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I began using ACE with our 13, almost 14, year old son
while living in Australia. I didn’t know anyone that
was home schooling but knew that the Christian school
was not right for us. Our son was traveling 2 hours per
day on a bus and what was going on around him during the
bus travel wasn’t good. Some of the teaching at the
school wasn’t lining up with our beliefs either and it
was causing some conflict. Our son had always been a
good student, in fact he had been put ahead a year and
was heading into year 10. To our astonishment when we
put him through the ACE diagnostic tests we were
surprised that he had to go back to year 5 and 6 in
English and Math to fill in the learning gaps.
Soon our daughter asked to be homeschooled. She was
high energy, easily distracted and couldn’t sit still
for 2 minutes. We could see that she just wasn’t going
to make it in school this way. Some of the things at
this school didn’t fit our Biblical model either. I
knew what I had to do but it was scary because I wasn’t
a trained teacher. Also I couldn’t do math above a
primary level.
Well, we stepped out in faith and it is honestly, as our
kids will tell you, the best thing that we have ever
done for them. Our son is currently serving the Lord as
an operations manager for an international ministry
overseas and our daughter not only completed her year 13
ACE certificate but also completed her Bachelor’s Degree
in Teaching: Early Childhood Education from the
University of Auckland with good marks. We began
homeschooling with a trampoline and a strict insistence
for her not leave her seat until she had finished the
page. Then she would go have a jump and come back to
her chair. It worked! She ended up with very good
concentration and self discipline that will carry her
through life. We never had to hire a tutor but we did
find many outside activities like sport, music, drama
and art to include in our homeschooling days. One of
the most important things about homeschooling was that
our kids were and still are “with us.” We didn’t loose
them to the world but they have become tools to reach
the world. We are so grateful that we used ACE.
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