In 2013 I reviewed the Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E) curriculum for The Curriculum Choice. Three years on I am still getting comments and questions in my inbox on that review. I had shared a general overview, pros and cons, as well as personal thoughts and an important note addressing some really negative reviews that I had come across in the period of time that I was looking into the curriculum.
Recently I moderated a comment where the author asked if I was still using the curriculum and if not why not. And if I was still using A.C.E. what were my thoughts now. With it being such a popular post I thought that it would be a great idea to revisit it and add my thoughts three years on. So here we go, the A.C.E Curriculum review revisited!
Please note that this review is written from a British perspective as I live in England. I am sure that A.C.E in the U.S. will have its own boards and standards for certification.
Our A.C.E Curriculum Current Homeschool Situation
We have continued to use the curriculum because in England, UK NARIC recognizes that the International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE) which is what students will achieve if they follow the prescribed curriculum (that’s all subjects taken through A.C.E using their Paces and/or approved courses), is comparable to the overall Cambridge O and A level certificates. Further more, it qualifies for UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Board) points. UCAS is a UK based organisation whose main role is to operate the application process for British Universities. So if you are wanting to go to university but not go the GCSE and A-Level route, this certificate is recognized and awards the points needed to apply for University.
Currently both my daughters are still homeschooling using A.C.E materials. My eldest is in her final year and will be going to college in September. My youngest still has three years left and plans on going to University once she graduates. Both girls have been educated using the CM methods and Unit Studies for their elementary years. We switched to A.C.E just over three years ago and both girls far prefer this style of homeschooling. They enjoy the structure, gauging their progress and abilities through the tests and seem to have retained so much of what they have learned.
Why We Continue To Use A.C.E
- My daughters continue to receive a Christ-centered education
- It’s thorough! My eldest daughter has recently undergone diagnostic tests in Maths and English as part of the process for her college applications. In both subjects she has scored well and impressed the college tutors.
- It awards the points needed to access higher education.
- It takes all the prepping and planning that was my job out of the equation. I can focus on supporting my daughters learning and on being the mom I want to be. There was a time when I was exhausted from all the prep and planning I used to do and that made me cranky – not the mother I wanted to be at all.
- It’s so easy to transport. Seriously, if you are a family who wants to take an extended road-trip or perhaps there are health issues in your family and the inside of a hospital is a place you frequent, all you need to do is pack your PACE’s. Learning can continue easily.
- It is great for reviewing past work. The PACE’s review past knowledge gained regularly. For my youngest daughter this is important in Maths and English as she tends to be an ‘out of sight out of mind’ kind of gal. This helps her retain facts that you simply cannot do without in these subjects.
- There are required essays and science projects for the General, Advanced and Intermediate certificates. I love that this is an opportunity for my girls to work on projects that require research and a high standard of writing and presentation skills.
- I love that A.C.E has a Student Convention once a year. A.C.E students from all over Europe meet at an assigned country to participate in the convention. There is a myriad of events that the students can choose to participate in. They earn credits for their entries so can opt to participate in the convention instead of taking an extra elective subject.
So Is It All Pros?
Of course not. I don’t believe that any curriculum can be that perfect. I do have some things that I don’t like about it.
- Some of the elective courses need an overhaul! Seriously, they seem dated and a bit boring, but I will save that review for another post.
- I also do take issue with the strict marking rules that they have on ‘exact word’ answers. I mean really – is it not enough that they child understands and retains the knowledge and can communicate it clearly in the test? I don’t see why the student should be penalized for not giving ‘exact word’ answers. This is not enough for me to throw out the curriculum though – we’ve devised our own way of dealing with this issue.
- Occasionally things are made to be ‘spiritual’ that really aren’t. We have learned to roll with it and not take those statements too seriously. I don’t think, for example, that God is really too fussed one way or another about neat handwriting. One of the PACE’s suggested that neat handwriting was pleasing to God – lol
- I feel that some of the Etymology PACE’s could be more challenging. Some of the spelling words at this level are really basic.
PACE’s
Are you Still Tweaking The Curriculum?
Indeed I am! We follow the rules and abide by the standards. We do the PACE’s, we study hard for tests and make sure we give of our very best. But learning is not all about PACE work.
- I make sure that we have our Bible devotional time together each morning, by this I mean devotions NOT using the A.C.E Biblical Studies PACE’s. Those are done separately.
- I still include our Charlotte Mason favorites: Art Appreciation, Composer Study, Nature Study and Narration. For the narration it is all verbal. I ask them, for example, what did you learn in your social studies today? Then we discuss it so that I can help develop their critical thinking, debating and conversational skills.
