LIFEPAC is a full-color, consumable worktext homeschool curriculum with Bible-based content for grades K-12. Designed by a team of accomplished educators with years of classroom experience, LIFEPAC is based on the principle of mastery learning. Students master content in each unit worktext before progressing to the next. Ten LIFEPAC worktexts provide one full year of learning content per grade level; individual worktexts can also be used as supplemental material. In addition, you can mix and match subjects or grade level worktexts to personalize your student’s curriculum content. Individual worktexts take approximately 3 to 4 weeks to complete.
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"How to Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum."
Cons: Too much reading, not autistic-friendly
Grades Used: 3rd
Our first year to homeschool, we used LifePacs. I was intrigued by each subject being centered around the Bible. However, when we had been using them for a few months, I noticed that the amount of reading and general lack of any hands on activities added up to a stressful learning environment for my autistic son. Since shelving this $200+ curriculum was not an option, I had to integrate different things into it in order to help my son really get something out of it. This would be great for a normally developing child who loves to read. But not so great for an autistic child who hates/struggles with reading.
Cons: Old-school ideologies, caters to large rural families, can be somewhat wordy
Grades Used: 8, 9, 10, and 11
In our homeschool, we prefer to use textbook-based materials because there is very little temptation to wander on the PC/internet. We like to read together and interject a lot in order to make long-term correlations with what we’re learning. We’ve used Lifepac box curricula for grade 8-11 thus far.
The math is exceptional. It’s common core curricula, which I’m not familiar with, so I (Ok, YouTube guides) instruct traditionally and the book covers the other side of the coin. It’s easy to see where we need to backtrack and practice more.
With Science and History, I often add extra articles, blurbs, reference books, maps, experimental findings, documentaries, and projects. Lifepac is lke the trunk of our academic tree and it’s up to the teacher to trace the branches of instruction for the student to bloom in the end.
We did not care for Lifepac Language Arts (grade 8) and are not really enjoying Family & Consumer Science (Home EC). Both subjects spend a vast amount of time on information that is unnecessary and/or unrelated to the subject at hand. LA gave us an interesting history lesson on the evolution of language and condensed several chapters of reading with very few application questions. Home EC seems to be focused very much towards young ladies and how they should perform as such. There are 15 pages or more devoted entirely to how to stand, sit, walk, enter and exit a room or vehicle. The directions are unclear and more socially superficial than biblically referenced.
“Lifepac Select sets” are 5 unit booklets from selected curricula grades 7-12 in subjects like astronomy, life science, and civics. They’re worth a half-credit and come with a standard teacher’s manual, even though your units are not in a consecutive order. We have fun with these, but they are not our primary goto for core subjects. They’re more of enrichment courses that we do in addition to our 4 major cores.
We have also purchased Lifepac Computer Science, which will be introduced in grade 11, next year.
Over all, Lifepac is a good choice for parents that want to avoid computer-based learning (oh me, mee!). An instructor has the option to include themselves or step away from their student’s learning as much as the family chooses, but the instructor is expected to review, gather supplies, and grade assignments. Lessons can be lengthened or shortened for the preference and needs of the individual student.
EXTRAS
– I found Lfepac DVDs rather useless, except for science. Even then, it was a pain to run from wherever we were to the TV. It’d make more sense if AOP offered these videos for free online, as most publishers do when you purchase their materials.
– The extra books were not necessary for us either, as we have access to a public library/B&N and prefer to use our own Atlas and maps. It really did not matter if we used AOP’s copy of “The Miracle Worker” or borrowed 2 copies from the library.
– We’ve never bothered to purchase lab equipment or supplies through AOP. It’s just cheaper to buy the pieces one by one than it is to pay for a set, which includes common things that we don’t really need.
PRICE
Lifepac sets are fairly cheap to begin with and do not have a good resale value. Be careful when buying used sets online, as they often (it seems intentionally) exclude teacher’s manuals and/or random unit booklets. Most subject sets cost about $60-$80 each directly from AOP or Christian Books dot com. You’ll be blessed to get anything for your corrections, additions, included supplies, and complete sets in mint condition. I start our used curricula sets and supplies at half the paid retail cost not including any shipping and will take $10 as a best offer tbh.
Cons: Literally everything else.
