The school year is approaching its end and it’s time to once again re-assess our homeschools. Are there things we need to change? Resources that have or have not worked? Perhaps you are moving into a different season in your homeschool. This is what we as a homeschooling family have recently gone through. Up to now we have used an eclectic Charlotte Mason approach. We used a bit of KONOS and lots of living books. For various reasons we needed to change the way we did things and after research and prayer we went with School of Tomorrow’s A.C.E or Accelerated Christian Education program. I have a couple of things to say on this program, I’ll start with what it’s all about.
Accelerated Christian Education {A.C.E}’s educational concepts are based on the following five basic laws of learning:
- A child must be at a level where he can perform.
- He must have reasonable goals.
- His learning must be controlled, and he must be motivated.
- His learning must be measurable.
- His learning must be rewarded.
PACE’s
What is Accelerated Christian Education A.C.E. and What is Included?
- Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E) is a self-paced, self-study type curriculum. The children take ownership of their studies.
- A.C.E is definitely a Christian curriculum science is taught from a creationist view and each PACE incorporates Scripture, Godly character building and wisdom principles.
- Christian character is illustrated in each PACE through a cartoon strip where the main character Ace and his friends (who grow in age with the child through his/her PACES) are faced with every day dilemmas and illustrate how to deal with them in a godly and honorable way.
- There are six subjects: English, Word Building, Maths, Social Studies, Science, and Creative Writing and Literature. In higher years there are additional electives that can be added to the program
- Children work in workbooks called PACES. Each subject has 12 workbooks per year. So for instance, English will have 12 PACES/year, Maths will have 12 PACES/year etc.
- The child sets his own goals (number of pages to be worked per PACE) each day. Depending on the child’s ability it is recommended that they do between 3 and 5 pages per PACE per day. (Younger children 3 working up to high school children 5)
- A.C.E is a self-paced curriculum which allows the curriculum to be tailored to each child’s individual ability and level. So if the child struggles in one area it does not mean that he/she is kept ‘back’ in all areas but instead can move at a slower pace in that subject. If the child excels in an area he/she is able to move ahead at a quicker pace.
- A.C.E is a mastery-based curriculum
Inside a PACE
A.C.E. Pros
- The child is involved in setting his/her own daily goals and then setting out to achieve them – a vital skill for them to learn for working life
- The work is all set out for you, you simply move from one work-book to another, progressing to the next work-book once a test has been passed. This is a huge time saver for me personally.
- You are able to see immediately if there are any problem areas as these will show up in either the checkups {concise test on work just learned} of which there are around 3/PACE, or in the self-tests.
- Each PACE reinforces a different biblical character trait as well as has a scripture verse for the child to learn. This builds up a valuable wealth of scripture in the child’s heart which in my opinion will stand him/her in good stead throughout life.
- Each child can move at his/her own pace.
A.C.E. Cons
- If you are averse to workbooks and feel they can be boring then this is not the program for you Both my daughters have not found this at all. They have loved the work, the method of learning and the brightly colored PACES
- We find that the PACES can unnecessarily make everything a biblical issue. For us it is not an issue, we see it for what it is and discuss anything that we find a bit ‘in-your-face’.
- You could easily fall into the trap of only working on the PACES and excluding those valuable extras like Nature Study, field trips etc. This is easily guarded against by sitting down and planning a couple of weeks ahead and scheduling in those ‘extras’.
Student Goal Cards
Some Personal Thoughts:
Coming from a Charlotte Mason point of view, I was initially very put off by A.C.E. It is completely opposite to how we have run our homeschool up to this point. However, I feel that the saying ‘Don’t let the tail wag the dog‘ applies rather aptly here. The curriculum is a tool that should be utilized and adapted to each individual homeschool. We have certainly added a Charlotte Mason twist onto this curriculum. Yes, we work on our PACES in the morning – but throughout the week manage to fit in our favorite CM activities that have become dear to us over the years. We still do our Nature Studies, read aloud together, find time for picture study, composer study and plan to cover a bit of Shakespeare in a workshop with some friends this summer. Field trips are planned in advance.
All these things help us maintain a balanced and holistic approach to our homeschooling rhythm. You can read some of my initial thoughts on using this curriculum in our homeschool here. As we have come into the A.C.E program in the high school years, I find that it’s system works well for my children. Looking back I still would have chosen the same route we have taken. I don’t think I would have chosen A.C.E for our primary years – only because the path we have already walked is paved with so many lovely memories with what we have used along the way :o)
A Very Important Point:
Do a Google search on Accelerated Christian Education A.C.E curriculum and you find plenty of people who have awful things to say about A.C.E. Words like ‘brainwashing’, ‘fundamentalists’, and ‘low academic standard’ jump out at you. I think that it is important to make the following points to try to give a balanced view as these comments, and in fact whole blogs devoted to being ‘anti-A.C.E’ campaigns, can unfairly frighten some people off. So my points:
- Most of the people who are so vocal attended, at some point in their schooling, formal A.C.E schools in the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t run an A.C.E school. I run a home and raise children with love and grace.
- Just about all of the people who call this program ‘fundamentalist’ or ‘brainwashing’ are not Christians. Most are in fact at the very opposite extreme.
- With regard to academic standard – again most of these people are addressing issues in the curriculum from 20 years back. The curriculum is reviewed and updated regularly. These people are also referring to science being taught from a creationist point of view and not the more widely accepted secular worldview.
- I think that it is also important to note that ALL curriculum can have mistakes in them, after all, they are written by fallible human beings. A.C.E is internationally recognized and accepted by major universities worldwide. I doubt that they would accept A.C.E graduates if they felt that the academic standard was not up to scratch.
So, if you are a structured person, don’t mind working with workbooks, and looking for a curriculum that maintains a high Biblical and academic education, then Accelerated Christian Education could possibly be an option for you. You can find the curriculum at ACE Ministries.
You may also like to read my A.C.E. Curriculum Review Revisited.
~written by Shirley Ann, Under An English Sky
-originally published May 2013.
That’s a brilliant idea, to keep a lot of the CM ideas while doing A.C.E! Even if the program is lacking here and there, which some suggest, wide reading and all the lovely CM ‘extras’ will overcome such issues.
Thanks for the review!
Thanks for your comment Annie Kate :o). I think that the penny has finally dropped for me that curriculum – no matter which one – is a tool that needs to be used by me – not me being used by the curriculum -LOL. As long has we have a good solid core, we can tailor it to suite our educational philosophies.
Thanks for your review. I loved every word! It’s so sad how some people can write such one sided reviews. I love how yours was balanced!
I attended an ACE school from K-12 and loved it!
I loved the Bible memorization and Christian character traits that I learned growing up.
Sure, it had its pros and cons, but ultimately it was a great schooling experience for me. We homeschool our three children and don’t currently use ACE. I am looking into it for possible future use with electives etc. Thanks again!
Jenn I agree with you. I don’t think one sided reviews are very helpful. A balanced pros and cons type thing helps others to make up their own mind. It’s fine to express a personal opinion of course but a fair overview should still make it’s way through 🙂
Hello, My name is Deborah. I was really interested in you opinions . I too have read of those who have critical opinions of the Ace programme. yes in the 80s. I am 46 years old and I used ACE. I started when I was in year 8 and 13 yrs old.i I went to public and private schools before doing homeschooling. I was not brainwashed in the least .yes there is a lot of mention of Fathers roles Mothers roles., but this is only to show good morales and encourage the children to grow up to be good parents themselves.I have two sons both using A.C.E , As A single Mother when they were younger I would just not use those words that did mention Fathers often. . In the older Age books this does not appear.Interesting to read your views as often I thought should i change the cirriculumn, but every year i take up A.C.E , as i know it works and is so easy to implement. My younger son loves the fact of the workbook, . We love science and Social studies and have just learnt all about the great Australian inventions and inventors. I am using some advanced books such as'” AUSTRALIAN HISTORY” and WORLD HISTORY for both boys.We do notebooking pages As the boys love this and it reinforces what they have studied about in their paces.
I am wondering if we could set up a penpal section for our children. I loved thec penpals i had as a child and now to get a letter in the mail is a special communication. I have a 12.5 yr old son and 16yr old son…thankyou Deborah Wellman AUSTRALIA
HI Deborah, thanks so much for your comment, I enjoyed reading your experiences and how you use A.C.E in your home. I agree with everything you said and yes, my girls enjoyed the science and social studies too 🙂
Hi Shirley, if I may seek some advice. I planned to begin my son with ACE.I am deeply concern on it’s acceptance internationally as I do not want to limit my son’s opportunity for further education beyond the church eg: medicine, law, engineering. These create profession my son may not want to pursue however I would like to give him the option.
Is there anyway I can check?Thanks in advance. Anything would help.
Hi Rebecca,
We live in England (not sure where you are from?) but the organisation that supplies A.C.E to us gave us a list of universities, local and internationally that had accepted students who had used the A.C.E program. However, I have to say that should you son want to study medicine (for example) I know that in England they require a certain amount of GCSE’s all sat in one year and certain grades for specific A-level subjects. The reason for this is that they want to see that the prospective med student can cope with the heavy workload that is required of them. Now there could be similar stipulations for other professional courses, that you would need to find out. I would contact the organisation that supplies the curriculum in your country and ask them for a list of universities and courses that A.C.E students have been accepted on. I would also contact prospective colleges/universities that might be on your radar for the future and ask them if they accept the qualification. I hope my suggestions help.
Dear Shirley Anne, I am a homeschooling Mother who has used ACe for almost ten years with my sons and also I myself used it from 14yrs to year 12. I was very interested in what you have said as often i have thought
after meeting other homeschoolers who feel it is structured should i be changing ? have my children missed out?. What you have shared is God saying tom e you are doing the right thing.thankyou. My oldest son is dyslexic and the Paces are very well structured by professors, scientist ,mathematicians etc. my youngest wanted to stay on them and honestly i do not believe that you can get better consistent history and social science (we are AUstralian) as the Ace Paces. I got into collegewith my year 12 from Ace to do earlychildhood, but here in Australia there are alternative ways to get into University and if one looks at Homeschooling down under etc there are previous homeschoolers who have done alternative ways to become Doctors etc.God B
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for your comment. I know the feeling you are describing after having been with other homeschoolers. It’s so easy to play the comparison game isn’t it? But the Lord has a plan for each family and that plan looks different according to your children’s strengths, weaknesses and needs. Keep on the path He put you on, you know your children better than anyone else.
