BENEFITS AND FEATURES OF ACHS
K-12 CURRICULUM
We provide support to families from the pre-reading stage to year 12 graduation. This means you can have the same support and service right throughout your child’s education. We also have a significant number of adults who have joined ACHS to gain year 10 or year 12 certificates.
NO LESSON PREPARATION REQUIRED
The curriculum preparation has been done for you when you use our curriculum. This is a great source of comfort to those who are unsure about writing programs. You can then add your family’s distinct elements to the ACHS curriculum, so as to tailor your children’s education to their specific needs. Our staff are able to advise you on this matter.
SIZE
We are the largest home schooling organisation in Australia, which provides a whole curriculum package. This gives us several advantages in terms of curriculum development, community, networking as well as interaction with government departments.
EXPERIENCE
Founded in 1982, ACHS, (formerly Australian Christian Academy) has many years of experience providing home schooling support and expertise to families across Australia and internationally. We can advise in areas such as learning to read, middle school, careers and gaining entrance to tertiary education.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
For parents who would like professional teacher assistance in the teaching of phonics, grammar, maths or the higher sciences, our advanced level of membership is available. We are only one of a handful of organisations that offer this service in Australia.
FLEXIBILITY
Nearly all of our members use Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) subjects but you may choose to use alternative subjects or curriculum and yet still be part of ACHS.
NEW CURRICULUM AVAILABLE
CEM is making new online Australian curriculum choices available to ACHS families. This means you can still use the core ACE curriculum but you will be able to do some subjects online such as Music or LOTE.
OPTIONS
ACHS is part of Christian Education Ministries (CEM), which is the largest provider of Distance Education in Australia. If you wish at any time to join a distance education program, the transition would be a very simple process.
DEDICATED CHRISTIAN SUPPORT STAFF
A requirement for employment for ACHS staff is that they sign our statement of faith and that they are active in the Christian community.
DIAGNOSTIC TESTING ON ENROLMENT
Part of our service is to provide diagnostic testing on enrolment. Your child will do a set of diagnostic assessments, online, which will be used to determine the knowledge and skills of each of your children. An ACHS teacher will then work in conjunction with you to determine your child’s academic prescription.
PRESCRIPTION OF ACADEMIC PROGRAM
A qualified teacher will assess your child’s diagnostic tests and work out an academic prescription for each child. This means your child will begin learning at point, which is neither too easy, nor too hard, and they will begin to achieve success immediately. We have found that this new experience of success breeds a new confidence in children, who were not previously academically successful and this can lead to a new or renewed love for learning.
ACC ONLINE - ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES
ACHS students are able to join our exclusive and monitored online community called ACC Online. ACC Online provides online curriculum resources such as learning objects, videos, courses, games etc., which further enhance your child’s learning experience.
ONLINE COMMUNITY AVAILABLE WITH ACC ONLINE
ACC Online also provides a wide variety of forums for both students and parents. This is restricted to families who are enrolled with ACHS.
SEMESTER REPORTS
All students will receive semester reports, which will summarise their academic progress. They are important documents, which will form part of each child’s academic, and achievement presentation portfolio.
YEAR 10 AND 12 ACE GRADUATION CERTIFICATES
We offer year 10 and 12 graduation certificates, which are great incentives for students as they seek to have identifiable goals in their secondary years. They are also vital for those seeking TAFE or University entrance.
ACCESS TO STUDENT CONVENTIONS
Students at ACHS are welcome to enrol in regional, South Pacific and International Student Conventions run by Southern Cross Educational Enterprises. ACHS staff will provide information for those students who are interested in participating in Student Conventions.
SPECIAL DIAGNOSIS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
If your child has a learning difficulty we provide a service to help determine a modified program, which will best suit your child.
HOME SCHOOLING IS POSSIBLE FOR THE LONG TERM
Many homeschoolers start out enthusiastically but soon become overwhelmed by lesson preparation, curriculum choice, loneliness, a lack of Australian Christian history material and extensive marking. Many simply give up and put their children back in school.
