Top Free Resources for ACE Users

It is “Back to School” time and many families and schools are using Accelerated Christian Education PACES for their academic program. No program is “perfect” for every student and every situation. At PACESuccess.net we have created some resources to fill in some gaps, and help support students to see more success with their PACES, especially at the high school level.  Here are some of the TOP resources that get downloaded regularly:

ENGLISH HANDBOOK.

The 7th and 8th level English PACES do a good job explaining the parts of speech, types of verbs, sentence diagramming, and other grammar topics. Then in the 9th-12th levels students are expected to remember and apply what they learned in the earlier levels. We have found it to be helpful to have an English Handbook with all the important definitions, types of sentence diagrams, and lists of signal words and prepositions. We make that handbook available as a free download to parents and students. Use as an eBook (it is in PDF format) or you can print it out (if you do, I suggest you change your printer settings to “draft” mode and maybe B/W instead of color, to save ink).

VIDEO INSTRUCTION.

Some of the first resources I made available on PACESuccess years ago were videos on topics that students struggled with. As a teacher and principal in an ACE school for several years I knew there were specific pages or concepts in Science, English, Economics, etc where I would have to sit down with students and reteach until they understood. I was teaching the same mini-lessons over and over again, year after year. So I started making videos of me teaching those lessons, uploaded them to YouTube, and then organized them by subject with the PACESuccess website. Now I send my own students to the computer lab regularly to get help with problems by watching those videos! We currently have video instruction for 7th and 8th level Math PACES, Geometry, and Algebra I & II, Physical Science, Chemistry, and Physics.  On the menu bar, click on “Subjects” then select the subject area to find the videos!

We recently added a series of videos about diagramming sentences.

DOWNLOADS.

There are some PACES in 10th and 11th level English where students have to diagram sentences on separate paper. Some students found it confusing to find the sentences and do the assignment. Many tried to cram too many diagrams onto one piece of notebook paper, making it difficult to score! We created a “template” that students can download that already has the sentences and includes blank lines and plenty of space to do the diagrams. We also have templates that can be filled in for “do on separate paper” verb tense assignments and guides for writing research papers. Use the menu to browse to the English courses.

MAPS.

The World Geography course has students drawing maps of every continent and country and then labeling, coloring, etc. — a different map for each PACE. It can be very tedious and time-consuming for students. We compiled a set of outline maps keyed to each PACE with instructions for each. This resource is available through our store.   I also like to have my students work on labeling and coloring a large world map (see picture above) and keep updating it while they work through the course. UPDATE: The 4th Edition World Geography still requires the map -drawing, so this resource is still current!

ENGLISH PACE 1119 SUPPLEMENT.

This English PACE covers the research and writing of essays and papers. It was written before the internet was in wide use and covers topics like Encyclopedias, Readers’ Guide to Periodic Literature, Concordances, and other books that practically don’t exist today. This supplement replaces a big section of the PACE and covers the ethics of using Wikipedia, how to use reputable online sources, and how to document those sources for endnotes and bibliography. The supplement kit also includes an updated Self Test, PACE Test, and Scorekeys. Visit our store to download your copy.

TEST TIPS.

When I first became a principal of an ACE school, I noticed that there were some PACE tests that just seemed to always result in low or failing test scores. I started keeping a record of every question missed on each high school PACE test (educators call this “item analysis”). There were some questions that EVERY student missed — even the very academically strong students. Other questions had very high incidence of being wrong. I was able to determine that in just about every case those questions were not covered on the Self Test and Check-ups, or at least not emphasized in a way to adequately prepare students to master that content for the PACE test.  So I created “Test Tips” with hints of content areas to review more thoroughly before taking the PACE test. The Test Tips are like a “study guide” — they are not answers for the PACE test, but give students a more fair chance to study and prepare for the final PACE test. Read this article for more information and for a link to all the courses that have Test Tips.


Articles of Encouragement

Besides these resources that will help your student, we have found that the articles shared and viewed the most are the “encouraging” articles about why the ACE curriculum works well, the advantages of using PACES, and connecting with homeschool moms who have used ACE all the way through with great success. A list of some of the most read articles can be found here:

Course: Guide Your Teen to Graduation and College

Recently I put together an online video course for parents who have teens going through high school. It explains topics such as credits, diplomas, transcripts, college testing, dual enrollment, and typical course sequences for the various subject areas. There are many free resources and articles out there on the web, but it can be wearying and confusing to sort through all of them. This video course can be watched while you do meal preparation, laundry, child care, etc and give you an overview to guide your further research and choices. And I specifically reference using PACES.


Which of these have you used and found helpful? Did I miss any in this article? Tell me in the comments below!

6 Comments to “Top Free Resources for ACE Users”

  1. Lots of really helpful stuff! Thank you!

  2. Thank you for sharing…this is wonderful and very helpful.

  3. Thank you very much very resourceful…Thanks for sharing

  4. Thanks so much for being a blessing to this generation.

    I want to start an ACE homeschool but don’t have the PACE resources, I need your help.

    I need the course outline for junior secondary school and the senior secondary school as well. I’ll also the course outline and PACE resources for the primary school as well.

    Thanks and God bless.

    1. Visit aceministries.com and get all that information right from the publishing source 🙂

  5. This is great resources, thank you!

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