Grades Used: Grade 12 Math
The workbooks are shoddily put together with no thought given. A LifePac test is frequently given in the middle of a unit. There are too many times where there is curriculum not learned yet listed on the exam. This is extraordinarily annoying. The solutions manual is not labeled properly as well. While it does direct you to sections (Ex. Self-Test Answers, Test Answers, etc. ), it does not label the specific units they are for. It takes what seems like years to find your solutions. LifePac is NOT recommended at all for math. Other programs like ALEKS are much, much better.
Cons: Numerous errors, based in the 50's, History &Geography doesn't cover either topic
Grades Used: K-2
Far too many errors and seems to be based on a 1950’s world. Which can be very confusing to a child. I do like that they have Bible study, science, and History and Geography for younger age groups, but so much has to be corrected in each. They should really know better. Quit usuing math and language arts by them because it wasn’t as easy to use as others and the errors were too numerous.
Cons: science and history & geography are too simple
Grades Used: 1st
We are just about to finish up with 1st grade using Lifepacs for everything except Math. We have the Math Lifepacs, but very quickly discovered that it wasn’t for my son.
He liked:
That the workbooks are shorter, so he wasn’t intimidated by this huge book he had to complete. Every time we finished a Lifepac, he LOVED closing it and putting it away, and then grabbing the next one. Simple, but satisfying. 🙂 He also liked the readers that came with Language Arts.
I liked:
The Bible curriculum is awesome! In fact, I already have 2nd grade Bible ordered. I liked Language Arts, but this is where he excels and just needs something a little more challenging.
He didn’t like:
Coloring, coloring, and COLORING. For 1st grade at least, there are so many things to color, and we skipped 95% of them. Not my son’s cup of tea.
I didn’t like:
History & Geography and Science are too simple. Although my son liked these, I think it was only because it was easy for him, so he got through them very quickly. I don’t think he really learned anything all year.
So…Lifepac’s in general did not work for us, so we will be moving on. I do see how it would and could work for other families.
Cons: Some errors in tests. Simplicity. Sameness
Grades Used: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and soon High School
Okay. One thing I have noticed as a person who compares scopes & sequences of all the programs before making a decision, that if I really compared what the objectives and learning sequence between Lifepac and the average curriculum like say, BJU, A Beka, Holt, Notgrass, Apologia, ACE and other programs, they all similarly teach the same scope & sequence sometimes at the same grade and often times in differing grade levels. But, all in all the child is going to be taught the same material.
What I see as a CON and a gripe by many people is that it is not solid or not enough or too shallow, or to lazy (I don’t like that word) makes me wonder how many of these people actually read through the entire teacher manual — and how many purchased the Homeschool Lifepacs Kit for using their curriculum in the homeschool? When my wife and I map out our sons school year with the Lifepacs we choose to use, we also take into consideration things that we want to focus on as well. We follow the process of reading through the information only after a full day of vocabulary review and oral discussion on vocab has been done. Then he reads through the information again and begins to answer questions. If there is a question about a question–we research it. If it is something that is not taught–we look up the information online (BRAIN PEOPLE) and make sure he learns it.
No curriculum is perfect. But if you are looking for something that teaches your child(ren) how to think for themselves, and how to be an independent learner, and how to research when the answer may not be there, then this program might work. If you are looking for a program that is not strongly Christian based, has a fully spelled out for the person who can teach without someone giving them every word to speak to their child, or you want to teach your child and do not want them to be an independent learner, or you want a traditional textbook and workbook approach, then this is not your program. But this is very easy to learn before you purchase.
We use the Teacher’s Guide and we map out the program over the summer (sometimes beginning like right now in April) and we schedule in extra activities for each unit. By the way, the comment that the “pantry supplies at home for science were not at all common in the home” makes me smile. We used two name brand curriculums and they said “uses everyday common household items” and for our home, these items were not staples–you can NEVER expect a curriculum to know what is in your pantry. Look ahead and plan ahead. The Teacher Guide allows you to go as deep as you wish to add to the basic program and make it more.
We also do not let our son answer the questions and move on before coming to us so we can review with him his answers. And–we expect him to keep a notebook of things he learned that he never knew before for each section. This is called learning to take notes in class. And we check it daily. (Uhm, teacher has to be involved even for an independent study type program). We also expect him to write a an essay at the end of each unit describing what he learned from that unit compared to what he already knew, and what he learned that was different from what he thought about a subject. He also has to place this in his Notebook for the subject. At the end of the year, his grade reflects 30% tests and quizzes, 20% homework, 25% oral narration and discussion and 25% Projects (Notebook orderly, filled, complete per unit and section, and essays ending each unit).