However by joining ACHS each of these problems is overcome with the support our staff give to families and our sequenced, self-instructional curriculum, which is fully prepared, rigorous and provides structure and routine for you and your children. We will be with you for the long term and we will help you with each hurdle as it comes.
WE ARE AVAILABLE
Our office is open for general support during normal business hours, including school holidays (with the exception of a 2 week break around Christmas), so we will be there for you. Also with our emphasis on community, you and your children will be able to connect and make friends with many others who are likeminded.
BENEFITS OF OUR CURRICULUM
Our main curriculum resource is the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) program, which offers the following benefits and features for your family: No lesson preparation required. Our curriculum has been developed by curriculum writing experts. Parents don’t have to find, access and compile their own lessons. Further, our online educational resources provide many varied learning experiences for your children.
BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
The philosophy and worldview of our curriculum resources is distinctly Biblical. Every academic subject upholds the Lordship of Jesus Christ and teaches about mission, godly living, respect for those in authority and character development.
SELF INSTRUCTIONAL
The ACE curriculum is a self-instructional tool, not a school textbook. It does not need a professional teacher with a degree in a subject to teach that subject to your child. The teaching is written into the curriculum. This method of instruction is one of the best forms of individualised, self-directed and mastery learning. It is used in registered schools in all states of Australia.
EMPOWERS PARENTS
The Bible states that parents are to teach their children (Deuteronomy 6:5-7; Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4). The ACE curriculum provides the expertise in each specific subject area to assist the parent in this task. Thus the parent does not have to have a degree in any particular subject area. The partnership of the parent, the curriculum and ACHS allows the parent to confidently teach the child.
CHARACTER BUILDING
The curriculum encourages the development of 60 positive character traits in the child. These character traits include characteristics that Jesus demonstrated such as: courage, honesty, compassion, creativity, resourcefulness, etc. Positive character development in children is one of the main goals for home educators.
APPEALS TO CHILDREN
The cartoon characters in the curriculum grow up with your children. They face similar problems that children normally face and exhibit Biblical answers to their problems. The curriculum provides wholesome role models for children as they study daily.
COLOURFUL & INTERESTING
The work units look good and are fun to use. The activities in the curriculum require varied levels of higher order thinking processes. The course material enhances the development of children along all six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
SAFETY NET
The curriculum is a safety net for you as an educator. It provides the basics of education, so your child will not miss out on important steps in education. This core curriculum covers what is required for a fundamentally sound education.
ALLOWS FOR CREATIVITY
Other activities or subjects may be added beyond the core curriculum to enhance the child’s development and education according to his or her individual gifts and abilities. ACHS families tailor their home education programme to meet their children’s specific gifts, talents and needs. Similarly, the structured curriculum can be the basis for any form of further discussion, research or follow-up learning activities associated with points of interest for your child.
FREES THE PARENT
Parents are free from being loaded down with tedious lesson planning. They are freed to give their full attention to their own children without being hindered by having to develop other curricula and lesson plans.
PARENT TRAINING PROVIDED
ACHS provides a self-instructional training package at commencement, which one parent completes at home, in their own time. This explains all the procedures that will help make the program work effectively. When the training is completed, the parent sends it to our office and the ACHS staff process the training materials and issue that parent with a certificate of completion. Additional educational tips and strategies are presented to parents in our regular newsletters. Furthermore, ACHS staff are only a phone call away if you have any questions.
DIAGNOSTIC TESTING
At commencement with ACHS, each child does a suite of diagnostic tests online. This is done at home. There is no time limit for individual tests, but most students complete the tests over a period of two to three days. An ACHS teacher will assess the diagnostic test results and will then prescribe curriculum resources for the child at the child’s correct level of learning. This means that your child’s education will be individualised. It will be at his or her correct learning level for every subject.
The diagnostic testing will also identify “learning gaps”, which can be revised without the need for repeating a whole year level. This means your child will begin using material that is neither too hard nor too easy.
