I just finished A Beka 1st grade with my 6 yr old and have made the decision to switch to something more suitable for my son. The material covered in the math and language arts program was thorough, but he was bored to death (as was I). I understand that this is based on a spiral approach, but the amount of repetition and busywork was insane!
The "games" included in the core subjects were pretty juvenile, even for a 1st grader. He seemed to enjoy the science, health and history/social studies programs a little more, but I thought they were very sparse and below grade level.
The idea of having such thorough lesson plans really appealed to me upon starting our first year of homeschooling when he began K5, but now that I'm a bit more practiced, I am more confident in trying something with a bit more flexibility.
A Beka may be a great program for some families, and I may even save the K5 and 1st grade math and language arts for my daughters, but it is definitely not a good fit for my fidgety, mildly-ADHD son. I didn't like the way he had started to dread school every day!
We will begin My Father's World, Saxon Math and Time4Learning Phonics this summer for 2nd grade in the hopes of renewing his love of learning.