ACE, Other Home-School Corriculum?

[Newsman]

Howdy!

  My name is John, for those of you who don't know me..confirmed bachelor, Grumpyest of the Grumpye, etc.

  I was asked by a man today regardng his eight year old son that he's been homeshcooling, I believe now for the past two years. He is thinking of a (denominal) Christian school, but also interested in other curriculum than he's been using.

  The man and his wife both work full-time, but the man does the home schooling. He described his boy as being intelligent, and racing through what curricukum they've been using. Thus, he gets bored and then begins to miss things from not being challenged.

 They've been using a Mennonite curriculum, but again this child seems to be a bit too quick for the material they have.

  Can you provide me with some links/input to pass along to this man, about ACE and/or other curriculum you like? I'm also hoping he'll decide to bring the boy to some of our youth stuff, as one of the main reasons he's looking at putting him in a Christian school is to give him interaction time with other children. There is a local homeschool parenting group, but the man says it's made up of all women, and he doesn;t want to be there (I'm guessing he feels it would be inappropriate to spend so much time around an all-women group.)

  Thoughts/suggestions?


Thanks!
John  

 

[Melody]

Hey John.  I use ACE to homeschool  my kids. I rather enjoy it and there are a variety of things to broaden children's education if he wants to purchase even more.  A cool thing I like about the curriculum is that the scripture or idea worked on in one subject is reinforced in the other subjects as well.  

Also, ACE has an accredited school that if you enroll for the senior year, you will get a real diploma rather than a GED, and there is an actual graduation ceremony to go to if you so choose.

http://www.aceministries.com/Default.aspx

The first thing that comes to mind though is can this guy simply be a part of the group for the field trips or have his wife pick up that area?  Every area is different but often there is/are groups that take field trips every week and get together to do arts/science lab etc. extra curricular but educational activities that he and his son could always study more in depth.  That is my biggest project: to make the extras into bigger projects to really get as much out of the field trip as possible if it interests them in that direction.  There are also homeschooling forums that can REALLY help him get plugged into ideas and pros/cons.  Every kid is different but church interaction is always beneficial of course.  Get him connected with the youth leaders!!

There's also Beka also: http://www.abeka.com/ that my sisters used.

Both Beka and ACE have options to have tutors or involovement online.  Ace has the option to enroll them in the school and they keep track of your records, and a tutor is assigned to keep tabs on where the child is at and for academic assistance.  With that option there are DVDs and teaching helps.

[Sis]

I was going to bring that up. There is more than book learnin' to home schooling. There is the enrichment side of things. Going to a museum is part of that learning, as well as trips to the zoo, playing ball outside (Gym), and all kinds of things that can be done. Family day trips to wilderness areas count, too. Challenge him with an art project of some kind. Give him some art supplies and see what he comes up with, or find the directions for something and have him do it. Helps small motor skills as well as broadens his art experience.

This works with any curriculum. The challenges can come in the form of their own science experiments, or going out and getting leaves or flowers and have him label them. To do that they will have to look them up. Take a trip to the library to get the books to do that. These types of things are what the public schools do all the time but for some reason the home schoolers feel guilty about because it's not book learning.

In many cities home schoolers are networked and do things in groups, share ideas, and even share things like arts and crafts supplies. They meet once a month and plan trips, etc. Many museums treat groups of home schoolers like any other school group with the school discounts, or free in many cases. He should check and see if the home schoolers in his area have networked. He might want to start one himself if there isn't one. It takes a lot of pressure off the parents, and they have a forum to bounce ideas off.

I was involved with a program called, "History Day" for those who are a couple of years older.   It is a national contest, much like a science fair. We had many home schoolers take part. If it's in a school, they choose the best then send them to the county level. The home schoolers just start at the county level, then the state contest.  I worked on the county level at the museum, then was a judge at the state level. Then the winners of this phase go on to College Park MD for the Nationals. The kids work on a project within the guidelines and present it. They have displays along with a narrative that explains what they did and what they learned from the project.

There are science fairs and a couple of newer contests that home schoolers can tap into. There's lots to do out there. BTW, does he know that the schools have to provide any materials you need like globes, lab stuff, extra books, etc that you may need to teach? Our board of education back home, had a room like a large library that the teachers would use for extra things for their classrooms. These teacher libraries are supposed to be available to home school parents, too. They won't tell you because for the most part the schools don't like the idea of home schooling.

[RainbowJingles]

The thing about homeschooling is that it's not a curriculum; it's a lifestyle.  If both of them are working full-time, it does get difficult to provide the full homeschool experience, as it encompasses so much more than just completing assigned work.  It can be an awesome overall experience, but it needs to be tailored to the child a bit more and made into a full learning lifestyle.

When I worked on the phone lines at the homeschool curriculum warehouse, I sold a LOT of the Saxon math curriculum.  It was reported to work very well for homeschooling.
http://saxonpublishers.hmhco.com/en/sxnm_home.htm
We also sold a lot of this supplemental product the helps teach math skillsets with rap rhythms:
http://www.twinsisters.com/onlinecatalog/songsthatteach/math/2168.htm

Many of the full-time homeschooling parents ended up using a different curriculum for each subject.  They would use Alpha Omega press (similar to ACE paces)
http://www.aophomeschooling.com/
to build the framework for Science and Social studies, and literature-based curriculums for reading and language, and sometimes other subjects, as well.
http://www.sonlight.com/aboutus.html

Alpha Omega's booklet/"pace" sort of system helped some of the parents who were afraid of not having anything to show for the learning when it came time to document the student's progress.  Very VERY few families purchased these products alone.

