Accelerated Christian Education® has taken the conventionally styled textbook and divided it into bite-sized, achievable, worktexts called PACEs. Each PACE is similar to a unit in a textbook. Each level consists of 12 PACEs in each subject. PACEs integrate Godly character-building lessons into the academic content, and self-instructional activities are carefully designed to develop thinking skills and create mastery learning.
Students begin their PACE work by noting their goals, the concepts they will learn, a Bible verse, and a corresponding character trait. From the beginning of each PACE, they know what is expected and assume the responsibility for their own learning! Full-color explanations and illustrations add excitement to each lesson, and innovative learning activities reinforce the interesting text material.
Each PACE contains several Checkups, which are quizzes covering a section of the PACE. If mastery in an area is not achieved, the Checkup will reveal that weak area. Students can then take the time necessary to review and learn those concepts before proceeding to the next.
Upon completion of the activities and Checkups, students prepare to take the Self Test. Here students evaluate themselves, and a supervisor/tutor determines readiness for the final PACE Test. When the Self Test is successfully completed, the student turns in the PACE and takes the PACE Test the next school morning. The PACE Test objectively measures student mastery of the material.
Website: A.C.E.
(78 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: none
Grades Used: 2-12
We have been using this curriculum for several years in our home. I have 6 homeschooled children, and this curriculum literally saved our homeschool when I was burned out and worried that my kids were not getting everything they needed individually. I use a different curriculum for K-1st (one that I began with many years ago and became adept at teaching so we stuck with it), and when my children are reading well and have a strong grasp of phonics, they start with level 2 ACE.
The pace is gentle and builds confidence with lots of repetition of vocabulary in the younger grades, gradually teaching the child reading comprehension by finding a correct answer from multiple choice, moving to finding the answer in the reading material, and gradually to infer answers from the reading material.
I was a military brat, public schooled my entire life, and this is a far superior education to anything I had in several schools and several states/countries.
There have been times my children got tired of the curriculum, so I had them take a break for a year to do a literature-based unit study, read a series of historical books, use video-based or hands-on curriculum, etc. When we need to fill in the gaps with a subject here or there, they might take one ACE subject. Most of my children have chosen to return to ACE when they have found doing multiple curricula felt disorganized, overwhelming, not straightforward enough, etc. The free diagnostic test on the website makes it easy to plug them back in right where they need to be and fill in the gaps to get them back on track with the PACEs.
I really love the fact that with each PACE, they memorize a Bible verse and learn about a character quality. It's gently built in through stories and comics. They learn about lives of Christian missionaries as they diagram their sentences in English. I've never seen such thorough grammar instruction that is so well organized. They learn the same Bible verses in subsequent years, with very simplified versions in the early elementary, to full verses in KJV in later years. I love when my 2nd grader and 7th grader realize they're both memorizing the same verse, for example.
I like the mastery approach ACE uses. We have used spiral curriculum, and it felt like there was just a little bit of everything in every lesson every day, which felt scattered and overwhelming. Each PACE focuses on 2-4 concepts and allows the student to understand the concepts thoroughly. It also allows easier testing to find gaps and fill in with a few paces on single skills.
The PACE work has allowed my high schoolers to have time to pursue side jobs like teaching piano, gardening, animal husbandry, learning other languages, and composing music. It gets the basics out of the way so they can pursue their interests and develop into interesting people.
I know of and have heard of countless people who did this curriculum and went on to be extremely successful in college, becoming doctors, lawyers, social workers, teachers, etc. There are wonderful testimonies on the several facebook groups from people who used it as a child and are continuing to use it with their own children because of such a positive experience.
Cons: The curriculum is very behind, and it is easy for a child to fill in answers without even reading material and retaining information.
