I will be a first time homeschool mom to my 5th and 8th grader this year. I've done so much research on homeschools recently. I actually ran into one of your Abeka videos back in May when I was digging deep in my research. We will be starting with Monarch soon and I am sooooo happy you made this video! It was like confirmation lol. Thank you for opinion in depth! I'm looking forward to your future videos 🙂
We just started monarch! And I love it! Ur in control of the assignments I can go through them and unnasign if you think it's to much! I have my 11th grader doing it and my 7th grader! I think its awesome because u can have them do projects and hands on stuff not just computer! I also get to grande certain assignments as well.. I'm still trying to learn more about monarch we just started this week and I already love the program! I was having anxiety just trying to figure out what program to use , I was thinking about time 4 learning as well but I liked that monarch is Christian! It's been a stressful week for me since the public school still putting my kids in the roster.
I have a 6th,7th and 8th grader that I am homeschooling from this point on. Especially, with the school system and how it’s going. I love the Bible class especially because the Lord is first and they learn so much background context about the history of the Bible. I also like the fact that it’s advance and prepares them for the state test. You will notice that there might be a couple of learning gaps that the public school missed with their education.
Thank you so much for the review of Monarch, I am considering Monarch for the 2022-2023 school year for my high schooler. You have provided additional details that I needed to assist me with my decision. Happy Homeschooling!
My son is a 10th grader and about to start his first year of Monarch. One question we have is can he work ahead of the schedule we make for him if he wants to? Like say he gets Mondays work done and wants to start working on Tuesdays, can he do that?
Thanks for this. I am homeschooling this year 10th grade and I didnt want to go back to Abeka. (We homeschooled from 2-6th) Ive gotten used to having more of my day and not having to sit over him as much and do all the grading. ANyway, trying Monarch this year. Thanks
We are in Kingston Springs TN, just west of Nashville. Girl, I hear you on Abeka and the overkill of books and busy work!!! They make a killing by having soooo many books for each course. I will be trying Monarch today with their free trial, thanks for your review.
Hello Alicia so glad you were able to find what will work in your homeschool. I used Abeka early on but since have moved on. Looking forward to hearing your progress down the line.
Hi I am searching for homeschooling curriculum for awhile and I came across your video thank you for the info. I have a question for you is it easy to start now I mean we will be on February soon half way third quarter in public school is the program will count it as a semester or I will start from the beginning and my son have to take the whole year again and I have to pay monthly for that or in full price for the yearly fee. Thank you
Our first year with Monarch, the girls started Monarch in March. We chose to start from the beginning of the year, and just do school until our normal summer break would be. We counted what work they did complete as part of the 2nd Semester work they did before Monarch. So 2 months of Abeka, and 3 months of Monarch. You still plan the curriculum for 180 days, even if you're not doing 180 days, so the curriculum will schedule the work correctly.
That's actually where we are this year, but Monarch still remains my second pick. It's a great resource if you need help keeping caught up with grading.
This is so overwhelming for me it’s been a while since I’ve been in school and I’m a hairstylist so am I going to have to be smart to do this my daughter is a junior she’s very smart has a 3.94 gpa but I did not at all do computer stuff so is it pretty straightforward for me to use and we’re in Tennessee also
Do you print out the quizzes and tests for your kids to do it on paper or do you have them do it online through their assignment? I hope I worded that right! I have my son do them online.
That's a great question. We normally have them fill in the quizzes and tests online and use a separate notebook (that they are only allowed to use for quizzes and tests) to work out problems that need to be done on paper. If they are really struggling through a math or science quiz that need to be worked on paper, we print the quiz and have the work completely done from printouts. Today, we printed math to do on the go, then had them fill the answers in on their digital work for grading once we returned home.
Is there actual work with this program. Like will they be writing? While I appreciate the digital ease, I do want them to have to do actual work as well. Pen to paper is the best way to retain information.
How long did a typical day take for 8 the grade? My 7th grader is doing Abeka academy online accredited and it takes about 8 hours a day then adding all the extra work on top. It is her 1st semester homeschool and she’s exhausted.
