Dear Mrs. Mills, you're an answer to my prayer. I was asking the Lord to send me someone to teach me what to do this coming school year and which curriculum to use with my children and I received a message from A.C.E and long story short I ended up watching your videos. I've being homeschooling my children for 5 years now. I have a 8th grader, 4th grader, 3rd grader, 2nd grader and my David will start kindergarten and I've being feeling overwhelmed. But I love this video and you giving your testimony about how it helped you with character building. For us the most important part of education is our children to love the Word of God and to create qualities of character in them and of course the academic part. God bless you. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much for making these ACE videos and to Just Sew Trish for sharing your channel. My kids had a wonderful first day of school with this curriculum. My daughter loved it so much she did 10 pages in just one subject along with everything else she had to do. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you for this! I would have never considered a "workbook" curriculum before, but after this series and reviewing the website am very excited to get my kids going with ACE. I think it's just what we have been looking for!
Thank you for breaking everything down and explaining the ACE curriculum. I went to the website after watching a few of your videos and it completely confused me, lol. Now I get how the system works. This is definitely a curriculum for me to think about it, and you certainly can't beat the cost.
I was so encouraged by what you shared about the impact that the character lessons in the A.C.E. curriculum had on you. I use ACE with my kids and I also love the character lessons, but I have wondered at time if they really are making an impact. Thanks for the words of affirmation! :)
You are amazing! You answered all questions and some that I so needed about this curriculum. Thank you! So grateful for HS moms that post these videos! You’re Godsend! May God Bless you abundantly! Godspeed! 🙏🏻😷😇
It is really cool to hear how ACE took such a large part in your character development! And a great one it is! :-) I love the list you provide at the beginning to help find topics you discuss, that is going to be so helpful for when needing to come back to your video for reference again later. And I love what you said about not getting hung up on finding the perfect curriculum. I've wasted many years bound up in that. :-( We've used the CM method for many years. It's been great and hope to continue, but we're now needing to make some changes. ACE seems perfect for the structure and affordability we are needing. Great video! Thank you! God bless :-)
I thoroughly enjoyed his video, so thank you so much for sharing. I have tried to buy PACES on a number of occasions over the past 12 months and have shied away, as I could not understand the numbering system. It has been very hard to find this information out in Australia, so I knew where to start after leaving mainstream schooling. I found your video very helpful and now finally understand how the PACE number system works. I truly appreciate how informative you are in not only this video, but many others and I truly thank you once again for taking the time to share and explain your experiences.
Thank you so much for taking time to create this video.❤️🥰 Your video has encouraged me and gives me so much hope for this curriculum. Thus far, everything about ACE seems like a perfect fit! 💌 Your binder video will be next! Blessings. ❤️
You and Just Sew Trish sold me on ACE. We started back schooling last week and it has been amazing. My son is so happy. I'm so thrilled. Thank you so much for sharing. You guys have been an answer to prayer.
I would like to thank you so much for this video. You have said everything in its best way. The curriculum is learner friendly and the best thing about it is the fact that it is integrated with the bible. I am so impressed.
I’m homeschooling this year and I came to watch your homeschooling videos to know where to start. I know you will see this comment from heaven. I want you to know that I miss your videos so so much. I know that God made you an angel because you were too beautiful to be on earth. I will always reference back to your videos. I aspire to be like you as a mother. 💓
Thank you so much for posting this comprehensive review!! I am preparing to switch curriculums, as the one we were using was not a good fit for us at all. However, I was so stressed (and I CANNOT overstate how very stressed I was) about which to choose as my boys are at the high school level now. I'd been seriously considering the ACE curriculum along with a couple of others, but was fearful to pull the trigger on any one of the options. The ACE was the most affordable and seemed the easiest for us to be able to implement and utilize, but I was afraid it would not be a high enough quality of education. After watching your video you have put my mind completely at ease and I feel peace in my soul about going with the ACE curriculum for the rest of their homeschooling experience. So once again, thank you from the bottom of this momma's heart to yours!!! ~ Lindsay Robertson
Great video! I’ve been spending time watching you every day! What fun, especially your homeschool vlogs! I use ACE too and love it! I would really like to see what treasures the procedures manual holds, I’m thinking I might want it but it’s expensive. Happy homeschooling!
Andrea, I love your story about contacting the military, to see if they had any jobs. I am not surprised you scored so well on their testing. You are clearly a very intelligent woman x
I've been homeschooling for 11 years. My kids are almost 9, 11, 13, and 15. I have tried a lot of different curriculum and still haven't found anything we are happy with. We have tried Christian Light Education which is similar to ACEs PACEs. Thought about ACE, but was unsure. My kids all have ADHD and I've taught them to be independent in their learning as I also have ADHD and I can't teach them all at once. Have to use my time wisely. Anyway, I think the goal is to teach them how to love learning and continue it their whole lives. My kids have kind of become sick of school work and feel unmotivated at this time except for my oldest. My oldest does okay with Teaching Textbooks math and some other things. Thanks for sharing your experience. 🤔
hello! I find myself with the same opinion. I too went to a A.C.E. school all my life. Only went to a public school 8th grade, 11, 12 and when I went to College I was always told by by all my professors that I was very intelligent and they really believed I would be anything I wanted to be. So they encouraged me to continue my education. But because how my life is I have had to put that on the back burner but I do intend to continue. As of now I have a 6 year old whom I have in a public school but I find that they aren't teaching him at his level and they focus more on his weaknesses rather than his strengths. Still debating on homeschooling or not.
Thank you for taking the time to do this video :) we are on our second year of using ACE and love it. It is nice to see positive reviews!! what do you use instead of L&CW? -- we tried using it this year and it was the only subject that when my son finished the first book (little green frog) he asked if he could tear up the pace that he just finished for that book lol. I stopped using it but I am at a loss as to what we should be using in it place.
+Missy Carneado When I was a student, Literature and Creative Writing didn't exist. It came out when I was teaching and I felt the same way as your son does about the PACEs. It is too abstract compared to the other PACEs and just doesn't work well. I just buy the books that go with the PACEs and have the kids read them and then narrate (Charlotte Mason style) and when they are in 7th grade we do the Basic Literature PACEs and book reports. I don't really worry about Creative Writing, though we do sometimes enter our state's Young Authors competition. When the kids are elementary-age, I just have them tell me the story and I type it for them as they talk. Then they illustrate their book. (We've actually placed 1st and 2nd a couple of times; I used Snapfish.com to have their story turned into a hard back book for them to keep.)
I'm so glad to see some genuinely informative videos on UA-cam for ACE. We are REALLY loving it, since we swapped to it mid year (we hit burnout and SIMPLIFIED). We have used it, partially, in the past, and my oldest went to an ACE school for pre-k. I have been waiting to see some decent information on ACE on UA-cam, so thank you! :)
+TheTruthNLove Thanks for the encouragement! I kept looking for helpful ACE videos, too, and everything was so negative. I decided I can't be the only looking, so I figured if no one else was making them I might as well. I really love how simple ACE is to use with different aged children.
Thanks for sharing shooting this video, its great that I have heard from one who has gone through the Curriculum. Kindly share on how you think I can help a son benefit more from this curriculum. Thanks
Ok. I watched this awhile back but re-watching several. I remember you saying you don't do the Bible paces but did you say you don't do the Literature paces as well? I understand the Bible. We are utilizing another curriculum for that but I have never looked at the Literature paces. what is your thoughts regarding those? Why or why not? I'm trying to decide whether to add that this year. He hates reading to himself.. likes me reading out loud. We do a lot of that for his history. (The Signs of the Beaver is going right now❤) Anything you have to say about it will help I'm sure. ☺
Hi Andrea, I've been binge-watching your videos :-D Between my husband and I we have a total of 24 kids, but most of them are grown now. We have 5 at home still, 2 of them disabled adults. I am currently homeschooling 3. My question is- does the ACE curriculum work well with children with learning disabilities? I realize they can work at their own pace, but is the material presented in a way that works well for, say, dyslexia? My almost 11 and almost 12 year old are working about 2 grade levels behind due to dyslexia/learning disabilities. Also, on the other end of the spectrum, how would it work for a gifted child who is creative and likes to go down rabbit trails on a daily basis, lol? My 5 year old is at a first grade level and wants to skip all the boring stuff like having to write a whole page of letters or numbers just for the sake of handwriting skills. She skimmed through almost all of Calvert Kindergarten in about 3 months. Anyway, looking forward to your insights! I love your videos!
