Abeka vs BJU Press vs Sonlight: The Head-to-Head Comparison

Why this head-to-head matters

This page compares Abeka, BJU Press, and Sonlight on one rubric: academic rigor, parent-intensity, daily time, cost, religious framing, and age fit.

The three publishers at a glance

Abeka

Abeka describes its curriculum as comprehensive and biblically based, for Preschool through Grade 12, with a spiral learning approach. For homeschoolers it sells textbooks, readers, and workbooks for children, plus teacher editions, quiz and test books, answer keys, and teaching aids for parents.

Abeka’s K5 page offers two ways to teach, Parent Led kits or Abeka Academy video lessons:

• Parent Led (you teach from the parent materials; for K5, the Essential Parent Kit contains 170 days of lesson plans and 4 teaching aids).
• Abeka Academy (video lessons with an Abeka teacher). Abeka says video homeschooling cuts parent prep time to almost nothing.

BJU Press

BJU Press says it produces Pre-K through grade 12 educational materials with a biblical worldview. Its homeschool site offers a complete K3 through grade 12 core curriculum in textbook kits, and it also sells video courses. The Homeschool Hub is, per the publisher’s Hub page, an all-in-one homeschool platform with a calendar, schedule, gradebook, and extra course resources.

Delivery modes: textbook kits with a Teacher Edition for the parent, online video courses on the Homeschool Hub, or DVD video courses (publisher’s video course FAQ).

Sonlight

Sonlight describes itself as a complete, Christian, literature-based homeschool curriculum for preschool through high school. Abeka and BJU Press sell textbooks; Sonlight says it starts with history and literature, not textbooks. Each History / Bible / Literature program, per the publisher’s overview, weaves together a year’s worth of history and geography, Bible, and literature, and the Instructor’s Guide supplies the daily schedule.

Sonlight describes its worldview on its own FAQ page; Every Homeschool’s Sonlight review covers it.

Academic rigor (1 to 5, where 5 is most demanding)

The scores and notes in this table are Every Homeschool’s assessment, not publisher statements.

For kindergarten reading, Abeka’s K5 Parent Kit page says phonics is the heart of its program, and Sonlight’s K package page says its Grade K Readers and Language Arts are designed for children who are ready to learn the alphabet and begin to read, using the Sonlight-exclusive Fun Tales series.

Parent-intensity (1 to 5, where 5 is max)

The 1 to 5 scores in this table are Every Homeschool’s assessment, not publisher statements.

In our assessment, Sonlight is parent-intensive at the early levels. Sonlight’s daily schedule has the parent read the assigned History and Read-Aloud pages to the children until high school, and its scope and sequence lists parent time of 1 to 1.5 hours a day for Levels K and A, and 1.5 to 2 hours for Levels B, B+C, and C.

Abeka says video homeschooling cuts parent prep time to almost nothing, and its K5 Video page says video instruction handles the daily teaching while the parent stays involved as the parent-educator.

Daily time commitment (K5)

Each row below is the time the publisher itself states for kindergarten. The publishers measure it differently, so the rows are not a like-for-like comparison.

For third grade, Sonlight’s scope and sequence lists 2 to 3 hours of student time and 1.5 to 2 hours of parent time per day for Level C, and Abeka says most families finish elementary lessons by lunch. BJU Press’s video course FAQ gives an average of 2.5 to 3 hours of video lessons for grades 1 to 6, while its Grade 3 Online with Books page gives an average daily video time of 2 hours.

Cost (K5 prices, retrieved October 2026)

Prices below are the sellers’ own prices as read from each publisher’s pages in October 2026. Exact SKU and bundle prices change; consult the linked publisher page for the current number before ordering.

Sonlight’s K package includes Read-Alouds, Readers, an Instructor’s Guide, and Science, Math, and Handwriting materials. In our assessment, a family that values owning that book collection may find the effective cost lower than the sticker price. Always confirm the current price on the publisher page before ordering.

Religious framing

Each publisher states a Christian worldview on its own site. Abeka says every subject is approached from a Christian perspective, BJU Press describes biblical worldview shaping as the heart of all its materials, and Sonlight calls itself a complete, Christian, literature-based curriculum.

A Sonlight blog post dated April 2014 says Sonlight presents the leading Christian views on the origins of the earth, including young-earth and old-earth interpretations. BJU Press's homeschool science page says its science curriculum examines the evidence for a young-earth model. Abeka's Science: Earth and Space textbook description says a study of rocks, soil, and fossils will give a child ample proof that the earth was created by God and not through evolutionary processes.

Age fit

• Abeka: In our assessment, suited to children 5+ who handle structured seatwork well; children who are still building reading skills may find it demanding.
• BJU Press: The core curriculum covers K3 through grade 12, per the publisher’s textbook page, and video courses are offered for K4 through grade 12, per its video course FAQ.
• Sonlight: In our assessment, suited to children who love being read to, including children who are not yet early readers.

The scoreboard

The scores in this table are Every Homeschool’s assessment, not publisher statements.

• Abeka wins on rigor and the completeness of its video option, in our assessment.
• BJU Press scores highest on visual design and support resources in this scoring.
• Sonlight wins on content depth, worldview breadth, and the quality of its reading lists, in our assessment.

Who should pick which

Pick Abeka if:

• You want the most rigorous of these three Christian curricula, in our assessment
• Your child handles seatwork well at age 5
• You plan to teach from the parent materials, or to use the Academy video option
• You are comfortable with Abeka’s published statement of beliefs, including its use of the Authorized Version (KJV) in all materials
• You want built-in quizzes and tests: Abeka’s parent materials include quiz and test books, and its accredited Academy enrollment adds report cards for an additional cost

Pick BJU Press if:

• You want a K3 through grade 12 core curriculum from one publisher that describes its materials as produced with a biblical worldview
• You want a schedule and gradebook on the Homeschool Hub (the publisher’s Hub chart lists both for textbook buyers)
• You want teacher-led video lessons as an option (the publisher sells online and DVD video courses)

Pick Sonlight if:

• You love reading aloud to your children
• You want a literature-rich, story-driven education
• Your child is just beginning to read (Sonlight’s K Readers and Language Arts are designed for children who are ready to learn the alphabet and begin to read)
• Your family is comfortable with a curriculum its publisher describes as written from a Protestant, Evangelical Christian worldview
• You want one program that more than one child can use (Sonlight says students within three years of each other can use the same History / Bible / Literature and Science program)

Other options by family type

• Catholic families can look at Catholic Schoolhouse, Kolbe Academy, or Seton Home Study School, each of which describes its program as Catholic on its own site.
• Secular families can look at Oak Meadow, Blossom & Root, Torchlight, or Build Your Library, each of which describes its curriculum as secular on its own site.
• Charlotte Mason families can look at Ambleside Online (which describes itself as a free curriculum), A Gentle Feast, or Simply Charlotte Mason.
• Classical education families can look at Memoria Press, Classical Conversations, or Veritas Press. Memoria Press and Veritas Press each describe their curriculum as classical Christian, and Classical Conversations describes its curriculum as Christ-centered and rooted in the classical model.
• Families watching cost can, in our assessment, compare The Good and the Beautiful or Master Books, whose BASIC 4-Subject Sets sell for $151.16 (Grade K) to $376.68 (Grade 11 Civics & Economics Classic Set), retrieved October 2026.

Alternatives if budget is the deciding factor