Abeka definitely took our 8th grader longer than it did with Monarch. It honestly depends on how much work you leave assigned. One of my kids did not need to review parts of speech again, so we unassigned it. If we were doing a different science for that week, we unassigned that. You can create a day however long you want or need. The only subject that is expected to be completed in entirety in Monarch is math. All the subjects have fillers to meet individual state needs for completing a school year.
We teach research and we found gather round helped. We’ve never used Abecca. We love real world knowledge and hands on learning!!! Abecca sounds like a school curriculum!!! Adding more in is different to busywork!!! We allow online but check online history. We’ve not had any issues with it yet. We’ve not tired monarch but we would look at it.
We're going into our 2nd year of Homeschool. We were using Time4Learning. I was looking into Power Homeschool for 7th Grade, but now I need to look into Monarch. I had no idea that Monarch had Online Curriculum. I'm glad I came across your previous Video.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I will do this when I start Monarch's 30-day trial, which I need to coincide with end of my subscription with Calvert at the end of August 2024.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I've been comparing Scope and Sequence documents. I was wrong to assume that content between Monarch and Calvert is at least 80% similar, especially in Language Arts.
Thank you for your input on Monarch. Question: Do you have to purchase all 5 subjects or can you just purchase one (ie language arts only)?? Thanks again!
We purchase the family subscription to include all 5 subjects. We have also purchased electives separately from them, so I think you could buy just a core subject.
My daughter has been asking to do Monarch for this coming year. One of her friends did 9th grade Monarch but really struggled with the 9th grade Algebra 1. We are doing a few 9th grade classes with Monarch and sticking with our Saxon math.
For my 9th grader, Algebra 1 was the subject I disliked the most. I haven't tried Saxon math, but I've heard of other Monarch students using it instead of Monarch.
For us, it depends on the day. Test and quiz days take longer as I let them work at their own pace. The day can literally be as long as you want. If you're falling behind, you can unassign any projects that you don't wish to do.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure Can you give an average day's time? Or maybe like 3-5 hours usually? I think I heard it may be somewhere around an hour more or less for each subject.
Thank you so much for this review. I was really considering monarch for about a year now. I bought this for my son who's going into 5th grade. I still need something for my first grader and I'm considering horizons from AOP.
Glad I could help! I haven't taught Horizons, so I can't give a review on that. Yay another 5th grade mom using Monarch! Let me know if you have any questions.
I must say watching your video encouraged me to join Monarch and it was and far better than Abeka. The freedom you get from Monarch allows the kids to think independently with out pressure, it allows them to learn, learn at a pace that's comfortable for them with out feeling that being smart means answering all the questions in 2 seconds like Abeka does. And Abeka speaks to the students not teach, Students don't get the lessons broken down its dum in my opinion.
I still like Abeka for the core phonetics in Kindergarten - 3rd grade, but the real world teaching Monarch offers the 4th grade and above is better for my kids. Plus, less books to keep up with.
I'm happy to help! First, our rising 7th grader skipped 6th grade. In TN, it has to be approved by your umbrella school. I told our umbrella school we could show proof of test scores for placement tests. Our counselor said it was not necessary as she trusted me as the parent to make that choice. Second, that's also up to your state standards. A homeschool curriculum does not issue your child a diploma. They are simply just books that you use. They don't have the authority to give you a diploma. Our diplomas come from our umbrella school. If you are 100% independent homeschooling, the diploma comes from you. We recently sat down with two guidance counselors for a local Bible college in TN. Both counselors said that colleges aren't even looking for diplomas anymore. They want to see your transcript. They want a list of courses that your student completed to graduate. I worry less about diplomas now and focus more on studying for the ACT/SAT exams and having a transcript that will help my girls move on to college if they choose. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.
Just started a few courses with monarch this year. We are doing French and keyboarding and applications. My daughter is in grade 10 and we've mostly used life PAC for curriculum in the pass 5 years. I really didn't like grade 9 language art with life PAC nor the science . So far we are enjoying the few classes with monarch and was hoping to maybe get the language art course grade 10 for her. I hope it would be a good switch.
I've been happy with the 9th grade Language Arts class so far. Spanish has not been my favorite, but we are making it work. Otherwise, Monarch 9th grade has been exactly what we needed it to be.