This is great. Thank you. This fall is our first year and I am excited and nervous. We have been pretty laid back/eclectic but we need more structure. My son needs to become independent from me and you have helped me so much in that I am confident this is doable. Something I was going to try was do 2 subjects at a time maybe add 2 more subjects about 8 weeks in with my son so he is not so overwhelmed with the amount of work he has to do compared to what we've done in the past. I know you have not had to deal with this but what do you think and if you have a different suggestion I am open. Do you school 4 or 5 days a week. Thank you again. Jessica
+Jessica Abel How old is your son? One of the things I do at the beginning of the school year when we're starting after having the summer off is have a frank discussion with the kids about how they aren't going to like it when we start back to school and they have lots of work to do. I always tell them, "There will be things we like and things we don't like, but we'll get used to it." I try to plan some fun break activities the first few days and at the end of the day we talk about what we liked (I help them think of things), what we didn't like (they usually come up with plenty) and then I remind them that soon it will feel normal. I also like to use a timer to show just how fast a page of school work can be done. It usually motivates them to work quickly and then we know, when they are having a day when they just aren't getting anything done, how long the work should really take. Just knowing that 3 pages of Math should take less than 30 minutes (or whatever it comes out to for that particular child) can sometimes get them out of their grumpiness and get them moving again. Sometimes I also get M&Ms for the first few days and let them have a couple each time they complete a page. None of this is earth shattering :), but still helps. Before long they are in a routine of being done by lunch or sooner every day. I think it's a good idea to stagger starting each subject. I would suggest starting with one difficult subject and one easy one at a time, such as Math and Science or English and Social Studies. (Science and Social Studies are mostly reading.) Throw in Word Building at the end. I bet you won't need to wait a whole 8 weeks to add more. If you can develop a "get it done" spirit, 2 weeks will probably be plenty.
Unfortunately he is 12(time and age has helped)and we have always struggled with school. He has always wanted to do other things (i've tried making things fun and changed curriculums)and we have struggles with him sitting long enough to get one problem done before he falls apart. I know this has been a battle for us and as I have learned and he has grown older he has sat longer and no longer runs outside when things get difficult. I like your thinking and will implement some of those ideas.just seeing how you do things has helped me. Also, the magazine strips for the binder was a great idea. I would have been lost without you vlogs.
Great,I am certainly shifting my son to this.He seems to be wired differently from what the national curriculum in my country defines as "bright or daft"
Thanks! This is the best PACE review I've seen by a landslide, and I really needed it. My oldest is starting high school and wants to work as independently as possible, and I've been torn between PACES and Lifepac. I've heard that the high school PACES are a little less dry, and a little more comprehensive than the Lifepac, in the sense that you don't have to go outside of the work-texts to find answers. Paces are also cheaper, although I much prefer the look of the Lifepac curriculum! I'm definitely leaning even more toward PACES after this!
I will be starting ACE this year with my daughter. What school supplies do you suggest I need for ACE like just the basics? Like pencils, paper, glue etc?
I also used ACE when I was in middle school and I caught up to where I "needed to be" academically; for that reason I loved the system. I know you said you would not go in depth on this so, I will say that I do not like that some of the science and history subjects are not entirely accurate; what would you recommend so a student doesn't get wrong information?, do you read the pace ahead of time to be able to discuss accuracy of information in the book?
+SaborAMi There's no way getting around wrong information, no matter what the source. I feel like it's better to acknowledge to our children that everything they read may or may not be accurate. Then, as there is an interest or desire, read other books on the same topic. Compare and contrast what you've read. We do it naturally when we here two or three different versions of the same event from our children. We know they each have their own motives and biases in relating things as they do. To me, more information is always going to be better than less. I love it that my kids will point out when their school work conflicts with other things we've learned because it's a sign that they are learning good judgment. Then we can discuss it and come up with what seems most likely based on all we know.
Have you addressed what you do for literature in a video? I think I remember you saying you don’t use ACE for that. I’m placing my 5th and 6th graders for a possible switch to ACE next year. I love your videos!
We do a reading and narration ala Charlotte Mason style. The younger kids read for 15 minutes and tell me orally about what they read that day. The older kids read and write down what they read about.
Hello, Andrea. If you have a moment to help me I would ever be so grateful. My kiddos have always gone to public school and now we have decided we are at the place to finally pull them. Michigan is a easy state to do so. We have decided on ACE, but we are going to run this like a home school as compared to a "church school", since we are very small and will not be able to attend the ACE training. We are just going to order the full curriculum according to the current grade the kids are in. (not the one they are going into....I started the diagnostic testing, but it is taking way to long for our very tight schedule! Just being honest! ) Long story short....I am so nervous about making sure we transition from Public school to homeschooling smoothly. I will be the teacher, so is there anything I need to know or be prepared for? Your videos have been SO valuable to me. I just wanted to know if I buy the Home Educator Manuel and the Home School Record-Keeping kit for each child, will I be set to start? Thank you in advance for answering my questions. Blessings to you and yours, Heather
Yes, that's exactly what you need. The Home Educator Manual answers all the questions about how the PACEs work, how to keep records, etc. The Record Keeping kits have all the stuff you need for each child. If you have those things, the PACEs & Score Keys plus your pencils, crayons, etc., you're all set!
I’ve used paces throughout my homeschooling years for various subjects/children, in conjunction with other curriculum. (We are going into our 18th year of homeschooling now! 😳) Now that I have so many more students I’m juggling I have been transitioning to paces for more of our subjects, especially my older students. It’s just streamlined our lives so much more and taken some of the workload off of mom! 😊 I need some help on organizing and keeping track of what we have/need/finished/are working on and what we need to order. I thought I saw somewhere that you made yourself a chart for keeping track of all of that. Do you have a link to that form somewhere? I’m finding myself, when I go to order more, having to check and double check if someone has already done that one and if we already have the answer key for it, etc, etc. I realize that you have used paces all along so it’s probably easier to know what you need, rather than I, who is piecing it together later and for only parts of our homeschool!
Okay, I'm finally catching up on comments... a little bit. I haven't made my chart available anywhere, but I believe there's one in the ACE Homeschool Moms Facebook page files. If you're not a member, you can send a request; there are a lot of things moms have created to use with ACE available there. facebook.com/groups/ACEHomeschoolMoms/
You said that you Score your oldest child's paces. Do you recommend scoring until they graduate. I am curious because being my first year with ACE in the fall and reading the parents manual on how(I know I am a ditz or I always feel that everything has to be spelled out to me)to score and they say the child scores- which I wasn't too sure about that because if my child has the answers he may not even do his work. I just wanting this year to work and I am praying and your last video helped me in the way that buying a curr. and sticking to it even if you may have to adjust things to fit your children. Well, this good info--- I wish I had 7 years ago when we started. Sources I had read were that you keep looking until you found a curr that fit your child. I know I have told you several times but the way you explain things and the content of your videos are superb. So very helpful to me and I think will be of help to many others. So thanks again for taking the time to do these videos.
+Jessica Abel I only score for my kids through 2nd grade. In 3rd grade I teach them to do it themselves. 3rd-5th are pretty sketchy as far as their scoring goes. Sometimes they do well, sometimes they don't. I try to encourage proper procedures and let them suffer the natural consequences if they don't (failing PACEs because they got things wrong.) I try to keep a pretty close eye on what's going on so things can't get too out of hand at this age. About 6th grade on, they seem to see the wisdom in scoring carefully and I don't find the need to watch them too carefully anymore. No, I don't score my oldest son's work. He does it himself. I'm currently scoring for my first grader and keeping an eye on my 3rd and 5th graders. I'm really glad the videos are helpful to you!
Good morning, Can you please tell me or explain how you would get transcripts with this program. My daughters did the SOS and it generated transcripts so it was very easy and they are now almost done with their bachelors at ECU. Now I have a little boy that started with Ace and he loves it but before I decide I wanted to find out about transcripts with this program. Can you please help? Thank you and God continue to bless your beautiful family. Jessica
We also did Basic Literature from 2nd-8th grade. They only offer it for 7th & 8th now and have Literature/Creative Writing for the younger grades. I like the Basic Literature better. We did Bible Reading, too. I don't think they had Animal Science when I was that age. It was something they added later for 1st-3rd, I think. Some of my students used it when I ran a school, but we haven't used it at home. Of course, in high school, we did a lot of extra courses besides the core subjects.
thank you for sharing. we have a similar thought process and similar life path. i only have two children and i was recruited by the navy. i love to swim but being one of two women on a sub for six months was not something they could sell me. lol college bored me to death and it made no sence to pay for knowledge everyone forgot the library provided for free. lol i prefer learning alone quietly in a corner lol. i learned more on my own then in school and i wish i could have graduated early but they said i hade to take english lol i was in germany so they neede an excuse i guess. loli was just thinking to myself how technology allows us to connect and learn things we are isolated from throught commercial media. it takes youtube and dailymotion and other outlets like this were true community and knowledge flourish. it was a no brainer to home educate, inspire and nurture my children. you are the second person on youtube i feel kindred too. so happy and motivated to introduce myself and share my passions as well. time to come out from under my rock. lol
I enjoy that you used the word "kindred." I feel the same way. It's so nice to find kindred spirits in the world and I, too, am thankful for UA-cam being a means of finding them!
I've done both methods- study the same PACE and retest or wait for a new PACE and start over. Lately I've been favoring the new PACE method even though it's really a hassle. I feel like it will promote more careful studying. I'll still probably take it on a case by case basis, though.
