Homeschooling in Singapore

Hi, I would like to talk to families who are using A Beka curriculum for their secondary/high school age children to know more about this curriculum. Appreciate if you could reply to my post. Thanks and God bless.
-magicflute-

I'm using Abeka DVD Program 2 with my 13-year old daughter this year. Feel free to contact me to find out more. Pauline Ng

Hi Pauline!

I'd love to hear more too. Could you post a little about what it is you like about A-Beka and it's pros and cons?

thank you,


Littly

Dear parents

Our family tried Bob Jones (BJU) 7th grade curriculum with Claudia our 13-year old last year. It is an excellent material but I realised my inadequacy with the subject matter especially in Science, to fully reap its benefits. In fact I resorted to studying the material the night before Claudia is due to study it and relied heavily on the test answers to focus on what is most important in each lesson and then taught them to her the following day. I tried obtaining the accompanying DVD program from BJU, but was turned down due to their 'restrictive North American market only' policy.

In view of the difficulties we had last academic year, and continuing with our plan to prepare Claudia for the academic route while still homeschooling, we explored the DVD option that ABEKA offers.

So far we are 20% into the year's work and it has surely met our expectation. Claudia watches the DVD for each subject and proceeds to do the respective test/quizzes & homework. Afterwhich, the work lands on my in-tray and I correct what she had done using the answer keys provided.

I no longer need to prepare the lesson but monitors and ensures that student completes all work that has to be completed. This does free me up to better manage housework and concentrate on the academics of my other child.

Abeka Academy provides excellent service. They replaced a missing DVD within 7 working days. And they have been prompt and helpful in answering all my questions before we made our decision to go with ABEKA.

The teachers taped on DVD also conduct frequent reviews on topics that have been taught, thereby reinforcing learning.

The cost however, is quite substantial. We paid US$2000 for the entire program with DVDs and all necessary books. Thank God for the favourable exchange rate this year.

I find that I'm not totally hands-free from Claudia's education. I serve as a guide when she's working on her projects, ensuring that she meets her PE requirements, checking the books she picked for book review meets the requirements, reviewing her Bible memory verses before she takes her quizzes, etc.

The hours she spends daily on her schoolwork stretches from 10am to 5pm on average. This time includes piano practice and Chinese homework. There are of course shorter days and some longer days. After asking around, I discover that that is the average time a homeschooler her age takes to complete work.


In the past, we have used curriculum like ACE, Sonlight, Rod & Staff, Miquon, Singapore Math, etc.

Pauline Ng

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I like to look at the purposes of homeschooling in judging the suitability of curricula.

If North Americans, and others, of particular christian persuasions wish to pre-select Abeka material because it is consistent with their world-view, then that is entirely a matter for them.

With regard to American college entrance, there are plenty of bible colleges which would probably welcome Abeka taught children.

On the other hand, Singaporeans parents wishing their children to go to a Singaporean university to study science may wish to evaluate the suitability of Abeka's portrayal of science. I understand that several questions have been raised in the States as to the suitability of Abeka's teaching of science and whether it is rigorous enough for college admission. For instance:

http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2 ... 2_2008.asp

If Singaporean homeschooling parents wish to prepare their children for admission to local universities such as NUS to study science-based subjects, they might like to exercise caution in solely relying upon Abeka material.

Cheers
Martin

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Did you ask whether the students were accepted onto science courses or humanities courses?

I was quite specific in stating suitability for science courses.




Exactly.

In fact, I have read A Beka's God's Living Creation. It did not impress.

In Association of Christian Schools International et al. v. Roman Stearns et al the judge agreed with the defendants that the A Beka's Biology textbook [God's Living Creation] had an overall un-scientific approach and that the nature of science, the theory of evolution, and critical thinking were not taught adequately.

I particularly enjoy Abeka's classification of evolutionary scientists as being 'evolutionary philosophers'. So much for understanding scientific methodologies. Hmmm.

There are significant differences in approach to admissions between American and Singaporean universities. Many American universities will accept students into a general first year in which extensive remedial classes are conducted to bring the students up to scratch in various disciplines. Singaporean universities, on the other hand, expect a more substantive body of knowledge in their applicants for science subjects.

Yours in rationality
Martin

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Hi 'BachCiaccona'

It is not so easy to contact a reputable university and find out directly if a given non-mainstream curriculum is suitable. In reality, there are many curricula out there. Therefore, admissions officers rely upon well known courses. If a candidate presents having followed a non-mainstream curriculum, most admissions offices will not have the time and resources to individually investigate the curriculum. Admission offices will rely upon other courses the candidate has followed, standardised testing, call for interview or a combination of all three.

I suspect that Singaporean universities have not heard of A Beka. This does not preclude such a candidate applying to NUS etc. However, I am sure you are aware that it is extremely competitive to get onto a desired science course at NUS. The science stream applicants from JCs are considered in many ways to be the creme de la creme of the Singaporean system. Therefore, non-mainstream applicants will have to be very strong in their application to have a reasonable chance of acceptance against such competititon. Places are very limited in Singapore, and admission officers tend to go with the well known.

If I were an admissions officer, first and foremost I would look at the quality of the mind of the candidate. I would look to see that the candidate for a science course argues logically and on the basis of testable evidence, that is has a good understanding what is meant by 'the scientific method'. Secondly, I would expect the candidate to have a good grounding in the body of knowledge for the proposed course. So you are right: I would make a tough admissions officer for an A Beka candidate to face.

Yes, I can tell that you probably underwent your education in both the US and Singapore's systems. Your appeal to credentialism is misplaced with me: I look at the merits and demerits of what someone says. I do though put my real name to my postings.

It concerns me that you wish to personalise the argument rather than keep to the focus which is the raison d'etre of this forum: Singaporean homeschooling. I expressed a legitimate concern about the rigour of the A Beka science curriculum for Singaporean homeschoolers applying to a local university, a concern which is being mirrored in the States. The test case in California has wider implications beyond that state - as evidenced by the importance the christian right have put into the case; if they win their appeal, no doubt they will be first to say that other states should follow California's example.

Home Sweet Homework
Martin

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I attended neither the American nor the Singaporean system.



Even if one has been to both worlds, one should not spread fear and doubts [sic: unreasonable doubts] in people's hearts. Your implication about my motives though is unwarranted and inappropriate.


I believe that was my aim.



In your guestbook entry, you noted that there seems to be a lot of registered members in this forum. Since I am the principal poster at this forum, it would appear that I am possibly helpful. No one has emailed me privately to say that I have posted something inappropriate; several people, including members of the Yahoo group, have emailed me to say how they welcome my comments and analyses.


Indeed. Anonymously you arrive, anonymously you go. Thank you for the various postings you have made. I have enjoyed debating with you. The usefulness of the exchanges of course will be decided by others who look in - and I am happy about that because it is after all a public forum.

Home Sweet Homework!
Martin

can the forum administrator help me understand why all of "BachCiaccona" posts show 'No Content'?

Certain posts have been withdrawn by the author.

Hello,

Our Homeschool Lending Library has recently had some used A Beka text books donated to it. For those of you who would like to take a closer look at this curriculum, please feel free to contact me, Littly.

Those books that have come in are:
Arithmetic (work-text) 1-3
Art Projects 1 -3
Art A
Writing with Phonics 2
Cursive Writing Skillbook 3 (Writing with Phonics)
Letters and Sounds 1 and 2
Spelling and Poetry 1 and 2
Language 1 and 2
God's Gift of Language C