I’m always amused when I read negative comments about Lifepacs. I suppose I could say the same about BJU or A Beka or Apologia or CLE or Rod and Staff… the thing is, A Con is quite different from a negative comment. A review should be a balanced opinion offering the reader something more they can chew on than a complaint. What did you do to handle the complaint or make it better. Did you use everything in your possession to make the program work, or just throw in the towel and say, Oh well, next year we won’t do this again?
Curriculum, no matter where it comes from, is meant to be a foundation by which learning can be initiated. It is not the end all of your year of schooling. It is the foundation. It is up to you the parent and the child to make the learning take place.
For our science, we know already that we can never do every lab every day. We pick and choose which labs we feel are better for him to do, and then we go out online and use our parental knowledge and create a Youtube playlist of similar labs being done that match up at least 80% or better to the lab we don’t do in the home. So he can at least watch the lab being performed. And, I have NEVER not had everything on hand at the beginning of the year for the labs I planned to do. I did not wait till August 15 to plan my labs starting on August 18. I planned my labs in May before school year started. I made sure that I and my wife invested the entire summer compiling everything we felt was necessary to make a great homeschool year for my son, and sometimes, we’ve had to add extra. We had to add in Jump In Writing this past year, because he just was not getting enough out of the LP writing/composition. But, you know, he probably would not have gotten enough out of any other program either. He needed focused attention. We also do about 1 Total Language Plus book per year. Why? Because we love literature, and we want him to grasp the importance of a good book review. More in-depth than a Lifepac offers. And less overwhelming than a BJU or A Beka read these 15 books and do all this other stuff inside of one marathon 14 hour school day. But hey—we are not A Beka and BJU people. We know that. So we stay clear of it. We tried it. It didn’t work. Not because it was bad and poorly designed, which we could have said–but because it was not for our family and that’s the main reason it did not work.
We readily admit we do not use LP for Math. We use Teaching Textbooks. We like TT better. We do use LP Math for extra reinforcement, and there have been many times he read the LP information on Algebra this year and it helped him solidify the concepts.
We also don’t use LP for history right now. We love Notgrass. We also plan to use SOS Missouri History next year in 9th grade and Around the world in 180 Days (actually 90) for World Geography.
We also do not use a full year of Bible. We mix and match Bible. This next year we are doing Church History and Church Leaders (4 units) form LP 800 and only the New Testament 1-6 from 900 and then we pulled 909 for Knowing God’s Will and 906? History – Man and His Career and are using a Career Explorations kit from 7 Sisters. Not because we don’t think the lifepac is concrete.. but because we have other agendas for our son as well.
A curriculum is what is. Perfection is not part of that equation. Sure, there are errors in many of the Lifepacs. But we make them a learning opportunity. We talk about how sometimes, when many people work together on a task, it is important to keep a good project management system so you don’t end up with this type of mistake. Then we move on. We go look for the answers and move on.
This curriculum has helped many of my friends’ children to go on to University Study–and none of those schools ever said these students had a sub par education. They did well. But, we learned from them that you have to use this as the base and then add to it where you have certain goals. We do plan on using their Science all the way; English all the way, Bible, math (as a reinforcement tool) and History / Geography probably at 12th Grade for Civics.
That’s our family review of Lifepac by AOP Homeschooling. I hope this helps other families in determining whether or not this could be a good fit for them.
BTW – our son has extreme ADD, and is a visual/Kinesthetic learner.
We do not work for any publishing company and I don’t get paid to review. I just had to speak up about a product our family has come to depend on. That said, if I got offered a job from AOP I probably would take it. 🙂
Cons: Too easy , jumps around a lot
Grades Used: 4
It doesn’t cover one topic in very much depth and then on to the next thing and then two books later you may see the topic again. Everything is brief. After starting the second book (there are 10) I gave up and started making my own lessons. Luckily I bought the LA used so I didn’t feel to bad giving up on it. I do flip through to see if there is a section I can pull out to use with what I’m teaching.