When you suggest that ACE teaches the difference between fact and opinion, what are its teachings on Christianity and theism as a whole in this regard- does it allow for some movement in establishing religion as an opinion, or does it state it as fact?
I attended a small boarding school that used the A.C.E. PACE system and have personally worked through about 88 PACE packets. The PACE system is without a doubt a Christian-biased program that heavily works Protestant theology into every workbook. Some courses have more religious content, some have less, but all of them contain small stories with Archie Comic-like characters that experience "real-world situations" and how God would want you to handle them. Also, it should be noted that at the beginning of each packet the first page is dedicated to the memorization of a specific biblical verse that is incorporated loosely throughout the packet.
At present i went to the existing school where she is and observe how the children do their work and check themselves using the score table. im going there again till i understand full how as teacher they do those scoring to the child in the Progress report card
I commented on this video over a year ago, and I'm back with another question. Could you go over more of how Christian theology is incorporated into the curriculum? A few things I'm specifically interested in are: how creation is taught, the scope and sequence of history and the ratio of biblical to secular history, and if the curriculum is young earth, old earth or doesn't pick a side. Thank you, and I know it's a long question so I'm sorry.
Here's a link to ACE's Scope and Sequence, which may answer your questions. www.aceministries.com/media/pageimg/Home_Educators_Scope_and_Sequence-2017.pdf
Does anyone happen to have a updated Kindergarten manuel for the first quarter that you are done with. I would purchase it from you since the ACE ministries is taking 3 weeks for shipment right now. Please let me know,. Thank you
you sold me! I have been using Christian Light Education but it has gotten overwhelming. I love self teaching worktexts for homeschooling, especially with being responsible for so much. Well, I almost left self teaching all together, because I thought ACE was just like lifepac. Well after your reviews and doing more research, I realized how much they are not. So we are giving it a shot and it seems like the things we need in our self teaching that CLE couldn't do, A.C.E. will meet those needs.
+Just Sew Trish I so appreciate you talking about my channel. I hit 100 subscribers tonight (I had 63 yesterday.) Yeah! I'll keep that in mind about breaking up this video. Also, I think I'll spend a couple of days talking about the mental process of getting organized like you mentioned on your video. Thank you, again, for your help!
I am having a lot of fun watching you over and over again. You do a lot of "homesteading" too. You slap that in your title and you will get more subs. Have you heard of the virtualhomeschoolcoop, you should join that too.
Hi you mentioned not agreeing with some of theology specifically futurism vs pretirism .. do they introduce these topics just in bible study also what is there stance ?
They don't necessarily teach it; it's just stray comments here and there. I'm pretty sure ACE is in line with most mainstream Christians on the topic. Our family is the one that's different. Here's a video that is a good introduction to our personal views, if you're interested: ua-cam.com/video/jaqaGGRg9Yw/v-deo.html
You work on all the subjects daily? I've done the ace program through a Christian school and they suggested to work on two subjects a week. So, they are done with the packet by the end of the week. Just curious if your kids like doing so many subjects a day.
At the school I attended, we only did two subjects for the first few days and then each day we added a subject until we had the full program going so the PACEs would be staggered and not finished at the same time. The ACE Procedures Manual intends for all subjects to be worked daily. Obviously schools or homeschools have the freedom to do things in a way that works best for them, though. At home, in some years, we have done all of Science in fall, all of English and Word Building in winter, all of Social Studies in spring and Math was completed over all 3 seasons. That worked well with my younger kids, but as they got a little older it was too hard to get it done. They got burned out. We went back to doing all five subjects every day and they do 3-4 pages a day in each thing. Most of my kids get done in about 2-3 hours and seem happy with it. Well, as happy as any kid is when they have to sit down and do school! :)
+Andrea Mills That sounds great! I'll have to try it out. See how it works. I tried it for a week, but I may need to do it longer to really get a feel for it. When you say 3 to 4 pages each. Is based on 3 being the minimum. Right? I was told to go for 20 pages a day. Sometimes I end up pushing my daughter too much. The last thing I want to do is over whelm her with too much work.
Yes, each PACE should be done in 3 weeks, if you're working at a normal rate. If a PACE has 27 pages like the early years 2-3 pages a day is plenty. If the PACE has 43 pages like the middle grades, 3-4 pages a day is just right. In the older grades, they may have 54 or more pages in some PACEs. Depending on the subject, we've found anywhere from 3-6 pages a day may be necessary.
Hello, We have been using My Fathers World now for 5 years. I love it but decided to start by supplementing with ace for English. We just started this week. I am tempted to start our 5 year old (already done some beginning ABC type lessons) with the Kindergarten program. At What age and level do you start your kids?
I usually start them in Kindergarten at age 4. Solomon turned 4 in June and won't turn 5 till right at the very end of our school year. It's always felt like a good age to start. If it was very strenuous I'd wait till later, but we skip a lot of things in the manual and just do the parts we want to do.
Tom, I’m considering ACE curriculum for my 2nd graders. They say to never give them PACEs above their chronological age. I’m curious- Do you follow that rule with all your children, or do you ever let them work on higher levels if it’s a subject with which they do really well?
@@TheMillsFamilyVlog Okay. Yeah- we worked on that today (the paper version). The instructions said not to go past their age related grade level, so we stopped after second grade. I may go back and just keep going, just to see at what point they each need to stop. Still not sure if I’ll let them work ahead or not. I’ll have to think on that. Thanks, Tom.
Instead having a single bound textbook, ACE divides textbook chapters into booklets (12 booklets per subject per year.) They call the booklets "PACEs" which is an acronym for Packet of Accelerated Christian Education. Each PACE begins with an outline of what concepts will be reviewed and what new concepts will be introduced. They're divided into 3 sections and each section is followed by a quiz. At the end of the PACE, there is a practice test. Once the PACE is complete, there is a final test. A minimum score of 80% is required to pass the test; otherwise the PACE must be worked again.
Yes, we've always used ACE with our kids. Each PACE (booklet) comes with a test to do when the PACE is finished. An 80% is required on the test to move on.
mrs.mills do you think someone in your home might want to write my son ,he is 14 and in home school we cant find any home schooled children around here 1806 loop rd lafollette tn 37766
Does Thomas enjoy it as an older child? I have a son who will be in 7th grade soon. Does he ever get bored with it? We have always used Bob Jones, along with other curriculums.
I don't really have anything to compare it to, so I can't say for sure. He's like most kids and would rather not do school at all if he could! He's never said it was boring. He seems to enjoy it well enough.
My kids are 6 and 4 and are undergoing ACE. But I haven't been able to lay my hands on paces to teach them at home during this lockdown. Could you please help?
I haven't really done anything on that yet, but I've got a new plan for organizing my videos ideas that I'm hoping will help me get to a lot of those things that are important, but aren't necessarily in high demand.
I don't know if any of them will want to. We talk about it sometimes, but we feel like we'd rather do something alternative to a regular (read: expensive and questionable) university experience. I've always been a person who signs up for courses on-line or through correspondence if I want to learn something. Tom got his degree partly though a brick and mortar school and partly on-line. I honestly have no idea what any of the kids will choose to do.
Andrea Mills My oldest g'daughter wants to be a nurse and has stuck to that for four years now. She is a sophomore in HS. If she decides to do that, I do want her to go to a highly-rated school so she will have the best options for the job market. The hardest part is the competition factor for getting in. I hate that.
How do you know when you should start your kids in ACE. Like what age? Do you do school on Saturday and Sunday? Would the kids be allowed to do school work on the weekends?
ACE's kindergarten curriculum is for kids 3-5. They sell a Reading Readiness test to determine when they are ready for 1st grade. Otherwise you can repeat Kindergarten. I'm starting my son Solomon this year and he's 4. If I feel like we're moving to fast I may split first grade into two years, but right now I feel he's ready for kindergarten. We don't do school on the weekend unless someone needs to make up some work for some reason. With ACE, you set your own work pace, so if you wanted to work on weekends, too, you could either do fewer pages each day and spread them out over more days or you could finish more than a year's worth of work during the school year and move on to the next year's work.
No. The DVDs are for the supplemental pullouts lab pages in the middle of the PACE. They go along with the topic of the PACE, but they aren't required.
I have this video on how we organize our test keys: ua-cam.com/video/xtsq8rkNJnc/v-deo.html This one shows a little bit about scoring: ua-cam.com/video/YJZjw-iuxGo/v-deo.html
Quick question - you mentioned getting a free shipping coupon for Christian Book.com, is that something you get from being on their email list, or do you know how I can get that? I just ordered my PACEs from A.C.E. for next year and couldn't believe how much shipping I had to pay!! :(
I'm not even seeing the kit at Christianbook.com at the moment, just the PACEs. The kit on ACE's web-site is $348 + tax and shipping is about $35. If you call ACE, they will tell you who your area representative is. If you order through the representative, I think you get a discount. I'm not sure if you still pay shipping or not.
