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ACE curriculum question


lisamarie
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From my research, the main complaint about ACE is that it is below grade level based on other curriculums in some subjects. But if you take assessment tests ahead of time before buying the paces, wouldn't you put your child in the pace where they place? As in, my coming up 3rd grader who is great at math and flying through SM 2 could theoretically place into 5th grade paces. Not that I am saying the program is that behind, just a theoretical example. So if he continued at his current speed of learning, he would max out the paces by 10th grade and then move into a different curriculum to round out his math experience.

 

I'm asking this because there is an ACE school in my area that I just discovered. It is the cheapest private school in my area that isn't Parochial. (I looked long and hard last night so I know this is true). DH and I would like to send our kids to school eventually, and I admit that sending them to a tiny (40 kids total for K-12) school where they work at their own pace and can work across different grade levels and essentially self educate really appeals to me. The entire school has 2 teachers so they would be attending a 2 room schoolhouse where they may have 2-3 other kids in their "grade" while the rest of their peers would be across the entire span of elementary age. I like this idea because then they are not in a class with a bunch of kids their own age but learn to be friends with a much broader span of ages.

 

The biggest issue for HSing is that my DS especially, and my DD to a lesser degree, are gifted. The only way I could send my DS to a traditional school is if we skipped him a grade and I'm not a big fan of that idea. My DD is in PS-K this year and all her school and home work is 1st grade work. It's still easy for her. So the idea of a school where their bodies could be in a grade appropriate to their age while their minds could be all across the spectrum really appeals to me.

 

But ACE is not considered very rigorous. So I am wondering if they were to take the placement tests, they could start at a higher grade level and then just be done with all the paces a year or more ahead of schedule and then continue their education with a different curriculum that would be more rigorous that would fill in the last year+ at the end before starting college. Or they could start community college early. Does that make sense? Would this work?

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I used ACE myself as a child, in a private school like you describe. A gifted kid would be bored out of their gourd with it. :) Any child with good reading comprehension and memory skills could "excel" easily. I quickly learned how to scan the material for the precise answers they wanted, regurgitated those in the busywork, and aced the tests whether I understood the material fully or not.

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DH used to be on a schoolboard of an ACE school. Neither of us would ever recommend...ever! In fact, he and several others on the board were trying to get the church to change away from ACE. We felt it was very "dumbed down" curricula, especially weak in math at a point, and many students were having to take remedial courses when entering the community college.

 

I know that sounds like a harsh assessment, but it's what we saw.

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I have to agree with the others. I would not recommend it. All it is- the kids read a section and they fill in a blank. Example- God is good. God made sheep. Sheep are good.

 

The questions

 

God made __________.

 

Sheep are __________.

 

God is __________.

 

(there is something almost exactly like that in a 2nd grade (1st grade??) Science pace. I used to read my friends. She has all her kids in it and they are so extremely behind, its kinda sad. :001_huh:

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I have to agree with the others. I would not recommend it. All it is- the kids read a section and they fill in a blank. Example- God is good. God made sheep. Sheep are good.

 

The questions

 

God made __________.

 

Sheep are __________.

 

God is __________.

 

(there is something almost exactly like that in a 2nd grade (1st grade??) Science pace. I used to read my friends. She has all her kids in it and they are so extremely behind, its kinda sad. :001_huh:

Precisely. Excellent example.

 

This is also what I saw in my nephew and nieces CLE curricula. They were also extremely behind and did very poorly on their CAT testing (required by the state in certain years).

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I'm going to be the lone dissenter here. Pray about it, follow the Lord's leading. My dh went to an A.C.E. school from beginning to end. Graduated then attended a private, Catholic college and had many scholarships based on his SAT test. I guess it just depends on how the child learns best if ACE would be good for them or not.

 

I was in public school all through Jr. High, went to the same ACE school as dh for one year in High School, and then my mom homeschooled me with ACE for the last 3 years of High School. I too scored very high and could have had lots of scholarships, but didn't go to college.

