By ACE Mommy
(Arizona)
Visitor Review:
I am happy to say that our family has been extremely happy with the ACE Curriculum. We have been using ACE for over 9 years. We did use other curriculum for certain children or certain subjects and in the end we returned with full force in all subjects. We will remain loyal to ACE with our children.
The individual “paces” that are given per subject to complete are easy to understand for both parent and child. You don’t need to have a college degree to teach your child. I have found that I am learning with my child as well.
I also REALLY like that from the beginning it encourages the child to score there own work and set goals. This is something that many college students are not good at these days (setting and completing goals. They lack the skills to manage their time and know how to juggle deadlines.
For us, I set a deadline of when I want the book complete and the older children are allowed to work out their days as long as the pace is complete by the due date. For the younger child (elementary years) I will guide them and dictate how many pages are due each day. It is based on maturity, too.
In regards to the scoring of their own paces we use this to our advantage. We plant seeds from the beginning that when the opportunity arrives to grade/score on their own that they have reached a great milestone in schooling. That it is a wonderful moment.
For us we would begin letting them score 1 or 2 subjects by 3rd grade. You can do it sooner but this is when it worked best for us and gave us time to plant those seeds. As most kids who love their parents want to show them they want to do right so this age is still a good tender age. Now, if a parent is “lazy” then it does give an opportunity for the child to cheat. But most parents are responsible in the training of their children.
Every person is capable of not having self-control and take the easy way out. It is foolish to believe that our children will not and therefore, be noble just because we tell them. For our family we see this as an opportunity to teach them just that. We hope for the best but prepare to disciple our child should they “fall into temptation” and cheat. It happened with 2 of our 5 children (the oldest 2) and they where so much more disappointed in themselves and to see the grief they brought, the loss of trust from us as parents and the reality of how they would need to restore that trust. It was a life lesson in the midst of an academic lesson. So to those parents who object to ACE’s grading methods, you may have missed an opportunity. I am thankful to take advantage of the character building with each of my children before they become adults.