That sucks that it's mostly digital. I did Lincoln Learning and it was 50% online and I didn't like that. I got sick of staring at a screen for so long. Doing Abeka and don't like the time involved. I really don't think it takes 8 hours to successfully teach a 2nd grader.
No to the DVD, it's all online. Technically, it's parent led with "Tiny Tutors" as Monarch calls it. They are videos, and you can press Play for the written work to read to you as well. The questions are self paced. The work is 85% graded for you. Most days, I don't have to help them do every single subject. My youngest (5th grade) can sit down and do most of the work herself. There are times I have to sit down and help explain some things. The parents are also in charge of grading written assignments. There are occasionally optional worksheets you can print.
hello, i have no idea what im doing but i would like to homeschool, im trying the free trail for monarch, the question is...the assessment tests, my goodness is there supposed to be so many?? i have a 4th grader, i cant get through to the monarch customer service/
Plan out the placement tests over a one school year span. Ours completed them in 2 months, and we counted it as their school in the meantime. You also don't have to do the assessment tests. Also space out the free trial to one year. This will give you an idea of what a normal days worth looks like. For example, when I planned this year, I scheduled my school year to start on a day in August and end on a day in May. If you don't space it out, the work tries to schedule a years worth in less time.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure ok this is good to know, Ok another question, if we plan the placement over a year, what's the point of them? I didn't realize I didn't have to do it, I thought it was to see if the kiddo was in the right grade. ...thanks so much for responding 💕
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure Then why would you plan the placement tests out over a school year? If you wanted to see what level your kid should take wouldn't you want to take the placement tests sooner than over a year? I think the answer was just a bit confusing. Thank you for your video and help with this.
Hello, I would like an on line school, where I don't have to grade, I work full time, he will be at my parents, of course I will go on and check and see his status, What school would you recommend?
We have found if you're on the platform during busy times of day for internet in your area (ours is 4-7 pm), then you are more likely to have problems. We usually start right at 7 am east coast and are on most days finished before 2 pm, so its less of a problem for us. We also live in a rural area that doesn't have great internet, but we still use Monarch without problems most days. On the days there are problems, we do non Monarch school or work on projects and essays that we don't need Monarch open to work on. Thank you for your question!
Yes and no. We are doing our own PE credits. My high schooler said we may do a video after school starts back to talk about how she's using Monarch for high school.
I still recommend Abeka for the earlier grades as it has a great foundation in math and phonics, which are the only two subjects those ages are required. If you wanted to start with AOP, I've heard they have workbooks for K-2nd grade, but I have no experience with them.
Funny you should ask. We are actually trialing out a new math program a sponsor sent us. We hope to have a video up in the next two weeks on our honest opinion. For now, my high schooler sometimes needs extra help with Algebra, but my middle schooler does okay. We always reinforce math with real world needs, so that helps. My youngest is a prodigy (no, seriously, she's ambidextrous; I don't teach her, she learns it on her own), so I don't like to compare her to anyone else. Overall, I am much happier with Monarch math than Abeka or ACE PACES that our foster uses. I feel like Monarch explain it better. You can always request a free placement test from Monarch and just do math.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure thank you so much for your response, i was just reading thst they have placement test.. I want to do the whole 6th grade curriculum but i wish we could do 5th grade math.. wish it was customizable.. anyway your kids sound awesome, and you seem like a wonderful, caring, and smart mother! Your kids are blessed to have you.
You should be able to assign 5th grade math instead of 6th. You assign one subject at a time. My 9th grader opted to take her first science this year and not do history. So we didn't assign history. If Monarch is not allowing you to do this, I highly recommend contacting customer service.
Could you reach out to me and let me ask you questions? We’re doing monarch for the first time but I want to talk to someone that’s actually doing it ?
In TN, you have three choices to choose from for legality when you start homeschooling. We chose an umbrella school. Our umbrella school provides free guidance counselors and an online reporting system for turning in our grades three times a year. The term umbrella means it's like when you use an umbrella. It doesn't get rid of the rain, it just keeps the rain off you. The umbrella school does not teach our kids. They're just there when we need help.
