Resource Description
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. (may contain affiliate links)
(69 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
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.
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: 11th
PACE is the most rushed curriculum I’ve ever used and seen. So much for the word “PACE” they should have just called it “RUSH” you don’t learn anything within the curriculum, rather it’s rushing you to get all these books done in a short period of time.
DO NOT USE
I currently enrolled my son because of lockdown situation in india. I found it useful as per gaining knowledge but coming to math my kid need all measurements in indian style which ace ciriculum will definitely don't help him in future math.
Cons: They teach little kids that the lochness monster is real
Grades Used: 3-7
My high school was the “poster child” school that would be easily pointed to as a reason to use ACE. For me, the best part about ACE was leaving it to go to a public school. I really enjoyed having to catch up with actual drug users because I had not received a basic foundation science and math. I really enjoyed that, while I got straight A’s on all my ACE tests and was regularly a “level E”, I had to repeat a grade when I moved to a “real” school because I was woefully unprepared for actual academic rigor. I do, however, get on my knees and thank God that I was put in a public school where I could learn, be challenged, and challenge others. I’m stronger for it. I’m sad for those I knew that didn’t “get out” and are struggling to cope with the things this program ideally would protect against. In the opinion of someone who had gone through it and have seen both sides...don’t waste your time. Don’t worry so much about your kids being challenged in their faith...let them be challenge and build it. In the end I now have a Master of Science degree and work in high paying jobs for Fortune 500 companies. I would not be here had I continued ACE.