Cons: not challening, sometimes boring
Grades Used: 1st
Our son turns 6 just 11 days after the cut off date for public school, we wanted to homeschool, but we weren’t going to do another year of Kindergarten with him. So we decided to do first grade, and he got the concept very easy, we bought the whole 5 curriculum Set, and History &Geography, Bible, and Science are totally boring to him and not challenging, so do I. It takes us about 1-2 weeks to go thru a Lifepac. Language Arts is just right for him, as he is just a beginning reader, but Math sometimes bores him to death with pages full of Math problems. All in all its great for beginning Homeschooling, but we wont buy it for the 2nd grade.
Cons: can't think of any!
Grades Used: K, 1, 2, 3
I taught in the private (KG) and public schools grades 1st, & 2nd for 4 years and in those 4 years I never taught anything as thorough and solid as this cirriculum! It has provided solid learning for my 3 children! I’m especially impressed with the math and language arts cirriculum, with constant review and mastery learning. I’ve read the other reviews and I am amazed to realize how many parents think that learning always has to be fun! If you ask ANY child that goes to the public schools, school is fun because of their friends, NOT because of the school work. This cirriculum teaches more than the concepts presented, it teaches children to sit down, stay focused, and get their work done! I love it! Now THAT’S preparing them for real life because the jobs that they will have one day will require them to do just that…not to mention going to college and sitting through one boring lecture after another, taking notes, then taking tests. This cirriculum also builds confidence as children are constantly reviewed over each skill until they have mastered it. I can’t say enough good things about this cirriculum. I’m offended that someone would suggest that this is lazy homeschooling! I’m raising children that are learning to become independent and responsible to get their work done, using this cirriculum. My children aren’t completely dependent on me for every moment of learning. I thought parenting is teaching our children to grow up to be responsible and independent from us….this cirriculum is an excellent tool to begin that process! Love, love, love this cirriculum!
Cons: not enough parental involvement
Grades Used: 1st, High School
One of the best parts about Life Pacs is that they are easy to use and can be a great transition for first time homeschoolers that are being pulled from PS. I have used these with girls that have fallen behind in school and really need to get it done before they are 18. (I worked in the classroom of a girl’s home). They are also a great way to get some of the electives for high school out of the way.
Their best is their Bible program. My daughter absolutely loved their 1st grade Bible.
I think this is one of the best for someone who is not sure of themselves or has a lot of kids and needs something that is independent. Negatives–not good for hands on or ADHD kids.
Cons: Content was Shallow and Not Challenging
Grades Used: 1st
This was my first year homeschooling. I chose LifePac because it was relatively inexpensive compared with other publishers. I used Language Arts, History and Geography, and Science. My son was not challenged, and was bored easily. I thought that the topics and depth of content was shallow and not challenging enough. I chose to quit using the History and Geography because I felt that the comcepts were too “Easy”.
Cons: no depth which seems to be a problem for the math and English, can be a lil borning esp. if used in one yr. for all subjects
Grades Used: K,3,4,5,6,7,8
In moderation I think Lifepacs can be very useful for the different needs of a family. I would however sugest not useing all subjects of the Lifepacs for a single grade in a single yr, they have a tendency to be a bit boring. Math and English do not really build on previous lessons nor is there much explaining if u do not understand-not even in the teachers books.
I find the cd’s-the same company offers for ur computer much more likable as do my children.
Cons: Boring, not up to par, don't like, a lazy way to homeschool
Grades Used: tried to use, couldn't
My daughter tried to use this in the fifth grade, but it was so boring and unchallenging. Last year I started homeschooling a couple of brothers that their mother had previously tried using Lifepacs with. However the teachers books weren’t user friendly compared to the Saxon curriculum that I had been using for years and the workbooks didn’t have enough practice or review of concepts previously taught. I couldn’t stand it. Compared to other programs that I used, Lifepacs was so aggravating, that I went back to Saxon for Phonics and Math. Saxon is such a great program for both math and phonics. The teachers book tells you what to say and gives you a list of the materials needed. It is very user friendly. Saxon is very thorough teaching the calendar, temperature, measuring, facts practice, patterning, time, money, adding, subtracting, etc. Phonics goes over rules of spelling, sounding out, spelling, reading, games, lots of practice opps., etc. I’ve used Saxon for 5 kids and haven’t been disappointed. In all the years of homeschooling that I’ve done, which is now 16 years, I’ve never been so disappointed in a curriculum than I was in trying to use Lifepacs. Go and check out Saxon and compare the two and see for yourself before you invest in Lifepacs.