- We STILL do read aloud together! My girls are 16 and nearly 18 but we still read together. I choose classics that are not included in the curriculum. We are currently reading Great Exceptions by Charles Dickens. This book has really provided some fabulous discussion points so far.
- Field Trips: These still happen, perhaps not weekly, but I like to include field trips that will be interesting and educational and thus beneficial to rounding out my girls education. I will make sure that we go to the theater, and art gallery, a museum, an animal sanctuary/zoo/aquarium. In our nature studies I plan to focus on different habitats throughout the year such as grassland, woodland, beach etc. Sometimes these require a bit of traveling to get there, the beach for example is about a 30 minute drive, it’s not right on our doorstep like the woodlands or moors.
- The girls participate in one outside class at the local college each term so that they grow accustomed to different styles of teaching and of having to work within a group etc. This term it is an advanced cooking class.
What About The Naysayers?
Well, they will always be around won’t they? I had quite a bit to say on this subject in my original review, please do pop over to read that as my views have not changed. I would like to add however, that ‘peer pressure’ can be a nasty thing, even amongst us homeschooling moms. We might feel that everyone else is using the CM method /classical approach/unit study approach {for example} so I really should too, even though it’s really not working for me, etc. We might feel that somehow our homeschool is ‘lessened’ in effectiveness or value because we have chosen to use resources that are not topping the popularity charts. We feel looked down on or scorned for the choices we have made for our children.
I want to encourage you, no matter what your approach or curriculum, that you are to do exactly what God has called you to do and do not feel ashamed or guilty for your choices. At the end of the day no one else except you knows your children or home situation and current circumstances as well as you do. Curriculum is just a tool, it’s not what will determine your children’s success as individuals. All tools should really be kept to their proper purpose and used for their usefulness. If they fail to be useful then get rid of it.
Questions and your viewpoints are always welcome, please leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Hi Shirley,
I read both ACE posts and the comments, and I still have a question. I know you mention that the PACEs are reviewed and updated regularly, but when I had looked into them, I was very turned off by the outdated covers and the old style cartoons. Is that just “window dressing” that doesn’t have any effect, or do you think the PACEs are outdated and hard to relate to? I mean, how hard is it to put a new cover on it?! LOL I’m comparing to Christian Light Light Units and trying to decide to which to buy. Thanks!
Leigh
Hi Leigh,
The content is reviewed and updated regularly, not necessarily the window dressing :). The cartoons – oh my goodness – I can see younger children loving them but by High School I’m not so sure. We kind of just ignore what we don’t like and get on with the work. I have to say that we have recently bought the 1st of the biology DVD’s that comes with the level 9 science and it is diabolical. It was clearly recorded in the early 80’s and it is dated and basically just repeats word for word what the PACE says. I really do think they should do something to update it, but then again it is not necessary to the curriculum. I for one will not be buying the next Biology DVD – I feel it’s just not worth the money considering how dated it is. Other than that we don’t find the PACE’s hard to relate to. It fulfills the purpose that we need it to, is not horrible to work with, and I always bear in mind that the curriculum is just a tool – the way I choose to change it/use it/dress it up is what makes the difference, and I do do that. I’ve just written a post on my blog actually on how I still incorporate living books (Charlotte Mason Method) into our A.C.E days. I am also mindful of how my teens feel about he curriculum, they generally get on well with it and enjoy it.
I think in the States you have a much bigger choice, in that the American curriculum’s are written for and meet your countries educational requirements and the certificates that are offered by the various ‘in-a-box’ curriculum providers are recognized by your colleges and universities. In England we have GCSE’s and A-levels and you would need to use the States curriculum in order to cover all the work if you want to sit those exams. A.C.E has been reviewed by our examination board and found that it matches the UK’s requirements and therefore is recognized by our Universities admissions board. Christian Light and a myriad of others do not do that. So if you feel that you would be happier using something else or have any reservations about it then I would go with what you are more comfortable with. You don’t want to be chopping and changing curriculum too much so go with something that you have less reservations about 🙂
Hope that long-winded answer helps 🙂
Hi there,
We have used ACE on and off for the past 8 years. We started with it in the primary grades, then took a few years off and now we are starting it again. Did you have your kids do a diagnostic test to determine where you should start them in? Also, which subjects do you girls use ACE for in the upper grades? We have entered the middle school years and it’s nice to hear how ACE has helped or worked for other families.
