We love Christian Light Education which was recommended by another RUclips homeschooler. It’s very inexpensive, comprehensive and my children love the workbook aspect which is similar to ACE.
I thought they looked excellent at 1st grade but I purchased their kindergarten curriculum and at least the kindergarten 1 was basically preschool level and my son wasn’t learning much. We haven’t done the second half yet, but it comes with activity books and is meant for a slightly more developed student (age wise) t’s not divided by subjects, has stories, different cultures, it’s all centered around God, lots of cut outs and coloring activities. My son loves the stories and short questions to check comprehension and when we did the lessons they took maybe 15-20 minutes to do. It’s very gentle so it wouldn’t bring your child to tears doing it. ❤I would like to revisit it again once we’re out of kindergarten :)
Thank you for your honesty 🙏 I am so frustrated about TGTB videos (being fresh to homeschooling) and then I realized that most of them are sponsored by them....😮 Well, thanks to you, my girls are using ACE paces this year and loving it 👍📚
I am on my 5th year of homeschooling now a 6th grader, 3rd grader and kindergartner and we have used A.C.E for 4 out of the 5 years and have loved them. We’ve tried TGATB as well and although some of their stuff worked for a couple of years I didn’t find it to work for long term. But A.C.E has been our go to. I love that it teaches your children to be independent from a young age which boosts their confidence. And for some who might find it lacking once you get to 5th grade and up I don’t find that to be the case but you can also add to it if you felt like it was needed.
Rod and Staff Science Curriculum is also under-rated for the elementary years. It is simple and very affordable because they use textbooks that could be done independently and then passed down to other children to be re-used.
We've loved MasterBooks for the elementary years. Notgrass History and Mystery of History are both really interesting and Christian Kids Explore Chemistry we've loved.
Thank you for making this video! I really needed to hear this today. I've been feeling so pressured to like certain curriculums over other ones, just because they're talked about so much, and personally I've always loved Critical Thinking Co as well, but was worried it wasn't enough because no one else talked about it. So, thanks so much for making this video, I'm going to kick the curriculums that I've been trying to force and go back to Critical Thinking Co and Teaching Textbooks! :) They worked great for us in the past, so that's what I should stick with! Such a great reminder.
We’re an Evan Moor loving family! We use their language fundamentals, academic vocabulary, reading comprehension fundamentals, writing, and science. We use All About Learning Press for reading and spelling because it’s what has clicked best with my daughter. We’re using Beautiful Feet Books with a lot of adaptations for history (I wrote my own lesson plans for it) and we absolutely love it!! And for math we’re using Math with Confidence and it’s our absolute favorite for our family for right now.
We are loving Evan Moor this year for my 5th grader for science, geography, vocabulary, and language arts. We have always loved the Critical Thinking Company since he was in preschool. We use math and spelling from plain and not so plain (free).
I love the ACE paces. We have been using them for about 20 years. I try other things, but I keep going back to them. Their math is really great. They have many missionary stories woven in to their curriculum as well. Scripture memory in each pace. These are really good for special needs children as well, very structured and predictable, not frustrating.
To me, your description of IEW sounds great, lol. I suppose that if someone is already a naturally good writer, they could feel squelched. But for most kids, adding individual, specific details to make writing better and more fleshed out, is incredibly beneficial.
My daughter LOVES all the aspects of IEW that she mentioned as negatives 😂 She is one of the "stare at a blank page and cry" kids, though, so maybe that's the person it is written for
We LOVED the Evan Moor workbooks in the younger years for science and geography. So sad that we're moving out of that stage of homeschool. I grew up with ACE and yes, it's rarely talked about. I have used CLE with my kiddos and it's similiar. But we haven't used much of it.
I feel like IEW works best with children who are not creative, but more mechanical thinking. It works great for my daughter. She does have more of a mechanical mind.
Im glad your speaking on these. Ive been homeschooling for 8 years. We have used A.C.E for most of it. But I would say A.C.E is good for the lower levels to start them out. Like a good foundation but once you hit about 4/5th the math can starting become way to long and repetitive. But again for every child and family its different. So this is solely based off my opinion. A.C.E is a mastery approch which I thought was good for ADHD. But as of last year we switched to Christian Light Education. My son who has ADHD says he feels the way Christian Light explains things is much easier. He also said he likes how they circle back to the concept. Christian Light is Spiral approach and for some reason is working better for his brain lol. Also I love how there are teacher manuals to the light units. A.C.E only provides score keys. I also have a few families that use A.C.E too and they say it gets more challenging in the highschool years..its starts out gentle and easier and works its way up to difficulty. But overall they are both open and go and less stressful
We love Evan Moor geography for early elementary! Fun, colorful workbooks and short lessons are great. I think another “sleeper” curriculum that isn’t talked about enough for the early years is Explode the Code! Sure, the illustrations are pretty goofy, but it’s great for phonics and my boys love it!
Also if you use at least 2 subjects with ACE you can attend and compete in their student convention. They have one in Tennessee and then a world wide convention that's in a different state each year
Thank you for your video and I agree with a lot of what you had to say. A curriculum that we’ve been loving that few people talk about is Life of Fred math. We have a different math that we use and love, but I was curious about Fred, so I started my daughter on it as a way to encourage her to become fluent reading aloud to me. It was beneath her level for math, but perfect for her reading. She loved it SO much she has kept asking me to buy her the next book. Now that she has flown through the younger levels and we are on her level for math we use it as a supplement to what she already does daily in math and she is understanding these math skills in a whole new way. I hear Life of Fred can be a standalone or a supplement and we really enjoy it.