For us in Tennessee, it's the way for us to homeschool legally. We register with our umbrella school, tell them what we are teaching each child, and submit grades twice a year. Our umbrella school gives us guidance counselors to help us plan all the way through high school graduation.
There are several times it incorporates literature from different sources into the curriculum with one whole book each year that will need to be purchased separately.
No, Monarch does not do the transcripts for us. Our umbrella school does the transcripts. In a way, Monarch can be used to keep attendance. You can run a daily work report and see what days your child completed school, what subjects they finished, and their grades for that specific day.
There is a section at the bottom of every unit your child completes called "Special Project." This is where I enter the grades for additional worksheets they use for extra credit. If it's just a worksheet they are doing for extra practice, I don't grade it. However, they are required to keep the worksheets in their subject folders to refer back to when studying for quizzes.
With the exception of one class, Tennessee doesn't require hours to be tracked for classes. The exception to that is PE credit for high school. For that class, we make a spreadsheet and add hours as we go.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure that's awesome ! I'm in Texas and they dont require for us to keep hours either but I just wanted to keep track of them in case something ever comes up , but other than that Texas has a lot of freedom when it comes to homeschooling!!! Thank you so much for ur reply! Love ur style of homeschooling ur kids! And we are loving monarch!!!
Yes, that happens on the written assignments. It automatically fails the student until the parent grades the written work. Unless your child fails all of the auto grading questions as well, then this should only happen when your child turns in the written assignments (ie, essays, spelling words, anything where you're typing reports or paragraphs). There is supposed to be a setting to where your child never sees their grade unless they go back and look for it. Most parents choose to do that. My kids found it humorous and would be all dramatic when they submitted paragraphs and it gave them an F. It depends on the child.
I will be a first time homeschool mom to my 5th and 8th grader this year. I've done so much research on homeschools recently. I actually ran into one of your Abeka videos back in May when I was digging deep in my research. We will be starting with Monarch soon and I am sooooo happy you made this video! It was like confirmation lol. Thank you for opinion in depth! I'm looking forward to your future videos 🙂
I'm so glad you found our videos, and that they helped you! You can so do this! I'll be here if you have any questions.
We just started monarch! And I love it! Ur in control of the assignments I can go through them and unnasign if you think it's to much! I have my 11th grader doing it and my 7th grader! I think its awesome because u can have them do projects and hands on stuff not just computer! I also get to grande certain assignments as well.. I'm still trying to learn more about monarch we just started this week and I already love the program! I was having anxiety just trying to figure out what program to use , I was thinking about time 4 learning as well but I liked that monarch is Christian! It's been a stressful week for me since the public school still putting my kids in the roster.
I have a 6th,7th and 8th grader that I am homeschooling from this point on. Especially, with the school system and how it’s going. I love the Bible class especially because the Lord is first and they learn so much background context about the history of the Bible. I also like the fact that it’s advance and prepares them for the state test. You will notice that there might be a couple of learning gaps that the public school missed with their education.
Thank you so much for the review of Monarch, I am considering Monarch for the 2022-2023 school year for my high schooler. You have provided additional details that I needed to assist me with my decision. Happy Homeschooling!
You're very welcome!
My son is a 10th grader and about to start his first year of Monarch. One question we have is can he work ahead of the schedule we make for him if he wants to? Like say he gets Mondays work done and wants to start working on Tuesdays, can he do that?
Yes, you can work ahead.
Thanks for this. I am homeschooling this year 10th grade and I didnt want to go back to Abeka. (We homeschooled from 2-6th) Ive gotten used to having more of my day and not having to sit over him as much and do all the grading. ANyway, trying Monarch this year. Thanks
Our ultimate goal is for our kids to be learning, but not sitting in a chair all day with books. I hope Monarch works for you.
We are in Kingston Springs TN, just west of Nashville. Girl, I hear you on Abeka and the overkill of books and busy work!!! They make a killing by having soooo many books for each course. I will be trying Monarch today with their free trial, thanks for your review.
Yeah, my breaking point was when they divided one subject into two book sets. It's been so much easier to travel school with Monarch.
I am so glad that there is progress after changing curriculum.