Grades Used: k5 through 10th grade
I went to a private school where ACE was used. ACE did teach me independence and how to set small goals. However, I lacked in my education because the curriculum at the time was 2 years behind the public school system. I had very low confidence and knew I was lacking. . I missed a lot of my core math stuff. Note that was not all ACE fault but my mother's fault for not taking responsible for my education . All the kids that went to the school were held back at least one year when attending public school. I attended public school when I was in my 11th grade year, because my parents died. I was completely lost in public school. The stuff we were doing I had never seen before. However, I graduated from high school. Later in life went to college and basically just had to teach myself everything I missed in my childhood education in order to keep up in college. It was a challenge but I did overcome it. However, it cause a lot of unnecessary stress and trauma.
Cons: All other aspects of it
Grades Used: 4th-9th
(Please don't scroll, this is REALLY important)
To sum it up, the A.C.E system is far from helpful. After transferring from other schools, several friends and I have had to move back 4 or 5 grades after doing a diagnostic test at an A.C.E school. A lot of the material in the school is only taught in A.C.E, nowhere else, and some topics taught in other schools aren't covered in A.C.E . English, for example, includes diagraming something that was not only unfamiliar to students (and as a result, we didn't perform well on our English diagnostic tests), but our parents and other teachers at the school had never even heard of it. Now that I've successfully transferred to another school, though I've completed Algebra I, functions were not covered in the A.C.E course, making Algebra II a lot more frustrating. Before entering the A.C.E school, we were all told that we would be capable of moving at our own pace, and the curriculum was more "advanced" than others (including Cambridge). We all knew that wasn't true because we all had friends who had tried going to other schools and most of them didn't do well in their entry exams. So in other words, unless you have been under A.C.E you're whole life, there is no way to avoid failing your entry exam.
Another major disadvantage of this system (at least at my old A.C.E. school) is all students are to have finished 8th grade in A.C.E. Meaning if you've already finished 8th grade outside of A.C.E. you are STILL required to pay for paces and repeat the whole grade (even if you passed 8th-grade material in the entry exam). Imagine trying to enroll for 11th grade and you have to go back THREE grades.
I could go on and on but ultimately, A.C.E is a self-deteriorating, frustrating, horrible system to ever join. Don't go through what I did guys.
Cons: Very strict high grade demands
Grades Used: junior high, high school
A.C.E. was used for me in high school. I was home-schooled due to the fact that the curriculum was low in price at $500 per year compared to these private schools that were unaffordable for my parents. As a student with severe learning disabilities and learning at your own pace, the curriculum was tougher and tedious. The fact that there were no hands-on labs, projects, or even field trips was not very helpful. Every page you work on has to be perfectly corrected with no errors which that can make you behind in your subjects. All you are attempting to do is pass test after test constantly reading, writing, & excessive studying. The fact they use a strict 4.0 curriculum and consider a C+ a failure can make you very discontent and work day and night without any activities. If anyone uses A.C.E. they have to be willing to make their own rule changes. I am a strong conservative Christian but A.C.E, in my statement is very legalistic. If I were to go back I would have done things better and used Beka. I graduated at 16 for the fact I was rushed without seeking any other college-prep curriculum. I lived in a tight rural town where there were no home-schooling groups or programs provided. I spent too much time perfectionating each assignment but did not maximize my right potential. I just want to say that A.C.E. was based on a solid Christ-centered foundation but as strictly legalistic & over tedious on assignments, tests, and high grades
Cons: Bad bad support system.(Basically none)
Grades Used: 12
My son worked so hard from 2011 through his paces.
Completed most of the subjects. Two left and the Knysna school packed up.
No one was willing to carry Him any further to complete.
He now sits with out a matric thanks to ACE.
I am still SO angry.
They destroyed my childs self esteem.
Cons: Didn't learn much, boring, basic, no room for more exploration of preferred subjects
Grades Used: 1st through 8th
I grew up using PACE from first grade until I was ready for high school.
I can't recommend it for gifted students. My experience was that I breezed through the workbooks because they were short and simple and it was mostly things which I already knew. Most of my learning came from outside of PACE, just through living a normal life and reading or teaching myself about what interested me. PACE was only good for being able to say that I was following a standard curriculum and getting good grades, which is what bean counters wanted to hear.
PACE introduced concepts quickly and then tested once or twice, so there wasn't much learning or retention of the knowledge. I went through the grades rapidly and increasingly became bored with it, not wanting to do the books because they felt like busy work that was at least as bad as that in public school.
