Our Curriculum
Deciding on a homeschool curriculum especially for us homeschool newbies with a Ghanaian educational background, was a really tough one! First of all, there's an overwhelming amount of information out there on the internet to get you started incase you're ready to dive in. However, before finally making a decision, we laid out top 4 broad areas we wanted to achieve with our homeschool journey. Overall, we were looking for a tried and tested international curriculum we could adapt to our local setting. I'll share the steps we used below to decide on one.
The 4 Things We Wanted For Our Children
- International Worldview: We knew from day 1 we wanted our children to have an education that gives them a wholistic international worldview that enables them compete globally. To give them the needed confidence to face the complex world we find ourselves in today.
- Knowing Africa: THIS was priority for us. In as much as we want them to have an international worldview, having a solid Pan-african footing / understanding was also important. It's great for them to know about world super powers such as Europe, Asia & USA but we are also taking an intentional approach to making sure they know about Africa, understand our challenges and understand their role in creating solutions for the continent.
- Personalised Learning: With all 3 of our children having unique personalities and traits, we knew we wanted something we could easily adapt to all 3 of them easily for their maximum benefit. Microsoft's Bill Gates & Facebook's Mar Zuckerburg Point out that "one of the reasons personalized learning is so great is because it encourages independence, which we know is a key trait of successful entrepreneurs. Instead of having teachers hold students' hands every step of the way, like current teaching methods do, personalized learning is very much sink or swim: When you sink, teachers will dive in, but until then they'll watch you go (but not in a sadistic way). This enables kids to work and learn at their own pace, as opposed to being either left behind or kept behind in the current education system". We are convinced the current system is unable to address this, but homeschooling can (with the right curriculum in place).
- Faith, Ethics, Family & Community: Last but not least, we were not homeschooled but we want to use this period to provide a foundation that raises them in a way that strong life values, ethics, faith and a sense of community are a part of their everyday life including their academics.
After loong hours of research day & night, we finally decided on a mix of Abeka & the Ghana Education Service (GES) approved African Studies Curriculum. This is not perfect, but we will remain open to new ideas as we along with a keen eye on how they pick up and adapt to our structure.
Why Abeka
- Proven Track Record: Millions of homeschooled students have used Abeka since it started in 1972, and over 250,000 used Abeka in 2017 alone.
- It’s an advanced curriculum. “Children rise to meet your expectations,” and ABeka sets the academic bar high but, still very much, achievable. Because of the intense emphasis on the teach/review process, the children test well within the ABeka curriculum, but also (& often!) exceed the national testing standards.
- It’s Bible based. In every single subject students are taught how the subject matter they are learning relates to God and His Word. Learning Arithmetic? God is a God of order and sequence. Learning Science? God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world around us. And on and on it goes… Not to mention the fact that there is a Bible class that is taught every day. We are commanded to teach God’s Word diligently to our children in Deuteronomy, and the ABeka curriculum comes alongside the parent/teacher to do just that!
- You get everything you need for a successful school year, plus extras.
- Comes with your child’s books
- 170 school days / year of engaging video lessons from master teachers. (Note regular schools have 180 school days per year. The remaining 10 days are used for our monthly field trips.
- Quizzes & tests
- Video manual
- Official report cards & transcript
- Standardized testing
- Diploma
- In lesson plans and teacher editions, you’ll find
- Abeka’s Spiral approach—building from the simple to the complex, with frequent review and application within each grade and from grade to grade.
- Learning preferences—when faced with the 3 major learning styles (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, or hearing, seeing, and doing), learning preferences are how you prefer, if given a choice, to learn something. Instead of favoring 1 and neglecting the others, we incorporate all 3.
- Cross-subject integration—pulling in concepts from 1 subject into several others to reinforce concepts and tie learning together
-Suggested steps laid out for you each day
-Tips
-Games
-Examples
-Ideas for further discussion
-Extra application questions to challenge thought
Are you an experienced homeschool parent? Care to share how you decided on your curriculum? pls comment below :)
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