I as well. It was a huge leap of faith, but it paid off.
I write it all out in my planner as well ♡ I like to have that to fall back on. We are Georgia homeschoolers 🥰
It helps having a physical planner as well.
Hello Alicia so glad you were able to find what will work in your homeschool. I used Abeka early on but since have moved on. Looking forward to hearing your progress down the line.
Thank you, Ingrid!
Hi I am searching for homeschooling curriculum for awhile and I came across your video thank you for the info. I have a question for you is it easy to start now I mean we will be on February soon half way third quarter in public school is the program will count it as a semester or I will start from the beginning and my son have to take the whole year again and I have to pay monthly for that or in full price for the yearly fee.
Thank you
Our first year with Monarch, the girls started Monarch in March. We chose to start from the beginning of the year, and just do school until our normal summer break would be. We counted what work they did complete as part of the 2nd Semester work they did before Monarch. So 2 months of Abeka, and 3 months of Monarch. You still plan the curriculum for 180 days, even if you're not doing 180 days, so the curriculum will schedule the work correctly.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure Thank you so much God bless you
Thank you for this! I'm considering switching. I'm using various sources for every subject.
That's actually where we are this year, but Monarch still remains my second pick. It's a great resource if you need help keeping caught up with grading.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure so you're not staying with Monarch?
@Life with the Hendersons no, we changed this school year. We are still using their Spanish curriculum right now. We have an update video.
Thank you 🙏🏽 I love Monarch and my girls do too
It is a great program to use.
This is so overwhelming for me it’s been a while since I’ve been in school and I’m a hairstylist so am I going to have to be smart to do this my daughter is a junior she’s very smart has a 3.94 gpa but I did not at all do computer stuff so is it pretty straightforward for me to use and we’re in Tennessee also
Monarch is great for first-time homeschool students and parents. It self grades and has answer keys.
Do you print out the quizzes and tests for your kids to do it on paper or do you have them do it online through their assignment? I hope I worded that right! I have my son do them online.
That's a great question. We normally have them fill in the quizzes and tests online and use a separate notebook (that they are only allowed to use for quizzes and tests) to work out problems that need to be done on paper. If they are really struggling through a math or science quiz that need to be worked on paper, we print the quiz and have the work completely done from printouts. Today, we printed math to do on the go, then had them fill the answers in on their digital work for grading once we returned home.
Is there actual work with this program. Like will they be writing? While I appreciate the digital ease, I do want them to have to do actual work as well. Pen to paper is the best way to retain information.
Yes, you can have then write down as much school as you want. The majority of the work is turned in digitally, though.
How long did a typical day take for 8 the grade? My 7th grader is doing Abeka academy online accredited and it takes about 8 hours a day then adding all the extra work on top. It is her 1st semester homeschool and she’s exhausted.
Abeka definitely took our 8th grader longer than it did with Monarch. It honestly depends on how much work you leave assigned. One of my kids did not need to review parts of speech again, so we unassigned it. If we were doing a different science for that week, we unassigned that. You can create a day however long you want or need. The only subject that is expected to be completed in entirety in Monarch is math. All the subjects have fillers to meet individual state needs for completing a school year.
Same and my son is in 2nd grade! A school day is easily 8 hours. It's ridiculous.
Yes, we had the same problem with Abeka. We had no life outside Abeka.
We teach research and we found gather round helped. We’ve never used Abecca. We love real world knowledge and hands on learning!!! Abecca sounds like a school curriculum!!! Adding more in is different to busywork!!! We allow online but check online history. We’ve not had any issues with it yet. We’ve not tired monarch but we would look at it.
I despise busywork. Are there days I will give them specific assignments to do when we're busy? Yes, but that's not my overall teaching style.
Great review, glad you found a perfect fit for your family!
Us too! Thank you for watching!
We're going into our 2nd year of Homeschool. We were using Time4Learning. I was looking into Power Homeschool for 7th Grade, but now I need to look into Monarch. I had no idea that Monarch had Online Curriculum. I'm glad I came across your previous Video.
I didn't even know digital Christian homeschooling was a thing until a friend recommended it. We love the digital for our active lifestyle.