The material was mostly uninteresting and not academically rigorous, and there was nothing that allowed for doing advanced STEM topics as a gifted student should be doing. Instead of introducing something beyond arithmetic, the math books just had more rehashing of the basics as you then go into accounting instead of moving on as the student nears high school.
Go into any bookshop or library and pick up the average workbook for math, language, science, etc., and it will probably be more educational and challenging than PACE was. This was how I ended up learning topics like French, Calculus, Computing, and more, by supplementing like this by just reading things at the library or on the Internet. Fortunately, PACE is so easy that you'll have plenty of time to do this, but the hours spent on PACE will feel like wasted busy work of reading meaningless passages and memorizing a few answers to pass the test, then forgetting them as the topics never come up again.
Unless you're required by law to have a curriculum and just want something cheap and fast that's minimal, I can't see an advantage to using PACE. It actually could have been more minimal because they used time on memorizing verses and included irrelevant comics and games which were meant to break up the tedium, but they weren't really interesting or fun. I would have gotten as much out of some plain old workbooks which drilled arithmetic or grammar.
Fortunately, I was able to switch to American School to earn an accredited degree for high school, and enjoyed using it a lot more. We read actual books — normal textbooks and classic literature — and got to pick extracurricular topics. There was supplemental material such as CDs of music and Shakespeare's plays. It was a lot more educational and enjoyable, but also self-paced and inexpensive. I did well and American School even gave me a college scholarship. I definitely recommend it for when your student is ready for 9th grade and beyond.
Cons: It's not all inclusive, but I don't think any curriculum is
Grades Used: 4-9th
First of all, this is a CHRISTIAN Bible based curriculum, if you don't agree with Biblical principles then why on earth would you use it? Plenty of parents send their kids to faith based schools, some of those kids choose to continue in the faith or not...it's absurd to think teaching your kids your chosen faith is a "cult" or "indoctrination". The same could be said for public schools, where I was taught evolution (which as a believer, I don't agree with). Do I complain that the public school system is a cult? No.
This is simply a Christian school in pace form and considering the $4000-$6000 a year tuition of Christian schools in my area, it was the most affordable choice for us. School is what you make it. Public school curriculum included. I happened to be great at memorization, I graduated public school with a 4.0 GPA, but passed most of my tests in science and social studies and other classes with memorizing all the info the morning of, which I promptly forgot by the next day. I did not actually need to learn the material. I say that to point out there's faults in all curriculums.
There is no all encompassing curriculum that appeals to all kids learning styles and teaches kids everything there is to possibly know. The reason I picked homeschooling was because my son is active and creative and, while he's incredibly smart, sitting in a school room for 7-8 hours a day stifled his ability to concentrate. He is a hands on learner and needs activity to stay engaged. I could have chosen to drug him up on ADAHD meds to get him to sit still, but instead chose to work WITH his learning style.
He's now thriving at school, He works on some paces, then goes outside to play, works on some paces, then goes into the kitchen to bake something, does another pace, then uses his dads tools in the garage to build something.... you get the picture. If he's struggling with a concept, we use youtube to watch videos about it, to change up the media. In nice weather, we go to the beach and they do paces there in between swims. Or the kids do them outside in the yard in a hammock or a treehouse. If they need a mental break, they take one. If they need a day off, they take one. We do paces year around so we can take as many days off as we need just so long as by the start of the school year, they're where they need to be.
My kids went to school before we homeschooled so they've experienced both environments. My daughter does great in both environments but my son really struggled with the strict schedule they keep you on in a school. He got into trouble, he had a hard time focusing, and was constantly being punished for not moving at the same rate as the other kids. It broke my heart when he told me that because he wasn't like the other kids, something must be wrong with him. I knew I had to do something, but I didn't know how to homeschool and some of the homeschool curriculums are so complicated and difficult... and I'm not an overly organized person. That's where these paces come in, easy to use, covers the basics, and over the years I've learned I can add in things I feel are missing and adapt them to our needs.