Thanks for your time. Sylvia
Hi Sylvia,
Like you we have been on and off ACE. We did take the diagnostic test when we initially started but we didn’t retake it when we re-joined. We are in the UK so in order to get the high school diploma we need to take all the core subjects as well as three electives for the General certificate, two for the intermediate certificate and on for the advanced -that’s over a few years obviously.
Hope my answer has helped you 😉
Dear Shirley,
These reviews have been very encouraging, I love (in my heart) and have been trying to use CM since pulling the boys out of public school, and I have never successfully got it up and running in the last 4 years!! (and the boys have never really taken off with it either) my sense of failure and guilt is extreme to the point of being depression. I have a 15, 13, nearly 7, and 2 yr old boys. The older two are just now expressing interest in college/university courses to be able to do what they hope to as a career. So now I am looking at ACE for the uk equivalent to gcses / a levels…ICCE – it is cheaper than chasing down actual IGCSE’s. BUT I feel so torn, I feel like I am going against EVERYTHING I’ve struggled (and failed!!) to build in our homeschool with CM. It makes me want to cry, but at the same time, I want to curl up in a ball and breakdown at the prospect of trying to carry on any further as we are! (due to the expense of ACE I would still use CM with my younger two til they reach secondary school)
On a practical note – for tweaking in a CM way – how much time on an average day do the required PACE’s take? I am worried they will be slaving over work books solidly from 9am – 4pm. Just as you have done I would still want to implement some sort of a morning time and cm parts to the week – how much time is left to play with after ACE is done each day or week?
Thank you for your thoughts,
Jo (in Devon)
Hi Jo,
I’m also in Devon 🙂 Are you on the CM Conversations UK Facebook Group? I’m sure I’ve seen your name there. I would love to chat with you about this as I have lots to share but I think that it would be too long to share here. I’ll try email you or PM you on FB and we can chat.
X Shirley
Hi Shirley -Yes I am on the cm conversations fb group, and I think i have commented on your blog before too.
I will try to ‘friend’ you so we can message on fb. x
Dear Shirley,
I have been reading your posts about A.C.E., and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I am in the US and am going to start homeschooling my 6 & 8 year old girls, very soon. I was very curious to see your reply to Jo’s question about how much time, on average, it takes to complete the required paces. I was sad when your response wasn’t posted, but I totally get it! I would love to get your thoughts on this topic, though. Thank you!
-Jessica
Hi Jessica,
I’m so sorry about not posting a reply with regards to the time it takes for PACE work, Jo and I ended up having a really long chat about quite a few things and I knew that my full reply to her question was much longer than might be acceptable to other readers LOL – i.e, I could end up boring everyone to tears 😉
For my own girls our day would start at 9am and end around 3ish which naturally included breaks. However my girls are in their high school years so our page count per day per subject was greater and we had electives to get through too which you won’t have at your girls ages. We didn’t use ACE in our young homeschooling years only for a few years in high school so I don’t have any experience with using at at that stage I’m afraid. I know that answer is probably not very helpful – sorry.
Dear Shirley,
I have been so blessed by this and your previous post about A.C.E.! I have used the PACES for math and english for our two daughters throughout our homeschool journey, and have been well satisfied with them. I am now considering using A.C.E. in all the major subjects for my older daughter who is entering high school this fall. My concern is regarding the sciences. We are used to many hands on activities and experiments in our Apologia Science curriculums, and I was wondering how the science PACES for biology and chemistry are laid out. Do the students have opportunities to use a microscope, do dissections, experiments etc.? Or is it all bookwork with someone else on a dvd giving demonstrations? I would greatly appreciate any advise you would give me! Thank you so much!
Debbie (from Canada)
Hi Debbie,
I have to say that my girls really enjoyed the lower grade science PACE’s but the high school ones were dated. The DVD’s simply repeated word for word what was in the PACE’s although they did do the dissection work on them. On the whole, we were disappointed with the high school science DVD’s and switched to using the Apologia science curriculum. Not encouraging I’m afraid, but that was our experience. Hope that helps.
Hi Shirley,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! I have been leaning towards continuing with Apologia, and your answer has given me the information I was after. It also gave me the reassurance to stay with Apologia that I needed.
God bless you,
Debbie 🙂
Dear Shirley,
I just read over my reply and deeply apologize for the horrible spelling error on your pretty name! My finger must have hit both the ‘r’ and the ‘t’ at the same time, and I didn’t catch the mistake. And after you so kindly responded to my query, too! Please accept my apologies!!!!!