Blessings,
Shirley Ann
Thank you for your review of ACE! I have been using it with my children for the past 4 years. I currently homeschool a 1st grader, 3rd grader, and 8th grader. I agree with you on every point you made. Like you, we use ACE as our core and have added to it art, music, and other things that interest us. We find that it travels well, and we can take it with us if we need to go somewhere, and you can school just about anywhere with it. I appreciate you point regarding the horrible things people say about ACE. I have found it to be a solid learning foundation. My church uses the curriculum in their private school and they have turned out some amazing students in the past. I often see so many families agonize over the curriculums that they purchase that do not fit. Or each year families switching to this that or the other. I realize every family is different, but ACE is consistent and only really needs a little tweaking to make everyone happy. Thanks again for a positive review!
I agree with you Teri – tweaking is all it needs. Coming from a Unit Study/Charlotte Mason point of view I have been pleasantly surprised how well A.C.E is working for us. Of course the fact that A.C.E is easy to take along your travels should you need to is just such a huge plus! Thanks so much for your lovely comment :o)
We have 7 children, and ACE works great for us. In a busy household it is nice to know that I can assign the work, and they can accomplish it mostly on their own. (I realize for hands on Moms this might be a put off). On days that we get our basics done, there is plenty of time for art, music study, etc. I will say that I am not thrilled with their literature selection, so I skip that part of the curriculum and we choose our own books. Choosing this type of curriculum (we have tried many) has taken the stress out of our homeschool day. In my opinion by taking their curriculum, and making it our own, we have a winner. We plan on sticking with this curriculum for the duration of our school years. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for your comment Channon. We also plan on sticking with this curriculum for the remainder of our schooling years. I am really enjoying reading all these comments from seasoned ACE users who are generally happy with the curriculum. It is a blessing for me to read :o)
Hi. Can you tell me more about why you did not like the literature paces? I went to an ACE school, but they did not use that course. I plan to homeschool my own children with ACE and would like to hear your thoughts. I completely agree with adding in extras to the curriculum. I plan on adding art, music, and YMCA classes for physical education.
Am starting my 16yo son on ACE this year 2021.am thrilled that my son can finally study a bible centered caricullum.
Dear Shirley,
I have just read your blog post on ACE, and want to thank you for taking the time to ‘enlighten’ the masses on this subject.
We have two boys aged 12 and 9, and have been using ACE since 2003, when our eldest was only 3. You mentioned in your blog that you wouldn’t have used ACE for primary years, but we did, and our boys thoroughly enjoyed it. The songs, the phonic method of learning to read, the character trait stories, colourful PACEs, and other hands-on/craft activities aimed at very young kids were brilliant.
We now find ourselves enveloped in the ‘next phase’ of the curriculum, the ICCE-part, as our eldest prepares for his GCSE-equivalent level of work. He’s still thriving on the program, and dreams of studying art either at college or university in the very near future (how time flies!)
His younger brother is doing well, too, and is currently at Level 5.
We were chatting recently to a couple who live and work in South Korea (he is an English professor, she is Korean), and they are thinking of home-schooling their 12-year-old daughter, due to changes in their circumstances and lifestyle back in Korea. They came to see us and we showed them parts of the curriculum, different PACEs, Literature books, etc. etc. They were impressed and are seriously considering ACE.
Now that I’ve read your well-balanced report on the program, I’d like to send them a copy. Trust this is OK with you?
Best wishes, and many blessings,
Magda Maylam
Liverpool
Tel 0151 734 0978
P.S. Will have a proper look at your main blog this weekend… J
I grew up using this curriculum in the private school setting. I am using ACE with my oldest who 9. She was attending a private school and fell behind in math. I was able to go back and start out where she was struggling and catch her up to where she should be. Now she is ahead. She really enjoys math now and thinks that the PACE’s are so much easier then what she was doing. Her confidence in the ability to do math is great now. She is using ACE for her other core subjects and we do Science, History, and Bible together with her younger siblings with MFW. The ACE program works great for her learning style.
thank you so much for the review!! I used ACE as a child and really enjoyed it. My daughter is approaching kinder, and I would really like to use the reading readiness ACE offers. This was very insightful!
Thanks Shirley. Balanced, objective piece that helped my wife and I a great deal. thank you.
Thank you for your comment Tedd, I am glad that my review was a help to you and your wife :o)
Blessings
Shirley
I have just started homeschooling my 10th grade graandson. He attended a pace school last year but for financial reasons they are allowing me to continue at home. H0w d you score the daily work? Is it like regular school work? If you have 20 problem each one is worth 5 points?
Hi Andrea,
You use a score key to mark and score the daily work. Any tests will have what each problem is worth – all reflected in the score key. The score key is a separate booklet that you buy – most often (but not always) one score key will have all the answers for the daily work and the tests for three paces. So for example for Word Building paces 1072,1073, and 1074 (for example) you would have one score key that would contain all the answers for those three paces. I would recommend contacting A.C.E directly as they have a homeschooling department and offer support to homeschooling families. (I’m assuming you are in the States?) If you are in England you would contact TEACH for support.
{Ignore previous comment where I thought you hated ACE, lol!}
Interesting review. My blog/website is at least 50% about PACEs, our live with them, etc. We, too, came from a KONOS & Charlotte Mason/living books background when beginning them, haha! Interesting that you and I would have a similar background and end up at PACEs.
I couldn’t be more pleased and don’t foresee us ever changing. 🙂 I actually have post on my site as to where we fit in living books, craftivities, unit study-related materials, and more. Everything gets DONE…whereas when their entire Science {for instance} relied on unit studies and living books, we fell off the wagon entirely too much due to lack of time to prep.
Whatever floats…but I sometimes read people’s reviews of ACE (which are negative) and then read later on/elsewhere on their blog where they’re constantly talking about school not getting done, fretting that their children are “behind,” feeling burnout and even sending their children to school in some cases…due to burnout! And yet, PACEs are — to those folks — so awful… Ironic, isn’t it? 🙂
Someone once said, “A ‘superior’ curriculum isn’t really superior if it isn’t getting done.” I couldn’t agree more. 🙂
Dear ladies,
I am from Malaysia and have four children who are being homeschooled. My eldest has now moved on to a learning centre while I still homeschool the other three. My elder two have special academic needs so they were the first to jump on the homeschool bandwagon. I thank God to have found ACE because the children can cope with it and they do additional work too. I just want to say a BIG thank you as Your posts have further encouraged me to keep going on, no matter what the negative comments are about ACE.
Tasha, you said it well when you mentioned about claims of superiority of curriculums.
Shirley, I really enjoyed reading your ACE review! I have one son that is 12 years and he doesn’t always enjoy his workbook work, but school gets done! I really like this curriculum because of it being so independent.
Tasha, I would love to read your blog, since you said that you have ideas on how to tweak ACE! 🙂
I also use ACE curriculum and love it. I use it with my 4 kids: 6th grade, 3rd grade, 1st grade, and pre-K. We do supplement with music and art, but our foundation is strong with the basics. I was actually starting to question the math curriculum recently because of reports of the public school being more advanced. I appreciate this positive review. I feel that ACE is more simple in its approach, and I like that about it, I find it makes the material easier to learn. I grew up in a private school using ACE and always enjoyed it. I attended a public school my last two years of high school, and found that it was much more difficult to learn; not because the work itself was harder, it was just presented in a more complicated, or even cumbersome, way. I love the simplified method of ACE. It’s good to read these positive reviews! Thanks
I am very familiar with the ACE curriculum, my church use to have a school for 19 years and ACE is what they used. I am now an at home mom ( not sure for how long, so please pray for me that God will allow me to continue this path), I have put my son , whom is 9 on this curriculum, but I agree with you, he needs some thing else. I have read up on some of the Charlotte Mason’s material. But I am a little confused on how the process works. I see that you purchase books, so I am assuming that the books tell you what to teach and how to go about teaching a particular subject? If you can enlighten me on how her curriculum works and how it is applied, I would be most grateful.
I am new to homeschooling, and if you have any pointers that would be helpful as well. Thanks so much…. Jill.
Hi Jill,
Thanks for your comment and I want you to know that I am praying for you as you embark on this blessed journey of teaching your dear child at home for God’s glory!
Applying the Charlotte Mason Method is a step-by-step process in my opinion. You can read Charlotte Masons books for free online at Ambleside Online but I would HIGHLY recommend buying Karen Andreola’s Book ‘A Charlotte Mason Companion’. It gives a fantastic overview of Charlotte Mason’s methods. You can read a review right here on The Curriculum Choice – Link: https://www.thecurriculumchoice.com/2010/09/charlotte-mason-guides/
This post also has some great links to other Charlotte Mason helps. If you want to learn more about Charlotte Mason and her education methods go with one of the books recommended in the above mentioned post.
I have written a couple of posts on my blog about how we do Music Appreciation and Art Appreciation in our home
http://bugsbeetlesandbarefootdays.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/music-appreciation.html
http://bugsbeetlesandbarefootdays.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/appreciating-art-appreciating-charlotte.html
I think that the best advice I could give to a new-to-homeschooling mom would be to relax, trust your instincts and don’t replicate public school at home. You will find a way and rhythm that works for you and your family. And if you are wanting to go the Charlotte Mason route – read Karen Andreola’s book and start by adding just one thing at a time until you are comfortable with it and it is established. This is not an ‘over-night quick’ application.
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Hi there! Thank you so much for the review! I have heard such terrible things in the past about this curriculum that i gave up considering it. I am now *trying* to school my 2nd and 1st graders while taking care of my 3 and 1 yr old boys. I emphasis TRY bc it feels so impossible to get to everything that i want to be getting to with them. i have not chosen too much to do per year…we are talking getting reading and math done in one day. i have some awesome grammar, science and history courses that i need to get to but it NEVER happens. i know that i need to take pressure off of myself, which i have, in not expecting to tackle the world…..but the BASICS???? soo frustrating! I have a friend who has been using PACE’s for 2 years now and she loves it, but we have different educational philosophies and i tend to lean more towards a charlotte mason approach, so i have hesitated taking her word for it. but now i am sooo desperate!!! my girls do GREAT when it is math or writing workbook time, But they dont get anything other than that bc of, well…life! (plus we just recently made a cross country move…stress much!)
Anyways, I am thinking of getting these to cover what i am unable to cover at this moment in out homeschool life. i am wondering if you have any input on this for me? …or negatives about the primary years with this or if it is just simply that you just liked what you chose and thats that? Any tips on using this curriculum for younger years, that you have heard?
Thanks a bunch in advance for any help. Going crazy, a little bit, i think 🙂
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
I do hope that this email finds you. I will post my reply in the comments section of my post too just in case it does not!
As I am sure you picked up from my review, we are at heart a Charlotte Mason homeschool. I completely agree with her philosophy and have spent 7 years adding bits of it to our homeschool day.