My kids loved the Fred books too. We actually used it for language class.. along with the Julie bogarts poetry teatime even.. just really kept things simple, stuff they needed to learn and fun
My two 8th graders wanted an open and go curriculum for Science and History, so because of your flip-through video we went with with ACE and they are loving it. We also use Teaching Textbooks and they love it. Both of these curriculums are helping them gain the independence they're going to need for high school and college. One is doing IEW and thriving, the other one hated it so we're just doing some basic workbook style right now and he seems to like that. :) I appreciate these types of videos!
So glad you made this video because this is exactly how I have been feeling lately! We started homeschooling my oldest when she was in 5th grade and used TGTB and quickly found out for us personally not a good fit. Now I’m looking for early elementary curriculum for my youngest and your so right it’s the same curriculum companies talked about over and over!
Teaching Textbooks has been SO awesome for my now 8th grader! And I honestly wouldn’t care if it was “behind” because it has made her feel successful. We also have loved A.C.E. for Social Studies and Science and even Bible. I think the Good and The Beautiful is a great option but I also feel like they are everywhere and agree it can be overrated. I do appreciate how much free curriculum they offer!
I think another curriculum that is underrated is core knowledge. They offer free curriculum in language arts, math, science, and social studies for grades K-8.
Thank you so much for this! We started using Evan-moor and explode the code. One of my daughters is dyslexic. Both of girls use these and they have definitely helped. My kindergartener uses a lot of Evan-moor workbooks as well. We also use reading eggs/mathseeds. I am definitely going to look into the other ones you’ve mentioned.
We love Master Books so far for elementary! I started TGTB because everybody said Master Books "wasn't enough." However, to me, there was no logical sequence in TGTB yet constant review. Plus all the arts and crafts tacked on at least 45 to our day between language arts and math. Master Books covers everything TGTB did but in a different sequence and my daughter loves it more because of the stories they include in the lessons. Also, if you read the introduction in the front of the book and resources at the back before starting you will realize there is so much more to it than meets the eye.
I grew up on A.C.E. and was forced to use it for my teen nephews a few years ago. Higher grade Math and English are absolutely awful in this curriculum. It’s also riddled with things that are potentially very upsetting for kids from traumatic backgrounds. If you and your children have had healthy home lives you probably would never view it that way but taking my poor little nieces through it after what they’ve experienced of life felt borderline abusive. It definitely won’t be my choice for my daughter.
I’m not sure if you share but I would love to see your daily/weekly school day for your daughter grade 8. We love many of your recommendations especially ACE and Teaching Textbooks. The science is exactly what we needed. We love Notgrass history.
I 100% agree. when I first started homeschooling four years ago I could hardly find anything else other than to put in the beautiful. I tried their old math but it did not work for us. and I had to supplement it with so much. I wish I had known more at the time. However, I do like their new early elementary math. I have found that there are more and more homeschoolers talking about critical thinking co. I use them. They are wonderful company.
I HATE the hate on teaching textbooks. I know a few youtubers that will bash it, but I found it very good and thorough. I agree with a lot of your choices too.
Love the critical thinking company! We’ve been using the mind benders and critical thinking skills books for years! I do disagree with you on the teaching textbooks. I feel it’s overrated bc all the RUclipsrs I watch use it. I personally dislike online curriculum but glad it works for so many people.
This is the awesome thing about schooling at home. If a person wants an in-depth study of a subject, there is curriculum for that. If a person wants only an over view, or short study, there is curriculum for that as well. It can be overwhelming to find the curriculum that works for you at a certain time, but the options are pretty good. We use Teaching Textbooks for math, I.E.W. for writing, and their Fix It! Grammar. I struggle with Social Studies and Science, but will be looking into A.C.E. for science and health. I'm looking at Waldorfish for geometry/art for next year. So, I appreciate your run through videos. This is how I choose our curriculum. Thanks again.
I thought we were going to go with IEW for writing after I heard all the hype about it, but after realizing how it is structured and knowing how my son feels about writing I’m so glad we didn’t. We started using Writing and Rhetoric (he’s 4th grade) and it has been an actual godsend for us. It feeds his creative nature and he’s learning to apply what he’s learning in a fun and diverse way. Math Mammoth is another one that you don’t hear about much but it’s been our favorite math. It doesn’t have any fluff and the creator teaches the lessons on RUclips if you need additional help. Lots of links are provided for additional help too.
I was talking with some homeschool moms at Coop AND they hated it IEW. Their kids got so bored and it’s so difficult to teach. TGATB was never a choice for us.
This is our first time homeschooling and omg am I overwhelmed and drained. I bought School House Teachers and I'm kinda regretting it. It's a great concept but my kids find it boring! I found myself looking for other things. This video came at the right time.
If you have a Mardel anywhere near you I would suggest going there and looking at everything they have. You'll be able to flip through everything and each kid can see what they like best too. Hopefully this helps.
Thank you for making this video, your content is one of my favorites by far, I love how you share knowledge about other curriculum or workbooks out there because I too am tired of seeing review after review about The Good and the Beautiful and IEW I'm interested in trying other companies that unfortunately don't get the same attention or any attention for that matter to help us homeschool moms out with finding other material for our kids to try and enjoy learning from.
I was homeschooled and used ACE exclusively, and I never felt like I got a good education. Now that I am homeschooling my children, I refuse to use ACE. I did take a look at it again when we first started just because I was so overwhelmed with curriculum options, but ACE felt like a glorified workbook. I grew up feeling SO stupid because I didn't understand almost anything in school. What about it do you like other than it's open and go? Genuinely curious and not trying to sound negative. Do you use it for any children in elementary levels?
I had to use it for my teen nephews, I was raised with it too, and I was hit all over again with the way there would suddenly be pages and pages of a new concept to complete with little to no explanation of how you were supposed to solve these things! I’d look back and back trying to help them and there would truly be nothing. Eventually I resorted to RUclips and I’d learn the concept that way and then teach them but it was extremely time consuming and demoralizing. No one helped me that way when I was a teen using it so I thought I was just bad at math. Turns out it’s just a horrible curriculum!