I am placing an order now and I reside in Japan, I don't think they'll be giving the shipping for free.. (chuckle) but at least now I have an idea. You're a big help! Thank you so much. :)
We generally set aside about $200 a year per child to pay for that year's curriculum. The price varies depending on the age of your child. Kindergarten and First Grade require teacher manuals that add to the cost. In 4th grade and up, score keys become less expensive than previous years. Since it's a self-paced curriculum, some kids will do more in a year meaning you have to buy more. Some kids do less. It just all depends. But $200 seems like a good average to me.
Andrea Mills thank u so much! U were so quick to answer! I have a 1 year old, a 4 year old and an 11 year old and we're going to begin homeschooling next school year! I'm loving ur videos, thank u so much for making them. I requested more information from ACE so I think they will be calling me soon 😊
Hiya nice to hear your point of view. I was an ace student and now I am at university. I agree when you say that it is great that the child can work independently and learn to organise their own work. However I think that the ace curriculum does not give children the whole picture. For example ace does not teach you practical skills such as how to deal with "physical relationships" ie sex. I do not agree with a lot of the things that the ace curriculum integrate into a child's mind. For example I do not believe that a merciful God punishes people killing them (see later paces) Lastly I found it extremely difficult to be mixed in with regular kids in college after I had finished the curriculum, I was shocked by people's language/ideas/lifestyle and this did not help me to be socially equipped in real situations. I would also mention that ace constantly integrates biased views in their education. For example in the paces they openly state that homosexuslity is wrong, and that Christianity is the only real factual thing in the world. Personally I think that once they are old enough children can decide for themselves what they want to think is right or wrong.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. You bring up many things that would take a lot of time to dig into and talk about. Have you considered making videos of your own sharing your perspective and maybe offering suggestions for what you think would be a better educational method? Even though I don't see things as you do, a variety of opinions is helpful for us all to think through what we believe and why we do what we do.
Ben McKenna Quite frankly (speaking for myself) after growing up in a world that you describe as the "Ideal" world for kids, and then seeking the truth in many religions, groups and lifestyles I have found that Christianity is the only truth in this world - the ONLY truth that I can trust. I wish I had grown up in a world like Andrea and Tom Mills have created for their kids. The Mills kids are ok - they certainly are a very blessed group of kids (properly more than they know yet). I adore the Mills family - they are great parents.
+Ben McKenna - It's unfortunate that you were not exposed to other lifestyles growing up. A home-school curriculum does not encompass everything a child learns. Honestly I think much of what you mentioned should have been your parents responsibility. I personally think it would be uncomfortable to have my child learn about sex education from a stranger, or from a booklet. Also, ideally children go out in the community and interact with people from different backgrounds. I find it sad that you were not socially prepared. Lastly, you are right that children can decide for themselves what they want to think is right or wrong. However, it is a parent's responsibility to teach them morality. I would never blindly believe anything my public schools teachers told me growing up - why would you think a child you blindly believe everything that is in their booklets? Those are just some of my thoughts. I was raised atheist and I'm not satisfied with it. I am not Christian but I plan to home-school with ACE because I plan to be involved in my children's education and can adjust a lesson based on my personal beliefs.
Since you are an atheist, I suggest you look at k12.com. It provides a more rigorous, more classically-inclined education. Christian Light Education is another consumable curriculum that is excellent. I've used ACE, CLE and k12. I recommend k12 to all homeschoolers.
Okay I have a quick question I am doing the a c e fourth-grade now my daughter has a learning disability I think how do I teach her with a learning disability
You can just alter things to work for you! We’ve had some kids draw pictures of spelling words to help them visualize, perhaps you halo by reading to them or using other visual aids, Home schooling can be very flexable
Could you order them individually? If I like what I am already using in math and just want to try science or history could I purchase them separately without having to buy the math?
I have read that ACE teaches creationism. Is this true? If so, do your children find supplementary information on evolution elsewhere in order to learn about biology?
I tend to be direct in answering these types of questions, but it shouldn't be taken as hostility of any sort. I believe everyone is free to live their own faith and it doesn't bother me if someone thinks differently than I do. Biology is biology no matter what your faith is about the origins of matter and life. Creationism and evolution both teach adaption. Evolution teaches that everything came from nothing all by itself. Creation teaches that everything came from an initial Creator who is apart from creation. I, personally, don't have enough faith to believe in evolution since it actually goes against everything we observe in the world. (For instance, if a rock appeared out of thin air, we'd have to call it a miracle. And if we could live a billion years staring at that rock, we'd be _shocked_ if it suddenly started to breath. Also, Creation teaches that everything reproduces after it's own kind. Evolution teaches that species evolved from one another. If someone actually saw an instance of, say, a cat giving birth to something that was not quite a cat, but also a little bit of a dog, it would be front page news the world over. In real life, we all expect a cat to give birth to a cat and a dog to give birth to a dog. And we all expect those cats and dogs to adapt to their environments, which they do by losing information. They cannot gain new information other than by breeding with another cat or dog to restore that missing information in their offspring. [That's why we don't marry our siblings- too great a chance we'll pass on the same missing DNA.] Therefore each living thing had to have started out with perfect DNA that is "corrupted," for lack of a better word, in order to adapt. Generally, adaptations aren't favorable. I knew a kid that was born with an extra thumb on each hand. It wasn't hailed as an advance in human evolution. They lopped those things right off as soon as possible. Even people who believe in evolution actually operate on creation principals.) Nonetheless, ACE does cover the basic idea of evolution. And back to the biology, what is observable about biology is observable no matter your faith in the explanation of things none of us can observe. There's no need to double teach the subject.
Andrea Mills I apologize if I offended you by my question. I was genuinely curious, as many state tests ask evolution based questions in the science section and I wasn’t sure if ACE covered that topic. Whichever you choose to teach your children is absolutely your choice, and I respect your viewpoint and taking the time to answer my question.
'And if we could live a billion years staring at that rock, we'd be shocked if it suddenly started to breath'.....I find that offensive! Never has the theory of evolution stated that we came from a rock. You've been listening to Ken Ham...he knows didley squat about evolution.
Actually quite a few people, Richard Dawkins for one, states that life may have started in crystals, so they do believe that life came from rocks. Perhaps you are just uninformed!
We average about $200 per child. We have to get score keys and PACEs for our older son, so his things cost more. The younger kids reuse Thomas' score keys, so their stuff costs less. As ACE does updates, we buy new score keys in those subjects. Thomas is doing more subjects in 9th grade than Solomon is in Kindergarten, so that makes a difference in cost per child, too. Overall, though, I'd say average is about $200.
The made up language test you took was the DLAB. I took it and was actually in intelligence as a linguist in the Air Force. It is a hard test, and super strange to take.
It's a huge topic to cover, but Tom and I were happy to come across this video that gives a good introduction to our interpretation. You can watch it, if you like. It's a bit corny, but very helpful. ua-cam.com/video/jaqaGGRg9Yw/v-deo.html
![Our Privilege System feat. Accelerated Christian Education [ACE] Curriculum](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9GkWZj4zL_k/mqdefault.jpg)
![Our Privilege System feat. Accelerated Christian Education [ACE] Curriculum](/img/tr.png)
Dear Mrs. Mills, you're an answer to my prayer. I was asking the Lord to send me someone to teach me what to do this coming school year and which curriculum to use with my children and I received a message from A.C.E and long story short I ended up watching your videos. I've being homeschooling my children for 5 years now. I have a 8th grader, 4th grader, 3rd grader, 2nd grader and my David will start kindergarten and I've being feeling overwhelmed. But I love this video and you giving your testimony about how it helped you with character building. For us the most important part of education is our children to love the Word of God and to create qualities of character in them and of course the academic part. God bless you. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much for making these ACE videos and to Just Sew Trish for sharing your channel. My kids had a wonderful first day of school with this curriculum. My daughter loved it so much she did 10 pages in just one subject along with everything else she had to do. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you for this! I would have never considered a "workbook" curriculum before, but after this series and reviewing the website am very excited to get my kids going with ACE. I think it's just what we have been looking for!
Thank you for breaking everything down and explaining the ACE curriculum. I went to the website after watching a few of your videos and it completely confused me, lol. Now I get how the system works. This is definitely a curriculum for me to think about it, and you certainly can't beat the cost.
I was so encouraged by what you shared about the impact that the character lessons in the A.C.E. curriculum had on you. I use ACE with my kids and I also love the character lessons, but I have wondered at time if they really are making an impact. Thanks for the words of affirmation! :)
You are amazing! You answered all questions and some that I so needed about this curriculum. Thank you! So grateful for HS moms that post these videos! You’re Godsend! May God Bless you abundantly! Godspeed! 🙏🏻😷😇
great job on making the tables of contents to this video. so helpful! I think you make a great expert in your experiences with ACE
Just Sew Trish I miss her Trish 😢
It is really cool to hear how ACE took such a large part in your character development! And a great one it is! :-)
I love the list you provide at the beginning to help find topics you discuss, that is going to be so helpful for when needing to come back to your video for reference again later.