When we switched to A.C.E I was at a point of desperation due to burnout. Like you I needed something that would work yet still maintain and support our reasons for choosing to homeschool, which was to raise children who love and serve the Lord whole-heartedly. I also needed something that did not require any planning or much thought on my part. I was pretty much where you are now, just hanging on by my fingernails.
Our choice to switch from our CM way to A.C.E was tough for me as it went against everything I had been trying to do for the past 7 years, however, I was failing to meet my childrens needs because I was running on empty. We needed a healthy ‘holding pattern’. The PACES met that need.
Once we started using them I was really pleasantly surprised! My girls really enjoyed most of what they were doing and they were able to see what great students they were through the tests. It really boosted their confidence. They both absolutely and completely loved (and still love) the science. Previously we had used Apologia which just has not clicked with them at all. But this science really engaged them.
As I started to recover from my exhaustion and felt more able to take a bit more on, I slowly took some of the PACES away and added back my CM ways. The science PACES however are here to stay, there was no taking that away!
I guess that what I am trying to say is that life is full of seasons. Some are more demanding than others. During those seasons we need to keep in a ‘holding pattern’ instead of soaring and climbing higher – and that’s okay. It would be far better for you to use PACES now than to completely feel swamped and put your children into school.
Another thing I have realised after 7 years of homeschooling is that there is NO perfect curriculum. The most important thing is how to love and disciple your children, not what curriculum you use.
My advice is to buy the PACES you need to fill the gaps. If you have a maths and English program that are working for you right now, stick to that and add in the subjects you feel that you need. Don’t feel guilty! A.C.E has been a tremendous blessing to our family. I honestly think that all the terrible things that are said about the curriculum are completely blown out of proportion. I could not find half of what I had heard before hand to be true. There are some things like the rigidity of the system that are a bit excessive – but my children never attended a school but rather our homeschool, so I did what I thought best for my girls, not what they said I should do.
Perhaps this is the season of workbooks for you – completely acceptable and so much easier when life is proving overwhelming. What I did was to do PACES from Monday to Thursday and then Friday was my CM day where we did nature walks, art projects, poetry etc. So I did not let go of it completely.
I think in this technological world, we see much more what other’s are doing and feel that we have to somehow measure up to gain approval. This does nothing other than put additional pressure onto you and heap coals of guilt on your head too! Trust the Lord to lead you and remember ‘SEASONS’! We live through seasons, it will change. No season stays forever.
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Shirley, I am looking into getting ACE for my family. I am so confused on the cost though. Any thoughts/info you can share on that? Thanks! Leah
Hi Leah,
We live in England so the cost per PACE is £3.95. You than have the Answer Key’s which are the same price BUT the answers in each booklet cover 3 PACES most of the time. The cost can be cut if you share answer keys or buy them at a reduced price from another A.C.E family -which is what we did. A.C.E did cost more than the resources I had previously used, but I spread the cost by simply buying 2 PACES for each subject initially – one to begin work with and one in stock. Then at the beginning of each new month – or pay day ;o) – I would order the next set of PACES. This way I spread the cost so that it was affordable for me and I always had the next PACE on hand.
The cost is marginally reduced for each subsequent child as you will not have to buy the answer keys again (unless they update the curriculum) for when the next child reaches that PACE number.
In England our initial outlay was pricey as we had to pay for a training manual which helps the parent/teacher understand the system, we then had a years membership fees to pay for our family. Our total start-up cost for that alone was around £130. That membership covers all support, advice and record keeping which results in a school leavers certificate which is internationally recognized. However, you can choose (at least here in England) not to join up and rather just buy the PACEs. The PACES are then priced at £4.95 each as you don’t get the member discount, but you are not paying membership fees etc.
I hope that I have helped clarify things for you. I would contact ACE and have a chat with them. Generally they are helpful and happy to advise before you purchase or join up with them.
Blessings
Shirley
We hid underground and used ACE and a classical model for our oldest child who has mild autism. I have loved ACE and would use it with our other children if their curriculm wasn’t going as well as it is! I totally agree Curriculum is a tool not a master use it and own it. Blessings, Kyle
My daughter, 10, attends an A.C.E. school. She absolutely loves it. She’s an advanced student and would always get in trouble at public school for getting bored when she understood a concept quickly and mentally “zoned out” after her initial interest. Now there is no zoning out! The ADD she was diagnosed with doesn’t seem to be affecting her quality of work like it used to, her handwriting has improved greatly, and she moves on as quickly as she is able.
Not only that, her character has become much better. I find myself correcting her less because our values are reinforced in the school. She has become more compassionate to others who struggle since she no longer experiences frustration toward them because they are no longer struggling on their independent path to academic success.
I was shocked to see the venomous nature of a handful of former A.C.E. graduates in online blogs. I sympathize with them for their, in many cases, abusive experiences at the hands of their teachers. In public school this behavior exists as well, though. Unfortunately, many predatory or insecure personality types target children under the guise of a mentor, but this can and does happen in both secular and private schools.
We are blessed to know our child’s teachers well enough to trust them with our child. In addition, the school has two teachers, a monitor and a supervisor, in the room as much as possible, limiting further any chance for an abuse of power. The staff is a group of people with servants’ hearts, and we are grateful to have them. My husband teaches there as well, which gives me an added sense of security that the atrocities experienced by many children in public school and these few former graduates of A.C.E. schools will never happen.
Our school also supplements, as any innovative education should, the A.C.E. curriculum with independent student-selected Christian reading material, music, art, physical education (including kick boxing!), and participation in A.C.E.’s student competitions. My daughter competed in several areas against other Christian boys and girls and really enjoyed it. She looks forward to competing again next year and is already planning her entries and practicing.
My daughter has grown in a multitude of different ways. She has friends (a huge accomplishment for her, as she used to be quite obnoxious regarding her intelligence at the public school), she is happier, and she doesn’t feel limited or frustrated by school. Instead she feels challenged and optimistic.
No, A.C.E., being made and implemented by human hands, is not perfect, but it is improving in quality and far exceeds the quality of public school education. For those who groan about the rote memorization, I’d like to point out that some things need to be memorized, such as math facts, in order to excel at higher levels of academics. In addition, memorization of Bible verse, poetry, prose, government documents (the Preamble, for example), and famous quotes and speeches not only teaches children traditional and cultural pieces of our history, but also improves overall intelligence, according to a recent study by the New York Times. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/health/29iht-29brai.12430898.html?_r=0)
Thank you, Shirley and everyone else, for sharing your experience in a balanced way. Hopefully, the bloggers on the anti-A.C.E. website will find peace and forgive the individuals who sinned against them instead of blaming a curriculum, which as many of you mentioned, is a tool. This is comparable to blaming the hammer if someone throws one at you, and it’s very difficult to confront a tool.
Hello Krysty 🙂
How lovely it was to read your comment! It is a blessing to hear what a positive experience your daughter is having and how beneficial it has been for her character as well as education. I hope that anti-A.C.E bloggers find and read your comment and see the truth in what you have written and I pray that they will find healing and be able to let of of bitterness as a result of any abuse they experienced. As you said, this happens in secular schools too, it is NOT an A.C.E problem.
Thank you for taking the time to share with me and the readers of Curriculum Choice.
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Thank you so much for this information. I graduated from an A.C.E school, and to be honest I was reluctant to start the same program with my children. My first open discussion and teacher interaction was my first semester in college! So, when starting paces I knew what the children were missing. However, it does keep each child on schedule and the information is definitely adequate. I lack the ability to instruct /teach two grades at the same time and this curriculum fills the gap. I love the paces, I hope I am not sounding negative. I just wish there was a way to offer the interactive classroom like a typical school, finish the paces in adequate time and not feel like I’m falling short all the time. Blessed Homeschool Mom!
Hi Julie,
Thanks for your comment. I didn’t find it negative at all 🙂 I think that you are quite right about the lack on teacher interaction in a school situation. But at home you can pretty much tweak it so that it fits your family and home. I have added a bit of a Charlotte Mason flavor by spending a bit of time each day before PACE work on our read aloud time where I include living books. I also rather have a 4 day week reserving the Friday for lessons in Art Appreciation, Musician Study, Nature Study etc….
Please don’t feel like you are falling short. The important thing in God’s eyes is that you are loving your children and teaching them about him. It does not matter what resources you are using, or what style you are following. I know exactly how you feel – I have been there many times before, as have many other homeschool moms I know. I think that it must be homeschool mom thing LOL – we always feel like we are falling short somewhere – but that’s not true. Keep running the good race!
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Your post comes to me at a time when I too am feeling burnt out by some WONDERFUL home school experiences with living books and the Charlotte Mason approach. I am left with out the energy to put it all together year in year out, meanwhile my children have great world views and thinking skills but have fallen behind on the basics like writing and spelling and self motivation!!!
I am looking at switching to ACE to bring them back up with these important skills and freeing my mental energy to still do living books etc. Your comments have helped me to realise that I don’t have to leave all my ideals behind just because I am going for more structure. Thanks Heaps and may God bless you and your family.
Shirely. We are based in South Africa and will be homeschooling in 2015 with my 7 year old and then 5 year old to follow. I am a teacher so I really struggled with ACE and that fact that you simply can’t teach it. I understand how you have used a bit of this and that which is certainly a good idea. Does ACE prepare the student for GCSE’s and A level? The South African high school “matric” is a joke now as 30% is a pass, so it will not be worth anything for university. We have looked at a system called TCE which is a South African system that is based more on teaching and focused on the British GCSE qualification. It is also Christian, which is vital for us. In our experience ACE students in South Africa (both home school and ACE schools) are seriously under prepared for university with pretty large gaps. What have you found with this and how do you overcome it? Thanks for the blog. It has been a huge help to read all the comments. I still think we will go with TCE, but at least we know that ACE is there is we get stuck.
Hi Wendy,
I’m not sure if you know but I am actually a South African living in England. We have only been here 3 years but we have been homeschooling for 8 years so allot of years of homeschooling in South Africa. I am aware of the concerns you face in SA.
ACE will not help you if you are planning to sit the Cambridge GCSE’s. It is completely different course work and way of doing things. In England, ACE is run through ICCE (International Certificate for Christian Education) which was set up to recognize the work done for those who use ACE. This qualification is recognized and accepted by many Universities worldwide. Having used the curriculum for a while I don’t think that I would agree with the fact that you would be under prepared for uni – it is quite a rigorous curriculum – but I am not sure how it is run in South Africa. For me a personally like to be more involved in the teaching of my children and I prefer to teach more research skills to my children. ACE served a purpose in our homeschooling for a season. We are back on our CM road 🙂
In South Africa there are various options for obtaining your English GCSE Qualifications. Most of them are very costly though. TCE is an option for this as you know, but I know that there are other ways of getting this qualification. I know that Oikos Family Ministries in Kwa-Zulu Natal spoke a bit on this. The link is http://oikosfamily.co.za/index.php/video/support-videos/the-bridge-from-oikos-to-certification – OIKOS supply KONOS, Math-U-See and other resources to the South African community – and allot of support.