Sincerely,
A very red-faced Debbie
Hi Debbie,
Don’t worry about the spelling LOL – I have corrected it. I do it too if I’m typing too quickly 😀
I’m happy that my answer has clarified the way forward with regards to Science.
Blessings,
Shirley
Hi there, I just started Homeschooling my kids and I decided on A.C.E. because I don’t have the time to prepare lessons for them as I have my own business. I have adapted their schedule, Fridays are for computers and arts and field trips. They are both avid tennis players so they get physical exercise daily. They are moving alot faster than anticipated. My son is 7 and is supposed to be in grade 1. He started homeschooling in September and we are about finished with his 1st term of grade 2. My daughter is 10 and supposed to be in grade 4 but she is also almost done with her 1st term of grade 5 after starting in September. My daughter in particular works on her own. She wakes up and heads to her office and starts working. The stress levels have definitely gone down from them being in a normal school. There are plenty of free curriculums out there from which I borrow if I feel that A.C.E does not give enough info. I love the creationist point of view and the character traits they learn in the Paces. In South Africa our grade 12 is such a low standard that it isn’t even recognized by our own universities. I have no idea what we will have to do when they graduate but we still have time to decide. I might let them go over to CambriLearn. Have your daughter’s no graduated and entered university?
Stumbled across this on Pinterest….. thank you! I have been attempting to try a Charlotte Mason approach to homeschool and have been feeling guilty that I’m about to start TEACH but was sure I could still incorporate some great living books etc into this…. you’ve made me realise it’s possible!
Hi Pam, I’m so glad that my post has helped you. I’ve now graduated both my children from our homeschool and both are in university. If there is one bit of advice I can give now that we have completed our journey it would be please don’t feel guilty or pressured. Trust God’s leading because He really does make our paths straight! I can only see now that we are through that all my own feelings of guilt when starting TEACH were totally unfounded and definitely not of God! Homeschool the way God leads YOU to because that is the best way for your family. Ditch the guilt – it’s not worth it!
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Thank you so much for this post! At times I felt tremendously guilty for leaving our strict CM education behind and opting for ACE during one of our more trying seasons. I also add living books for the children to read for pleasure, as well as, quality literature such as The Odyssey and The Aeneid. I have a freshman daughter and a 6th grade boy and have found ACE very helpful in keeping them on track in areas such as math and grammar. My youngest struggles with the workload of all the subjects and trying to finish the PACES in 3 weeks. We are still trying to figure that part out and I wondered if there was a better way to handle the Language Arts component. I thought about splittng them up onto assigned days..Word Building every day, grammar on M, W, F and creative writing Tuesday and Thurdays. I’m not sure if that’s an answer though because he will still be behind the 3 week deadline. Anyway, I really just wanted to say thank you for sharing and that I will be visiting your blog shortly. Blessings!
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for your comment. I think it is easy to feel guilty but the truth is we all go through difficult life seasons and each season may call for adjustments. Don’t feel guilty at all for the Lord determines our children’s paths irrespective of what curriculum or methods of teaching you use. I have seen this in our own homeschool. You don’t say if you are using ACE independently or through an umbrella school. We used them independently so I didn’t let the 3-week deadline dictate our homeschool routine. I too had a child who struggled with the workload so we had to adjust to accommodate that. I would far rather she continued to enjoy learning than end up hating learning for the sake of squeezing her education into someone else’s ‘box. I am pleased to say that my struggling reader and writer is now 21 and in university. She is doing incredibly well and it has made no difference whatsoever that she completed her PACE’s in longer than 3 weeks. Be encouraged to ditch the guilt and homeschool your way.
A good article Shirley. Our daughter left State Ed (bullying) and continued through ACE (Yorkshire schools). Back to State Ed for A levels and Uni. I think that on balance, her ACE days were good for her. Her major problem was, I think, Maths. I made various suggestions to ACE (eg Basic Arithmetic, mandatory; Advanced Maths, elective)—heeded not; declined politely (Yoda). I wish that the system would eagerly encourage feedback, perhaps having suggestions sifted at local level, then regional, then national, so that HQ could see the main issues, fix them, and improve. Like the KJV translators: imperfect, yes; improved, yes.
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you regarding the maths and we needed to suppliment our studies with a British based maths program so as to be able to take the iGCSE. Like you, on the whole it was a good (not perfect) thing and served it’s purpose. Both my daughters enjoyed using ACE for the few years that they did before we went back to our Charlotte Mason style education.