You want more advanced science? Get a book on your desired subject or watch some YouTube documentaries. My son really enjoys watching medical surgeries online. He loves watching dissections of organs and things like eyeballs lol...So we add that in. We also bought some chickens to harvest and sheep. My kids have never taken an anatomy class, but have helped us butcher so many animals that they know all about organs and arteries and veins, bones, muscles ect... If I decide to order a book on anatomy at some point, they will have hands on experience to understand what they're reading.
You want to add in sex ed? Go ahead, it's called homeschool for a reason. Be the teacher and teach them what you feel is missing. My daughter was getting bored with American history in these paces, so we changed it up with documentaries on the ancient Romans, the Aztecs, Mayans, Ancient Chinese ect. I tell the kids lets learn about a culture we've never learned about before. We study a different culture for a week or two, then go back to American history. That's the beauty of homeschooling. Customize it for your needs.
These paces are a good Christian foundation for getting the basics. They definitely teach grammar, english, math, and the science and social studies are decent... if you don't like the cheesy cartoons, ignore them. If you don't believe in Biblical principles, don't buy them, if you think your kids would be better off being "indoctrinated" at a public school, then send them there. If you feel like a certain subject needs more depth, add in a different learning medium. And the racism allegations are ridiculous, they have black and white and brown characters in all the cartoons.
My point is that, yes these paces are basic, but for some of us who've never homeschooled before, we need something a little less complicated to start out with. These paces allow the average mom or dad to start homeschooling with ease. I know as someone who went to public school that these paces absolutely cover the same info, I went to 7 different schools in 7 different states, It's the same stuff. The basics are the basics. With all the money you save on these affordable paces, then you can invest in music lessons, art class, sports ect. The vitriol from the other reviews seem to stem from those people not agreeing with the lack of wokeness in the paces, which I consider a huge plus. To each their own.
Cons: Science, History
Grades Used: K - 10
40 years old and still a little sad about the lack of education I received at a private Christian school using ACE. The only good part was English/Word Building, as grammar was taught well including etimology which gave me a strong vocabulary. History was a joke, starting literally at Creation from a literal Biblical perspective. Science also never got much past an elementary school level. No classical literature is taught. Absolutely NO critical thinking is allowed. If you’re female, your options in life are basically housewife or missionary. Obviously no sex ed is taught (surprise surprise how these communities tend to have high rates of teen pregnancy 🙊). This curriculum is more indoctrination than education. In my opinion, it should be illegal.
Cons: No bus line, no book bags required
Grades Used: K - 12
As a graduate of A.C.E and as a parent of two children who were both taught using A.C.E. as our main curriculum, I can't understand some of these reviews.
I was in public school until November, 1984, which was halfway through 6th grade. My parents pulled me and my brother out of public school because my Dad was entering the ministry and was becoming an evangelist. Our parents first enrolled is into a school using the Abeka curriculum. It had little instruction with it, no real structure and NO score keys or teacher's books. You did the school work and then sent it off to the school for them to score, then sent back to you if it needed corrections made. My brother, 3 years older than me, but only 2 years ahead of me, had to do one of his book reports about 5 or 6 times because he kept messing up on first one thing, then another. It was ridiculous! I've always been an advanced speller, but that school only allowed me to excel at their pace. A.C.E. allows each student to advance at their speed, as long as they do at least 12 PACES peer subject, per year.
I've never found any racism in A.C.E.'s curriculum. Maybe some of the cartoons are a little cheesy, but some people find fault with everything while others have a sense of humor.
Yes, they follow Biblical principles and use the KJV Bible. I don't see a problem with that. They do not use all multiple choice questions, and that can be proven. They also allow you to word answers slightly different from their answers as long as the answer means the same as their answer.
I'm 49 years old, graduated in April, 1991, from A.C.E. My mother was my teacher for most of those 7 years, and she only had a G.E.D. because she dropped out of school in the 9th grade to care for her mother who had suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on her left side. After I graduated from high school, I attended Moultrie Area Technical Institute in Moultrie, Georgia. I scored higher on my admissions test than most of the public school kids, studied Medical Secretary/Transcriptionist, was inducted into the National Vocational Technical Honor Society, was on the President's List for 3 quarters in a row and graduated with honors. They tried to persuade me to take nursing because my admission scores were higher than any of their nursing students.