A few under rated curriculums we have tried: Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Using Language Well (SCM), Treasure Hunt Reading *free, Alpha Phonics, Writing and Rhetoric, McGuffeys, A Gentle Feast, Well Educated Heart/Libraries of Hope, Math U See, Math Mammoth, Minimalist Math (Research Parent) *free, Cottage Press Language Arts, Blossom and Root science… fave resource for books is Biblioguides.
Thank you Becky for this honest video. I completely share your opinion regarding TGATB. I used it sometimes in the past, but just as a supplementation curriculum. Unfortunately, TGATB lessons are too short and incomplete. If someone it’s going to use it I recommend to get more info otherwise your kids will have a lot of questions unanswered. Thanks again and God bless you 🙏🏼
My 7th grader is autistic, and we have been trying to use IEW every year since 3rd grade. It is NOT for my daughter. I thought it would be a perfect fit because of her challenges, but after using it for five years, it never clicked in her brain. I even went through the teacher training for that program because I taught IEW in our Classical Conversations community. Most of the kids did really well with it, but it just did not work for my daughter. We have also used Good and Beautiful for language, and in my opinion, while it is a beautiful program, it is not enough to use alone as a language arts curriculum. There isn't enough practice in each of the individual language components. So, I supplement with other things when we use Good and Beautiful - usually one grammar, one spelling, and one reading. We have used Easy Grammar, Fix-It Grammar, Spelling-U-See, All About Spelling. For reading supplement, I use The Book Umbrella novel studies from Teachers Pay Teachers. For writing, I had been using IEW but I have given up trying to make that work for my daughter. I'm just going to accept my defeat and move on. So next year, for 8th grade, we will use Good and Beautiful Level 8 (book studies) as our writing spine, and I will just teach the writing concepts throughout the year for each assignment. 🤷 If anyone out there has special needs kids and there's a writing curriculum that works well for them, let me know! 😅
I used ACE when I was homeschooled and I’m not a big fan. I have no doubt that a level here and there would be fine, but I don’t know if I would even try it with my family. 😬
We use ace and my kids and I love it. I know quite a few people who went to Christian school that used ace as well and they got a better education than I did at public school.
I’ve really struggled with history and science. Since my daughter is a reluctant reader, I think the ACE Paces for social studies and science would be awesome to knock out those two subjects while covering reading and comprehension.
I think good and beautiful is overrated. We grew bored of the science setup and the chapter books are dry (just our experience). Easy Peasy is underrated. It offers many courses and free to low-cost options. Evan Moor is a great resource!
Thank you so much! I was definitely looking for something that is independent working since i have six children, four school age. Currently using the Complete curriculum books, they are handy and most of the work independently.
I used a bit of TGTB curriculum. The curriculum ended up not being a good fit for us. My kids do not like fluff. They are no nonsense kids much like their daddy. They want to get to the point. TGTB had no logical sequence and had too much fluff. My kids need a mastery approach with a bit of spiral review mixed in. So, we settled on BJU Math. My kids do not like all in one curriculum. They like separate subjects, even with Language Arts. I wanted to like TGTB Science but they offer a neutral Christian approach. My husband and I want them to learn science but with a gospel centered approach. So, we switched to Apologia.
Thank you love your review. I have never tried TGTB I have skimmed it and not interested.. . I use primarily Abeka Math/Social studies/ Science, Evan Moore Spelling /language... And IEW ( I don't make my daughter do the nit picky stuff) it works for us, we also use Avancemos for Spanish. Tried teaching text books but I like Abeka it works for us I love math and we are sticking to it K-12
Thank you! We love Teaching Textbooks for math. We're looking for good History and Science curriculums for high school. The programs we're currently using are very good, but are just taking too much time each day to get through.
Teaching textbooks gets tons of meh and complaints. I wish I had time to make them a good tutorial video. I have so many tips that are basically in their program that people just don’t think to use. Biggest one is to still use paper and pencil. Especially when viewing a solution, we do the solution on paper along with the animation for that tactile component of memory. I’m mostly convinced that when people praise moving to another curriculum it’s mostly due to the fact that they are now using paper and pencil.
I’m weirded out by the fact that all my videos where I say the good and the beautiful wasn’t a good fit for us, the comments all look like bots promoting it and telling me I’m crazy!! It didn’t dawn on me maybe the company is paying people to look out for videos that speak down on it and then comment a rebuttal - it was very very bizarre to me.
Excellent video. My daughter is using A.C.E. This year for biology, social studies, English , health , and spelling which is called “word study” or something like that lol I agree about their website. We got ours through Curriculum Express and it came amazingly quick too. We also use teaching textbooks. Thank you for your insight. You are very helpful Becky!🤗
We used one of IEW's courses and thought it was good but we wouldn't want to do it every year. My daughter is a very natural, creative writer so the formal structure was not really needed, but I can see how it would work really well for some. We did a year of TG&TB years ago but like other all-in-one curriculum it didn’t work. The grammar section was really intense, the writing was ok for her, but the spelling and reading was well below her. But if we skipped a few levels to be right for spelling and reading, the grammar was well beyond her. Many kids are stronger at some subjects than others so an all-in-one just doesn't work.
We used ACE for 5 years but after hearing nothing about them really I was “pressured “ into changing to Abeka (2nd yr using) and we just started 8th grade and are drowning!
I'm sure you have figured this out by now, knowing that your comment is 9 months old, but Abeka was created for a classroom setting in Christian schools. There is a massive amount of 'busy work' built into the lesson plans. Don't let others dictate how you run your own homeschool. If ACE worked best for y'all, go back to it. I taught for several years in a Christian school environment using several different curricula and now choose to use ACE at home! Do we follow all of ACE rules? No! But we don't have to. We do what works best for us and you have the freedom to do the same thing! Good luck to you!