And I love what you said about not getting hung up on finding the perfect curriculum. I've wasted many years bound up in that. :-(
We've used the CM method for many years. It's been great and hope to continue, but we're now needing to make some changes. ACE seems perfect for the structure and affordability we are needing. Great video! Thank you! God bless :-)
I'd love to hear about what y'all use for electives!
This was so informative and well put. Thank you for this video! It was a big help in my decision making process. 👍
I thoroughly enjoyed his video, so thank you so much for sharing. I have tried to buy PACES on a number of occasions over the past 12 months and have shied away, as I could not understand the numbering system. It has been very hard to find this information out in Australia, so I knew where to start after leaving mainstream schooling. I found your video very helpful and now finally understand how the PACE number system works. I truly appreciate how informative you are in not only this video, but many others and I truly thank you once again for taking the time to share and explain your experiences.
Thank you so much for taking time to create this video.❤️🥰 Your video has encouraged me and gives me so much hope for this curriculum. Thus far, everything about ACE seems like a perfect fit! 💌 Your binder video will be next! Blessings. ❤️
Thank You I been looking into ACE but was still undecided. I'm going to miss you. R.I.P. Andrea ♥️
Oh my goodness, what happened to her?
You done a good job creating this video, thanks for sharing!
You and Just Sew Trish sold me on ACE. We started back schooling last week and it has been amazing. My son is so happy. I'm so thrilled. Thank you so much for sharing. You guys have been an answer to prayer.
Thank you! So very helpful and encouraging :)
Please keep building videos on your homeschooling with ACE. I am now looking at Word building for spelling.
Thanks for sharing. Awesome video.
I would like to thank you so much for this video. You have said everything in its best way. The curriculum is learner friendly and the best thing about it is the fact that it is integrated with the bible. I am so impressed.
I’m homeschooling this year and I came to watch your homeschooling videos to know where to start. I know you will see this comment from heaven. I want you to know that I miss your videos so so much. I know that God made you an angel because you were too beautiful to be on earth. I will always reference back to your videos. I aspire to be like you as a mother. 💓
She passed away? My condolences. Sending you hugs
Thank you so much for posting this comprehensive review!! I am preparing to switch curriculums, as the one we were using was not a good fit for us at all. However, I was so stressed (and I CANNOT overstate how very stressed I was) about which to choose as my boys are at the high school level now. I'd been seriously considering the ACE curriculum along with a couple of others, but was fearful to pull the trigger on any one of the options. The ACE was the most affordable and seemed the easiest for us to be able to implement and utilize, but I was afraid it would not be a high enough quality of education. After watching your video you have put my mind completely at ease and I feel peace in my soul about going with the ACE curriculum for the rest of their homeschooling experience. So once again, thank you from the bottom of this momma's heart to yours!!! ~ Lindsay Robertson
I loved this video, a lot of helpful information!
Great video! I’ve been spending time watching you every day! What fun, especially your homeschool vlogs! I use ACE too and love it! I would really like to see what treasures the procedures manual holds, I’m thinking I might want it but it’s expensive. Happy homeschooling!
Awesome video! Thank you!!!!
I love this woman and miss her videos!! 😢. I need more homeschool videos. ❤️. RIP Andrea
Me too😥
Me too! I miss all of her videos on curriculums and organization. She had so much knowledge and compassion. Miss her.
No wonder I keep saying it! You really are a genius! :~} And very endearing.
my school uses this system and I'm so glad that other people use this
Andrea, I love your story about contacting the military, to see if they had any jobs. I am not surprised you scored so well on their testing. You are clearly a very intelligent woman x
I've been homeschooling for 11 years. My kids are almost 9, 11, 13, and 15. I have tried a lot of different curriculum and still haven't found anything we are happy with. We have tried Christian Light Education which is similar to ACEs PACEs. Thought about ACE, but was unsure.
My kids all have ADHD and I've taught them to be independent in their learning as I also have ADHD and I can't teach them all at once. Have to use my time wisely. Anyway, I think the goal is to teach them how to love learning and continue it their whole lives.
My kids have kind of become sick of school work and feel unmotivated at this time except for my oldest. My oldest does okay with Teaching Textbooks math and some other things. Thanks for sharing your experience. 🤔
Great video!!
Very Helpful! Thankyou!!
hello! I find myself with the same opinion. I too went to a A.C.E. school all my life. Only went to a public school 8th grade, 11, 12 and when I went to College I was always told by by all my professors that I was very intelligent and they really believed I would be anything I wanted to be. So they encouraged me to continue my education. But because how my life is I have had to put that on the back burner but I do intend to continue. As of now I have a 6 year old whom I have in a public school but I find that they aren't teaching him at his level and they focus more on his weaknesses rather than his strengths. Still debating on homeschooling or not.
Awesome video!
Thank you for taking the time to do this video :) we are on our second year of using ACE and love it. It is nice to see positive reviews!! what do you use instead of L&CW? -- we tried using it this year and it was the only subject that when my son finished the first book (little green frog) he asked if he could tear up the pace that he just finished for that book lol. I stopped using it but I am at a loss as to what we should be using in it place.
+Missy Carneado When I was a student, Literature and Creative Writing didn't exist. It came out when I was teaching and I felt the same way as your son does about the PACEs. It is too abstract compared to the other PACEs and just doesn't work well. I just buy the books that go with the PACEs and have the kids read them and then narrate (Charlotte Mason style) and when they are in 7th grade we do the Basic Literature PACEs and book reports. I don't really worry about Creative Writing, though we do sometimes enter our state's Young Authors competition. When the kids are elementary-age, I just have them tell me the story and I type it for them as they talk. Then they illustrate their book. (We've actually placed 1st and 2nd a couple of times; I used Snapfish.com to have their story turned into a hard back book for them to keep.)
What do you do for Literature & Creative Writing? Thanks for these awesome videos!
I'm so glad to see some genuinely informative videos on UA-cam for ACE. We are REALLY loving it, since we swapped to it mid year (we hit burnout and SIMPLIFIED). We have used it, partially, in the past, and my oldest went to an ACE school for pre-k. I have been waiting to see some decent information on ACE on UA-cam, so thank you! :)
+TheTruthNLove Thanks for the encouragement! I kept looking for helpful ACE videos, too, and everything was so negative. I decided I can't be the only looking, so I figured if no one else was making them I might as well. I really love how simple ACE is to use with different aged children.
Thanks, great vidoe....also ..Do you order the goal cards?
Thanks for sharing shooting this video, its great that I have heard from one who has gone through the Curriculum. Kindly share on how you think I can help a son benefit more from this curriculum. Thanks
Thank you for sharing your experience with A.C.E. I appreciate your input. Blessings
Ok. I watched this awhile back but re-watching several. I remember you saying you don't do the Bible paces but did you say you don't do the Literature paces as well? I understand the Bible. We are utilizing another curriculum for that but I have never looked at the Literature paces. what is your thoughts regarding those? Why or why not? I'm trying to decide whether to add that this year. He hates reading to himself.. likes me reading out loud. We do a lot of that for his history. (The Signs of the Beaver is going right now❤) Anything you have to say about it will help I'm sure. ☺
so, if you are ever in a bind, you can snip this video up into several videos.
Hi Andrea, I've been binge-watching your videos :-D Between my husband and I we have a total of 24 kids, but most of them are grown now. We have 5 at home still, 2 of them disabled adults. I am currently homeschooling 3. My question is- does the ACE curriculum work well with children with learning disabilities? I realize they can work at their own pace, but is the material presented in a way that works well for, say, dyslexia? My almost 11 and almost 12 year old are working about 2 grade levels behind due to dyslexia/learning disabilities. Also, on the other end of the spectrum, how would it work for a gifted child who is creative and likes to go down rabbit trails on a daily basis, lol? My 5 year old is at a first grade level and wants to skip all the boring stuff like having to write a whole page of letters or numbers just for the sake of handwriting skills. She skimmed through almost all of Calvert Kindergarten in about 3 months. Anyway, looking forward to your insights! I love your videos!
Great video! I'm curious to know if you order the whole set of a grade or 10 for the 10 month school year?
This is great. Thank you. This fall is our first year and I am excited and nervous. We have been pretty laid back/eclectic but we need more structure. My son needs to become independent from me and you have helped me so much in that I am confident this is doable. Something I was going to try was do 2 subjects at a time maybe add 2 more subjects about 8 weeks in with my son so he is not so overwhelmed with the amount of work he has to do compared to what we've done in the past. I know you have not had to deal with this but what do you think and if you have a different suggestion I am open. Do you school 4 or 5 days a week. Thank you again. Jessica
+Jessica Abel How old is your son? One of the things I do at the beginning of the school year when we're starting after having the summer off is have a frank discussion with the kids about how they aren't going to like it when we start back to school and they have lots of work to do. I always tell them, "There will be things we like and things we don't like, but we'll get used to it." I try to plan some fun break activities the first few days and at the end of the day we talk about what we liked (I help them think of things), what we didn't like (they usually come up with plenty) and then I remind them that soon it will feel normal. I also like to use a timer to show just how fast a page of school work can be done. It usually motivates them to work quickly and then we know, when they are having a day when they just aren't getting anything done, how long the work should really take. Just knowing that 3 pages of Math should take less than 30 minutes (or whatever it comes out to for that particular child) can sometimes get them out of their grumpiness and get them moving again. Sometimes I also get M&Ms for the first few days and let them have a couple each time they complete a page. None of this is earth shattering :), but still helps. Before long they are in a routine of being done by lunch or sooner every day. I think it's a good idea to stagger starting each subject. I would suggest starting with one difficult subject and one easy one at a time, such as Math and Science or English and Social Studies. (Science and Social Studies are mostly reading.) Throw in Word Building at the end. I bet you won't need to wait a whole 8 weeks to add more. If you can develop a "get it done" spirit, 2 weeks will probably be plenty.