SUITED TO PARENTS STARTING HOMESCHOOLING
Many parents are anxious about taking the step to start homeschooling. The ACHS educational programme is designed to make the transition as smooth as possible. Our whole curriculum package is there for you to commence your educational program. There is no need to scour bookshops and the Internet for the latest and greatest offerings.
USES PHONICS TO TEACH READING
Our curriculum uses a recommended phonics methodology to teach reading and is used throughout the early foundation years.
TEACHES SPELLING
A whole course, Word Building, is devoted to spelling and vocabulary, which greatly improves each child’s literacy.
CHILDREN MARK THEIR OWN WORK
Self-correction is an important part of the learning process. Score keys are provided with worked solutions which students refer to after gaining parental permission. It is the responsibility of the child to make the first attempt at understanding where they went wrong. If after checking the solution they still do not understand, it is then appropriate to ask for help from the parent. This process of self-diagnosis and self-correction will prove highly beneficial later in life. Final tests are scored by the parent using a separate test key, which should be kept in a place not accessible by the child.
MASTERY LEARNING
The curriculum uses a sequential learning methodology, with constant revision leading to mastery learning. Constant revision of material learned recently is a highly efficient method of increased memory retention. Mastery learning methodology is acknowledged by educational experts to be an excellent form of learning for students.
BIBLE SUBJECTS
Not only does ACE teach the core subjects such as English, Maths, Social Studies and Science, there are also a number of Bible subjects. These include Bible reading for primary, Old and New Testament survey, Life of Christ and Successful Living, which is a study of the book of proverbs.
INCLUDES CHECKS AND STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY
The program has points called “Checkups” where a student must present his workbook to the parent for understanding. The parent will review the quality and accuracy of the work and will also ask questions for understanding. If satisfied the parent will allow the student to proceed to the written component of the Checkup.
STUDENTS LEARN GOAL SETTING
At the end of each day the child sets his or her own goals for the next day on a goal chart. These are the goals, which must be completed by the student the following day. While the parent oversees this process, learning to set daily goals is a vital skill that will prepare the child for success later in life.
LOTS OF PARENT-CHILD INTERACTION
On average each child will require at least 40 interactions with the parent each day. These will include permission to do Checkups, score checks and Self Tests, quoting of Bible verses, reading of vocabulary and new words and the checking of goal charts. The parent also has the opportunity to be creative and tell a story of a personal experience or do research with the child in the library, on the Internet or in the garden.
SCRIPTURE MEMORY
The curriculum places a high emphasis on the learning of God’s Word, whereby students are expected to learn one verse in each PACE (workbook). Typically that equates to around 60 verses per year.
ACADEMICALLY RIGOROUS
The program has been recognised internationally as being equivalent to Cambridge A levels.
TEACHES A LITERAL SIX DAY CREATION OF THE EARTH
The curriculum upholds a young earth theory where God created the world in six 24 hour periods.
TEACHES GRAMMAR TO A HIGH LEVEL
Students learn parts of speech, correct sentence construction and diagramming. Good grammar skills give students the ability to communicate clearly, concisely and effectively.
USES CHRISTIAN NOVELS FOR LITERATURE
The novels have been chosen not only because they are good literature but because they have a positive Christian message.
TEACHES AUSTRALIAN HISTORY AND AUSTRALIAN MATHS
Although the main curriculum is imported from the United States, Australian History, Geography and Maths courses have been written for use in Australia.
SUITED FOR GIFTED CHILDREN
The program is designed so that students are able to progress at their own rate. Gifted students may graduate one or two years earlier than what would normally be expected. Alternatively they may choose to do more electives so as to receive a broader education.
SUITED FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
The course can be easily modified to suit those who take a little longer to grasp a concept or who can only cope with a reduced workload due to sickness.
SUITABLE FOR THOSE TRAVELLING
As the curriculum is largely correspondence-based the PACE workbooks can be bought before a trip and used whilst on the road, in the remotest of locations.
USES DIRECT INSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY
Direct instruction has been proven to be a very efficient means of instruction.
OVER 60 ELECTIVES
There are over 60 electives to choose from.