The Value of Cursive Writing

A Beka Book uses a traditional approach to writing. Before the 1940s, schools across the nation took this approach and, as a result, most American school children developed beautiful handwriting. Ball-and-stick manuscript came about as part of progressive education reforms in the 1940s. The change was made primarily to help children recognize the letters in the “Dick and Jane” look-say readers.

By starting with cursive writing rather than manuscript printing, we help the child develop good writing habits from the very beginning. This means that habits acquired from manuscript printing do not need to be unlearned.

"Do not teach anything that has to be unlearned, and do not let a child develop a bad habit. Instruct the child to do it right from the beginning."
–Samuel Blumenfeld

We also strengthen the child’s reading skills. By joining letters, cursive writing reinforces the blending of sounds within words.

"This knowledge acquired by the hand is transferred to the reading process. Thus, learning to write helps learning to read print."
–Samuel Blumenfeld

Arithmetic/mathematics From a Traditional Perspective

• stresses the absolutes of creation
  

• trains students’ mental abilities
  

• gives students concrete facts for building mathematical understanding
  

Geared for Success K–6

A Beka Book's complete program of worktexts and daily lesson plans is the result of more than 55 years of teaching kindergarten and elementary students to master basic arithmetic. The program is designed to help in building arithmetic skills so arithmetic becomes a positive experience for children.

Structured for success 7–12

Logical arrangement of the materials and texts aids learning step by step from basic concepts to the more difficult.

Science is the study of variety, order, and reasonableness as revealed in creation. Areas of general study covered in grades 1-8 include plant life, animal life, health and human biology, matter, energy, earth and space, ecology and conservation, and God as our Creator and Designer.

In grades 9-12, students cover more the specialized studies of physical creation, biology, chemistry, and physics.

God has given the earth to man for a home. Geography is the study of the surface of the earth. Geography helps us to understand history because it tells us about the places where history has happened.

Physical and political geography is an important part of each history text in A Beka Book. Geography gives students a setting for the events of the past and the present.

History is the written record of mankind. It is “His story” describing the rise and fall of nations and individuals as they respond to God’s truth - the story of what man has done with the time God has given him, from creation through the present.

A Beka Book emphasizes people behind the events of history. All make the chronological narrative story of history sequential and connected.