Unfortunately he is 12(time and age has helped)and we have always struggled with school. He has always wanted to do other things (i've tried making things fun and changed curriculums)and we have struggles with him sitting long enough to get one problem done before he falls apart. I know this has been a battle for us and as I have learned and he has grown older he has sat longer and no longer runs outside when things get difficult. I like your thinking and will implement some of those ideas.just seeing how you do things has helped me. Also, the magazine strips for the binder was a great idea. I would have been lost without you vlogs.
I’ve been ordering from curriculum express. Shipping is always free with a 45.00 order and I’ve had less backorders than I was getting with CBD.
Great,I am certainly shifting my son to this.He seems to be wired differently from what the national curriculum in my country defines as "bright or daft"
Thanks! This is the best PACE review I've seen by a landslide, and I really needed it. My oldest is starting high school and wants to work as independently as possible, and I've been torn between PACES and Lifepac. I've heard that the high school PACES are a little less dry, and a little more comprehensive than the Lifepac, in the sense that you don't have to go outside of the work-texts to find answers. Paces are also cheaper, although I much prefer the look of the Lifepac curriculum! I'm definitely leaning even more toward PACES after this!
I will be starting ACE this year with my daughter. What school supplies do you suggest I need for ACE like just the basics? Like pencils, paper, glue etc?
I also used ACE when I was in middle school and I caught up to where I "needed to be" academically; for that reason I loved the system. I know you said you would not go in depth on this so, I will say that I do not like that some of the science and history subjects are not entirely accurate; what would you recommend so a student doesn't get wrong information?, do you read the pace ahead of time to be able to discuss accuracy of information in the book?
+SaborAMi There's no way getting around wrong information, no matter what the source. I feel like it's better to acknowledge to our children that everything they read may or may not be accurate. Then, as there is an interest or desire, read other books on the same topic. Compare and contrast what you've read. We do it naturally when we here two or three different versions of the same event from our children. We know they each have their own motives and biases in relating things as they do. To me, more information is always going to be better than less. I love it that my kids will point out when their school work conflicts with other things we've learned because it's a sign that they are learning good judgment. Then we can discuss it and come up with what seems most likely based on all we know.
Have you addressed what you do for literature in a video? I think I remember you saying you don’t use ACE for that. I’m placing my 5th and 6th graders for a possible switch to ACE next year. I love your videos!
We do a reading and narration ala Charlotte Mason style. The younger kids read for 15 minutes and tell me orally about what they read that day. The older kids read and write down what they read about.
Thank you for the idea how to use the teachers manual
Hello, Andrea. If you have a moment to help me I would ever be so grateful. My kiddos have always gone to public school and now we have decided we are at the place to finally pull them. Michigan is a easy state to do so. We have decided on ACE, but we are going to run this like a home school as compared to a "church school", since we are very small and will not be able to attend the ACE training. We are just going to order the full curriculum according to the current grade the kids are in. (not the one they are going into....I started the diagnostic testing, but it is taking way to long for our very tight schedule! Just being honest! ) Long story short....I am so nervous about making sure we transition from Public school to homeschooling smoothly. I will be the teacher, so is there anything I need to know or be prepared for? Your videos have been SO valuable to me. I just wanted to know if I buy the Home Educator Manuel and the Home School Record-Keeping kit for each child, will I be set to start? Thank you in advance for answering my questions. Blessings to you and yours, Heather
Yes, that's exactly what you need. The Home Educator Manual answers all the questions about how the PACEs work, how to keep records, etc. The Record Keeping kits have all the stuff you need for each child. If you have those things, the PACEs & Score Keys plus your pencils, crayons, etc., you're all set!
I’ve used paces throughout my homeschooling years for various subjects/children, in conjunction with other curriculum. (We are going into our 18th year of homeschooling now! 😳)
Now that I have so many more students I’m juggling I have been transitioning to paces for more of our subjects, especially my older students. It’s just streamlined our lives so much more and taken some of the workload off of mom! 😊
I need some help on organizing and keeping track of what we have/need/finished/are working on and what we need to order. I thought I saw somewhere that you made yourself a chart for keeping track of all of that. Do you have a link to that form somewhere? I’m finding myself, when I go to order more, having to check and double check if someone has already done that one and if we already have the answer key for it, etc, etc. I realize that you have used paces all along so it’s probably easier to know what you need, rather than I, who is piecing it together later and for only parts of our homeschool!
Okay, I'm finally catching up on comments... a little bit. I haven't made my chart available anywhere, but I believe there's one in the ACE Homeschool Moms Facebook page files. If you're not a member, you can send a request; there are a lot of things moms have created to use with ACE available there. facebook.com/groups/ACEHomeschoolMoms/
You said that you Score your oldest child's paces. Do you recommend scoring until they graduate. I am curious because being my first year with ACE in the fall and reading the parents manual on how(I know I am a ditz or I always feel that everything has to be spelled out to me)to score and they say the child scores- which I wasn't too sure about that because if my child has the answers he may not even do his work. I just wanting this year to work and I am praying and your last video helped me in the way that buying a curr. and sticking to it even if you may have to adjust things to fit your children. Well, this good info--- I wish I had 7 years ago when we started. Sources I had read were that you keep looking until you found a curr that fit your child. I know I have told you several times but the way you explain things and the content of your videos are superb. So very helpful to me and I think will be of help to many others. So thanks again for taking the time to do these videos.
+Jessica Abel I only score for my kids through 2nd grade. In 3rd grade I teach them to do it themselves. 3rd-5th are pretty sketchy as far as their scoring goes. Sometimes they do well, sometimes they don't. I try to encourage proper procedures and let them suffer the natural consequences if they don't (failing PACEs because they got things wrong.) I try to keep a pretty close eye on what's going on so things can't get too out of hand at this age. About 6th grade on, they seem to see the wisdom in scoring carefully and I don't find the need to watch them too carefully anymore. No, I don't score my oldest son's work. He does it himself. I'm currently scoring for my first grader and keeping an eye on my 3rd and 5th graders. I'm really glad the videos are helpful to you!
do you have a video on progress report card. Do u also have to submit all your PACES to the Academy. How do they assist you as parent.
What curriculum do you use for the subject that you don’t use ACE for?
Good morning,
Can you please tell me or explain how you would get transcripts with this program. My daughters did the SOS and it generated transcripts so it was very easy and they are now almost done with their bachelors at ECU. Now I have a little boy that started with Ace and he loves it but before I decide I wanted to find out about transcripts with this program. Can you please help?
Thank you and God continue to bless your beautiful family.
Jessica
I have another question for you... Do you remember doing more than the 5 subjects when you were going through the program?
We also did Basic Literature from 2nd-8th grade. They only offer it for 7th & 8th now and have Literature/Creative Writing for the younger grades. I like the Basic Literature better. We did Bible Reading, too. I don't think they had Animal Science when I was that age. It was something they added later for 1st-3rd, I think. Some of my students used it when I ran a school, but we haven't used it at home. Of course, in high school, we did a lot of extra courses besides the core subjects.
thank you for sharing. we have a similar thought process and similar life path. i only have two children and i was recruited by the navy. i love to swim but being one of two women on a sub for six months was not something they could sell me. lol college bored me to death and it made no sence to pay for knowledge everyone forgot the library provided for free. lol i prefer learning alone quietly in a corner lol. i learned more on my own then in school and i wish i could have graduated early but they said i hade to take english lol i was in germany so they neede an excuse i guess. loli was just thinking to myself how technology allows us to connect and learn things we are isolated from throught commercial media. it takes youtube and dailymotion and other outlets like this were true community and knowledge flourish. it was a no brainer to home educate, inspire and nurture my children. you are the second person on youtube i feel kindred too. so happy and motivated to introduce myself and share my passions as well. time to come out from under my rock. lol
I enjoy that you used the word "kindred." I feel the same way. It's so nice to find kindred spirits in the world and I, too, am thankful for UA-cam being a means of finding them!
What do you do when one of the kids fail one of their pace tests? Redo the entire pace or study and retest? Would love to hear your thoughts.
I've done both methods- study the same PACE and retest or wait for a new PACE and start over. Lately I've been favoring the new PACE method even though it's really a hassle. I feel like it will promote more careful studying. I'll still probably take it on a case by case basis, though.