If you have a child that struggles in math I highly recommend Learn Math Fast. The Good and the Beautiful did not work for us . Im currently looking for something for writing and chemistry. Any suggestions?
We used CTC math for my kids, grades 1 & 3. My kids struggled with it. The explanations are very concise. The concept doesn't seem to stick. My 1st grader is having a hard time applying the math concepts to word problems. I think it might be a good supplement. My 3rd graders (twins) get frustrated with the measurements and measuring because it's very hard to see and we can't Zoom in so they get the answers wrong even though their answers were just off by 1 or 2.
My friends uses ACE for everything. But she’s not a RUclipsr. 😄 I’ve literally never heard of the Critical Thinking Co so going to check them out. There are also a ton of videos about people quitting TGTB. But I agree is it prob the most talked about curriculum out there. I personally think their math is terrible. My kids did not retain hardly anything from it. Their new versions of their LA seem to be much better. But I would like to know what you’d recommend instead. I hear TGTB, All About Reading and Logic of English recommended the most. I’ve used all except LOE and never plan to use that one. Way too many moving parts. I can not do dry, black and white textbooky stuff like CLE. I grew up on that and hated it. I did try CLE learning to read with my son and we both hated it so badly!
IEW and TGATB simply do not work. I cringe every time I hear people mention IEW, of all the bad curriculum out there, it is the worst of the worse. It produces nothing but generic, robotic, boring writing that does not serve students well at all. And with TGATB, their Math and Lang. Arts are both terrible. A Lang. Arts curriculum has one job, to teach language arts and they are so busy trying to cram in every othe subject under the sun that you actually end up with very little language arts. People get drawn in by the popularity of it and how beautiful it is but it just does not do its job. Plus, just like with the Math, it jumps around so much and offers such little practice or feedback that it's not useful. There is a great way to do spiral curriculum, but this is not it. And their spelling has always been a hot mess.
Wow! I'm really shocked to hear this! We're using TGTB science and love it so SO much that we're seriously considering also doing their LA program...but it's quite expensive ( homeschooling 7 children) so I'm doing a lot of research on their LA prior to spending that kind of money.
Thank you for saying this. It’s hard to let the truth out especially about TGTB. There’s a scary curriculum cult out there that like to rip people with different opinions apart. It’s nice to see some opinions that are realistic be shared freely.
We had exactly the same results with IEW. My kids all lost their love so writing, dreaded it every week and I didn’t like reading the same topic from them. We stopped it and their writing is flourishing. They are far more creative and I love hearing their voice in their writing.
We are new to homeschooling. This is my first year with an 8th grader who has adhd. Is there a curriculum that has a general version of all the subjects for 9th grade?
Would love to try the ACE curriculum, I have looked on the website before and it’s difficult to figure out which level to start with so I gave up and never ordered
I think the GATB gets so much hype because some of it is amazing and people apply those positive feelings towards all their products. We have used things from them we absolutely love and I would recommend to everyone, but there have been a few things that were horrible misses that I would warn everyone against using. We have done IEW once, and though my son didn’t mind it, I hated how it was so formulated. Every paper he wrote read the same but was only different in topic. I realized that kids who used this program would all end up writing in the same style, and all their papers would read like they copied each other. I can see a use for it for some kids but it wasn’t for us. However, I did get their charts just as a tool to help my son remember to occasionally make sure he’s “spicing” up his writing, if necessary. I am also utilizing their Phonetic Zoo cards this year (not the whole program, just the cards). I think their Fix It Grammar is likewise overrated. That last comment will probably get me stoned. 😂
We use TGATB language arts until first grade and then move on. I think the phonics are good, but that’s about what I can take. I cannot get behind the Dick and Jane type stories they publish in lieu of reading real children’s books. I can’t even watch the channels anymore that have sold out to TGATB sponsorships. Memoria Press has excellent literature options with real and excellent books.
My 7 year old just wrote "Whaddya" after reading it in a book (I did tell him it's not a real word). I'm going with it. If he wants to write like that in his story like the books he's reading, it's really not that big of a deal.
We love Christian Light Education which was recommended by another RUclips homeschooler. It’s very inexpensive, comprehensive and my children love the workbook aspect which is similar to ACE.
I don't think I've ever heard of it but I'll check it out!
Best curriculum ever!
Christian Light Education is a much better than ACE, and it's an academically stronger curriculum.
I thought they looked excellent at 1st grade but I purchased their kindergarten curriculum and at least the kindergarten 1 was basically preschool level and my son wasn’t learning much. We haven’t done the second half yet, but it comes with activity books and is meant for a slightly more developed student (age wise) t’s not divided by subjects, has stories, different cultures, it’s all centered around God, lots of cut outs and coloring activities. My son loves the stories and short questions to check comprehension and when we did the lessons they took maybe 15-20 minutes to do. It’s very gentle so it wouldn’t bring your child to tears doing it. ❤I would like to revisit it again once we’re out of kindergarten :)
Essentials in writing is another curriculum not often mentioned that we have come to really like .
Yes, we’ve enjoyed that in the past too!
Thank you for your honesty 🙏 I am so frustrated about TGTB videos (being fresh to homeschooling) and then I realized that most of them are sponsored by them....😮
Well, thanks to you, my girls are using ACE paces this year and loving it 👍📚
Yes! This is a big thing that people aren’t realizing!! All the chatter about them is part of their marketing strategy and paid for!
I am on my 5th year of homeschooling now a 6th grader, 3rd grader and kindergartner and we have used A.C.E for 4 out of the 5 years and have loved them. We’ve tried TGATB as well and although some of their stuff worked for a couple of years I didn’t find it to work for long term. But A.C.E has been our go to. I love that it teaches your children to be independent from a young age which boosts their confidence. And for some who might find it lacking once you get to 5th grade and up I don’t find that to be the case but you can also add to it if you felt like it was needed.
