Resource Description
Acellus resources are available through Acellus Academy, an accredited online private school, headquartered in Kansas City Missouri, and Power Homeschool, a flexible online resource with affordable classes designed for students to learn at their own pace. Both are programs of the International Academy of Science, a non-profit organization with a long history and mission of advancing education and scientific research. Acellus Academy provides online instruction to students in grades K-12 through the Acellus Learning System, which was developed by the International Academy of Science and is used to provide primary instruction to students in schools across the United States. Power Homeschool is a program intended to aid parents in homeschooling their student. Parents may choose up to 6 courses at a time from numerous courses (grades PreK-12). Students are able to learn at their own pace under the supervision and assistance of their parent.
Website: Acellus/Power Homeschool (may contain affiliate links)
(41 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: Wish you could fast forward some videos if the subject has been mastered previously
Grades Used: 7th and 4th
Both my kids 7th and 4th grade love the program. It is set up very well a'd allows me to change the daily lessons per class if my kids fall behind. The truth is that any class can become boring if a student isn't interested in the subject but I think Acellus does a good job with most of the teachers in the videos.
Cons: Boring material and not age appropriate
Grades Used: Kindergartn
Using Acellus for my kindergartener, it’s terrible! Boring and lame! Some subjects are too complex for a 5 or 6 year old. There are a few teachers that don’t even pronounce words correctly and don’t look like they want to even be recording the lessons, they seem miserable.
Cons: Everything else
Grades Used: Ninth, but with some tenth grade courses
This school is really bad. The classes are extremely surface level. Only AP World History and Geometry don't seem to be, but that could be because there was an assignment to read over 32 pages from the Bible and eight books on Confucianism for AP World History. This is the only religious content I've seen so far and at least it was on more than one religious though I would've preferred if they made it so you didn't have to read so much.
For Music Appreciation all of the questions have only two chooses and are so easy. For example, they'll show a clip of a choir singing and the question will be, "In this clip we see..." and you can choose from A: "A choir singing" or B: "A violin concerto [solo]". They also misspelt a composer's name.
Some of the classes have background music that is really distracting, especially for anyone who has ADD/ADHD.
The World History I class thought content that my daughter learned in a different program when she was in fourth grade. The other program thought the content with way more detail.
A lot of the videos were made in 2011 so they are now outdated. They really need to update their courses. I also do not like that you can redo assignments and retake tests. I feel like this is somewhat cheating. I also had to create my own grade book so I could have the non-video assignments count towards her grade.
Two and a half stars; a bit bad. Would not recommend
Cons: everything
Grades Used: 8th
Terrible. full of religious indoctrination and the man who owns it and some of his colleagues are trump supporters who post racist and covid denying tweets. The course videos are so outdated that the finance class had incorrect tax information. The owner and some of the classes are ableist. There are hints of ableist, racist, and sexist narratives pushed into parts of the lessons.
Cons: Lack of interaction
Grades Used: 6
We have started using Acelus three weeks ago. My son was grade 5 but was popped to grade 6. He seems to follow and manage the course work. So far it is OK.
Cons: EVERYTHING!!!
Grades Used: 5th
I believe that this app is a scam because I am getting everything right and it tells me so...but after I finish a test or something(which it said I got 10-10 right) it gives me a extra help video...I have done the same lesson a few times now...I do NOT recommend.
Cons: Everything else
Grades Used: 10
You know it's bad when I can get more from Khan Academy in two minutes than I can get from Acellus in 30. The lessons are extremely drawn out, which completely disengages you. The content being taught is often not explained very clearly; which is especially frustrating in topics like math, where you need to know literally everything that's happening. Truthfully, I can not tell you how many times I've had to rely on sites like Khan Academy or Mathway to get me through my Algebra 2 class.
Lack of communication is also something you'll notice. It's not a person teaching you, but rather a buggy computer program paired with a library of 6-8 year old videos. If you don't have someone who you can reliably contact, it can be extremely difficult to get ahold of someone if you're stuck and need help. It also doesn't help that when you get something wrong or get lower than a 70%, Acellus won't actually tell you what you're doing wrong; it just makes you redo the entire lesson.
Other than that, students don't get access to a syllabus. This makes it difficult for the student to plan ahead and stay on track. There's no social interaction with peers- again, it's just a computer program. Probably the biggest thing, though, is the fact that it's all virtual. There are no workbooks or textbooks, no resources outside of the few they provide, and no hands-on activities other than a few "special lessons", which are most of the time aren't doable (I had one that wanted me to dig a four-foot hole in my backyard).
Take it from an actual high-school student when I say DO NOT GO WITH ACELLUS! The entire program is literal garbage!
Grades Used: 1, 2, 6
I homeschool my children and found this curriculum to work for us very nicely. It came recommended by a friend and I’m glad I tried it out! I have a newborn and was getting bogged down with grading. The grading is now done for me!! I can enjoy the videos with my children, see their grades, what they did on a daily basis, attendance and amount of time on each section at just a glance in the parents app. They offer special assignments that include some written work as well.
I read some negative reviews about having to retake exams. Personally, my children and I don’t mind them. My teachers had me do this in private school growing up and I’m certain it helped me feel more confident as I went through the material, aided in my SAT and ACT scores, and laid a foundation of joyful learning because I got to develop confidence in the subject matter. I think it’s important to learn how to learn and develop a joyful sense of mastery with learning as you go along. Many career paths require continued learning and excellence as part of the discipline in order to be competitive in that field. So I personally don’t see a problem with retaking exams until you know the material better. But if this is a feature that bothers you, then this curriculum probably would not be a good fit. Best of luck in your curriculum discovery journey!
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: 11
I forgot to mention in my last post that the videos are outdated and poor.
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: 11
I do not feel this program was beneficial. You are forced to retake test until you get over a 70%. I want to have the choice to retake the test. I was ok with the grade that I received on my final because my grade in the class should have ended up being a b at the lowest. I got a 65% on my test and was forced to watch all of the videos again that where 20 minutes long each which where a waste of my time and did not help my at all. I had to redo all of the questions I missed then retake the entire final all over again. There was nobody that I could ask questions even during the lessons. I had to resort to google to answer all of my questions. And when I followed the teachers instructions to a T I still the the question wrong so I resorted to google and used a completely different formula. Half of the time the videos make no sense. I would have done so much better in person or on another website.