When you suggest that ACE teaches the difference between fact and opinion, what are its teachings on Christianity and theism as a whole in this regard- does it allow for some movement in establishing religion as an opinion, or does it state it as fact?
I attended a small boarding school that used the A.C.E. PACE system and have personally worked through about 88 PACE packets. The PACE system is without a doubt a Christian-biased program that heavily works Protestant theology into every workbook. Some courses have more religious content, some have less, but all of them contain small stories with Archie Comic-like characters that experience "real-world situations" and how God would want you to handle them. Also, it should be noted that at the beginning of each packet the first page is dedicated to the memorization of a specific biblical verse that is incorporated loosely throughout the packet.
At present i went to the existing school where she is and observe how the children do their work and check themselves using the score table. im going there again till i understand full how as teacher they do those scoring to the child in the Progress report card
I commented on this video over a year ago, and I'm back with another question. Could you go over more of how Christian theology is incorporated into the curriculum? A few things I'm specifically interested in are: how creation is taught, the scope and sequence of history and the ratio of biblical to secular history, and if the curriculum is young earth, old earth or doesn't pick a side. Thank you, and I know it's a long question so I'm sorry.
Here's a link to ACE's Scope and Sequence, which may answer your questions. www.aceministries.com/media/pageimg/Home_Educators_Scope_and_Sequence-2017.pdf
Does anyone happen to have a updated Kindergarten manuel for the first quarter that you are done with. I would purchase it from you since the ACE ministries is taking 3 weeks for shipment right now. Please let me know,. Thank you
you sold me! I have been using Christian Light Education but it has gotten overwhelming. I love self teaching worktexts for homeschooling, especially with being responsible for so much. Well, I almost left self teaching all together, because I thought ACE was just like lifepac. Well after your reviews and doing more research, I realized how much they are not. So we are giving it a shot and it seems like the things we need in our self teaching that CLE couldn't do, A.C.E. will meet those needs.
+Just Sew Trish I so appreciate you talking about my channel. I hit 100 subscribers tonight (I had 63 yesterday.) Yeah! I'll keep that in mind about breaking up this video. Also, I think I'll spend a couple of days talking about the mental process of getting organized like you mentioned on your video. Thank you, again, for your help!
I am having a lot of fun watching you over and over again. You do a lot of "homesteading" too. You slap that in your title and you will get more subs. Have you heard of the virtualhomeschoolcoop, you should join that too.
Hi you mentioned not agreeing with some of theology specifically futurism vs pretirism .. do they introduce these topics just in bible study also what is there stance ?
They don't necessarily teach it; it's just stray comments here and there. I'm pretty sure ACE is in line with most mainstream Christians on the topic. Our family is the one that's different. Here's a video that is a good introduction to our personal views, if you're interested: ua-cam.com/video/jaqaGGRg9Yw/v-deo.html
You work on all the subjects daily? I've done the ace program through a Christian school and they suggested to work on two subjects a week. So, they are done with the packet by the end of the week. Just curious if your kids like doing so many subjects a day.
At the school I attended, we only did two subjects for the first few days and then each day we added a subject until we had the full program going so the PACEs would be staggered and not finished at the same time. The ACE Procedures Manual intends for all subjects to be worked daily. Obviously schools or homeschools have the freedom to do things in a way that works best for them, though. At home, in some years, we have done all of Science in fall, all of English and Word Building in winter, all of Social Studies in spring and Math was completed over all 3 seasons. That worked well with my younger kids, but as they got a little older it was too hard to get it done. They got burned out. We went back to doing all five subjects every day and they do 3-4 pages a day in each thing. Most of my kids get done in about 2-3 hours and seem happy with it. Well, as happy as any kid is when they have to sit down and do school! :)
+Andrea Mills That sounds great! I'll have to try it out. See how it works. I tried it for a week, but I may need to do it longer to really get a feel for it. When you say 3 to 4 pages each. Is based on 3 being the minimum. Right? I was told to go for 20 pages a day. Sometimes I end up pushing my daughter too much. The last thing I want to do is over whelm her with too much work.
Yes, each PACE should be done in 3 weeks, if you're working at a normal rate. If a PACE has 27 pages like the early years 2-3 pages a day is plenty. If the PACE has 43 pages like the middle grades, 3-4 pages a day is just right. In the older grades, they may have 54 or more pages in some PACEs. Depending on the subject, we've found anywhere from 3-6 pages a day may be necessary.
very good
21:20 im word building. i just finished 1084! :D that SAME one!
Hello, We have been using My Fathers World now for 5 years. I love it but decided to start by supplementing with ace for English. We just started this week. I am tempted to start our 5 year old (already done some beginning ABC type lessons) with the Kindergarten program. At What age and level do you start your kids?
I usually start them in Kindergarten at age 4. Solomon turned 4 in June and won't turn 5 till right at the very end of our school year. It's always felt like a good age to start. If it was very strenuous I'd wait till later, but we skip a lot of things in the manual and just do the parts we want to do.
Andrea Mills Thanks so much!
Tom, I’m considering ACE curriculum for my 2nd graders. They say to never give them PACEs above their chronological age. I’m curious- Do you follow that rule with all your children, or do you ever let them work on higher levels if it’s a subject with which they do really well?
Ive never even heard that lol! I would vthem the diagnostic test and go with whatever it says!
@@TheMillsFamilyVlog Okay. Yeah- we worked on that today (the paper version). The instructions said not to go past their age related grade level, so we stopped after second grade. I may go back and just keep going, just to see at what point they each need to stop. Still not sure if I’ll let them work ahead or not. I’ll have to think on that. Thanks, Tom.
Andrea Mills,one question-what are PACEs?
Just wanted to know.Thank you very much.
Instead having a single bound textbook, ACE divides textbook chapters into booklets (12 booklets per subject per year.) They call the booklets "PACEs" which is an acronym for Packet of Accelerated Christian Education. Each PACE begins with an outline of what concepts will be reviewed and what new concepts will be introduced. They're divided into 3 sections and each section is followed by a quiz. At the end of the PACE, there is a practice test. Once the PACE is complete, there is a final test. A minimum score of 80% is required to pass the test; otherwise the PACE must be worked again.
Do you find it difficult to teach the math courses?
real good
Can you do this curriculums in any states? Just wondering
Are you still using ACE currently? Do you grade each topics when they are complete? How do you know when they've mastered each topic?
Yes, we've always used ACE with our kids. Each PACE (booklet) comes with a test to do when the PACE is finished. An 80% is required on the test to move on.
mrs.mills do you think someone in your home might want to write my son ,he is 14 and in home school we cant find any home schooled children around here 1806 loop rd lafollette tn 37766
Does Thomas enjoy it as an older child? I have a son who will be in 7th grade soon. Does he ever get bored with it? We have always used Bob Jones, along with other curriculums.
I don't really have anything to compare it to, so I can't say for sure. He's like most kids and would rather not do school at all if he could! He's never said it was boring. He seems to enjoy it well enough.
Thank you! My son dislikes any school too.
How does the math work once they get into high school?
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My kids are 6 and 4 and are undergoing ACE. But I haven't been able to lay my hands on paces to teach them at home during this lockdown. Could you please help?
I havent had to order paces in a while, but we usually get them from christianbook.com, I hope that helps!
Andrea...have you done an overview of your Bible prophecy beliefs? I'd love to have a teaching on that, a general coverage....xoj
Do you think any of your kiddos will want to go to college?
I haven't really done anything on that yet, but I've got a new plan for organizing my videos ideas that I'm hoping will help me get to a lot of those things that are important, but aren't necessarily in high demand.
I don't know if any of them will want to. We talk about it sometimes, but we feel like we'd rather do something alternative to a regular (read: expensive and questionable) university experience. I've always been a person who signs up for courses on-line or through correspondence if I want to learn something. Tom got his degree partly though a brick and mortar school and partly on-line. I honestly have no idea what any of the kids will choose to do.
Andrea Mills
My oldest g'daughter wants to be a nurse and has stuck to that for four years now. She is a sophomore in HS. If she decides to do that, I do want her to go to a highly-rated school so she will have the best options for the job market. The hardest part is the competition factor for getting in. I hate that.
ace viretueson, Pudge meekway, J. Micheal, Becky, pastor alltruth, etc.
I actually go to a school in South Africa that uses the ECE system
How do you know when you should start your kids in ACE. Like what age?
Do you do school on Saturday and Sunday? Would the kids be allowed to do school work on the weekends?
ACE's kindergarten curriculum is for kids 3-5. They sell a Reading Readiness test to determine when they are ready for 1st grade. Otherwise you can repeat Kindergarten. I'm starting my son Solomon this year and he's 4. If I feel like we're moving to fast I may split first grade into two years, but right now I feel he's ready for kindergarten. We don't do school on the weekend unless someone needs to make up some work for some reason. With ACE, you set your own work pace, so if you wanted to work on weekends, too, you could either do fewer pages each day and spread them out over more days or you could finish more than a year's worth of work during the school year and move on to the next year's work.
Ok. Thank you😊 and thanks for the quick reply. Its really interesting how this program works.