A very good friend of mine’s son has just finished his AS Cambridge exams. She lives in Cape Town, I’m sure that she would be happy to advise you if you want. If you email me [email protected] – I will give you her contact details.
Blessings
Shirley
Hi Wendy and Shirley,
I too, am a South African mom, who might have the opportunity to move to a small community, that has a school using the ACE system. Currently, my kids (grade 3 and 2 x grade 2) are in an Afrikaans government school, as that is the only school available. They have done really well, but we so want to give them an opportunity to learn in English, in a great christian environment. However, I do not want to limit them in terms of their ability to go back to the CAPS system, should we need to, for whatever reason. What are your feelings on this?
Look forward to any comments that you many have.
Regards
Tess
Hi Tess,
I really cannot comment on ACE within a school system. Some people who have attended ACE schools have loved it but it seems that a good many hated it. ACE has worked for us at home because I’ve been able to adjust and change things to suit our needs. I personally found that it was a very thorough curriculum although I’m not a fan of the method of learning they adopt. It’s basically reading a set piece and then filling in the blanks. It has been quite effective and my girls have certainly learned and retained allot but I found that it lacked in developing discussion and writing skills.
Incidentally since writing this post we have moved on from ACE and back to our previous Charlotte Mason way of homeschooling. Although there were allot of good things about it for me it just felt too mechanical and didn’t develop those critical thinking, discussion and writing skills.
I would check out the ACE school and familiarize yourself with it’s systems and with the way the curriculum works before making a decision. It can work brilliantly for some children but for others it can squash out all the joy of learning.
Blessings,
Shirley
Hi, Shirley!
I have enjoyed reading all posts! I’m so thrilled that you all love Lord and want to keep honoring Him just like us. I want to share our experiences with Pace. Our kids currently use English and Word Building. We really love them because they re very God-centered. It really feeds my soul while going thru kids’ workbooks! There is some thing that concerns me, especially on English part. I hope that you can help me out with this. Let me tell about our experiences first. With our four children, I have been using some of Charlotte Mason Approach thru camroseacademy.com. since 2002. Our three kids used to use Rod&Staff English. It was a really excellent program. But, when they arrived to grade 5, they started to have problem. This time, I was overwhelmed due to having 4th baby and having some health problem relating to heavy bleeding(right now, I’m fine.) It was really chao around with four young kids. I decided to switch to SOS language for them. They disliked it. Older son used other program and did fine thru HS. He is in college now. For next two kids, I switched to Easy Grammar. But, they got low scores on testing. So, I kept on researching and found Pace thru Christianbook.com. Our two kids have been using them since two years. The 2nd one is happy with them. The third one is happy with World Building. But, not with English! She is frustrating which causes me to start researching a better program. But, before I move on new program, I want to know if you are aware with Pace English and their strength and weakness. I plan to add writing program to my three kids. My last son(9) is using Rod & Staff English. I want him to get a strong structure with grammar before I let him to start on Pace English in later time. He is doing Word Building and loving it! I appreciate your help with opinion! I hope this is not too much! You all have a blessed schooling day! Rejoice in Lord!
Thank you for your lovely comment on my review on A.C.E. I must say that it is an excellent program and my girls thrived on it.
Regarding the English – I personally think it is an excellent program. It is well rounded and rigorous. I had a few problems with some of the grammar but I realised that it is an American program (we are British) so some of the way we say things is slightly different. This was not enough to deter me.
I must say that if you want to get a full well rounded English program out of A.C.E I would advise using Word Building, English AND the Literature Paces. The Lit paces really help teach the children how to extract information from their reading, it also covers creative writing and poetry. All three subjects form a well rounded English program. I do find that although I really do love their literature selections, I like to add more to my girls education. I do this by choosing books to read aloud to my girls. Even through they are almost 14 and almost 16, we still have read aloud time. This way they can enjoy a good living book without having to have work attached. I also assign them each a personal reading book off my living book list which they have to read a little each day.
One thing I would say is that there is no perfect curriculum. Both my girls have gone through stages of disliking one part of their curriculum – usually when it hits a challenging part! We work though it and pay extra attention to the work that is causing the challenge, once we pass that stage and an understanding gained, I find that it is plain sailing again. Another thing is that if you switch too often between programs you risk missing out on something or even falling behind. If the program that you are using is generally working well and you feel that it is the right program for your children, I would stick with it.
I hope that my reply will help you :o)
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Hi, Shirley! Thanks for your sweet reply! Yes, I am aware with Pace’s Literature. Our children are using them. I got involved with reading those books with them. That way I can have a good discussion. I really love the books named The Tribesman and By Searching. I appreciate your comment about English as all rounded program. I plan to keep this program for our children thru High School. I am VERY aware with switching the program is not a excellent idea. I don’t do that with other subject. Only english. It is my second language. It is not easy. I thank God for his guidance on our progress with curriculum, etc. Without Him, everything is impossible. I really enjoy every moment, teaching our children, being them, growing with them. I believe that He will help with us thru later years. May God s Grace be with you!
Hi Robin, 🙂
I was just reading through your post and I noticed a trend: your children don’t like a curriculum, so you change. And change and change and change.
You know, if they were in a regular school (public school or private school), they would not *get* a choice. At all. Also, should they go on to college, they will not *get* a choice. At all.
With all due respect…I think it’s time you teach your children that whatever MOM decides is the best program (for its coverage of content, richness in material, whatever) is THE program to use. Period. At this time, you are letting the tail wag the dog. You are letting your children dictate to you what curriculum they use. You’ve changed so many times, and–from what you’ve shared here–each time has been because the child disliked it. Changing just because the child disliked it is setting him or her up for a rude awakening when they go off to college or even enter the workforce. What’s going to happen when an employer hands your child a training manual to read through and prepare for a test but the child doesn’t “like” the training manual?
You need to teach you children to adapt to things that they may not “like.” It’s the same with reading books/novels that you assign, say, for literature studies. Here in our home, sometimes I give consideration to our children’s interests. Other times, I give consideration to the content of the book and what I want my child to learn from it. In either case, they do not *get* a choice. They’re learning to adapt and *push through* even if it’s not their most favorite novel, curriculum, etc. They may not *like* it…but if the program is solid, the content is rich and will prepare them for higher-level learning (college), then they use it.
To be honest, I was the most surprised that you changed with Rod & Staff and SOS. Both of those are re-useable and you can re-use them with children later down the road! But you’re letting your children decide what they like to use, so you’ll be spending money…more and more each year.
I do want to say that if the program is solid but the method simply is not clicking with your child, then that could be a different story. However, it is for that reason that we’ve found that the simple, textbook approach that we ALL HAD GROWING UP suits best. The textbook approach has worked for many, many *centuries*….and even today people are turning back to textbooks published in the 1800s/early 1900s (they usually do this through Google or Gutenberg (sp?)). Good old TEXTBOOKS have worked for centuries and they still do. And, if your children are adept at finishing their lessons (and don’t drag them out all day…) then there is plenty of time for the other things that will really round out their education, such as nature studies, studies in the humanities (studying Art History and composers), etc.
This turned into a really long post, but the whole point is: stop letting the tail wag the dog. 😉
Hi, Tasha! Thanks for your comment with suggestions, etc.! I am already aware with switching the programs is NOT excellent idea. It is only subject that I made the adjustments. I thank Lord for introducing us the Pace program on English. I look forward to work with our kids with them. Thanks, again! God be with you!
I completely agree with everything you’ve written here. I have a blog myself (http://gracebasedmama.blogspot.com) where I discuss many of the same things you’ve talked about here–especially coming from a CM background. The site was “gracebasedmama.com” but as I have not renewed the domain *blush* entering that by itself doesn’t seem to work (depends on Google’s mood). Anyway, what you’ve written toward the bottom is what I always tell people: that if you *dig deeper*–as you should be when making a curr. choice–you’ll find that 95-98% (I can’t pick a number!) come from people who-
a) are describing their experiences in an ACE school in the 80s or even early 90s
b) are ATHEISTS (who like to blame that on ACE, btw….)
c) accuse ACE of being “slow and teaching horrendous things” such as–gasp!–that GOD created the earth (horrors!!!)
Regarding the anti-ACE blog that exists: I have noticed in a few places that when the author of that blog is proven wrong, he at least humbly admits he was wrong and updates his previous comment. For instance, if I were to show him some 4th Ed. PACE references (give him PACE# and page#) of places where, yes, ACE *does* actually show blacks and whites together, I feel confident he’d amend his statement and show the new pages on his blog. He’d probably say it’s still not *a lot* (and with him I’d agree), but it’s there at least, and that’s progress. (I don’t even think my children notice such things, so I’ve never said anything to them…and I actually think my children assume that the kids all go to the same school? Mine have been doing ACE for a few years, though…so from 10-13, 9-11, and 7-9).
You know, when we first started ACE, I was in love. A few months later, I ditched it all. About 6 months later, I realized “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. KEEP what’s working, replace what isn’t.” Here we are today………. We use LLATL for Language Arts (replaces Lit/CW or Basic Lit., English, and Word-Bldg PACEs)….and PACE for everything else. For my older two, I’m debating one more year of PACE Science, or just using the Apologia General Science I bought for them. I’ll probably leave it up to them because I truly don’t care either way; start this year or next, doesn’t matter to me.
So, we have:
LLATL & PACEs
I find this to be a pleasant mixture for our family. We aren’t BOGGED DOWN with textbooks all.day.long (this is the CM in me coming through–wanting to reserve the bulk of the day for them to be children, be outdoors, etc.). With PACEs, they’re finished before lunch and have had a substantial lesson in every subject every day. 🙂
*PS* I believe the ACE Math moves along the Trivium, though they don’t specifically state it. They DO specifically state that children have different levels of development and that the curr. is made to address those different stages, though. So you won’t find “rigor” in 3rd grade….IOW.
Hi Tasha,
Thank you for your comment – I loved reading what you have to say and encouraged that the blog author of the anti ACE blog is at least willing to accept and update his blog if something he has written is proved incorrect. You are right – at least it’s something :o)
I have done the same as you, a mixture of PACEs and other resources. My girls love the ACE science – I tried Apologia many times but they just did not enjoy it. Like you it does not bother me which they do – as long as the love the science that they are busy with!
