Faith Schooling vs Abeka for K–5 reading and math

Which one fits: the short answer

Abeka sells a per-grade kit — Bible, language arts, arithmetic, history and geography, science and health — for one child, with optional video teachers, and it continues through Grade 12. Faith Schooling uses one household membership for K–5 reading, grammar and writing, phonics, cursive, math, Bible, and discipleship, taught by the parent from scripts and paced by mastery.

Faith Schooling's distinction is a focused K–5 foundation: complete reading and language arts, a complete math student-text sequence, parent-led scripts, mastery pacing, one household price, and free Apostolic discipleship resources.

What each one is, and who does the teaching

Abeka comes from Pensacola Christian College and carries classroom DNA: colorful worktexts, scripted teacher manuals, quizzes, tests and speed drills. Its phonics is intensive and explicit — the Handbook for Reading, letters and sounds, special sounds, front-end blending. Reviewers including Cathy Duffy and Rainbow Resource describe it as one of the strongest traditional phonics programs available.

The teaching is done by you, from the lesson plans, or by Abeka Academy's video teachers if you would rather not teach every lesson. Abeka does not publish a K–5 daily time total, so the length of the school day is a question to put to families who use the kit you are considering.

Faith Schooling is always parent-taught. There are no video teachers and no screen the child sits in front of to learn. A complete reading lesson is scripted step by step and runs 45 to 55 minutes; Learning Cursive is 10 to 15 minutes a day. The books print at home, and the browser carries placement, the teaching guides, the games and My Workbooks.

Side by side

Every Abeka fact below was observed on Abeka's own site and its 2026–2027 homeschool order materials in August 2026. Packages and prices change without notice, so price your own order before deciding rather than trusting a table on anyone's website, including this one.

What it costs, and how the two Grade 1 figures reconcile

Our notes held two different Abeka Grade 1 totals, and the arithmetic reconciles them: they are the same child kit with a different parent kit beside it. A Grade 1 child kit is $473.85. Add the Essential Parent Kit at $390.60 and the year is about $864; add the Complete Parent Kit instead and it comes to about $1,215. Neither figure was wrong; they were answering different questions.

So the number you should plan against depends on which parent kit you buy, and that is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default. Both were observed in August 2026 from Abeka's own site and its 2026-2027 homeschool order materials. Packages and prices change without notice, so price your own order before deciding rather than trusting a table on anyone's website, including this one.

From the same materials: language arts child kits run roughly $298 to $410 by grade, with Grade 1 at $366.80; arithmetic child kits are $42.45, and parent arithmetic kits add roughly $150 to $240. Upper elementary runs heavier - Grade 3 about $1,094, Grade 4 about $1,272, Grade 5 about $1,266. Accredited Abeka Academy video for elementary was $1,442 for 2026-2027.

No official sibling discount was found on the parent-led book kits. Hardcover books can be reused with the next child; consumable worktexts and tests are bought again. Faith Schooling All Access is $39 a month, cancel anytime, for one household and every K-5 child - but you print the pages yourself, and paper and toner are a real cost we are not pretending away.

What you can read before you spend anything

Abeka publishes a free scope-and-sequence PDF for each grade, sample videos, and enrichment downloads. The full lesson plans arrive with the kit. That is the industry norm rather than a criticism, but it does mean you are judging the teaching before you have read any of it, on the strength of a catalog and other people's reviews.

Faith Schooling inverts that. Every reading teaching guide and every phonics teaching guide can be read page by page in the browser before you join, along with the complete first workbook of each phonics level, eight sample pages of every grade's book, and three open sheets in every practice set. HARVEST placement is open to everyone and prints a report naming the grade and quarter to start in.

Where Scripture sits in the day

Abeka is conservative Protestant throughout. Bible is a graded subject with its own books, and a Christian perspective runs through the other texts. For families who want doctrine taught explicitly, on a schedule, with its own grades and tests, that structure is a genuine strength and it continues all the way to Grade 12.

Faith Schooling carries Scripture inside the academic work: every reading week is built on one phonics skill, one story from Scripture or history, one virtue and one verse, and the New King James Version is quoted exactly. Direct Bible teaching lives in the Apostolic Academy — The Hidden Word Scripture memory curriculum, study guides, church history and family printables — and every part of it is free and open to everyone.

Pacing and screens

Abeka is built around a school year. Quizzes, tests and speed drills fall on a calendar, which is exactly what many families want, and it is also what makes a mid-year start awkward: you either race the remaining lessons or buy a full kit for half a year of use.

Faith Schooling moves on demonstrated skill instead. Daily exit tickets, weekly mastery checks with parallel forms, drill tracking and a skill ledger decide when a child advances, and a skill counts as mastered at 90% or better across five or more sessions on different days. On screens the two are closer than they look: both are print-first for the child's work, and Abeka's video is optional.

Why families choose Faith Schooling

Faith Schooling keeps the parent close to every lesson and gives one household access to every K–5 grade. Its print-first, mastery-paced approach brings academics and Apostolic conviction together without multiplying the price for siblings.

• One membership covers every K–5 grade and every child in the household.
• Complete reading and language arts includes scripted guides, structured phonics, cursive, 210 weekly lesson sets, and 300 original decodable readers.
• Building Number Sense provides a complete K–5 student-text sequence, coordinated K–2 workbooks and guides, and extensive math practice.
• Parents can read complete teaching guides and substantial samples before joining.
• Student work stays on paper while browser tools support placement, planning, and practice.
• The free Apostolic Academy adds Scripture memory, Bible study, church history, and discipleship resources.

Faith Schooling at a glance

Faith Schooling concentrates its depth in Kindergarten through Grade 5: complete reading and language arts, a dedicated grammar and writing curriculum, structured phonics, cursive, a complete K–5 math student-text sequence, Bible, and discipleship. Families choose complementary subjects around that strong foundation.

It is an independent curriculum publisher for parent-led education. Materials are delivered digitally for home printing, mastery evidence guides the pace, and families keep their own records and grades.

How to decide this week

Four steps, in order. None of them requires paying anyone, and the first one settles most families before they reach the fourth.

1. Start with the K–5 curriculum map and identify the Faith Schooling programs that match your family.
2. Read a complete Faith Schooling teaching guide and inspect the real student pages before deciding.
3. Run HARVEST placement and print the report, so you are choosing a starting skill rather than a birthday.
4. Count your children. One kit times three students is a different budget than one household membership — and the arithmetic only matters if the program fits.

HARVEST reading placement The K–5 curriculum map