If you used Monarch for 7th Grade, did the ELA curriculum include _The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle_ ?
I don't think so. If you glance at the Overview, which is the first lesson, it will tell you what books you need to purchase.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I will do this when I start Monarch's 30-day trial, which I need to coincide with end of my subscription with Calvert at the end of August 2024.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure I've been comparing Scope and Sequence documents. I was wrong to assume that content between Monarch and Calvert is at least 80% similar, especially in Language Arts.
Thank you for your input on Monarch. Question: Do you have to purchase all 5 subjects or can you just purchase one (ie language arts only)?? Thanks again!
We purchase the family subscription to include all 5 subjects. We have also purchased electives separately from them, so I think you could buy just a core subject.
We only bought two courses
My daughter has been asking to do Monarch for this coming year. One of her friends did 9th grade Monarch but really struggled with the 9th grade Algebra 1. We are doing a few 9th grade classes with Monarch and sticking with our Saxon math.
For my 9th grader, Algebra 1 was the subject I disliked the most. I haven't tried Saxon math, but I've heard of other Monarch students using it instead of Monarch.
How much time a day do your kids work, I not a fan of working more then 3 hours a day. I also take most Fridays off. Would this work?
For us, it depends on the day. Test and quiz days take longer as I let them work at their own pace. The day can literally be as long as you want. If you're falling behind, you can unassign any projects that you don't wish to do.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure Can you give an average day's time? Or maybe like 3-5 hours usually? I think I heard it may be somewhere around an hour more or less for each subject.
It really depends on the child and the subject. You can assign and unassign as much as you want.
Thank you so much for this review. I was really considering monarch for about a year now. I bought this for my son who's going into 5th grade. I still need something for my first grader and I'm considering horizons from AOP.
Glad I could help! I haven't taught Horizons, so I can't give a review on that. Yay another 5th grade mom using Monarch! Let me know if you have any questions.
Ok thank you
I must say watching your video encouraged me to join Monarch and it was and far better than Abeka. The freedom you get from Monarch allows the kids to think independently with out pressure, it allows them to learn, learn at a pace that's comfortable for them with out feeling that being smart means answering all the questions in 2 seconds like Abeka does. And Abeka speaks to the students not teach, Students don't get the lessons broken down its dum in my opinion.
I still like Abeka for the core phonetics in Kindergarten - 3rd grade, but the real world teaching Monarch offers the 4th grade and above is better for my kids. Plus, less books to keep up with.
2 questions: 1. If my 6th grader wants to bump a grade can we?
And 2. How do we choose a homeschooling program that will give us a high school diploma
I'm happy to help!
First, our rising 7th grader skipped 6th grade. In TN, it has to be approved by your umbrella school. I told our umbrella school we could show proof of test scores for placement tests. Our counselor said it was not necessary as she trusted me as the parent to make that choice.
Second, that's also up to your state standards. A homeschool curriculum does not issue your child a diploma. They are simply just books that you use. They don't have the authority to give you a diploma. Our diplomas come from our umbrella school. If you are 100% independent homeschooling, the diploma comes from you. We recently sat down with two guidance counselors for a local Bible college in TN. Both counselors said that colleges aren't even looking for diplomas anymore. They want to see your transcript. They want a list of courses that your student completed to graduate. I worry less about diplomas now and focus more on studying for the ACT/SAT exams and having a transcript that will help my girls move on to college if they choose.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.
I'm glad y'all found a great fit!! Sounds like a awesome program
We're really happy with it.
I love it! We just started! I think its very neat
We've been really happy with it.
Just started a few courses with monarch this year. We are doing French and keyboarding and applications. My daughter is in grade 10 and we've mostly used life PAC for curriculum in the pass 5 years. I really didn't like grade 9 language art with life PAC nor the science . So far we are enjoying the few classes with monarch and was hoping to maybe get the language art course grade 10 for her. I hope it would be a good switch.
I've been happy with the 9th grade Language Arts class so far. Spanish has not been my favorite, but we are making it work. Otherwise, Monarch 9th grade has been exactly what we needed it to be.