Is this the PACEs? If it is, I find them way too religious.
Rod and Staff Science Curriculum is also under-rated for the elementary years. It is simple and very affordable because they use textbooks that could be done independently and then passed down to other children to be re-used.
I've heard of them but you're right, I've never seen anyone talking about them.
We've loved MasterBooks for the elementary years. Notgrass History and Mystery of History are both really interesting and Christian Kids Explore Chemistry we've loved.
Thank you for making this video! I really needed to hear this today. I've been feeling so pressured to like certain curriculums over other ones, just because they're talked about so much, and personally I've always loved Critical Thinking Co as well, but was worried it wasn't enough because no one else talked about it. So, thanks so much for making this video, I'm going to kick the curriculums that I've been trying to force and go back to Critical Thinking Co and Teaching Textbooks! :) They worked great for us in the past, so that's what I should stick with! Such a great reminder.
We’re an Evan Moor loving family! We use their language fundamentals, academic vocabulary, reading comprehension fundamentals, writing, and science. We use All About Learning Press for reading and spelling because it’s what has clicked best with my daughter. We’re using Beautiful Feet Books with a lot of adaptations for history (I wrote my own lesson plans for it) and we absolutely love it!! And for math we’re using Math with Confidence and it’s our absolute favorite for our family for right now.
We are loving Evan Moor this year for my 5th grader for science, geography, vocabulary, and language arts. We have always loved the Critical Thinking Company since he was in preschool. We use math and spelling from plain and not so plain (free).
I love the ACE paces. We have been using them for about 20 years. I try other things, but I keep going back to them. Their math is really great. They have many missionary stories woven in to their curriculum as well. Scripture memory in each pace. These are really good for special needs children as well, very structured and predictable, not frustrating.
To me, your description of IEW sounds great, lol. I suppose that if someone is already a naturally good writer, they could feel squelched. But for most kids, adding individual, specific details to make writing better and more fleshed out, is incredibly beneficial.
My daughter LOVES all the aspects of IEW that she mentioned as negatives 😂 She is one of the "stare at a blank page and cry" kids, though, so maybe that's the person it is written for
We LOVED the Evan Moor workbooks in the younger years for science and geography. So sad that we're moving out of that stage of homeschool. I grew up with ACE and yes, it's rarely talked about. I have used CLE with my kiddos and it's similiar. But we haven't used much of it.
I feel like IEW works best with children who are not creative, but more mechanical thinking. It works great for my daughter. She does have more of a mechanical mind.
How do you know if one is mechanical?
@@OperationJennifer, you would be very good at fixing and building things. You can "see" how things work.
Im glad your speaking on these. Ive been homeschooling for 8 years. We have used A.C.E for most of it. But I would say A.C.E is good for the lower levels to start them out. Like a good foundation but once you hit about 4/5th the math can starting become way to long and repetitive. But again for every child and family its different. So this is solely based off my opinion. A.C.E is a mastery approch which I thought was good for ADHD. But as of last year we switched to Christian Light Education. My son who has ADHD says he feels the way Christian Light explains things is much easier. He also said he likes how they circle back to the concept. Christian Light is Spiral approach and for some reason is working better for his brain lol. Also I love how there are teacher manuals to the light units. A.C.E only provides score keys. I also have a few families that use A.C.E too and they say it gets more challenging in the highschool years..its starts out gentle and easier and works its way up to difficulty. But overall they are both open and go and less stressful
We love Evan Moor geography for early elementary! Fun, colorful workbooks and short lessons are great. I think another “sleeper” curriculum that isn’t talked about enough for the early years is Explode the Code! Sure, the illustrations are pretty goofy, but it’s great for phonics and my boys love it!
Also if you use at least 2 subjects with ACE you can attend and compete in their student convention. They have one in Tennessee and then a world wide convention that's in a different state each year
Thank you for your video and I agree with a lot of what you had to say. A curriculum that we’ve been loving that few people talk about is Life of Fred math. We have a different math that we use and love, but I was curious about Fred, so I started my daughter on it as a way to encourage her to become fluent reading aloud to me. It was beneath her level for math, but perfect for her reading. She loved it SO much she has kept asking me to buy her the next book. Now that she has flown through the younger levels and we are on her level for math we use it as a supplement to what she already does daily in math and she is understanding these math skills in a whole new way. I hear Life of Fred can be a standalone or a supplement and we really enjoy it.
My kids loved the Fred books too. We actually used it for language class.. along with the Julie bogarts poetry teatime even.. just really kept things simple, stuff they needed to learn and fun
My two 8th graders wanted an open and go curriculum for Science and History, so because of your flip-through video we went with with ACE and they are loving it. We also use Teaching Textbooks and they love it. Both of these curriculums are helping them gain the independence they're going to need for high school and college. One is doing IEW and thriving, the other one hated it so we're just doing some basic workbook style right now and he seems to like that. :) I appreciate these types of videos!
I'm so glad your kids are loving ACE and TT! Those are such great options that are also really affordable!
So glad you made this video because this is exactly how I have been feeling lately! We started homeschooling my oldest when she was in 5th grade and used TGTB and quickly found out for us personally not a good fit. Now I’m looking for early elementary curriculum for my youngest and your so right it’s the same curriculum companies talked about over and over!
I absolutely love Evan Moor! I have used the spelling & language fundamentals and they have been so helpful for my 8yo daughter!
That is awesome!
I found out about Evan Moor from you and it has been a huge blessing to us! Such a wonderful resource!
It really is!
Teaching Textbooks has been SO awesome for my now 8th grader! And I honestly wouldn’t care if it was “behind” because it has made her feel successful. We also have loved A.C.E. for Social Studies and Science and even Bible. I think the Good and The Beautiful is a great option but I also feel like they are everywhere and agree it can be overrated. I do appreciate how much free curriculum they offer!
