ACE World Geography 9th Grade Review

I've never used anything from ACE before. I've heard many negative reviews, and not so many positive ones. The reviews I've read all say it is too "easy", or that students just read the paces, and "regurgitate" the answers in fill in the blank, multiple choice workbooks. Parents also complain that their children don't retain the information they read.

I beg to differ. Unsure what to use for Colleen's 9th grade year for social studies, I researched several options. Eventually I came down to deciding between Abeka's 9th grade World Geography, and ACE's. The deciding factors were 1.) price. ACE is several hundred dollars less expensive than Abeka, and 2.) A comparison from a fellow homeschool mom who owns both of these. I figured, for the price, I might as well give it a shot, and see for myself.

Colleen has just completed the first PACE. Normally, a pace is to take about 3 weeks to read, answer, do the mapwork, and do the self checks and final test. We took over 4 weeks, due to the deaths in our family last month, and the plumbing and vet emergencies we had. Is it easy? Colleen says, "Yes." Does she have to mindlessly regurgitate answers? Yes, some of the time. She reads, and answers questions, just like any other publisher or textbook. She answers FAR more questions than were she to use a textbook curriculum, and although many of them ARE just multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank, she also has mapwork, and open ended questions that require thought. She can not just skim through her reading, because she would not be able to answer the questions without fully reading the material, and she spends much time flipping back and forth from her workbook pages, (called an Activity Pac) and her actual reading in the PACE. She spends maybe 30 to 45 minutes a day with this subject. She says it is interesting, not boring. (Which it is; I read the PACE too.) It is colorful, which believe it or not, I never knew ACE was, till I had it in my hands. Colleen likes that they explain things, and not just write a bunch of facts, with no explanation. She doesn't like the mapwork, but she has never liked any mapwork in any curriculum.

She averaged an A throughout the PACE, usually only missing 2 or 3 questions, if that, each day. Last week she had her test. I warned her to study, and her reply was, "Studying is stupid. I don't need to study." I thought, "Hmm. We'll see about that tomorrow when you take your test then, Little Miss Smarty." Even with her begative attitude, and not studying, she certainly DID retain the material. She got an 88% on the final test. While, in my opinion, that isn't great, it isn't horrible, either. It's a good, solid B, and it's her own fault she didn't want to review or study. And actually, it gives me an even better gauge of how well she retained the information learned because she DIDN'T review it one bit.

All in all, after completing the first of `12 Paces for the year, both Colleen and I like ACE's 9th grade World Geography. She did well. She found it interesting. We both prefer it to the standard, boring, dry textbook production of the topic. There is virtually no lesson planning or teacher-intensiveness to it. She can do this completely independently, with me only helping her if she truly can not find something, and me to grade the test and self-checks. I like it so well that I would definitely consider, and AM considering, using ACE for some other subjects. I wouldn't want to use this format for every subject, but I wish I had checked it out much sooner than going-into-my-6th-year-of-homeschooling.

Good-bye Saxon

After 9 years, we are finally saying good-bye to Saxon math. Colleen began using this when she was in public school. I have a certain sentimental attachment to Saxon math. BECAUSE she used it in ps, and I was familiar with it, and because I was a homeschooling novice and knew of no other math program back then, Saxon was what I ordered for her. In fact, Saxon 54 was the very first homeschooling purchase I ever made. I actually ordered it 4 months before I pulled Colleen out of ps.

Saxon worked well for us up until this year. This year we have been doing pre-algebra. We are almost finished with the book. It is December, a time when I typically have been researching and choosing the next year's curriculum. Colleen normally begins her next grade level in January or February. Because she will be moving up to 9th grade, a FRESHMAN, AND because she has really been struggling with pre-algebra, I have been stressing myself out to the max over what math to use for her. Saxon seemed fine for the lower grades. Colleen caught on and moved through each grade level quickly. For 4 months now, I have known I would NOT continue to use Saxon math for her. For four months I have looked and looked, researched, asked other parents what works for THEIR child, looked at samples online, watched videos, discussed math programs ad nauseum with Colleen, made HER watch videos, read reviews, take placement tests.

Each day we struggle through math. Colleen takes about an hour, maybe a little more, doing her 30 daily problems, and each Friday she takes a test. However, we then have to take ANOTHER 45 minutes or so correcting all the problems she is missing. Saxon calls itself "incremental", which is a code word for spiral mathematics that just leap from topic to topic randomly, with only about 3 problems each assignment that actually have to do with the lesson for that day. Ok, maybe SAXON has a rhyme and reason for them leaping from topic to topic, but I sure don't see it, and it isn't working for us. And of course Saxon is well known for its tedious, repetitive practice OVERLOAD in the primary grades. But then we get to the higher levels of math and there is less and less practice. The past couple of weeks I have actually been spending my mornings making up my own practice problems for Colleen to do before we even open her book.

Um....why am I writing out pages of practice problems when I HAVE a book? Why do they introduce a concept, such as solving for 2 variables, and then only have 2 problems per problem set dealing with this? Yes, to ME, it is easy. I LOVE algebra. (I'm a geek, what can I say?) To my 14 year old daughter, it is difficult, and she doesn't "get it". Well, if you are in softball, you don't expect to show up at practice and hit fair balls, only batting twice a day. Ok, yes, for some people that works. My younger daughter doesn't even need to keep hearing me explain a new concept; she tells me, "Ok, Mom, I know." and has the problems done while I'm still talking. Colleen, on the other hand has reached a level where she simply needs more practice, and more consistency in the lessons, not jumping from one topic to the next. Then Colleen gets frustrated and angry, slamming the book and declaring herself stupid.