 

With all that said, I don't use ACE at home at all. I love the use of real books, and have more one on one with me dc.

 

Oh, and my dh never took anything remedial in college, actually was able to skip some freshman things that most have to take.

 

Again, pray about it.:001_smile:

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Forgot to mention, that dh really believes ACE prepared him to be a self-motivator. As long as the school follows the ACE guidelines, they set goals, check them off, and then are rewarded for accomplishing those goals. His sees a lack of this in his work place. He's now an auditor.

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It may work for you but it may not. It didn't work for us. I have had three children do ACE so I will share our experience. "A" used ACE from 10th grade (our first experience with homeschooling and the only program we knew of for high school at the time). She is bright but not motivated. She ripped through the PACEs and maintained honor roll status but did the whole lot on short term memory. Don't ask her a month later about anything she read. All she wanted was to graduate and be done with it, so I guess in that sense it worked for her.

 

"B" started ACE in 9th grade and lasted all of two weeks. She is not academically minded and so it did not work for her at all.

 

"L" started ACE at the same time as the girls but he was only 6 at the time. He was bored at school so we afterschooled with ACE and then ended up bringing him home part way through his first grade year. I had been using grade 2 PACEs with him but when we did the diagnostic tests he tested into grade 3 so we skipped him ahead at that point.

 

In four months he completed the whole of grade 3 and I could see that this was not going to work for us. He was bored with all the repetition and frustrated at the shallowness of the program. Gifted kids need more depth, not just to zoom ahead to get to the end of the program. By this stage I had done my homework and knew that there were plenty more options out there so we switched to a literature based curriculum and he has loved it.

 

We have chosen to move at his pace in math and science (his favorites) and to go broad in other areas. Recently I brought out some higher level social studies PACEs that I still had, to see if they would be useful for him. Even though they were several years above his age level they still looked simplistic and just scratched the surface of the topic.

 

It may suit some kids, but not any of the three I tried it with.

 

Hope this helps.

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You won't find too many positive Ace experiences here on this board...if you want some more information about Ace, you can go to the ace yahoo group that is pretty active to get more info. there.

 

I personally love the Ace curriuclum, but don't use it for every subject. I also use it my way with extras, experiments, and so on. In a school setting it can be very stifling to sit at those little desks for hours on end. (My daughters did attend an Ace school for a year) In a home environment it is very different and can be a positive experience.

 

The yahoo group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACEhomeschoolingsupport/

 

 

There's also an excellent article for support here:

http://www.homeschoolhowtos.com/content/comments/are_you_sure_you_have_the_right_curriculum/

Edited by deeinfl
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Being on grade level, compared to the PS, doesn't make the curriculum behind. In fact that can be a GOOD thing for some parents. Having the children quickly complete "school" each week in paces that are one year ahead, leaves them the rest of the week to pursue delight driven activities without mom feeling like they have to log or justify any of them. School board, grandparents and neighbors are all pacified and then mom and the kids can just unschool with permission.

 

American School correspondence school is also talked about badly, and also praised, for being comparable to PS.

 

My oldest did very, very well by being accelerated through general curriculums and entering CC early. The younger one did a real hodge podge of stuff, but if I had to do it over again with him, and had unlimited money, I would use the accelerated through a general program with him too, and then just blissfully unschool the rest, till he "graduated" and was emotionally ready for the CC.

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Being on grade level, compared to the PS, doesn't make the curriculum behind. In fact that can be a GOOD thing for some parents. Having the children quickly complete "school" each week in paces that are one year ahead, leaves them the rest of the week to pursue delight driven activities without mom feeling like they have to log or justify any of them. School board, grandparents and neighbors are all pacified and then mom and the kids can just unschool with permission.

 

American School correspondence school is also talked about badly, and also praised, for being comparable to PS.