I think another curriculum that is underrated is core knowledge. They offer free curriculum in language arts, math, science, and social studies for grades K-8.
Thank you so much for this comment. I'm checking it out and it seems great. And free is always wonderful, since most of us are one-income families.
Denison math and saxon math with Nicole the math lady are also good options
We are using Denison this year and it is awesome! I love the pencil and paper aspect combined with short video lessons is perfect.
Thank you so much for this! We started using Evan-moor and explode the code. One of my daughters is dyslexic. Both of girls use these and they have definitely helped. My kindergartener uses a lot of Evan-moor workbooks as well. We also use reading eggs/mathseeds. I am definitely going to look into the other ones you’ve mentioned.
We love Master Books so far for elementary! I started TGTB because everybody said Master Books "wasn't enough." However, to me, there was no logical sequence in TGTB yet constant review. Plus all the arts and crafts tacked on at least 45 to our day between language arts and math.
Master Books covers everything TGTB did but in a different sequence and my daughter loves it more because of the stories they include in the lessons. Also, if you read the introduction in the front of the book and resources at the back before starting you will realize there is so much more to it than meets the eye.
I grew up on A.C.E. and was forced to use it for my teen nephews a few years ago. Higher grade Math and English are absolutely awful in this curriculum. It’s also riddled with things that are potentially very upsetting for kids from traumatic backgrounds. If you and your children have had healthy home lives you probably would never view it that way but taking my poor little nieces through it after what they’ve experienced of life felt borderline abusive.
It definitely won’t be my choice for my daughter.
I’m not sure if you share but I would love to see your daily/weekly school day for your daughter grade 8. We love many of your recommendations especially ACE and Teaching Textbooks. The science is exactly what we needed. We love Notgrass history.
I 100% agree. when I first started homeschooling four years ago I could hardly find anything else other than to put in the beautiful. I tried their old math but it did not work for us. and I had to supplement it with so much. I wish I had known more at the time. However, I do like their new early elementary math. I have found that there are more and more homeschoolers talking about critical thinking co. I use them. They are wonderful company.
I HATE the hate on teaching textbooks. I know a few youtubers that will bash it, but I found it very good and thorough. I agree with a lot of your choices too.
Teaching textbooks was way too difficult for my kids... We decided to go with denison math and it has made all the difference.
Love the critical thinking company! We’ve been using the mind benders and critical thinking skills books for years! I do disagree with you on the teaching textbooks. I feel it’s overrated bc all the RUclipsrs I watch use it. I personally dislike online curriculum but glad it works for so many people.
Yes, CTC is the best!
This is the awesome thing about schooling at home. If a person wants an in-depth study of a subject, there is curriculum for that. If a person wants only an over view, or short study, there is curriculum for that as well. It can be overwhelming to find the curriculum that works for you at a certain time, but the options are pretty good. We use Teaching Textbooks for math, I.E.W. for writing, and their Fix It! Grammar. I struggle with Social Studies and Science, but will be looking into A.C.E. for science and health. I'm looking at Waldorfish for geometry/art for next year. So, I appreciate your run through videos. This is how I choose our curriculum. Thanks again.
The critical thinking company makes up a big old basket in my house that the kids go through like candy 😂 So much fun!!
I thought we were going to go with IEW for writing after I heard all the hype about it, but after realizing how it is structured and knowing how my son feels about writing I’m so glad we didn’t. We started using Writing and Rhetoric (he’s 4th grade) and it has been an actual godsend for us. It feeds his creative nature and he’s learning to apply what he’s learning in a fun and diverse way.
Math Mammoth is another one that you don’t hear about much but it’s been our favorite math. It doesn’t have any fluff and the creator teaches the lessons on RUclips if you need additional help. Lots of links are provided for additional help too.
I was talking with some homeschool moms at Coop AND they hated it IEW. Their kids got so bored and it’s so difficult to teach. TGATB was never a choice for us.
This is our first time homeschooling and omg am I overwhelmed and drained. I bought School House Teachers and I'm kinda regretting it. It's a great concept but my kids find it boring! I found myself looking for other things. This video came at the right time.
If you have a Mardel anywhere near you I would suggest going there and looking at everything they have. You'll be able to flip through everything and each kid can see what they like best too. Hopefully this helps.
I've heard of them but we don't have one near us. :(
@@lauraarnold7607 What's a Mardel?
Thank you for making this video, your content is one of my favorites by far, I love how you share knowledge about other curriculum or workbooks out there because I too am tired of seeing review after review about The Good and the Beautiful and IEW I'm interested in trying other companies that unfortunately don't get the same attention or any attention for that matter to help us homeschool moms out with finding other material for our kids to try and enjoy learning from.
I was homeschooled and used ACE exclusively, and I never felt like I got a good education. Now that I am homeschooling my children, I refuse to use ACE. I did take a look at it again when we first started just because I was so overwhelmed with curriculum options, but ACE felt like a glorified workbook. I grew up feeling SO stupid because I didn't understand almost anything in school. What about it do you like other than it's open and go? Genuinely curious and not trying to sound negative. Do you use it for any children in elementary levels?
I had to use it for my teen nephews, I was raised with it too, and I was hit all over again with the way there would suddenly be pages and pages of a new concept to complete with little to no explanation of how you were supposed to solve these things! I’d look back and back trying to help them and there would truly be nothing. Eventually I resorted to RUclips and I’d learn the concept that way and then teach them but it was extremely time consuming and demoralizing. No one helped me that way when I was a teen using it so I thought I was just bad at math. Turns out it’s just a horrible curriculum!
A few under rated curriculums we have tried: Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Using Language Well (SCM), Treasure Hunt Reading *free, Alpha Phonics, Writing and Rhetoric, McGuffeys, A Gentle Feast, Well Educated Heart/Libraries of Hope, Math U See, Math Mammoth, Minimalist Math (Research Parent) *free, Cottage Press Language Arts, Blossom and Root science… fave resource for books is Biblioguides.
