Why Drill?
Abeka 1, 2, and 3 are ADVANCED. Also, since we don’t usually buy the teacher’s manual, we miss out on all the DRILL Abeka expects. If you use our Saxon alternative syllabus, you DO use the teacher’s manual. I thought that meant that Abeka accomplished in a workbook what Saxon did with a mountain of supplies. Nope. But, the school doesn’t want you BUYING the teacher’s manual. It’s totally overwhelming! With the manual, IT’S TOO MUCH. Without the manual, IT’S TOO LITTLE. Each year of Abeka will get more and more frustrating as you fall farther behind in what they think you’ve already memorized. If you want to start out next year where Abeka thinks you are, which makes those worksheets MUCH shorter, you really need to be practicing some skills in KGRD.
Do I Need the Manual?
Rather than buying the EXPENSIVE teacher’s manual, for which you need ONE PARAGRAPH every 4 pages, I recommend you try the document below. It’s a summary of the whole year of drill in FIVE pages. YAY!
Do not stress out when you see this. Abeka is major OVERKILL on the drill. Most of these exercises will fall to the back burner in a couple of weeks. NOTE: I say “do it multiple days”, but that’s not me talking; it’s Abeka. See the end of this post for how I actually use it.
KGRD Math Drill LINK
Above, you see a segment of the drill sheet. That’s first in the document. You may be cool just knowing what needs to be practiced and what needs to be periodically reviewed. All NEW skills are in normal font. Skills 2 weeks old or more are in small font. Every week is 100% cumulative. That means if you’re on Week 10 already, just IGNORE the weeks of drill before that. Start where you are in the syllabus and check the small font items to see if your kid has any holes. Then keep moving forward!
Below you see the “support sheet”. This tells you what supplies you need for the next few weeks and gives suggestions on how to vary the activities.
How to use it.
- Read the whole document, noting where skills appear, change, or move to small font.
- Gather your supplies for where you are in the syllabus.
- Do your Abeka worksheet for the day.
- Look over the skills list for the week.
- Review a few things you think need practice or checking.