Thanks again for your input :o)
Blessings in Christ
Shirley
Shirley,
Yeah, and there up further I was telling Robin not to let the tail wag the dog….then I go saying I let my children choose Science. LOL! I should clarify that: I bought the General Science for them..and they (twins) are 13 years old. But then…thumbing through both the PACE Science and the Apologia Gen Science, I realized that I was actually okay with either program for our 2014 school year. Doesn’t really matter to me.
HOWEVER: the same does not go for Math & Language Arts (Writing/Grammar, Reading, & Spelling). I really believe that if you find a Math program that suits, that–Math–is like THE subject you should do your absolute best to push through and not change. The reason is that different publishers teach the same concepts in different ways….and you may run the risk of confusion, unless your child can recognize the differences and realize they “Oh, they’re just talking about X that I learned in curriculum #1…okay.” Like, going from PACE Math to Bob Jones. PACEs teach the (NORMAL, in my opinion!) way of “carry the one” and “borrow” to subtract. Bob Jones, on the complete other hand, refers to this as “regrouping” and teaches the children to regroup, how to regroup, why to regroup, etc. And then throughout the text (grade after grade) they are constantly talking about the “regrouping” and “make a ten” and “front-end estimation.” You know, all this “new Math” stuff that’s out there……….. that we never learned growing up and yet learned Math JUST FINE with textbooks and flashcards, LOL.
So that can be a little confusing, LOL.
I am forever grateful for finding this site, and your comment is spot on! I just started homeschooling our kids (4 yr old twins and 8 yr old son). My son was in a charter school and they heavily taught regrouping (which honestly took me a while to understand the concept as I didn’t learn that way lol). Now we have just started using ACE and we are seriously struggling with math bc of the fact that he only knows regrouping and carrying and borrowing is a foreign concept to him. It was so difficult for him that I switched to another curriculum (Easy Peasy All in One curriculum) that uses regrouping and now I’m wondering if I should continue on with that or teach him according to ACE. It was such a frustrating experience trying to teach him, but I’m also trying not to let him be the one to determine what we so just bc he doesn’t like hard work. Any advice for me on this? Thanks so much and I am thoroughly enjoying reading the comments here from all of you. It’s confirmation to me that I’m doing the right thing and I feel more secure with our curriculum choice now.
Hello Andrea,
Thank you for your comment. As I read what you had to say all I could think was, ‘How lucky you are to have started A.C.E at such a young age!’ reason being is that you are still right at the beginning of your journey. You could quite easily start just the Math right from 1st grade and catch up fairly quickly. We came to A.C.E much later in our home ed journey and have had allot more ‘gaps’ to have to contend with. But for us it is worth it. Our girls may have to work a little harder right now but the benefit in the long run far outweighs the extra work. Interestingly the extra math that my eldest is having to do does not bother her as she really enjoys the overall program.
In life we, and our children, will always come across difficult tasks and times. Working through those things is what helps mold us into people of strong character. If you feel that God has purposed for you to use A.C.E, then stick by that decision and support your son – encouraging him all the way – through the transition. Like I said, start at the beginning (1st grade), that way he will not feel overwhelmed. His confidence will build as he learns a new way of working math. It’s also a great lesson to learn that there are other ways of working/tackling a task that will give you the same result thus teaching them flexibility and adaptability.
Also look at your reason for using A.C.E. For us we wanted a Christ centered curriculum which honored God and built character. It also needed to give our girls the opportunity to get a school leavers certificate of International recognition and excellent standard without having to sit secular exams. A.C.E fits the bill for our family. I think that you need to have a strong conviction in order to stay the course on the resources that God led you to. There is a universe of curricula out there and it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that there is the ‘perfect’ curriculum out there and it is one that you don’t have! It is a slippery slope that will cause you to spend loads of money and could end up causing large learning gaps etc. Also – you know your children better than anyone else. God gave your children the perfect mother for them – you! You know what they need and you know what is best for them. You will find that there are many people with plenty of opinions (yes, even in homeschooling circles) which is why you need to have a clear vision for your homeschooling journey.
Blessing in Christ,
Shirley
Thank you for this comment. This explanation is exactly what I’ve been searching for!
Hi Shirley,
First I would like to say a big thank you to you and the others for your posts regarding ACE. It has been such a God sent as I have been recently searching for someone who really used or is using this curriculum.
I have had a lots of sleepless nights recently… Perhaps you could help me please?
My son will be 7 in July and is currently in Y2 in UK. We have had the most horrendous time at school and finally decided to take him out from September. My son has been diagnosed with Aspergers and ADHD, school now wants to give him another label of dislexia. Concentration even for shorter periods of time is a big challenge, working progress extremely slow, not due to luck of potential. He loves learning through books – to be honest he is collector of information. English, writing, spelling and maths is a bit of straggle.
Friend of mine told me about ACE and I have been thinking about the program a lot.
On one hand I like the fact that all is out there and so it gives a bit of sense of security in terms of not being behind or not missing something out.
On the other hand, it looks a bit dry, just completing pages and pages. I was also shocked that it does not come with anything else, in other words it looks like very theoretical learning. I looked also at Sonlight that is exactly opposite on this one. So many books and practical stuff for reading, science and maths etc.
So I guess my question is if in your opinion we could get through the system with child who needs to touch and experience more than see the material.
Also, there is no way at the moment he can do any study on his own, we are simply so far away from that point.
Lastly, I would like to add to the mix in terms of learning, pretty much what you are doing also. How are you managing with time? I guess my worry is that it will take him for ever to do the work we will not have time for any extras.
Are your girls feeling that learning is fun through completing pages? My son at the moment is so switched off in terms of learning can be fun that I am a bit worried that pages of stuff might put him off even more.
So sorry for all this, but I am really so unsure as to what to do. Should we try and see, should we buy different subjects from different providers…
So much to learn and understand about homeschooling. Not sure where to even start.
And so thank you very much in advance for any advice you could give me. I truly value your input.
God bless you.
Laura
I would very much second the thoughts about curriculum being a ” tool”, not a master and I can see that your combination if ACE pace’s and other books and activities could work well, especially at secondary school level.
HOWEVER, I must warn people that, whatever TEACH Europe may suggest in a UK setting the higher level ACE programme is very,very unlikely to be accepted by a university for entry . Apart from anything else there are a good number of future careers where a GCSE / IGCSE in English and Maths are essential, with no room for manoeuvre . ( e.g teaching qualification in the UK) . In addition , I am not sure the ACE approach prepares students enough for the interactive/ discursive elements of Higher Education, ( although of course an involved parent can mitigate for this.)
Thank you so much for your comment Jo. I would always encourage parents to investigate course entry requirements no matter what curriculum they use. I agree there are certainly courses need very specific entry qualifications. If you wanted to study medicine here in the UK I think you would be hard pressed to meet the requirements by homeschooling at all. There are however plenty of A.C.E students who have been accepted into UK universities using A.C.E qualifications, I think it really depends on what the student is applying for. The fact remains however that parents and students (no matter what curriculum they use) should find out exactly what their chosen course and University requires {from the university themselves, not hearsay} of them and then steer their education towards meeting those requirements.
Hi everyone. God is so good! I have decided to use the ACE curriculum due to burnout. I have been looking through various reviews regarding ACE and was totally shocked and discouraged. Last night I prayed with a very heavy heart and asked God to show me if this was the right thing I was doing. I woke up at 4am with this on my mind and decided to look one more time for a review and this website came up! I feel so much better knowing that there are positive outcomes from this curriculum and all my questions have been answered regarding the flexibility and different ways you can use this. Thank you Shirley for taking the time out to explain the benefits of this curriculum and also making us aware that we are not to make curriculums dictate/take over the way we teach our children.
Amen to what JoAnne said! At the end of the day it is between you, your family and God and what anyone else says doesn’t matter a single bit. As long as you feel that God is leading you in a certain direction and you are confident in that, that’s the most important thing. There are always going to be negative reviews about all curriculums. So far I am really liking ACE. I love the independence of it and ease of it. It works for our family. 🙂
Joanne, I am so glad that my review and all these comments have helped to encourage you. God knows exactly what we need and when. I agree with Andrea, there will always be naysayers on anything. It’s important to listen to God’s calling and leading for your family and for your own situation. May God bless you richly while using A.C.E 🙂
I homeschooled my oldest two children nearly 14 years ago. For many reasons I have decided to homeschool my youngest son who is 15. He is a fulltime athlete. I also work 3 days a week as a nurse. He is self motivated so that is good. We made the decision on the first day back to public school and I have rushed to find curriculum that works for him. Years and years ago I used Abeka books for kindergarten and elementary. My kids have the experience of private and public school. I enrolled my 15 year old in some online classes with a major university’s high school program. It is just not working for him and is very complicated. I myself have taken many online college classes so online classes are not the main issue. We need much time for sports and he also works part time (because he wants to) and we do many other activities on my days off. I regret wasting some non refundable money with the online school. For this particular online school getting info from the “teacher” is difficult ! Also it is hard to know what the teacher wants and honestly I have found his online classes harder than my college classes as far as the set up and what they are looking for in the answers to assignments! Challenges are I have never homeschooled a high schooler! Was stressed over ncaa guidelines for scholarships! Wanted a boxed curriculum cause I was kind of list on what to choose and needed something quick! I myself had ace curriculum in a private school I attended as a kid along with traditional classroom. I can’t waste any more money, and I would love feedback on working moms and high schoolers using ace especially with math and science and their DVDs. We love homeschooling and the flexibility and being able to incorporate Christian values we believe in… Really would love feedback from moms who homeschool high school kids.. Thanks and blessings to all.
Long story short- I homeschooled my younger two for some of elementary and haven’t homeschooled in years. Throughout the years my kids have attended private and public as well. I have decided to homeschool my youngest who is a full time athlete but a high school sophomore. I also work 3days a week as a nurse. I enrolled him in an online high school and the online classes are difficult since he and I cannot figure out what the teacher wants. The act of taking online classes is not the problem as I am very familiar with online college classes. I was rushed into making a decision and will lose money because of it. Live and learn. Anyway, as a kid myself I was in a Christian school and part of the curriculum was ACE. I really need some input from any moms who homeschool a high school kid using ACE math and science and the DVDs that come with the course. Also any moms who have full time talented kids whether it be acting, sports, music and need flexibility while striving for that college scholarship. He is a good self motivated student. Thanks!
Hello Shirley,
My family is not Christian, and I need a home school option for my son, who is now in 1st grade. There were concerns that he might have ADD or some other behavioral problem, and so we took him to a psychologist. The psychologist reported that he is reading at an 8th grade level, writing at a 6th grade level, and doing math at a 4th grade level. I was relieved that he didn’t have any mental health or behavioral health problems, but now I am challenged to find an appropriate way to keep him academically engaged.