Ok, so for 4 months now I have known this was it. I knew Saxon was done in this house. I just haven't known WHAT was going to replace it. Colleen doesn't LIKE any of the samples we have looked at online. She doesn't WANT a video/DVD teacher. Colleen is pretty set in her ways for such a young girl. She doesn't like change of any kind. She actually WANTED to stick with Saxon through high school math. She figures I can just keep holding her hand and getting her through it. We went with change for math once, 2 years ago, and went with a mastery math program, and it was a dismal failure. Most likely because it revealed WAY too many gaps that Saxon had left.

I have been stressing out over ALL our soon-to-be-ordered curriculum, for both girls. But Algebra has definitely been my main worry. I have never spent this much time deciding on curriculum. I've been close to choosing a popular video text math, but Colleen just could not abide the thought of the man's voice doing the teaching on the DVD. Can't say I blame her. I almost chose another program, too, but something kept stopping me. Other than that, I was up in the air, starting to panic over it being almost Christmas break, and not only do I not HAVE next year's math here at the house, I don't even know WHAT next year's math will be. I was just about to throw in the towel, and just order Saxon, but I just couldn't quite make myself do it. Much as I love algebra, I just don't want to spend all my free time writing out equations and problems. That's what the book is for.

And then. Last night. (hear the choir of angels singing in the background here?) I was idly on another site reading math reviews. This is for a company that only has math for grades 1-6. BUT.....it has suggestions for what to move on to from that particular program. And since, like most homeschooling mothers, I am addicted to researching curriculum, I clicked on the links to read reviews of higher maths. And there were several there I had never even heard of. Then I read user reviews. Then I went over to Amazon, and read their user reviews. Then I made Colleen come over here to the computer, and I showed HER, because it was truly the best looking Algebra program I've seen yet. AND SHE LIKED IT TOO.

And so...an end to an era....good-bye Saxon. You were good for awhile, but it's time for you to move aside for: Jacob's Algebra. As soon as I looked at Jacob's Algebra (and their Geometry, too, because what homeschooling mom doesn't look ahead at the upcoming years?) I just KNEW this was the one. Really, I felt it was right. And when Colleen agreed, and was SMILING over a MATH prgram? Yeah, that clinched it. So, in just little more than an hour, I will be calling Rainbow Resource (yes, I'm old-fashioned, and like to CALL in the order, as opposed to ordering online.) and ordering this. We will start it as soon as we go back to school in January after Christmas break.

Curriculum Review: Horizons Math 2

For my younger daughter, E we needed something that moved faster and could hold her interest...something that would challenge her, yet not frustrate her. Something where she was able to learn new things, yet remained fun for her.

Horizons, by Alpha Omega Homeschool, is widely known for use with children that are "gifted" or "accelerated" in math. I began E in grade 2 when she was 7, and she just completed it a week ago, at age 8 yrs. 2 mos. We completed every lesson, every test, and every speed drill. Horizons math lived up to its reputation.

E and I both LOVED using Horizons. We both want to continue with it. E says, "I LOVE math. It's my favorite subject. It's FUN. " As a teacher, and mother of a child who excels in math, I also loved it.

Horizons begins with a speed drill 4 out of 5 days of the week. Then we move on to the lesson of a new concept daily, with an oral lesson, board work for examples, although E never needed these, as she catches right on, so we skipped examples and we would go straight to her assignments. Each lesson took me about 5 minutes to teach, and then took E anywhere from 15 minutes to maybe 45 minutes tops to complete. She got 2 B's on her work (160 lessons, 16 tests) and straight A's the entire rest of the year.

The program covered basic addition and subtraction, and by the middle of the year she was doing 3 and 4 digit addition and subtraction with borrowing and carrying, and "columns" of adding. She began learning her multiplication facts by mid year, also, and has them all down pat by now, a full year earlier than most math programs used in home school, public school, or private schools. Horizons math 2 also covered money, fractions, different kinds of graphs, decimals, thermometers, and basic geometry concepts such as area and volume, and 3-D shapes. One major thing that helped tremendously when she began learning her multiplication facts was the first half of the year the child learns by rote "skip-counting" by every single digit number. The 2 workbook set for students was in full color, which captured my child's interest with the pictures, while each assignment had her doing anywhere from 60-100 separate math problems. EVERY assignment had at least 1, and usually 2 or 3 story problems in which E had to figure out which operation to use (add, subtract, or multiply.)

As each concept is introduced, it is practiced in-depth for the next 5 lessons, while still daily introducing another new concept. Once a concept is learned, it is never forgotten, but touched upon again and again throughout the daily assignments and on tests, and built upon.

Horizons is not for everyone. If your child needs more time with new things, I would not recommend Horizons. I would also not recommend it for children who are distracted by colorful worksheets, or by constantly switching topics in one lesson. But for a child who likes math, who excels at it, or who is considered accelerated, Horizons definitely has been the best math program we have tried, and we will definitely be sticking with it.