If you don't apply yourself or want to learn, no curriculum can fix that. If you're willing to do what is needed to learn, you can absolutely learn using A.C.E. curriculum.
Our children are 21 years and 26 years old. They are both productive members of society, they're respectful and capable of doing anything they decide they want to.
Some of these reviews have me scratching my head.
I have used A.C.E. on and off for 22 years now (and used it exclusively in my children's earlier homeschooling years). I was also a Supervisor in an A.C.E school for a very brief period of time.
There is no single curriculum out there that is perfect, will meet your every need, or won't need tweaked at some point. A friend of mine, who is a well-respected principal in one our local schools, said to me one day, "The curriculum matters very little. It's what the educator and student choose to do with it that real learning will take place."
Are the cartoons cheesy? Sure. It often feels like a "Leave it to Beaver" episode. However, the cartoons are not why we chose this curriculum. The kids and I sometimes have a good chuckle over them and talk about the character trait being presented, which are actually very good. Over the years we've used a plethora of curricula - Bob Jones, Abeka, Sonlight, Classical Conversations, Master Books, Easy Grammar, Essentials in Writing, and more. My children didn't learn any more with those than they did using A.C.E.
Why?
Because I don't leave them at the table to just complete work on their own. I engage with them. I create simple extras for us to do that corresponds with the lesson for the day. We have conversation about the topics being presented and we use critical thinking skills. All the other curricula, while perfectly fine, had too much busywork, was WAY more expensive, and left us with less time to engage in extra learning and conversation, which is where the real learning and connection happens. With A.C.E we have freedom and extra time to do that digging in, take days off, and take it "on the go". My kids love the feeling of completing a PACE and moving onto the next. This is especially satisfying to "checklist" type people.
In addition, no one can give an accurate review of A.C.E. after only trying one year of it, or even two or three years for that matter. It uses a mastery approach and is slower in the early years and picks up speed in later years. I love this because when my children were young, they had more time to explore and play rather than being strapped to their books. A well-rounded education includes all the things. It's absurd to use a curriculum for one or two years and then feel you understand it enough to give an accurate review without seeing it all the way through. Those reviews aren't even worth reading. We also have never seen racism in the PACES, but we do understand that some of the cartoons are dated. We aren't offended over everything or pick it apart looking for something to hate about it. It's been around for decades and decades, much longer than just about any other curriculum that I know of. That speaks volumes.
Our oldest two children, who used A.C.E. all the way through, went on to higher education and are now successful adults raising their own families. Our three left at home are using A.C.E. except for math where they are using Teaching Textbooks because they like the video teaching and immediate computer grading. (I like that, too.) Maybe someday A.C.E. will offer something like that.
In response to the "fundamentalist" feel of A.C.E. I can say that I we're certainly not fundamentalist, though we can see that a little bit. It just doesn't bother us. *shrug* We are Assemblies of God and attend a large (mega) diverse church that looks nothing like Leave it to Beaver, but we do hold to the Truth of God's Word and don't apologize for it. The Word of God is our standard and transforms our minds and hearts. A.C.E. is also unapologetically the same, and in that we are unified. If you don't agree that the whole counsel of Scripture is God-breathed and undeniably true, then this curriculum will most definitely not appeal to you.
Cons: Trauma
Grades Used: Imagination
As someone who was taught with ACE there is very little 'Pro's' I can think of.
It made me feel like there was only one way to view the world and everything else was wrong. Even how they worded things - it was very biased and you had to write 'their' answers down or it wasn't correct.
Its all multiple choice too - so I basically cheated from 14- till I finished. Extremely easy to cheat with or without the answer books.
Its been called a cult
that is properly the major thing.
you know its bad when it represents white supremacy, racism and sexism and ofcourse its homophobic,
I still have trauma from it and its been more than 10 years since I finished.