The psychologist said that the best option for him would be a private school. (Expensive.) The next best option he said would be to home school him. And the third best option he suggested is to use the public school’s talented and gifted program, if they have one, but his school doesn’t have advanced academics until 4th grade.
So I have been researching home schooling, (which I have almost zero experience with, coming from a public school background, myself).
My question for you is if you believe that ACE is a good option for a family who is not Christian, and has no plans of becoming christian. I have no problem with Christians, but we just aren’t inclined that way, and wouldn’t appreciate feeling like anyone (or anything) is trying to convince us to become Christian. If it is not a good option for non-christians, do you know of any home school programs that might be more appropriate? (I’ve been googling home schools, and found that Washington state, (where we live) has an interesting home school option where they provide each child a laptop… which is pretty cool, but useless if the curriculum isn’t something we can keep up with.
Thank you for your insights. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
JoAnne
Hello Joanne,
Thank you so much for your comment – you certainly gave me something to think about carefully before replying! To be honest I don’t think that ACE is a good fit for what you have described. We are a Christian family and sometimes I find ACE a bit much. There are times where things are made into a God issue that are not necessary God issues. Most of the literature follows the same vein too. We have been homeschooling for 8 years and only using ACE for the last year, mainly because it gives us certification options. We have been mostly eclectic Charlotte Mason inspired up to our point of change. I have adapted the way we use ACE allot – adding quite a bit of what we used to do before and we discuss some of the things that ACE introduces in their PACES, the things we find a bit OTT. Of course the science is all from a creationist/young earth point of view which I personally agree with, but which I think non-Christians might not agree with.
I have heard that Oak Meadow is quite good although I have never used it myself http://oakmeadow.com/
A friend of mine who is not a Christian used Calvert for her daughter and was very happy with it. http://homeschool.calverteducation.com/ – again, I cannot personally vouch for it just going on hearsay.
Hope that I have managed to help you out a little on you new and exciting homeschool adventure 😉
X Shirley
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and swift reply, and for the suggestions. I really appreciate your help.
~JoAnne
Hello Shirley,
During the 1980s, I graduated from a high school that used the ACE curriculum and I was not well-prepared to go to college. My writing skills were weak. I had mostly poor grades during the first two years of college. However, I significantly improved my grades and graduated. Many years later I earned a second bachelor’s degree with a 3.5 GPA.
Looking back, I wish the curriculum were more writing intensive. I think those multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank exams should be replaced with essay exams. Essay exams give students the opportunity to practice their writing skills and to write down their ideas in a well-detailed, coherent manner.
I think the curriculum should have had a logic or critical thinking class.
Thank you for your comment 🙂
I completely agree with you. That was my biggest concern with A.C.E. What I have done is add writing exercises in myself. Coming from a Charlotte Mason background I could not completely just use A.C.E as is with a clear conscience with regards to my children’s skill sets. You raise a very valid point and those who are wanting to use A.C.E should be aware of the curriculum’s shortfalls. Again, I mention here that ALL curriculum has a weak point. As homeschoolers we can add and take away from boxed curriculum to tailor fit it to our needs.
ACE is great if you want independent , intensely Christian curriculum; if you want independent Christian ,not intensive, look at Christian Light education. Great math and literature, plus good grammar.
I grew up in a private ACE school! I loved it but I didn’t retain that much. I had a great memory, so I would just memorize the answers from the score key and then get them right the next time. I can see with homeschooling, however, this could be avoided with closer attention from the teacher/parent! This is my first year homeschooling. I started off with a big box unit study curriculum, and hated it as soon as I started prepping for it. So I’ve put together our own unit studies. I do feel like we are lacking and would like something that covers the core studies while I supplement with what I want them to learn that month. This may be just the thing! Thank you for your review! I just “happened” upon it! Most likely a God thing! 🙂
I know this is an old forum but I need to get in touch with some of the people who have commented on A.C.E. positively. Here’s my dilemma. My child is in 3rd grade. This year was the first time I have homeschooled like this. I was told to do 4 pages in each subject everyday. By Christmas I realized she was running out of books and noticed she was on her 3rd quarter. She is usually done between 11-3 in the afternoon. Started making it where certain subjects were every other day. And i’m still trying to make the books last. I will be homescholing both my children next year ( 3rd and 4th) and would love some advice as how to spread out the work for the entire school year. Please contact me via email or facebook https://www.facebook.com/shannonpm
I am in the middle of making the decision of homeschooling my 10 and 12 year old daughters. They currently attend an Independent school in Manhattan and have a very generous scholarship with them. However, there are so many things about the school that are making us very unhappy. We feel the need of introducing Christian values in our daughters daily learning and with their full day in school it is impossible for us to do so as they attend school. With this, I am in desperate need of all advices and information you can provide me regarding homeschooling. They are not that little any more so I am very scared, (being totally honest) of failing and not meeting my girls’ needs. I have a 2 year old boy who keeps me very busy and I guess he is the main reason why I am doubting myself cause I am not sure I can sit down for long periods of time and focus on teaching. Any advice or comment on this is greatly appreciated!
My friend who uses ACE told me about it and I already received their booklet, after reading your review I am more convinced that if we decide to homeschool this is definitely the curriculum we will choose. However, I have never homeschool before so when I hear about Charlotte Mason I feel overwhelmed thinking I don’t know a thing about homeschooling. Where do I start?
I feel the Lord is leading me, but I do not know how to go about this. My daughter the 12 year old is very advanced in math, but my 10 year old is way behind, I feel in pretty much every subject. I know that homeschooling can help her get much more advanced education, but I want to make sure I have the correct resources. I also need a program where my daughters can have teachers, even if it is online a couple of times per week, just so that in case we have to send them to school we have teachers recommendations and provide records for us.
Thank you so much, sorry I am asking so many questions. I am desperate!
God bless you!
Hi Eunice, Shirley has asked me to answer you since she lives in the UK and is not as familiar with requirements for homeschooling in the US. It sounds to me like you are taking the right steps in your start to homeschooling! You are already asking trusted friends who homeschool and researching curriculum and tools you need. Happy you found us here at The Curriculum Choice. Take a deep breath. You might start with our How to Homeschool section here: https://www.thecurriculumchoice.com/homeschool-curriculum-choice/ in that post we have an Ultimate Guide to Choosing Curriculum you can download for free. I also recommend the resources on our How to Get Started Homeschooling Pinterest board here: https://www.pinterest.com/currchoice/how-to-get-started-homeschooling/ Especially this post by my friend, Kim: http://www.habitsforahappyhome.com/2012/10/how-to-get-started-home-schooling-10-steps-to-success/ Do a search for your state’s homeschool requirements. And best wishes on your homeschool journey!
Hi im from malaysia and im planning to homeschool my boy using ace. But can i know where to get their books or paces? Any Online bookstore that can deliver to malaysia?
Hi Michelle,
I think the best thing would be to go onto the School Of Tomorrow website (A.C.E curriculum provider) and have a look at their international contacts. You could even email them and ask them who you would fall under and where to order from.
Hi Michelle,
I am from Penang and I have an opportunity for my son to follow through ACE but I am quite concern on his curriculum and whether it limits my son to any employment opportunities.
What did you check with if you dont mind me asking.
I attended an ACE school from ages 4-12 in the 80’s & 90’s, it completely ruined my education. It is memory/rote learning and goes againts all educational academic reaserach and teaching philosophy. When I finally joined a mainstream school I could not keep up, because I did not even know my times tables, I had never learned a single mathematic strategy, seriously, I struggled with even long subtraction until I was 33yo….I only realised after studing for a maths exam last year that I was not bad at maths, I had just never been taught anything, not even the basics. The problem in the 80’s was not the curriculum, it was the way the learning is delivered…in little workbooks, which is how it is now. It’s very shallow learning and does not promote deep or creative thinking. The little books require only memory work, and what is learned is forgotten straight away. Learning must be meaningful for students to learn, with ACE there are no hands on activities, investigations or experiments. Providing a child with a rich education takes work and dedication, giving them an ACE book does not provide a worthwhile education. It seems many parents like the ACE books because they are easy, that’s probably because your children are not learning much, that’s why it’s easy.
It’s a shame because it turns out i’m pretty smart and am acheiving consistant high distiction on my post-grad. ACE didn’t nuture my intelligence and it went to waste.
If you want your kids to go to uni, do the IGCSE.
I’m sorry to hear that you have had such a negative experience. Fortunately using ACE within a home setting is very different to attending an ACE school. I have been able to negate some of the issues that you have mentioned by supplementing, discussion and of course adding lots of hands on learning experiences. I’ve mentioned before that there is no perfect curriculum, every single one has it’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s the beauty of homeschooling, we can take a boxed curriculum if that’s what we choose to use, and tweak and change it up to suite individual children. There are plenty of home-schooled children who have used ACE as their core who have gone to uni,thrived and been successful. I don’t think that a blanket statement can be made regarding any curriculum.
Hi Shirley,
I just wanted to say I am so thankful to have found this review on A.C.E after googling pros and cons. I have three children 9, 8 and 5 and am considering ACE as a way forward. Up til now we have been very eclectic, CM, unit studies, lapbooks and lots of time outside and mixing with our home ed groups. I am burnt-out trying to make things fit for their individual needs and am looking to use paces as a basic spine that I can elaborate from. My middle daughter is dyslexic and I am hesitant that she will find it too much reading and writing and I will have to do a lot of it with her. But anyway the point is I’ve been encouraged by your review and everyone’s comments. So thanks so much. Emma
Hi, I am so excited to start my ten year old in home school…again. The first attempt was horrible due to my lack of understanding and research. I want to try it again, however, I want to make sure I can give my daughter enough attention when dealing with her education. I’m a single mother of a 10 year old and unemployed at this time. I have time on my hands to do this, however I am planning on obtaining employment in the very near future and wanted to know if homeschooling would be feasible. I have an incredible support system (an aunt and mother that are retirement; my mother is a retired teacher), and willing to do what it takes to provide my daughter with what’s best for her. She is not doing very well with reading fluently and I need her more focused on God.
I guess my question is, from your experience with the curriculum, do you think I could home school my daughter, being single and working? Your input is very appreciated. Please email me: [email protected].
Our family has come to the decision to use ACE in the coming year. I, like a lot of you, attended an ACE school. I never thought my education was lacking. I went to college and made good grades. I have been homeschooling for 6 years and have always been kind of eclectic and indecisive in my choices. It has slowed our learning. My oldest is 5/6 grade. I am feeling the need for consistency!