That sucks that it's mostly digital. I did Lincoln Learning and it was 50% online and I didn't like that. I got sick of staring at a screen for so long. Doing Abeka and don't like the time involved. I really don't think it takes 8 hours to successfully teach a 2nd grader.
It doesn't. Were currently not using Monarch for our 7th grader. She usually finishes in a few hours. Only part of her work is digital.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure What is your 7th grader using now?
We recently uploaded a video about a day of homeschooling 7th grade.
My second son enjoys Monarch. I just wished they graded more :)
We're pretty happy with the grading system so far. I'm very hands-on when it comes to grading papers, though, so that might be why.
For clarification, does the Monarch program come with DVDs or online teachers or is this strictly parent led?
No to the DVD, it's all online. Technically, it's parent led with "Tiny Tutors" as Monarch calls it. They are videos, and you can press Play for the written work to read to you as well. The questions are self paced. The work is 85% graded for you. Most days, I don't have to help them do every single subject. My youngest (5th grade) can sit down and do most of the work herself. There are times I have to sit down and help explain some things. The parents are also in charge of grading written assignments. There are occasionally optional worksheets you can print.
hello, i have no idea what im doing but i would like to homeschool, im trying the free trail for monarch, the question is...the assessment tests, my goodness is there supposed to be so many?? i have a 4th grader, i cant get through to the monarch customer service/
Plan out the placement tests over a one school year span. Ours completed them in 2 months, and we counted it as their school in the meantime. You also don't have to do the assessment tests. Also space out the free trial to one year. This will give you an idea of what a normal days worth looks like. For example, when I planned this year, I scheduled my school year to start on a day in August and end on a day in May. If you don't space it out, the work tries to schedule a years worth in less time.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure ok this is good to know,
Ok another question, if we plan the placement over a year, what's the point of them? I didn't realize I didn't have to do it, I thought it was to see if the kiddo was in the right grade. ...thanks so much for responding 💕
They're to help you place your kids in the right grade based on Monarch's level for each grade.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure Then why would you plan the placement tests out over a school year? If you wanted to see what level your kid should take wouldn't you want to take the placement tests sooner than over a year? I think the answer was just a bit confusing. Thank you for your video and help with this.
Hello, I would like an on line school, where I don't have to grade, I work full time, he will be at my parents, of course I will go on and check and see his status, What school would you recommend?
Monarch would be your best option. Make sure you follow your state standards as well. HSLDA is the best place for homeschooling information.
Thanks for this review. Is the platform still in and out? I keep hearing about this in the Facebook group.
We have found if you're on the platform during busy times of day for internet in your area (ours is 4-7 pm), then you are more likely to have problems. We usually start right at 7 am east coast and are on most days finished before 2 pm, so its less of a problem for us. We also live in a rural area that doesn't have great internet, but we still use Monarch without problems most days. On the days there are problems, we do non Monarch school or work on projects and essays that we don't need Monarch open to work on. Thank you for your question!
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure thank you. We typically start at 9am Eastern. Will you use it solely for your high schooler as well?
Yes and no. We are doing our own PE credits. My high schooler said we may do a video after school starts back to talk about how she's using Monarch for high school.
Abeka was not working for my son. We love alpha omega ! Wonderful for my son who has autism
I loved Abeka for the younger grades, but anything above 3rd grade was not working for us as well. My visual learners preferred Monarch over Abeka.
Does it offer electives? I was actually thinking of using Power homeschool.
Yes! They cost extra, but you can add electives. My oldest added Spanish 1 as an elective.
I see that Monarch is 3-12 grades. What program would you recommend prior to using monarch from pre-k thru 2?
I still recommend Abeka for the earlier grades as it has a great foundation in math and phonics, which are the only two subjects those ages are required. If you wanted to start with AOP, I've heard they have workbooks for K-2nd grade, but I have no experience with them.
Does Monarch allow high school students to take dual enrollment college classes in the place of one of their classes?
Monarch is the curriculum, not the school. It is up to your umbrella school and college of choice to decide what dual enrollment classes are accepted.
Can you set the test to automatically retest if they don't meet a level of say 70%?
Not that I have found. I always reset the questions and allow them to retake after they take more notes.
Is Monarch accredited, or do you have to enroll in Alpha Omega Academy to get accreditation?