I hated it so much and if your doing it cause you think it'll help your kid become a Christian think again cause im anything but.
Cons: Not thorough enough...math has to be explained, not good for self-study, not enough science
Grades Used: 9-12
I attended an ACE school for highschool. I had a hard time with math and required a tutor to finish geometry and algebra III. I only took Biology and Physical Science and went on to nursing school in college. I had a difficult time with anatomy and physiology as well as microbiology, due to my limited science education in highschool. Also, there was a teacher in my school who sought to rewrite the English paces, because they were grammatically incorrect, so I took English using the Abeka curriculum. I do not recommend the ACE system because it is lacking in so many subjects. It IS very idealistic in its teachings about society as a whole. I do not think I am racist because of it, however. I am meeting with one of my teachers today...38 years after I graduated from highschool...I'm curious to know her thoughts on this subject!
While serving as a public school teacher for over ten years, I 'discovered' a Christian school using the ACE program in our community. I was intrigued when I took my tour with the style of learning, mastery, character building, individual pace of advancement, individual student offices etc. it teaches the students to take responsibility for their learning, develop self-control, learn to set goals, both daily and quarterly, become proficient in reading, develop a strong work ethic and learning about life from a Christian worldview. We enrolled our two children in this school which they attended from K-12. They both went on to university and graduated with honours. Our son was accepted into medical school and is now serving as an emergency physician in western Canada. Interestingly, he is one of twelve graduates who are now practicing physicians, including a neurosurgeon, ophthalmologist, emergency and family doctors and a dentist. All but one attended this school for their entire schooling. In addition there are multiple engineers, lawyers, teachers, nurses, trades people, pastors and missionaries that have graduated from this school. Eventually I left the public school system, took a hefty pay cut and for many years served as a supervisor and principal. It's been a wonderful journey and I have no regrets. Fortunately our school was large enough that we have competitive high school athletic teams, bands, choirs, drama, a full size gymnasium and other electives that create a well rounded education.
The math, English and word building are great. The science and social studies need to be strengthened greatly. Also they have the black children and white children segregated in separate churches and schools.
Cons: cheesy delivery
Grades Used: 4th-9th
The price online is so very reasonable compared to Bob Jones, My Father's World, etc.
I was blessed to buy most of our books pre-owned, including School of Tomorrow. Our Pace books were almost complete sets from 4th to about 9th grade English, Science, Social Studies, Math. My student was not self motivated, but I didn't mind the daily work together.
At some point in 2014, we took the opportunity to assess math, reading comp, grammar, and vocab from Ace website. It was free then and still is in 2022. The tests were very thorough, challenging, and on par with an above average public education. I did the assessments also.
Style:
One is introduced to Ace and his white fantasy world of almost perfect people and situations, but that's it - it's an obvious fantasy. My student is very worldly, very in tune with broken families, racism, sexism, violence, etc but he liked that School of Tomorrow was different & steadfast in every book to maintain Christian values. Not all the characters are squeaky clean or perfect, and some of the challenges (lying, cheating, slothfulness, being content) spoke to my son. None of our other Christian curriculum (we pieced together several) addressed moral character every single day nor on most pages! He and I liked that inspite of its cheesiness.
One will notice immediately how clean Ace's world is compared to today. But comparing is futile because Ace is a fantasy meant to dramatize morals. School of Tomorrow puts before the student a biblical standard: mom stays home, dad leaves for work, most of the community is at church every Sunday, most of the kids respect and help their elders, most everyone is working very diligently, etc. I would not ask School of Tomorrow to change that any more than I would remove the cheese from The Andy Griffith show. Regardless of the style, wholesome ideas about serving God, family, and community have value. Images help lay a foundation in the mind through the eyes, & the hearts of children tend to see humans not skin color. You can color the people dark if it's that important to you but Christ wouldn't. He would receive the material at face value adding nothing negative.