What was your favorite LA?
Thank you Becky for this honest video. I completely share your opinion regarding TGATB. I used it sometimes in the past, but just as a supplementation curriculum. Unfortunately, TGATB lessons are too short and incomplete. If someone it’s going to use it I recommend to get more info otherwise your kids will have a lot of questions unanswered. Thanks again and God bless you 🙏🏼
My 7th grader is autistic, and we have been trying to use IEW every year since 3rd grade. It is NOT for my daughter. I thought it would be a perfect fit because of her challenges, but after using it for five years, it never clicked in her brain. I even went through the teacher training for that program because I taught IEW in our Classical Conversations community. Most of the kids did really well with it, but it just did not work for my daughter.
We have also used Good and Beautiful for language, and in my opinion, while it is a beautiful program, it is not enough to use alone as a language arts curriculum. There isn't enough practice in each of the individual language components. So, I supplement with other things when we use Good and Beautiful - usually one grammar, one spelling, and one reading. We have used Easy Grammar, Fix-It Grammar, Spelling-U-See, All About Spelling. For reading supplement, I use The Book Umbrella novel studies from Teachers Pay Teachers. For writing, I had been using IEW but I have given up trying to make that work for my daughter. I'm just going to accept my defeat and move on. So next year, for 8th grade, we will use Good and Beautiful Level 8 (book studies) as our writing spine, and I will just teach the writing concepts throughout the year for each assignment. 🤷
If anyone out there has special needs kids and there's a writing curriculum that works well for them, let me know! 😅
You should definitely try Essentials in Writing; it was made with many disabilities and learning difficulties in mind.
I used ACE when I was homeschooled and I’m not a big fan. I have no doubt that a level here and there would be fine, but I don’t know if I would even try it with my family. 😬
We use ace and my kids and I love it. I know quite a few people who went to Christian school that used ace as well and they got a better education than I did at public school.
Same! Math and English are a train wreck with them imo.
I’ve really struggled with history and science. Since my daughter is a reluctant reader, I think the ACE Paces for social studies and science would be awesome to knock out those two subjects while covering reading and comprehension.
I think good and beautiful is overrated. We grew bored of the science setup and the chapter books are dry (just our experience). Easy Peasy is underrated. It offers many courses and free to low-cost options. Evan Moor is a great resource!
Thank you so much! I was definitely looking for something that is independent working since i have six children, four school age. Currently using the Complete curriculum books, they are handy and most of the work independently.
I used a bit of TGTB curriculum. The curriculum ended up not being a good fit for us. My kids do not like fluff. They are no nonsense kids much like their daddy. They want to get to the point. TGTB had no logical sequence and had too much fluff. My kids need a mastery approach with a bit of spiral review mixed in. So, we settled on BJU Math. My kids do not like all in one curriculum. They like separate subjects, even with Language Arts. I wanted to like TGTB Science but they offer a neutral Christian approach. My husband and I want them to learn science but with a gospel centered approach. So, we switched to Apologia.
Thank you love your review. I have never tried TGTB I have skimmed it and not interested.. . I use primarily Abeka Math/Social studies/ Science, Evan Moore Spelling /language... And IEW ( I don't make my daughter do the nit picky stuff) it works for us, we also use Avancemos for Spanish. Tried teaching text books but I like Abeka it works for us I love math and we are sticking to it K-12
Something about the honesty makes this video feel so down to earth and real and relatable.
Thank you! We love Teaching Textbooks for math. We're looking for good History and Science curriculums for high school. The programs we're currently using are very good, but are just taking too much time each day to get through.
I was homeschooled with ace from 3-7th. I’m using it as the core curriculum for my girls who are 7 and 5.
Teaching textbooks gets tons of meh and complaints. I wish I had time to make them a good tutorial video. I have so many tips that are basically in their program that people just don’t think to use. Biggest one is to still use paper and pencil. Especially when viewing a solution, we do the solution on paper along with the animation for that tactile component of memory. I’m mostly convinced that when people praise moving to another curriculum it’s mostly due to the fact that they are now using paper and pencil.
Winter Promise is never mentioned. I used it for one year and it was good. Also Heart i
of Dakota is great.
I've downloaded grades 3 through Algebra for the 15 lesson trials with Teaching Textbooks, and I thought it was a pretty low level for math.
I get annoyed hearing about IEW all the time. lol..I much prefer EIW and never hear about it.
I’m weirded out by the fact that all my videos where I say the good and the beautiful wasn’t a good fit for us, the comments all look like bots promoting it and telling me I’m crazy!! It didn’t dawn on me maybe the company is paying people to look out for videos that speak down on it and then comment a rebuttal - it was very very bizarre to me.
Excellent video. My daughter is using A.C.E. This year for biology, social studies, English , health , and spelling which is called “word study” or something like that lol
I agree about their website. We got ours through Curriculum Express and it came amazingly quick too. We also use teaching textbooks. Thank you for your insight. You are very helpful Becky!🤗
We used one of IEW's courses and thought it was good but we wouldn't want to do it every year. My daughter is a very natural, creative writer so the formal structure was not really needed, but I can see how it would work really well for some. We did a year of TG&TB years ago but like other all-in-one curriculum it didn’t work. The grammar section was really intense, the writing was ok for her, but the spelling and reading was well below her. But if we skipped a few levels to be right for spelling and reading, the grammar was well beyond her. Many kids are stronger at some subjects than others so an all-in-one just doesn't work.
We love teaching textbooks I like Evan Moor history pockets and we love scholastic workbooks
Great video! I’m new to this so I’m really happy to hear about alternativea
We used ACE for 5 years but after hearing nothing about them really I was “pressured “ into changing to Abeka (2nd yr using) and we just started 8th grade and are drowning!