For high school Biology, are the DVD's necessary?
No. The DVDs are for the supplemental pullouts lab pages in the middle of the PACE. They go along with the topic of the PACE, but they aren't required.
Thanks!
Do you have a video on how to score tests?
I have this video on how we organize our test keys: ua-cam.com/video/xtsq8rkNJnc/v-deo.html This one shows a little bit about scoring: ua-cam.com/video/YJZjw-iuxGo/v-deo.html
Quick question - you mentioned getting a free shipping coupon for Christian Book.com, is that something you get from being on their email list, or do you know how I can get that? I just ordered my PACEs from A.C.E. for next year and couldn't believe how much shipping I had to pay!! :(
I do get them from Christian Book in my e-mail, but a lot of times I just search on-line for a coupon code and I'll find one.
Hi! Do you have any idea of the shipping costs for the Kindergarten with Ace and Christi kit costs?
I'm not even seeing the kit at Christianbook.com at the moment, just the PACEs. The kit on ACE's web-site is $348 + tax and shipping is about $35. If you call ACE, they will tell you who your area representative is. If you order through the representative, I think you get a discount. I'm not sure if you still pay shipping or not.
I am placing an order now and I reside in Japan, I don't think they'll be giving the shipping for free.. (chuckle) but at least now I have an idea. You're a big help! Thank you so much. :)
Oh my, I suppose it's expensive to ship things to Japan!
How much does this ACE Program cost? I'm really interested. I looked online, but it's not listed...
We generally set aside about $200 a year per child to pay for that year's curriculum. The price varies depending on the age of your child. Kindergarten and First Grade require teacher manuals that add to the cost. In 4th grade and up, score keys become less expensive than previous years. Since it's a self-paced curriculum, some kids will do more in a year meaning you have to buy more. Some kids do less. It just all depends. But $200 seems like a good average to me.
Andrea Mills thank u so much! U were so quick to answer! I have a 1 year old, a 4 year old and an 11 year old and we're going to begin homeschooling next school year! I'm loving ur videos, thank u so much for making them. I requested more information from ACE so I think they will be calling me soon 😊
Hiya nice to hear your point of view. I was an ace student and now I am at university. I agree when you say that it is great that the child can work independently and learn to organise their own work. However I think that the ace curriculum does not give children the whole picture. For example ace does not teach you practical skills such as how to deal with "physical relationships" ie sex. I do not agree with a lot of the things that the ace curriculum integrate into a child's mind. For example I do not believe that a merciful God punishes people killing them (see later paces) Lastly I found it extremely difficult to be mixed in with regular kids in college after I had finished the curriculum, I was shocked by people's language/ideas/lifestyle and this did not help me to be socially equipped in real situations. I would also mention that ace constantly integrates biased views in their education. For example in the paces they openly state that homosexuslity is wrong, and that Christianity is the only real factual thing in the world. Personally I think that once they are old enough children can decide for themselves what they want to think is right or wrong.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. You bring up many things that would take a lot of time to dig into and talk about. Have you considered making videos of your own sharing your perspective and maybe offering suggestions for what you think would be a better educational method? Even though I don't see things as you do, a variety of opinions is helpful for us all to think through what we believe and why we do what we do.
Ben McKenna Quite frankly (speaking for myself) after growing up in a world that you describe as the "Ideal" world for kids, and then seeking the truth in many religions, groups and lifestyles I have found that Christianity is the only truth in this world - the ONLY truth that I can trust. I wish I had grown up in a world like Andrea and Tom Mills have created for their kids. The Mills kids are ok - they certainly are a very blessed group of kids (properly more than they know yet).
I adore the Mills family - they are great parents.
+Ben McKenna - It's unfortunate that you were not exposed to other lifestyles growing up. A home-school curriculum does not encompass everything a child learns. Honestly I think much of what you mentioned should have been your parents responsibility. I personally think it would be uncomfortable to have my child learn about sex education from a stranger, or from a booklet. Also, ideally children go out in the community and interact with people from different backgrounds. I find it sad that you were not socially prepared. Lastly, you are right that children can decide for themselves what they want to think is right or wrong. However, it is a parent's responsibility to teach them morality. I would never blindly believe anything my public schools teachers told me growing up - why would you think a child you blindly believe everything that is in their booklets? Those are just some of my thoughts. I was raised atheist and I'm not satisfied with it. I am not Christian but I plan to home-school with ACE because I plan to be involved in my children's education and can adjust a lesson based on my personal beliefs.
Since you are an atheist, I suggest you look at k12.com. It provides a more rigorous, more classically-inclined education. Christian Light Education is another consumable curriculum that is excellent. I've used ACE, CLE and k12. I recommend k12 to all homeschoolers.
Okay I have a quick question I am doing the a c e fourth-grade now my daughter has a learning disability I think how do I teach her with a learning disability
You can just alter things to work for you! We’ve had some kids draw pictures of spelling words to help them visualize, perhaps you halo by reading to them or using other visual aids, Home schooling can be very flexable
Photocopy the pages in the book before you use it. Then you can reuse it!
Would ACE be good for a person who has learning disabilities.
i think it is because it is self paced.
I just ordered some paces and score keys but where are the pace tests??
The tests are in the middle of each PACE. You pull them out before you begin the PACE. The test score keys are in the middle of the score keys.
Andrea Mills thank you so much for your speedy reply!!
Could you order them individually? If I like what I am already using in math and just want to try science or history could I purchase them separately without having to buy the math?
Yes, everything you get from ACE is stand-alone.
I have read that ACE teaches creationism. Is this true? If so, do your children find supplementary information on evolution elsewhere in order to learn about biology?
I tend to be direct in answering these types of questions, but it shouldn't be taken as hostility of any sort. I believe everyone is free to live their own faith and it doesn't bother me if someone thinks differently than I do.
Biology is biology no matter what your faith is about the origins of matter and life. Creationism and evolution both teach adaption. Evolution teaches that everything came from nothing all by itself. Creation teaches that everything came from an initial Creator who is apart from creation. I, personally, don't have enough faith to believe in evolution since it actually goes against everything we observe in the world. (For instance, if a rock appeared out of thin air, we'd have to call it a miracle. And if we could live a billion years staring at that rock, we'd be _shocked_ if it suddenly started to breath. Also, Creation teaches that everything reproduces after it's own kind. Evolution teaches that species evolved from one another. If someone actually saw an instance of, say, a cat giving birth to something that was not quite a cat, but also a little bit of a dog, it would be front page news the world over. In real life, we all expect a cat to give birth to a cat and a dog to give birth to a dog. And we all expect those cats and dogs to adapt to their environments, which they do by losing information. They cannot gain new information other than by breeding with another cat or dog to restore that missing information in their offspring. [That's why we don't marry our siblings- too great a chance we'll pass on the same missing DNA.] Therefore each living thing had to have started out with perfect DNA that is "corrupted," for lack of a better word, in order to adapt. Generally, adaptations aren't favorable. I knew a kid that was born with an extra thumb on each hand. It wasn't hailed as an advance in human evolution. They lopped those things right off as soon as possible. Even people who believe in evolution actually operate on creation principals.) Nonetheless, ACE does cover the basic idea of evolution. And back to the biology, what is observable about biology is observable no matter your faith in the explanation of things none of us can observe. There's no need to double teach the subject.
Andrea Mills I apologize if I offended you by my question. I was genuinely curious, as many state tests ask evolution based questions in the science section and I wasn’t sure if ACE covered that topic. Whichever you choose to teach your children is absolutely your choice, and I respect your viewpoint and taking the time to answer my question.
Oh, I'm not offended in the least. I just know that sometimes I come across as offensive when I'm direct with my replies.
'And if we could live a billion years staring at that rock, we'd be shocked if it suddenly started to breath'.....I find that offensive! Never has the theory of evolution stated that we came from a rock. You've been listening to Ken Ham...he knows didley squat about evolution.
Actually quite a few people, Richard Dawkins for one, states that life may have started in crystals, so they do believe that life came from rocks. Perhaps you are just uninformed!
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What is your cost per year per grade level?
We average about $200 per child. We have to get score keys and PACEs for our older son, so his things cost more. The younger kids reuse Thomas' score keys, so their stuff costs less. As ACE does updates, we buy new score keys in those subjects. Thomas is doing more subjects in 9th grade than Solomon is in Kindergarten, so that makes a difference in cost per child, too. Overall, though, I'd say average is about $200.
What are your thoughts on ACE seven years later.
We love it! Although Andrea passed away 4 years ago, we still use it and have 3 graduate using it
My condolences.
😊😊❤😊😊
The made up language test you took was the DLAB. I took it and was actually in intelligence as a linguist in the Air Force. It is a hard test, and super strange to take.
May I ask what you specifically disagree with as far as Biblical prophecy?
It's a huge topic to cover, but Tom and I were happy to come across this video that gives a good introduction to our interpretation. You can watch it, if you like. It's a bit corny, but very helpful. ua-cam.com/video/jaqaGGRg9Yw/v-deo.html