The PACES are reasonably priced for a consumable workbook curriculum – one year’s PACES per subject will cost less than $40. Multiplied times five or six courses, and then compounded times several children in a family, the cost could really add up to real money! For families, like missionaries, who live overseas, the cost can be even higher, especially when including shipping costs.
Are there ways to save money while using the ACE program?
I posed that question to a Yahoo group of homeschool moms who use PACES. In return I got some great suggestions:
1- Some people have their kids write their answers in a spiral notebook instead of in their PACES, so that the PACES can then be passed down to the next child to use. The notebooks are easy to grade with the scorekey, but make studying a little more challenging.
2 – Other people cut the PACES apart and put them in clear plastic page protectors in a binder. Their kids can then use extra fine dry erase pens to write in them. When finished with the PACE, the page protectors are then wiped clean and the PACE can then be reused by the next child and again and again over the years.
3 – A mother of 12 children with access to a laminator actually “laminated” and spiral -bound a full set of PACES over several years’ time and then her children used china pencils to write in them. A great cost savings for a family of 12!
With any of the above methods, if one begins ACE with one’s oldest child for K or 1st grade, one only has to buy “one” set of paces per year and then “pass” them down to one’s other children through the years, which is a great cost savings. After the first child graduates 12th grade, there is no need to buy any further paces.
4 – Another method is obtaining “used” paces, scribbling over each answer with pencil to obliterate it and then erasing each answer very well. This is very time consuming, but many overseas ACE schools use this method to provide their students with paces. Such schools greatly appreciate donations of used paces.
5 – Another savings is to borrow scorekeys and resources. Nina wrote, “We have a library of sorts here where people donate their score keys when finished and where they can also borrow score keys and resource books and cds, dvds etc as needed. We also buy second hand PACES through our umbrella school email group and our umbrella school also has all the reading books and some dvds and cds available on loan.”
6- Kristie shared, “I am a single mom of six. I purchase only what I need on a monthly basis, usually through Christian Book Distributors online. It’s usually around $25 per month, per child.”
7 – If you search for an ACE school in your area, you may be able to order PACES through them at a better price than ordering directly from ACE or a distributor. You may be able to borrow or buy used scorekeys from the local ACE school as well.
Do you have other suggestions for saving money while using PACES? Add them in the comments below! Or add your commentary on how you’ve effectively used one of the methods above.
This has enlightened me, thank you!