The library is a GREAT resource for free programming and (cautious) "socialization."

ABeka can be quite teacher-intensive at times, unless the child really takes well to the video classroom (some do; some don't).

[SippinTea]

For an 8 yr old who is that intelligent, ACE is not going to be helpful, IMO. ACE is most definitely not an accelerated curriculum.

Elona is right - ABeka is a wonderful curriculum, but highly teacher-intensive.

Her idea of Sonlight is worth checking into. We've very much enjoyed some of their levels. One caution: they are of the opinion that various worldviews/philosophies should be learned about and discussed, so some of the reading is controversial. As long as the parents are highly involved, the books are wonderful discussion starters. But for a Christian family, it's not something you can just hand to a child and have them study completely independently.

I'd also suggest he look into the Bob Jones curriculum. This one is completely Bible-based, Christian worldview, and very thorough in their presentation of material. They don't leave 'gaps' in their curriculum as some do. Highly recommended! The only drawback I can see for your friend is that it can tend to need a fair amount of parental involvement if you use the curriculum as it was originally designed. We didn't. We were able to use the basic text books, and cut out the majority of the teacher's guides. (http://www.bjupress.com)

If your friend would prefer not having to have much involvement in grading and such, due to working full-time, he may prefer using Calvert. They have a teaching advisory service available (for an extra fee) that can be extremely helpful for busy parents. This curriculum is not strictly Christian, but I've never seen anything anti-Christian in their material. Again, I highly recommend this one. (www.calvertschool.org)

As far as hanging out with a homeschool that is primarily mom-teachers... I don't think he's really going to escape that if he plans to have his son mingling with other homeschoolers. Homeschool dad-teachers are few and far between, but I dare say those moms would love to bounce ideas off a dad who is that involved in his son's life/schooling. But I can understand where he might feel slightly awkward about it.

The thing about homeschooling is that it's not a curriculum; it's a lifestyle. 

SO right!

[Sis]

I've been to those home school meetings and in all the ones I have attended, the mothers and fathers both attend, even if the mother is the primary in the education process. The fathers get involved in some of the enrichment stuff, so it's usually a family-oriented thing. Even the field trips, picnics, etc are both parents most of the time.

[titushome]

For an 8 yr old who is that intelligent, ACE is not going to be helpful, IMO. ACE is most definitely not an accelerated curriculum.

Ditto, based on my personal experience with ACE.

[Gingerale]

I was homeschooled thru ACE. it gets into some doctrinal stuff, but if the child knows and is set in Truth, then it shouldn't be a problem for him.

[Robert Williams]

Hi, my name is Robert.  I'm a recovering, 12-year ACE veteran, but you usually can't tell it by looking at me, lol.

In my experience, ACE is weak in a lot of areas.  If you want your children to grow up to be well-mannered, conservative Baptist folks, then it's probably the way to go. (not criticizing conservative Baptists in any way, merely stating that the ACE variety was not condusive to support my post-ACE life experiences)

I believe the the "secret" behind homeschooling is strong parental involvement, going above and beyond the bounds of whatever curriculum you choose.  Sticking to any curriculum in and of itself (including that taught in public schools) is inadequate to prepare someone for the creature called LIFE that they have to wrangle with long after high school graduation.

It seems that many parents aren't willing (maybe from feeling of inadequacy?) to step up to that standard of education, and thus, their home school efforts don't leave their kids any better off than if they would have attended public school.

Just my thoughts on the subject.
RW

[Chseeads]

I did ACE in 9-12 grades.  Along with a small smattering of other stuff for math mainly.

Look how I turned out!

[Melody]

I did ACE in 9-12 grades.  Along with a small smattering of other stuff for math mainly.Look how I turned out!

*rethinks ACE for her children*   LOL j/k

When I first read the critical posts about ACE I got a bit overwhelmed honestly.  But it's our first year so I have got to start simple.   My kids aren't geniuses, they're not slow, just not some miraculous braniacs.  And that's not my goal really for homeschooling.  It's to help them succeed at the subjects that are harder for them while allowing them to accelerate in the subjects they love and provide a greater depth of well-roundedness in academics generally.  While still training them for a deeper walk with God rather than relativism.

Robert, your post helped, thanks.  I agree that it's the level of parental involvement that makes homeschooling what it is for each child.  I plan on really being in there, helping them and enriching it all with fun things like field trips and such.  Some things will be easier than others.  Like- history is easier to animate than geometry,  but that's where I'll look into other resources.

hahaha, pray for us!  LOL

[Robert Williams]

Hey, the journey is the fun part.  I've seen several homeschool parents who didn't consider themselves qualified, but through a desire actually learned along with their kids, sometimes learning the material for themselves so they could in turn teach it to their children.  In the big picture, it's part of God's role of the family...to laugh, live and learn together.

I'm sure you'll do fine; your heart is in the right place so God will step in and help you fill the gaps.

God bless!
RW