I have steered away from ACE like someone else said, because of pride! My husband and I decided last night to go with ACE , but I couldn’t sleep wondering if it was the right thing! I feel like I have peace about the decision, I just can’t let go of all the “other” options that are available!
Can anyone direct me to and ACE facebook group or yahoo group?
Hi Amber,
I know how you feel about letting the other options go. We’ve been using ACE for a couple of years now and I STILL sometimes feel that way. However I then think about all the benefits that ACE has brought to my girls learning. They are consistently doing their lessons each day. THEY love it – I’m the one with the ‘issues’ lol. At the end of their schooling they will have the required school leavers certificate that colleges and universities in my country require. My girls are learning how to be disciplined in their work and to work hard. We are able to keep a Christian education which was important to us – we have not had to use secular materials in order to meet the requirements for certification.
A few years on from when I wrote this post/review I am still tweaking ACE to suit our learning and goals. I still add read aloud time, nature study, art appreciation and music appreciation. This year we are adding electives, as it turns out my girls have both chosen domestic science – instead of just using the recommended resources as is I am tweaking it (once again) to suite our more hands-on approach. We will meet the curriculum’s requirements but I’m adding a healthy dose of fun and togetherness to our learning.
Don’t be afraid to change it up to suite you.
There is an ACE facebook group. It’s called ‘Ace Homeschool Moms’ Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACEHomeschoolMoms/?fref=ts
All the best,
X Shirley
I graduated from a ace christian program I am sorry to say I went to go enroll in a collage and found out that it wasn’t worth anything I have to get my ged well I remember my mom struggeling to pay my school so ist that a rip off just saying not trying to affend anyone but that is stealing and we were suposse to be christian maybe you should evaluate your program.. Agin I am sorry not trying to affend anybody just remember my moms struggels to get me a good education.
Thank you for your comment. You have not offended anyone, your experience and insight is valuable to prospective A.C.E users. This is a difficult one because I know many people who have used A.C.E who have managed to get into college and university. But I have also heard of a few cases like your own. I have to say that it has spurned me onto contacted prospective colleges and university’s myself and getting their take on it and I would encourage anyone else to do the same regardless of what curriculum you use. I think that it is valuable to find out what the college or uni wants and work backwards from there. Thanks again for sharing your story with us.
Thank you for this review! I especially appreciate your balanced view on the “brainwashing” and “fundamentalist” comments by some reviewers.
Pleasure Valerie, I hope that it helped with any decisions you are making 🙂
You have touched on many points that have become “sacred cows” to us in the homeschool arena. Kudos to you for that…
I am a seasoned homeschooling parent, and have found myself in the throes of a myriad of choices available to us. Once upon a time, back in 1989 when I began this journey, that wasn’t the case. We had to use whatever was available, no matter what our child’s learning style, or whether it was just plain not a fit.. I remember the day I announced I wanted out of the most popular math merry go round. A hushed silence fell on the moms in the room. But I did jump into those unchartered waters of choices back then. And before I knew it many others did as well. Good, bad, or otherwise. We homeschoolers can lose sight of our higher calling and become nothing but commodities.. I pray we rise to the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit and turn away from the lust of the eye in the convention halls ..Many offer an ideology that promise to spit out a cultured child as if that is the end goal of their existence.
Yesterday, I found myself ordering PACES for my remaining child at home. I couldn’t ever have imagined it would be a choice I would of made. I was reminded of that time long ago when I created the hushed silence in announcing my detour of the sacred math curricula. However this time, I am not so brave to announce my departure from all the current curricula philosophies..Yes, we give lip service to them being a tool, yet at the same time, we subscribe to them being the “only” way. So why did I choose PACES? Simplicity would top my list.. Lets face it, we girls wear many hats: wife, mother, cook, teacher, friend, sister, aunt, grandmother, housekeeper, curriculum expert, etc. etc. etc… Need I say anymore? So waking up finding this blog just made my day. Again thank you for venturing out on the honesty limb… Blessings to y’all..
Keisha, what a blessing to read your comment. I know that it is hard to make decisions that are best for our family and circumstances that go against the ‘in’ thing, and harder to voice that decision. But the truth is the only one we need to answer to is our heavenly Father and He is able to accomplish His ‘outcomes’ in our children no matter what curriculum we use. Blessings to you 😉
Shirley
I would be interested to know if you are still using the PACES.. If so can you give some feedback on using them and how you might tweak them etc. If not still using them, can you tell us why it is no longer meeting your need and what you have moved on to..
do any of your children have any learning challenges?
Blessings.
kk
Hi Keisha,
I am still using the PACES. My eldest daughter has just ‘graduated’ homeschool before completing the PACEs in their entirety as she wanted to do hairdressing and landed a hairdressing apprenticeship. Based on the evidence of work that we had done using the PACEs along with a test that the college did on her Maths and English skills, she was accepted onto their program. She’s been working for 3 weeks now. My youngest who is 15 is still using the PACEs. She wants to complete the full program as she wants to go to University one day.
Interestingly – my natural inclination is a more Charlotte Mason approach. Selfishly I struggle with ‘loving’ A.C.E because it is so textbookish. But my youngest daughter loves it! I suppose that is what matters. We used a CM/Unit Study approach in our elementry years, but High School has been A.C.E.
I had a couple of reasons for switching. Firstly, I was exhausted. I was struggling to be a great available mom because I was always in ‘teacher’ mode. Planning was always on my mind and to be honest the CM approach was not wonderful for my youngest daughter. She just did not like it – hence why she loves A.C.E – it’s more in line with her learning style.
Secondly, Because I was feeling so burnt-out I knew that not everything was being covered. With A.C.E we still had a Christian ethos and it covered everything comprehensively as well as taking care of revision etc. I know there are allot of people who say that A.C.E isn’t sufficient for Maths and English skills etc, but I have to disagree. Like I said, my eldest daughter was tested on her Math’s and English skills and scored higher than the average schooled child working to the British National Curriculum. That for me was proof that what they have been leaning is excellent.
I still continue to use A.C.E MY way! I do not adhere to their strict rules and regulations. For example, I like to mark my daughters work daily because it helps me to keep in touch with what she is learning and I can see immediately if there is a problem with her understanding something. I add things that we love to do like Nature Study, it’s good to get out of the house and learn about our natural world straight from the source 😉 We still do our Bible time together in the morning. I don’t care that it’s ‘covered’ in the curriculum, faith is encouraged and built through talking through issues, discussing things, and coming alongside one another. We still do read aloud together – because we enjoy it. As you can see the curriculum is working for us – not the other way around. We obviously adhere to the marking and scoring rules as that is a matter of standards which are essential to the end qualification being in line with our countries standards for education.
Neither of my children had any hectic learning challenges. My eldest found learning a breeze. Everything came really easily to her, she’s a natural academic. My younger one finds it more of a challenge and has to put in more hours revising etc. But it’s interesting to see that the eldest one does not want to go to university at all while the younger one does.
I hope my comments have given some insights. I think I will do a follow up post on A.C.E either here or on my blog. I originally wrote this post in 2013 and it still continues to attract allot of comments and questions. Stay tuned for that 🙂
X Shirley
Shirley
thank you for the prompt reply.
Why I connected so well to your post originally was the CM to Paces journey. You see, I too have been a CM inductee for a very long time. And coming from that route makes this Pace decision a real paradigm change…
When I reflect on who I am , where I came from, and how I got here, it makes this all less daunting. Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11.v.1)
Blessings KK
Pleasure Keisha. You are right, A.C.E is a total shift in a completely different direction to CM. But I find it helpful to remember that it is the Living God I serve, not a curriculum or method and it is His leading I need to listen too 🙂
Blessings in Christ,
Shirley
I really appreciate this post. Thank you for your review of ACE… It been long that I have been using it with my children.
Your inclination to change the curriculum is an understandable one. It’s nice that you were pleased enough with the features to offer a recommendation to those with structure, academics, and bible focus at the forefront of their minds.
Hi Christina, thank you for your comment. I didn’t actually change the curriculum as such, only added the Charlotte Mason things to our days that we felt we didn’t want to let go. The actual PACE work was done daily 🙂
Can you share your experiences with 8-12? My daughter is the youngest of 5 adopted children. She has lived in three different states and we are now missionaries in Latin America. So she has done several curriculum and styles …This is the first year she has actually enjoyed school. She did English and Science with PACE this year, and especially loves Science. English, not so much. Looking at the 8th grade (next year) curriculum in English, it seems a repeat of what she learned this year? They don’t seem to do much in teaching to write??? Did you supplement writing curriculum with English? I didn’t find the math very difficult either. Shouldn’t they be on to Pre-Algebra in the 8th grade? Just curious of your thoughts. I have to buy my books and get them when we go back to the states, so need to make a decision soon. Thanks so much.
Hi TJ Mcnerlin – thanks for your comment. Generally, we really enjoyed A.C.E but you are quite right, this curriculum lacked in teaching writing skills. I supplemented this by using the Excellence in writing program. The maths is not structured like Math-u-see for example where one skill is concentrated on at a time. Rather they use an integrated approach, so they are learning a bit of everything throughout the year if that makes sense, and building on it year on year. If you check out their scope and sequence which I’m sure you can find on their website you will be able to see what they cover and when. We are British and I found that this curriculum prepared my daughter adequately enough, along with some extra private tutorial lessons to go over some gaps to accommodate the British system to sit her GCSE exams and pass, and that was using the grade 8 & 9 Paces. The GCSE exams test on Algebra, stats, trig, geometry, calculus. I would imagine it covers all you need to sit the American S.A.T but check out the scope and sequence as I suggested.
Hi I am a A.C.E student and this is my first year using this homeschool method. Me and my family find it hard to keep up with 30 pages and day and have been doing 17. But now it is 3 months till summer and I do not feel like I will get done in time. Can you help me figure this out?
Hi Dorian,
I know that it can be a tough workload and we certainly did not do 5 pages of everything a day. We would always aim to finish a Pace in 2.5 weeks but there are things in each PACE that perhaps are needless repetition, like in some of the English PACES they have those centre enrichment activities – I would just scrap those. Also with the Word Building and Etymology, we would scrap all those pages where you have to re-write the sentences with the spelling word in them and the definitions we would just underline the definition instead of re-writing. There are quite a few ways you can cut workload through the Word Building (they are fairly easy and I personally don’t think that filling in pages and pages of ‘busy work’ is necessary nor does it work for everyone. One of my children found it easier to write the words down a couple of times a week and have me drill her each Friday. We would often get through a Word Pace in two weeks sometimes less. I would adopt this process through some of the other PACE’s too, so if my daughters demonstrated after 2 pages of sentence diagramming that they understood the concept I wouldn’t insist that they did all 4 pages for instance, they would be allowed to just do the two. We found we could easily do this in English, Word Building and Maths on occasion. So that should help you cut down on some of the unnecessary work. Be sure to set time aside though to study those spelling words.