 

My oldest did very, very well by being accelerated through general curriculums and entering CC early. The younger one did a real hodge podge of stuff, but if I had to do it over again with him, and had unlimited money, I would use the accelerated through a general program with him too, and then just blissfully unschool the rest, till he "graduated" and was emotionally ready for the CC.

We did not find it even comparable to PS. We found it lagging behind.

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ACE has been used successfully by many people. Like anything else, it works well for some but not for everyone. You will want to check with the school though to see HOW they use the placement tests. ACE does not recommend placing students above grade level no matter how well the student does. If the school follows ACE's recommendation in this, your children would only be given the placement test to determine "gaps", not to place your children ahead. In that case, I agree with those who say your children will most likely be bored.

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I used ACE myself as a child, in a private school like you describe. A gifted kid would be bored out of their gourd with it. :) Any child with good reading comprehension and memory skills could "excel" easily. I quickly learned how to scan the material for the precise answers they wanted, regurgitated those in the busywork, and aced the tests whether I understood the material fully or not.

 

Yup. I was gifted and went to an ACE school for 11th and 12th grade, which I completed in one year and didn't learn a thing. It was a waste of time, and the sad part is that I had transferred out of the same school halfway through 2nd grade and was a couple YEARS ahead of the public school kids in the school I transferred to. (The private school was using A Beka in the lower grades.) Then when I transferred back into the private school in high school, I was way ahead of the kids who'd been in that school all along, using ACE starting in 5th grade, because it was so lacking in rigor. If public school is harder than a curriculum, then I don't think that curriculum is rigorous enough. I was bored crazy and I couldn't believe they were going to let me graduate after doing ACE. I felt like I was scamming them. :001_huh:

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My dh went to an ACE school for his last 2 years of school. He had been to public school his whole life until his church opened the school. He said some of the high school material was very challenging and he learned a lot. He taught for a couple of years in an ACE school after he graduated from high school. He highly recommends that we have dd do a high school course they have called Etymology. It is a word root/vocabulary course.

 

No curricula is going to be a perfect fit for every child or family. I think you have to decide what is most important to you. If you want them in a setting like that, then go for it.

 

With ACE, your children will be able to work at their own pace. If material is easy, they should move through it quickly and move on to information that is more challenging.

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When I compare a curriculum to PS, I compare to an average class in an average school. My boys attended a few different PS schools and the curriculums and expectations at the different schools varied greatly. Ace would be ahead of one school and behind another, and just completely different than the project based school.

 

ACE was not designed to meet the needs of the same students that Abeka and BJU were designed for. ACE was designed for the REALITY of what some church schools are dealing with. The type of church schools who are not selective and expensive, and prepping ALL their students for 4 year colleges.

 

Like Saxon, there is a place for ACE. Some parents have the resources to offer more. Just like some parents can offer horse back riding lessons, rather than just doing a unit study on horses followed up by a field trip to a stable.

 

We don't make parents feel guilty and scared about not providing horseback riding lessons. We need to be careful about slamming curriculums that are the best choice for the REALITIES some families face.

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We don't make parents feel guilty and scared about not providing horseback riding lessons. We need to be careful about slamming curriculums that are the best choice for the REALITIES some families face.

 

I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty or scared. She asked about ACE. I told her what my experience was. I literally felt like it was a joke. Read these 5 pages, take this quiz, take this test. All of it could be completed in one or two days - and that was 12th grade work being done by a 15yo kid. What should I say about it? Should I temper my words with, "Well, I was a genius, so maybe less gifted kids would find it more challenging,"? lol (I'm making a joke there, by the way. ;)) I'm just saying that I thought it was a scam that they'd let me graduate from high school doing that work, and especially that they thought the "two years' worth" of work was actually two years' worth. It certainly didn't seem that way to me.

 

She says she has gifted children. I think my experience is relevant. I'm not saying she shouldn't send her kids to school there or should feel guilty if she does. I'm saying she should carefully consider whether that's the best educational environment for them, and if it is the best option, she should look for ways to enrich it. That's all.

