A.C.E. Curriculum Review

I don't usually post reviews because , like most people, we all have opinions but I felt compelled to post about A.C.E.

**Disclaimer**
I did not receive any compensation for my "Review". I did not receive any free products or curriculum for my review.


I wanted to start out by saying that I allowed all the poor reviews of A.C.E. to influence my choice. Now most of the reviews were about the Christian content of A.C.E. and not the academic content. Some were from websites that were Atheists, so I took those with a grain of salt.

Caveman is very proud of his grade!! 

That said, before I tried A.C.E., I used a variety of curriculum. BJU, MUS, LOE..oh wait.. those acronyms might get annoying..
*Bob Jones Un.
*Math u See
*Logic of English
*My Father's World
*Son Light
*Alpha Omega LifePacs

Now all of the above curriculums are EXCELLENT.. They just didn't work for me. I could nit pick each one but honestly...why bother?? They're all good. If you want to know why one didn't work out, send me a message and I can tell you why it didn't work for me.

I have found over the years that each curriculum has its benefits and its weaknesses. How you implement the curriculum is more important than which one you choose.
For example, I've had women tell me that they HATE a certain curriculum and it didn't work for them and their child learned nothing!.. Nothing?? How can that be?? Then I come to realize that this same mom can't get their young child to clean her bedroom or respect her in any way. Was it the curriculum?? Or how it was implemented??

Princess is very proud of her work!! I'm very proud of her attitude. 

I've told mom's over the years, If you can't get your child to clean their bedroom , then you're probably NOT going to get them to do their school work.

On to A.C.E.

When I ordered my subjects , I ordered Math, Word Building (spelling), Literature and Creative Writing , and English. I liked that "Language Arts" was broken up into 3 subjects that actually complement each other.

I was desperate this year for something that my daughter could use that would give her some independent work. I was starting with my youngest, and I needed time to work with him. I ordered the 1st grade program for him and that is more teacher intensive. He's going to be 5 at the end of Feb. Caveman was ready for a more advanced Kindergarten so I'm using the 1st grade and slowing it down.

Princess and Caveman working hard!

When we started with our "Paces" in August, my daughter didn't like them. I quickly realized that the amount of work was much higher than our other curriculums. I struggled with it, but decided to have her do the work and she would get use to it. She struggled especially with math because our other curriculums had her doing 1 page a day, where A.C.E. had her doing 3 pages a day. When we started with our reading, she was doing "ok" but hated reading.

Over the course of the 1st month, I saw quite a bit of reading improvement and she was starting to get use to the extra math. I noticed that she was memorizing more of her addition facts.

**Whether you're using a Base 10 curriculum or a traditional one, our children need to memorize basic facts. I hate when I see children, (And adults) counting on their fingers. **

By the 2nd month, she was flowing through the math pages and doing much better.

Some of the work *seemed* to be "busy work" but as I looked at what they were really doing, I could see that they were gently moving them into different , harder types of math. I was really amazed at how quickly she grasped addition with carrying over and Subtraction with borrowing. It took her about 30 seconds to *get it.*

The Principle (Daddy) and big brother were both home during school. Both wanted to sit and help her with her work. 

With the "Word Buidling", she struggled the first Pace and then got into it by the second pace.

We are now almost done with the 2nd grade. The other day, my daughter saw a stack of her completed Paces , looked up at me and said, "It's nice seeing all the work i've done and how far i've come.".

Not only is her reading MUCH Better, BUT...she loves reading!! LOVES IT!!! I'll say that again.. LOVES IT!! She reads for fun!! She reads to her brother. She is currently reading a book series with a Skype friend and they read 2 chapters a day together via Skype!! *Isn't homeschooling great??!?!?

Her math has improved. She LOVES to write stories....and...

*Drum Roll Please..........

SHE LOVES SCHOOL!! YES!! She said to me, "I really love school now!!"

That is exactly what my heart wanted to hear. My child is enjoying school, She loves to read and is actually telling me that "Math is really easy.".. Who is this kid??

If you saw her when we started and saw her now, you'd say, "She's a totally different kid.".

When I started with A.C.E. I too thought it was "Easy"...I thought it wasn't up to level with other curriculums. In some ways I was wrong and in some ways I was right. I'm not going to say that it's the most advanced curriculum, inspite of it's name. LOL As i'm looking through her Paces for 3rd grade, I can see that they're quickly catching up with more advanced curriculums and by 4th grade are equal. From what I have been told, after that , they actually excel over the other curriculums.

Here's the break down about A.C.E.
Each subject has 12 paces. Each pace is done over 15 days..or 3 weeks. There are NO TEACHERS Manuals.. NONE!!
Everything is in the PACE. This makes my job MUCH Easier.
For a homeschooling mom, the easier the curriculum is to implement, the more likely you are to be faithful with it. My biggest issue is holding her back and not starting 3rd grade right away because she's getting done too early in the year.

While the other curriculums *seemed* to be a better fit, in the end, A.C.E. was what we needed. We love it and BOTH my children are doing well with it.

For 3rd grade, I'm using all A.C.E., with the exception of their Bible Reading.
I'm also using My Father's World, Exploring Counties and Cultures. We will be doing that 3 days a week. Just the Social Studies, Science and Bible. This is where all our great literature is coming from. I'm very blessed to have a friend who is letting me borrow hers and all the books.
***Updated***
When I saw all the topics covered in ACE's Science and Social Studies, I decided that we'd add in some extra websites and our Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedias and reference books. We are NOT doing My Father's World. Ace is ENOUGH!! Plenty!! And my daughter is STILL Excited to start it. ****

My daughter just saw her 3rd grade Paces and is very excited to start. I guess that's not such a bad problem??

Don't let reviews influence your decision. Go with your gut. A.C.E. may be a great fit for you and your family, or it may not. Either way, Do your research but don't let "haters" influence your decision.

God Bless,
Laura

***UPDATE****
Here we are!! Feb. 2019!! Still going strong with ACE. We moved from NY to NC. That was a huge move!! We only missed about a week of school, thanks to the ease of ACE.

This year Princess is in 5th grade.. I call her #FlippinPrincess these days because she's competing in gymnastics. We are doing a Classical Conversations community Foundations and Essentials. Still Using ACE Math for her. Next year, I'm going to add in ACE Word Building. While Essentials has a spelling list and spelling rules weekly that we review, we've not done much this year except to go over the spelling rules. Their Essentials and IEW are a full grammar and writing curriculum. My little  #Caveman is now in 2nd grade. He's doing full ACE and his reading really took off this year. He's also doing the memory work from our CC Community. ACE has given us the freedom to add in or take out what we need, when we need it.

All curriculums are just a tool. You use them as you need!!!