I found with A.C.E that I definitely has to adjust it to work for us – there were allot of things that they said we should do that I didn’t because that’s just not how we worked. Remember that you have that freedom in being homeschooled. You take what works for you and change what doesn’t but still maintain the integrity that is needed to honestly achieve your test results. Think about doing the extra projects and assignments over the summer, for example you will need to submit a science project and history essay, could these be done in the summer or over the winter break? Work it around your schedule. I found that a lot of the A.C.E rules and regulations probably are needed for a school setting but they really don’t work for a homeschool setting.
It may be a bit late to do it this year but for your next year I would Plan out the PACEs in advance. So for instance, First you would determine your working weeks. In the UK we are required to work 190 days of the year. So I will print out an annual calendar, and first highlight any public holidays, holidays, and the end of the academic year. So I knew when my starting point was and when I wanted to have everything completed. I know that we need to work at a rate of completing a PACE every 2.5 weeks, so I would take a PACE and divide the number of pages over the 12 or 13 days. So if a Pace has 40 pages I would divide 40 by 12 which meant we needed to complete 3.3 pages per day of the Maths Pace (for example). As you can see that’s less than the 5 pages needed. This number may go up or down depending on the number of pages per each individual PACE but what that means is that instead of overwhelming yourself in 5 pages for every subject you are only doing the required number of pages per pace in order to have it completed in the 2.5 weeks which means that you will be finshed all 12 PACES in each subject by the end of your year. So you might end up doing 3.3 pages in Word Building for instance but be doing 5 pages of Social Studies. Do see what I’m saying? Work according to what to need to do each day in each subject in order to finish that pace in the 2.5 weeks which means you will be finished all PACE’s at the end of your 30 weeks of study in an academic year.
I hope that helps.
Blessings,
Shirley Ann
I want to thank you dearly, My daughter has been in Public School for her k,1,2 and I feel that have failed her. I have to fight with the school on many occasions to get her the help that she needs . I feel that she behind because they didn’t teach the basics. So my husband I thought that putting her in a christian Private school would help . While looking for the right school for her we came across a school I like , and she would like. They told me they use this program. Not knowing anything at all about the it, I had my doubts. And then we start getting nervous about putting her a program like this. But with the research and your blog I feel so much better about this program and feel this is just what she need to secede in her educational path. My husband and I are not much of church people but we were brought up with church back ground. I have her in church program and I find that she loves going to them . That is the other reason why i feel this is a great program for her. I feel she has her calling.
Again thank you and I look forward to reading more of your blogs
I am so grateful to find this review and to read the experiences and advice found in the comments. Thank you, all. I feel as though I am drowning and soooo behind with homeschooling my kids. I love the idea of CM, but I can’t seem to get it done. We basically do reading and math every day and that’s IT! I feel like a failure. My husband has been trying to get me to ‘let go’ and try A.C.E., but I have only ever heard negative things about it, and it didn’t seem to fit my philosophy of education. But after reading these testimonies, I feel ready to try it out. 🙂 Thanks again.
Melissa,
I completely understand how you feel – I’ve been there. In fact, you might find reading a post I wrote about feeling a failure on my blog called “When you Have To Compromise on Your Homeschooling Philosophy”.
I promise that you are not the only one who deals with these feelings of failure and guilt, I have had so many moms contact me expressing the very same feelings. You are not alone. I hope that my article I wrote helps to encourage you and set your heart at rest about making changes in your homeschool.
Blessings,
Shirley
I wanted to share some thought about curriculum choices. God leads if we spend the necessary time in prayer. We/I homeschooled Pre-k through 12. We started with a Laleche Preschool at home book and Usborne Cat and Mouse workbook sheets that were highly educational and engaging. Many block and pattern blocks, gears, nature, outdoor fitness and play. Early reading with: Teach your child to read in 100 days. This worked, even with our special learner. First thirty lessons were divided in half, so none were longer than fifteen minutes.
K-2, I would recommend making yourself familiar with Charlotte Mason Methods so that you understand the great flexibility your family has in homeschooling. Of course I recommend home-school co-ops through high school, some Kinder-music, Pioneers club, 4H club, etc. We did not choose any organized sports, although we advocated fitness and the outdoor life. We engaged in lots of community service elementary through high school. We did many field trips related to our current area of study up until the end of 8th grade. After that, one historical field trip a year through high school.
Starting in 2nd or 3rd grade, we thought the Weaver by Rebecca Avery was excellent for education, critical thinking, family discussion and closeness, creativity, field trips, building memories of a lifetime, etc. Math needed to be chosen elsewhere. We chose Horizons math in elementary and then switched to ACE math due to our curriculum consultants request. We were not sorry. Stayed with the Weaver curriculum until 8th grade for our ADHD child and a 4th grade younger brother. We all loved it! By the way, our ADHD son, has earned Phi Theta status in our area community college. Above 3.6 GPA in college, despite never taking SAT. He did do some COLLEGE PLUS after high school though. Great at home college prep.
Switched to ACE around 8th grade for older child and 4th grade for younger. We followed grammar/writing studies up until letter writing was covered. Then I chose much more intensive literature studies and writing linked with Shakespeare, Film studies, Critical Thinking, Biblical World View, Classic literature. We followed ACE literature booklets for a year and a half. They were books heavy on missionary stories. We thought a year and a half in missionary studies was enough. We continued with ACE math.
In high school, we used ACE for all Math, most Science, some of Social Studies/not American History. We used a different resource for American History by James Stoughboug/Phd. I do not recommend ACE American History, although World History, Collectivism studies, Economics are fine. I do not recommend ACE for English in high school. I am a strong writer/teacher, so we continued with learning to write complex research papers based on the critical thinking subjects. Steriods in sports, The importance of fiction, Shakespeare’s use of the Bible in his writings, Special effect use in American films. Our younger son did not do research papers, only essays, as he was entrepreneur by nature and very mechanical leaning. He ran a business out of garage for 9th – 12, after 2pm, fixing neighbors tractors, lawnmowers, etc. He has since graduated from ATC with a degree in automotive/diesel. 3.99 GPA and perfect attendance!
Our music was provided in individual voice or piano lessons for both students. Our older son was also in two choirs. Our art was provided by some art lessons in real studios, Thomas Kinkade curriculum or research into techniques. Bible was always directly from our individual bibles and not through ACE Bible paces.
Our education was never “boxed in”. We were not un-schoolers. There was always much structure with much face to face communication through 8th grade. After that, face to face interaction was related to Bible, literature, writing and entrepreneurship.
I hope this helps!
Pamela,
Your comment is great. I too have one son that is mechanical minded. My husband has thought he would do great as a diesel mechanic, marine mechanic,etc. I am interested in the path your son took if you wouldn’t mind sharing.
Thank you,
Victoria B
Hi! I’m a homeschooling mom of 4 living in Mexico. I have used ACE with my kids for the last 7 years and it has worked so very well for our family. I came across your post because my oldest is entering high school this year and I was curious if I should keep moving forward with ACE in high school. I’m curious if you used ACE for all subjects in high school including electives and all. Or if you used the core subjects and added other things in? And also if you are pleased with ACE at the high school level?
Hi Rachel
Thanks for leaving a comment. We didn’t continue using ACE through high school but only because I was more inclined to a Charlotte Mason education. We used ACE for a couple of years when I was a little burnt out. My girls really enjoyed it but I think that had we been using it for as long as you have been and had experianced the success you have we probably would have used it all the way through. As such I can’t comment on it at high school level, sorry about that.
Now that I have successfully graduated both my daughters (they have both just finished 1st year at uni) and looking back at our homeschooling the best bit of advice I can give anyone about to go into highschool is trust your instinct, trust what works for you and stick with it. Consistancy is really important. Using ACE all the way through will give you a great grounding to sit the SAT and SAT Subjects should you choose to go that way.
Hope that helps Xx
Hi Shirley
Was excited reading your review, I like the analysis . Many ace parents still feel anxieties about opportunities available for their children after o. Level or A level stages of learning. I am one of those and i wish I can reach out to you for some guidance. Thank you
Hi! It’s my first year using ACE and I’m thinking of incorporating CM method in it (but to be honest, I don’t know much about it yet either) and that led me to reading this blog post. Thanks, I see a lot of valuable info in your post.
I’d like to ask for some advice: my daughter is 9 years old. She likes talking and interacting, she’s still in the process of developing reading comprehension, especially in the Filipino language (we are Filipinos, and our textbooks language are way too different from the Filipino we use in daily conversations.) We have 8 subjects for PACES (including Filipino and a Filipino version of Social Studies.) With all these in mind:
1.) I’d like to maximize PACES and discuss the content with my daughter, but I also don’t want to lose the opportunity for her to develop the skill of studying independently. Do you have some suggestions on how this can be done?
2.) I find 8 PACES to work on each day a bit too much. What would you suggest re this (duration per subject, how to schedule subjects — as in which subjects to take daily, etc.)?
Thanks a lot!
Hi Roma,
Thank you for your message. I’ll do my best to answer your questions 🙂
With regards to the volume of work entailed with doing 8 Paces a day, I found the same thing. We ended up keeping the maths, english, word building and Bible every day and then scheduled social studies etc twice a week. On those days I would schedule less of the Charlotte Mason stuff. We didn’t actually continue with A.C.E all through high school. We used it exclusively for about 18 months during a time when I was suffering a bit of burnout. Once I had recovered we went back to our eclectic Charlotte Mason eduction. I would imagine that the further you move up the levels with A.C.E the more intense it gets and perhaps less time to do it in a Charlotte Mason way.
I think my biggest piece of advice with A.C.E would be to utilize it YOUR way. Make it work for you in the way that you works for your children and your homeschool ethos. The training is very prescriptive and I have to say that I just did it in a way that worked for our family and for each child. Perhaps that answers your first question too regarding discussions. Perhaps you can have a time each day where you have a little one-on-one time with your daughter and find out what she learned, did she have any thoughts on any of her readings or anything she wanted to discuss.
Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Shirley
I’m from Thailand. My son has ADHD. I’m study on which curriculum would be the most suitable for my son. So, I’m searching for Pros & Cons of A.C.E in ADHD kids and would like to here for you. Please kindly advise.
Thank you for your comment. I’m afraid I am unable to advise on the suitability of the curriculum for your son as I have not used the curriculum with children with ADHD nor do I fully understand the condition.