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We need to be careful about slamming curriculums

Everyone gave their experiences with the curricula...the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not everyone had the same experience. In our case, contrary to what was said here about "schools that do it right", the school was considered a "model school" for ACE. The results were not what had been advertised and promoted. Many parents and students were sorely disappointed with the end results. No, not everyone is suited for a 4yr college or university. However, the goal of this school was supposed to be to prepare them for such. Yes, the reality is that some students aren't going to go to such a university and this curricula, in some of our experiences, does not prepare for such. That SHOULD be stated.

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She says she has gifted children. I think my experience is relevant. I'm not saying she shouldn't send her kids to school there or should feel guilty if she does. I'm saying she should carefully consider whether that's the best educational environment for them, and if it is the best option, she should look for ways to enrich it.That's all.

 

Exactly.

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As I'm learning to write, I'm constantly reading in my curricula about audience. Different curricula are written for different audiences.

 

A friend of mine watched a documentary with me earlier this week on Netflix and tonight was rating it and asked me if I agreed with a 2. I told her no, that I struggled even with giving it a 3, despite how completely useless I had found it to be. I told her that I don't think it was produced for an audience like us, and the fact that it didn't meet our needs doesn't make it a bad film.

 

I'm not sure what rating she gave the film. I feel like we have no business rating it, since we are not the intended audience, and I decided not to participate.

 

I wasn't directing my comments at any individual and especially not at ALL of what any one person had to say. My point is just that it's important to INCLUDE consideration of the REALITIES of the intended AUDIENCE when rating an educational resource.

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The biggest issue for HSing is that my DS especially, and my DD to a lesser degree, are gifted. The only way I could send my DS to a traditional school is if we skipped him a grade and I'm not a big fan of that idea. My DD is in PS-K this year and all her school and home work is 1st grade work. It's still easy for her. So the idea of a school where their bodies could be in a grade appropriate to their age while their minds could be all across the spectrum really appeals to me.

 

OK. We have a family in our homeschool group that loves ACE. Some people like it. Some people don't like it. I always said that if we had a horrible year where "something" happened, I would just use CLE for everybody and be done.

 

However, you have two gifted kids. I don't think there is any "one" curriculum that would make a gifted kid happy. Also, working ahead a couple of levels, doesn't always make a gifted kid happy, either. I also have a gifted 3rd grader and I want to give you an example of what she's worked through this year (and is almost finished with a lot of it - and it's January...:glare:):

 

Sonlight Core 2 History/Geography and Read-Alouds

Sonlight Core 2 Advanced Readers

Core Knowledge Sequence 3rd Grade topics

Conversational German

Megawords

Growing with Grammar 3

Writing with Ease 3

Singapore Math 3A/3B

CLE Math 300s

Prima Latina

about 30 projects from Snap Circuits

Discovering Critical Thinking through Science

Texas History (outside class)

Science through Literature (outside class)

A Child's Geography

Apologia's Land Animals

 

Does this sound like your kids in a couple of years?

 

If so, I think you working with them at home is probably the absolute best scenario for them. I also don't think any curriculum is going to make them happy. I think if I put my daughter in a private school that used ACE, she would have that curriculum wrapped around her finger within a week. You can never buy enough curriculum to challenge some kids.

 

Your kids are still new to school. It might be around 2nd or 3rd grade before you start seeing them take off.

 

As far as ACE being similar to CLE...Hmmm...maybe a little. We had to stop using CLE LA this year because I do feel like my daughter could sit down with 8th grade LA and still figure out the answers and my son would cry when the LA workbooks sneaked onto the dinner table (he's a sk8r dude, so he doesn't need language arts :tongue_smilie:, but that's a topic for a "different" type of thread :D).

 

You know...there's an Accelerated Learner sub-forum on here. You could ask questions on there, too. There's Hoagies - a website that has articles and advice for parents with gifted kids. Also, the best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

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