Interpretation:
The founder and his family are white so indeed Ace is a reflection of their whiteness - nothing ill intended. Students get that right away - we did! 🙂
It is immediately clear that Ace is a good boy, white, living mostly in a white environment, mild mannered, loves God, loves school, loves his family, loves his country, everyone overdresses, etc, etc. We didn't interpret the images or the writing negatively. Ask the writers for their intent if ya need to, otherwise you may slip into slanderous assumptions.
Content:
We needed the recaps incorporated into the books. His flying through the mastered bits at the beginning of a book felt pretty good, but he knew the new concepts would slow him down until the recap in the next book! Perhaps there's lots of recaps because there's lots of content and do the diagnostic test at the end, many students will benefit from the recaps.
The content is spot on for actual knowledge in grammar, math, reading, writing, vocab and biblical truths - a good foundation of any education for the mind and spirit.
Expectation:
No product is perfect. Get to know the material before investing.
I prayed and got what was needed. 'Still engaged and read ahead. Notes were added and White-Out used! Ex: English 1048 page 1: "Tolerant" was changed to Patience to reflect scripture more closely (tolerance is not the Same as patience). You can do this also! No product is perfect.
Critical Thinking: Are you fretting over it?
The Holy Spirit has our front and our back - He makes us able to think well, so fret not over how well your student analizes, debates, defends, but really focus on their Character. The curriculum is heavy on the morals and very foundational on the skills needed in the real world; reading, writing, math.
Enjoy your student, forgive curriculum imperfections, and practice acting on only what you Know for SURE is true. (Phil 4:8) Is it true the writers totally meant YOUR interpretation? 🙁 Perhaps not.
Oh yes, and do the assessments or diagnostics to know what a student learns at the end of a book. Be nice if it's completely different from my experience. 🙂 Mrs. G 2/10/22
Cons: Extremely blatantly racist (both in content and images), very outdated, very very closed minded, does not encourage creativity.
Grades Used: JK-Grade 3
I am not a fan of this curriculum. I do appreciate that it encourages kids to set their own goals, work at their own pace and holds them accountable for their learning. However, it does not apply up to date pedagogical practices, is blatantly racist and does not represent most Christian family structures (no multi-ethnic families, no families with both mum and dad working, no single parent families, no multi-generational families living in the same home). We have been using this curriculum with our JK and Grade 2 since September 2021. We will reluctantly finish the year with it (with LOTS of editing, unteaching and reteaching). We do not plan to continue with it. This is a great curriculum for middle to class white homsechool families who have a stay at home mom and working dad that are okay perpetuating the myths that: their homogenies family structure is the only acceptable Christian family, that racist terminology and charicatures are acceptable, and that inter-racial relationships are not acceptable (or simply do not exist). The editors and publishers at A.C.E should be ashamed of themselves that they have allowed these images and ideologies go to print in this day and age and to so grossly inaccurately represent 'the church' or the body of Christ. Although, I suspect that ACE does not likely have a racially diverse team working in behind the scenes to ensure that their content is representative, or perhaps they are in fact completely ignorant to things like social justice and Christian responsibility to stand against injustice. In short, if you are okay with racist content and social injustice and are looking for an easy "open and go" independent learning program, then ACE might just be for you! If you are not okay teaching your kids to be racist then you may want to reconsider your choice.
Cons: Maybe Outdated
Grades Used: 9 to 12
I loved the ACE program. If they are using the same paces from 20 years ago then I can see why people would find it outdated but I still believe it’s a great program. I know several people who took the ACE program and did very well in University and have great careers today.
Cons: Racism and sexism
Grades Used: 4th
I am a former student from ACE homeschool curriculum and I have experienced the worst racism and sexism that these paces have to offer. I was with my child in Literature/creative writing and one of the comics was basically saying that a womens body was sinful, and in social studies or any of the subjects all the white kids and black kids are segregated from different schools, this is honestly disgusting and sad that my kid had to learn about this
Cons: Too much time and money
Grades Used: Year 5
After a time of bullying at school and struggling with learning our child was diagnosed with ADD. We decided to home-school in Year 5. This program seemed to be the popular thing in the home-school community. Needing to dive in head first this ticked the box to get registered and then it was in the mail. Getting the booklets finished monthly - we never saw the light of day. My anxiety and stress went through the roof and was literally was pulling out my hair. It came to a holt very quickly but we were locked into a subscription fee for the rest of the year. Lesson learned- look before you leap.