I'm sure you have figured this out by now, knowing that your comment is 9 months old, but Abeka was created for a classroom setting in Christian schools. There is a massive amount of 'busy work' built into the lesson plans. Don't let others dictate how you run your own homeschool. If ACE worked best for y'all, go back to it. I taught for several years in a Christian school environment using several different curricula and now choose to use ACE at home! Do we follow all of ACE rules? No! But we don't have to. We do what works best for us and you have the freedom to do the same thing! Good luck to you!
Do you use building writing skills by critical thinking company as a supplement for BJU english? BJU looks really good and thorough.
If you have a child that struggles in math I highly recommend Learn Math Fast. The Good and the Beautiful did not work for us . Im currently looking for something for writing and chemistry. Any suggestions?
Another fan of Evan Moor books!!
Thanks for the video, have you done a review on CTC math Versus Teaching Textbooks?
We used CTC math for my kids, grades 1 & 3. My kids struggled with it. The explanations are very concise. The concept doesn't seem to stick. My 1st grader is having a hard time applying the math concepts to word problems. I think it might be a good supplement. My 3rd graders (twins) get frustrated with the measurements and measuring because it's very hard to see and we can't Zoom in so they get the answers wrong even though their answers were just off by 1 or 2.
My friends uses ACE for everything. But she’s not a RUclipsr. 😄 I’ve literally never heard of the Critical Thinking Co so going to check them out. There are also a ton of videos about people quitting TGTB. But I agree is it prob the most talked about curriculum out there. I personally think their math is terrible. My kids did not retain hardly anything from it. Their new versions of their LA seem to be much better. But I would like to know what you’d recommend instead. I hear TGTB, All About Reading and Logic of English recommended the most. I’ve used all except LOE and never plan to use that one. Way too many moving parts. I can not do dry, black and white textbooky stuff like CLE. I grew up on that and hated it. I did try CLE learning to read with my son and we both hated it so badly!
IEW and TGATB simply do not work. I cringe every time I hear people mention IEW, of all the bad curriculum out there, it is the worst of the worse. It produces nothing but generic, robotic, boring writing that does not serve students well at all. And with TGATB, their Math and Lang. Arts are both terrible. A Lang. Arts curriculum has one job, to teach language arts and they are so busy trying to cram in every othe subject under the sun that you actually end up with very little language arts. People get drawn in by the popularity of it and how beautiful it is but it just does not do its job. Plus, just like with the Math, it jumps around so much and offers such little practice or feedback that it's not useful. There is a great way to do spiral curriculum, but this is not it. And their spelling has always been a hot mess.
Thank you! You word it so well!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Wow! I'm really shocked to hear this! We're using TGTB science and love it so SO much that we're seriously considering also doing their LA program...but it's quite expensive ( homeschooling 7 children) so I'm doing a lot of research on their LA prior to spending that kind of money.
Thank you for saying this. It’s hard to let the truth out especially about TGTB. There’s a scary curriculum cult out there that like to rip people with different opinions apart. It’s nice to see some opinions that are realistic be shared freely.
So what do you see as a good option?
We had exactly the same results with IEW. My kids all lost their love so writing, dreaded it every week and I didn’t like reading the same topic from them. We stopped it and their writing is flourishing. They are far more creative and I love hearing their voice in their writing.
Evan Moore is great for independent learners
We are new to homeschooling. This is my first year with an 8th grader who has adhd. Is there a curriculum that has a general version of all the subjects for 9th grade?
I agree with you on all of these! What do you think about Lifepac? Is it similar to ACE?
I wish I could tell you but we've never used Lifepac.
Bob Jones University is kind of a mixed bag. I really liked Spanish 1, Economics and Earth Science but not Biology or U.S. History.
Would love to try the ACE curriculum, I have looked on the website before and it’s difficult to figure out which level to start with so I gave up and never ordered
Yeah, their website is a mess so try looking in the books on Christainbook.com
I grew up using it and would not recommend it.
I think the GATB gets so much hype because some of it is amazing and people apply those positive feelings towards all their products. We have used things from them we absolutely love and I would recommend to everyone, but there have been a few things that were horrible misses that I would warn everyone against using. We have done IEW once, and though my son didn’t mind it, I hated how it was so formulated. Every paper he wrote read the same but was only different in topic. I realized that kids who used this program would all end up writing in the same style, and all their papers would read like they copied each other. I can see a use for it for some kids but it wasn’t for us. However, I did get their charts just as a tool to help my son remember to occasionally make sure he’s “spicing” up his writing, if necessary. I am also utilizing their Phonetic Zoo cards this year (not the whole program, just the cards). I think their Fix It Grammar is likewise overrated. That last comment will probably get me stoned. 😂
Agreed
I HATED ace as a teen.😢 I wonder how different it is now if at all.
Not. One. Bit.
I had to use it for my nieces and nephews for a couple of years and it’s EXACTLY the same in all of its horrid glory.
@@vivilife9391 wow!
Girl I just became a new subscriber 😅of yours. Ty 4 this!
We use TGATB language arts until first grade and then move on. I think the phonics are good, but that’s about what I can take. I cannot get behind the Dick and Jane type stories they publish in lieu of reading real children’s books.
I can’t even watch the channels anymore that have sold out to TGATB sponsorships.
Memoria Press has excellent literature options with real and excellent books.
Gah, yes. Why can't they use classic children's literature with their curriculum instead of those ridiculous storybooks???
My 7 year old just wrote "Whaddya" after reading it in a book (I did tell him it's not a real word). I'm going with it. If he wants to write like that in his story like the books he's reading, it's really not that big of a deal.
I can't stand the commercials of TGATB. Even my son makes fun of them. I am pretty sick of them.
Only 20 minutes daily of science. The US is doomed lmfaoooo