Need information/opinions about a curriculum Accelerated Christian Education PACES

[City Mouse]

I need to get some background information about Accelerated Christian Education (I think that is the right name) workbook curriculum. How does it compare with typical public school curriculum?

 

Why I am asking

 

I am a teacher at an online charter school that starts with 4th grade. It is not unusual for 4th grade students to enroll who have previously only been homeschooled as some parents are waiting for their child to be old enough to enroll.

I have a new student this year that I need to figure out what is going on with him.

His mother tells me that he has used the above curriculum for the past several years with no difficulty, but he is having a very hard time with 4th grade level work. He cannot do addition or subtraction of even two digit numbers that requires regrouping. The child is at home during the day with teenage siblings and mom admits that she did not provide instruction, but he completed the workbooks on his own. She just discovered yesterday that he was seeking a calculator to do his math work.

 

What I really need to figure out is if we are dealing with a difference in curriculum, if this is lack of ecuactional opportunity because mom did not provide instruction, or if this is a instance of a possibility learning disability. As many of you are familiar with, the process that a teacher has to go through to request testing for a student is long and difficult. To top it off, if it is decided that he had lack of education opportunity then he will not be tested for Sped this year.

 

Most of the time, parents who have been homeschooling do have a good understanding of where their child is academically and if they are struggling. This mom seems like she had no idea.

 

Edited to update title

Edited September 15, 2016 by City Mouse

[Rachel]

It sounds to me like mom wasn't actually schooling this child.

[luuknam]

She just discovered yesterday that he was seeking a calculator to do his math work.

 

What I really need to figure out is if we are dealing with a difference in curriculum, if this is lack of ecuactional opportunity because mom did not provide instruction, or if this is a instance of a possibility learning disability. As many of you are familiar with, the process that a teacher has to go through to request testing for a student is long and difficult. To top it off, if it is decided that he had lack of education opportunity then he will not be tested for Sped this year.

 

I'd have the kid work on adding and subtracting without a calculator before doing an eval. I wouldn't want to wait a year - if there's no progress after a couple of months of actually practicing every day without a calculator, I'd be concerned. If he does make progress but makes less than a year's progress* in a year, I'd also be concerned, since older kids can normally make more than a year's progress when playing catch up, if they don't have LDs.

 

Also, you might want to add the name of the curriculum in your thread title to catch the attention of people who have used that specific subject (you can edit your original post and change the thread title), though this issue doesn't sound very curriculum specific - it sounds like a mom fail.

 

*You'd obviously have to figure out where exactly the kid is at right now to know how much progress is made in what amount of time.

[TX Native]

Deleted my post-I read the post before your edit and thought you were referring to Christian Light Education instead.

Edited September 16, 2016 by TX native

[City Mouse]

She says he hasn't been using a calculator, but I don't think she really knows.

I agree that if there are no disabilities he should be able to make more than a year's growth in one year. I have had other students where that did happen.

I have set him up with all the extra help I can for right now, but our program relies heavily on parent monitoring, so there is no way for me to keep that calculator away from him if mom won't.

 

From all I have learned on this board and all my research when I was considering homeschooling my own child, I know that there are many great homeschooling curriculum choices out there, but I am not familiar with this one.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I don't think the ACE curriculum is known for being particularly rigorous. And if the mom's not actively engaged in his learning, I can easily see how this could happen.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Peaceful Isle]

I used ACE as a kid, for a whole year. I don't remember learning much, but I do remember the next year being super hard. I went from an ACE school, to an Abeka school.

 

I have looked at the paces myself, and I would say they are about a year behind. That's just my opinion.

[HomeAgain]

I looked at ACE briefly.  When I saw that the word "pencil" was a vocabulary word in 4th or 5th grade science, I backed away slowly and never considered it again.  Accelerated, my foot. 

[Ellie]

Many Christian schools use ACE because it does not require anyone to actually teach, so the schools don't have to worry about having certified (or other highly educated) teachers; they just need an adult supervisor.  It is supposed to be advantageous for the children because they can work ahead (or be behind) and still get good grades. Perhaps that is why it is "accelerated"... Anyway, the mother might just have been following the program, which is to allow the children to correct their own work, rather than being neglectful in any way.

[SarahW]

Yes, I think the philosophy of ACE is that the kids work independently - all the time, even at a young age. They are encouraged to self-correct (I believe the answers are right in the back of the books?), even from a young age.

 

I have a fundamental problem with the independent-homeschooling idea as it is, but the way ACE is set up just begs the student to abuse it. Especially young children. Who really can't be faulted for finding ingenious ways to get out of filling in worksheets.

 

I expect this boy just needs to be given remedial 1st-3rd instruction. He should be able to catch up in a few months. If he doesn't, then I would look at testing for LD's.

[ThursdayNext]

I did ACE as a kid, and it put me back at LEAST a year. It was miles behind my public school year (at a below average school), the year before starting ACE. I had no learning disabilities.

[maize]

I don't think it is logical to expect a young child to self teach with nothing but a workbook.

 

For now I would approach this as a child who has not been taught rather than a child who probably has a learning disability.

[...................]

I have some cousins whose kids use ACE.  They think they are "a year or two ahead" because they are working in the PACES from the next level up.  Actually, they are on grade level.  It works for motivated kids,and they go to an ACE school with loving caring family and church staff watching over them and ensuring accountability, state mandated testing, etc.  

 

In the younger grades, (that's all I have experience with), usually if you are "on level" in ACE you are a year or two behind good public schools.  

 

So, if he was in 3rd grade ACE, he was probably doing 2nd grade and even some 1st grade work as compared to a competitive public school.

 

THere's probably nothing wrong with his learning abilities, so I would proceed with the mindset that he was just falling under her radar, and that the curriculum moves slowly AND that he was kind of "cheating" ...see how he does for a while and then reassess.  I have no experience with how special ed works in private or public schools, but I would say, you could wait a while before jumping through those hoops.  

[City Mouse]

Thanks for all the input. This really helps me get a better handle on what might be going on with him