Monarch is just the curriculum. The academy is the school. Accreditation is given by schools only.
What’s your umbrella school in Tennessee we found Aaron academy
HomeLife
Do your kids find the math hard? My kid is 6th grade but i think he needs to be doing 5th grade math.. do you supplement the math teachings?
Funny you should ask. We are actually trialing out a new math program a sponsor sent us. We hope to have a video up in the next two weeks on our honest opinion. For now, my high schooler sometimes needs extra help with Algebra, but my middle schooler does okay. We always reinforce math with real world needs, so that helps. My youngest is a prodigy (no, seriously, she's ambidextrous; I don't teach her, she learns it on her own), so I don't like to compare her to anyone else. Overall, I am much happier with Monarch math than Abeka or ACE PACES that our foster uses. I feel like Monarch explain it better. You can always request a free placement test from Monarch and just do math.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure thank you so much for your response, i was just reading thst they have placement test.. I want to do the whole 6th grade curriculum but i wish we could do 5th grade math.. wish it was customizable.. anyway your kids sound awesome, and you seem like a wonderful, caring, and smart mother! Your kids are blessed to have you.
You should be able to assign 5th grade math instead of 6th. You assign one subject at a time. My 9th grader opted to take her first science this year and not do history. So we didn't assign history. If Monarch is not allowing you to do this, I highly recommend contacting customer service.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure you are a jewel!!! Thanks! I figured it out, lol!
Could you reach out to me and let me ask you questions? We’re doing monarch for the first time but I want to talk to someone that’s actually doing it ?
Feel free to reach out to me thishomeschoolingadventure@gmail.com
You can also message me on Facebook.
What’s an “umbrella” school
In TN, you have three choices to choose from for legality when you start homeschooling. We chose an umbrella school. Our umbrella school provides free guidance counselors and an online reporting system for turning in our grades three times a year. The term umbrella means it's like when you use an umbrella. It doesn't get rid of the rain, it just keeps the rain off you. The umbrella school does not teach our kids. They're just there when we need help.
What is an umbrella school
For us in Tennessee, it's the way for us to homeschool legally. We register with our umbrella school, tell them what we are teaching each child, and submit grades twice a year. Our umbrella school gives us guidance counselors to help us plan all the way through high school graduation.
How is language arts? Does it encourage reading literature?
There are several times it incorporates literature from different sources into the curriculum with one whole book each year that will need to be purchased separately.
Does monarch do your high school transcripts? And keep attendance?
Also if you do print outs, how do you put the grade in for that?
No, Monarch does not do the transcripts for us. Our umbrella school does the transcripts. In a way, Monarch can be used to keep attendance. You can run a daily work report and see what days your child completed school, what subjects they finished, and their grades for that specific day.
There is a section at the bottom of every unit your child completes called "Special Project." This is where I enter the grades for additional worksheets they use for extra credit. If it's just a worksheet they are doing for extra practice, I don't grade it. However, they are required to keep the worksheets in their subject folders to refer back to when studying for quizzes.
If the child fails a test can you change the grade to a passing grade???
Yes
How do u keep track of ur kids hours?
With the exception of one class, Tennessee doesn't require hours to be tracked for classes. The exception to that is PE credit for high school. For that class, we make a spreadsheet and add hours as we go.
@@ThisHomeschoolingAdventure that's awesome ! I'm in Texas and they dont require for us to keep hours either but I just wanted to keep track of them in case something ever comes up , but other than that Texas has a lot of freedom when it comes to homeschooling!!! Thank you so much for ur reply! Love ur style of homeschooling ur kids! And we are loving monarch!!!
I saw a thing monarch fails everything the kids do endless u go in and change the grade
Yes, that happens on the written assignments. It automatically fails the student until the parent grades the written work. Unless your child fails all of the auto grading questions as well, then this should only happen when your child turns in the written assignments (ie, essays, spelling words, anything where you're typing reports or paragraphs). There is supposed to be a setting to where your child never sees their grade unless they go back and look for it. Most parents choose to do that. My kids found it humorous and would be all dramatic when they submitted paragraphs and it gave them an F. It depends on the child.