Cons: Repeats history already known, too easy, based entirely on biblical history
Grades Used: 10th
This curriculum is very Biblical based, and basically biblical history. I am surprised that it is geared towards 10th Grade, as it repeats biblical history that most children grew up learning in Sunday School.
Cons: Not for the unmotivated.
Grades Used: Pre- 10th
If students are self motivated they move thru paces fast. If not and they repeat a pace it cost more.If you kid is not self motivated, home school can be a nightmare.
Cons: lack of creativity at presentation, questions are too predictable and out dated, over repeat of the areas that learned from the previous grade,
Grades Used: 4&5
My kid and I enjoy the Christianity based ACE program. However ACE should make a serious review on the PACE as its questions asked are old fashion and the answers are too predictable. It fails to train children to be more critical in thinking. In many ways PACEs are more like a piece of spoon feed information. We are from Malaysia, as far as I concerned that ACE Math is just well below the standard from the public schools from Malaysia and Singapore. I am not pleased if my kid score a full marks on PACE test. Lastly, as I mentioned ACE is affordable however the cost of the shipment and PACE is almost 1:1 ! That means we need to spend double on PACEs to get one. After all it is not so 'affordable'. ACE should look into it and find a way to lower the cost and shipment fee incur. It is not a rocket science to figure out a way. That has to be an mutual agreement and corporation between the local publisher and ACE.
Cons: 1) Not truthful account of history, 2) Rote, 3) Legalistic, 4) Poorly-written, 5) Cringe-worthy stories, 6) Beat-you-over-the-head moralizing, 7) Scripture taken out of context, 8) Fundamentalist, 9) Lacks creativity/authenticity
Grades Used: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, 8, 9.
I used this curriculum for 2.5 years for four kids for these grade levels: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, 8, 9. From an academic standpoint, the curriculum has many deficits. Science and social studies are the weakest points of the curriculum, because PACEs demand very little rigor and critical thinking for completion. Honestly, you can really "game" the system by reading and regurgitating.
Perhaps the function of PACEs is to train students to never question authority or even abusive clergymen. It is fundamentalist in nature, which might be appealing for the independent Baptist crowd. I honestly cannot imagine kids going through the program from K-12, and then entering the real world. ACE does not prepare students to engage with the world, but perhaps that is the point. ACE creates its own version of reality where pastors are always wise and righteous, parents are always respectable, and racism/sexism/discrimination doesn't exist.
Moreover, ACE is suffocatingly "moralistic" while it seeks to defend and perpetuate white colonialism and privilege. But it's not easy to see if you live in white-evangelical, middle-class, suburban society.
The "society" for which the stories (in the English packets) take place is like a Christian dystopia where all the stepford wives keep perfect homes, bake cookies, and husband is the breadwinning, strong leader who keeps everyone in his household in check. Then the family will go to church every Sunday, listen to Pastor Alltruth, nod uniformly, and say yes without question.
In sum, I do not think there is place for this kind of curriculum. I'm both confused and disappointed by its popularity here and abroad.
I am a professed believer, and I'm all for bringing children up to love God and obey His commands. This curriculum, however, exemplifies so much of the toxicity in the the white, evangelical culture, without actually amplifying the biblical perspective.
If you are a parent reading this, I hope you will be dissuaded from using this curriculum. The perspectives in ACE can distort your sense of reality, and keep your child from critical reflection and authentic living for Christ.
Cons: Very old and out of date
Grades Used: K-8
A.c.e. pace curriculum
Cons: non
Grades Used: year 3
ACE is great, it is not rushed at all. The children go at their own PACE! That why it's called PACE because you don't move ahead until the child firmly grasps the teaching concept.
I have no idea why this method of teaching would be criticized? my daughter writing skills have improved tremendously.
Her maths is at the level she needs to be and on the whole, she is doing excellent.