Cons: None
Grades Used: 2nd
This is a very easy curriculum for a second grader. It was easy to look at the chapter and break it down to do weekly. I would recommend this to anyone starting out. I didn’t use any other experiments or curriculum to go with this because it was my first year and didn’t know much. I was scared and unsure of myself and this was not hard for me.
Cons: Too much handwriting and can get boring
Grades Used: 4th
The first month was ok and then my son stayed very bored with it and it was hard to keep him focused on the work. He found the science interesting, though. And I think the Bible books were very helpful.
Cons: doesn't work for all learning styles; lacks some depth
Grades Used: elementary-high school
I like the Lifepac content, but only use selected books from each course. If I used it for all our subjects, or even one as a whole, my audio-visual learner would be bored very quickly.
I like that I can order just one or two books from a course/grade level. That way I can pick and choose where I need to supplement other curricula. The books are nice visually.
I wish there was an e-book option for them (not Switched-On-Schoolhouse – just straight e-books with PDFs).
Cons: lower grades are very surface
Grades Used: 1st
We did the bible curriculum Lifepac. I really like the ease of use in and the layout, but for someone who has been teaching their children about the bible since they were very little and their child has a good grasp on the foundational principles I might recommend looking at a grade or two above.
Cons: Sometimes not enough review
Grades Used: 2nd 4th
We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Lifepac series. Our math is a really good curriculum for our kids. It’s easy to use, easy to grade, easy for the kids to progress to the next steps on their own!
Cons: Cost, TOO repetitive
Grades Used: 3rd, 4th
This program was not made for our family. It becamse too repetitive and my children becamse bored quickly.
That said, it is very detailed and easy to follow.
Cons: There is way too much handwriting required
Grades Used: second half of 3rd grade
We did the pretests to decide what level to start with. My son got about halfway through the tests and decided to just randomly mark answers because he was bored with the format. That should have been a tipoff there that this program wasn’t a good fit for him, but based on the scores where he DID answer he was about halfway through 3rd grade, so we ordered the booklets for the second half. I don’t think he finished more than 2 books in any subject, and he was very frustrated that even in math he had to do too many problems written out in words. He hated handwriting at that age, and requiring more of it wasn’t making things any easier.
I can see that this would be useful for a child who didn’t mind writing, or for a family where the teaching parent needed the work to be mostly completed by the student independently. For us, it became a battle over writing and we ended up just allowing him to answer those questions orally.
Cons: The history and geography pack is mostly all geography. They haven't learned much history. There was many items for science we didn't have around the house. In the bible pack, some of the questions in the self tests hadn't been covered until the next page. We are managing to get through, but I honestly won't buy this one again.
Grades Used: 3rd
Ease of use 4, fun factor 3, over all 1
Cons: Can be boring and repetitive
Grades Used: 3-6th
My girls liked these when they first arrived, but the novelty wore off by Christmas. The books were easy to follow, I didn’t need to teach much, they are very good if you are looking for your child to be an independent learner. We skipped a lot because they did tend to repeat lessons a lot. They come in a box of 8-10 workbooks and a teachers manual. My girls did feel a sense of accomplishment upon completing a workbook and were often excited to start another. Good for younger years, I probably wouldn’t use them past 5th grade.
Cons: It didn't prepare my daughter as well as I'd hoped
Grades Used: kindergarten
We used this for my daughter’s kindergarten year…it was okay at most. The school system in our town is rated very high in academics and while my daughter was tested and found at appropriate grade level, I don’t think this curriculum took her as far as she could go. Unimpressed with this curriculum, we switched to Horizons Phonics K for my son this year and it is more chomprehensive and I feel he’s getting a better basis for letter and reading skills.
Cons: It might not be challenging enough for some children.
Grades Used: 3rd
I gave it all 5 stars because it all works perfectly for my child. I believe you should see the lifepacs to know if it would be beneficial to your child.
Cons: A lot of information crammed in, experiments required a lot of supplies that were hard to find
Grades Used: 6th
What I like about the Lifepacs is the reasonable price, the ease of planning lessons, regular testing, easy grading, and review at the end of the year. However, most of the experiments required a lot of supplies and chemicals that were very hard to find. Once we got most of the way through the year I discovered a crumpled up card in the bottom of the box for ordering lab supplies that would have helped if I had found it sooner. There was almost too much information to be completed in a short amount of time, I felt like some of the information was just memorized long enough to take a test and not really learned.