PAC homeschool curriculum review

Over the years of homeschooling, I’ve tried many different curricula. I’ve tended to use curriculum specific to a subject type, so curriculum company A is known for science and I get their science and curriculum company B is known for history, and I get their history. There is a whole different category of homeschool curriculum that produces all the subject areas you need. One such company is Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum, they produce homeschooling curriculum for middle school and high school.

(I originally received free curriculum from Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum, but I wanted to have a more concise review of them, so I’m writing this in addition to my original posts, also I have affiliate links in here)

What is PAC homeschool curriculum like?

I’ve used their science and math curriculum so far, they also have social studies, reading, electives, and enrichment. Both of the PAC curriculum I tried had the same organizational style.

There is a textbook that is divided up into several chapters. This is nice so you do not have to lug around big heavy books, and it fits easily into your backpack. Also if you lose one chapter, you’re not having to rebuy an entire textbook. Not that my children have ever lost a book or anything….

For each chapter, there is an activity pack (review questions for each day’s reading), weekly quizzes (each chapter takes three weeks), and a test for the chapter.

It’s pretty straightforward in use, read the assigned day’s reading, answer review questions, which the student can grade themselves, and at the end of the week take a quiz. If the student averages over 85 on the quizzes, they don’t have to take the test. If you choose, your student could grade their own quizzes and tests.

 

What I like about PAC homeschool curriculum and why I think it’s perfect for a mom with lots of kids

This curriculum is great for making my kids work on their reading comprehension. My kids hate that aspect, but I LOVE it. Every time they call me over to ask for help, I refer them back to what to do for reading comprehension and to look for the same phrasing.

This curriculum is great for teaching kids how to take tests. I used to scoff at that, but I realized they’ll be taking tests all their life, primarily with the DMV, but still tests that ask annoyingly nitpicky details.

Most helpful for a parent with lots of kids, or a working homeschool mom, it fosters independence.

Remember my mentioning they can grade their own work?  If you need a kid to be pretty hands off, where you’re just in a supervisory role, this is the curriculum for you.

If you have a kid who needs straightforward: read, answer questions, and complete a quiz. This work is for you.

Now, I haven’t used their reading or history stuff yet, so I can’t speak to that, but their math and science is great for kids who need structure.

How I organize our PAC curriculum

I personally like the option to either get a print copy or a digital copy. The digital copy is great if you have several kids in the same school level like I do because then you can email your child the appropriate chapter and each child can read it on their own. It also is great if you have kids like mine who are prone to losing their schoolwork, because you can print an extra copy (now that they are older and have learned how to put stuff away, I charge them for copies like it was a copy store when I have to reprint sometimes to encourage them to look better).

Both times I reviews PAC curriculum I received a print copy as well as a digital. There are a lot of little booklets I could easily misplace, but I came up with a brilliant plan. Several years ago I bought paper magazine holders to organize our picture books, most of those now lie empty, so I put our science curriculum chapters into one box and the math curriculum chapters into another box.  On the spine, I labeled what was in the box (ha, I was looking at mine again and I put that on my to do list, and then never did that). Next, I used a piece of cardboard to divide the boxes in half and separated the chapter and activity books.

All of the grade sheets and all that I put into a binder. If you have the digital edition I highly recommend printing them out because I find it much easier to grade them if they are printed out, so I can put the work I’m grading right next to the sheet. I get lost less often than.

To make it easier to find the activity sheet, quiz, or test I’m grading I put dividers into the binder, and then I put post-it notes on the actual chapter I’m on and move the post-it notes as I move through the course.

 

Pick up your own copy of PAC curriculum

Ever since I first used PAC homeschool curriculum I’ve always been impressed with their customer service and how they want to serve the homeschool community. They offer a couple of discounts that are permanent, you just need to contact them.

40% off – Single parents/guardian or combined group single order, shipped to a single location, of $2000 or more.

20% off – first-time PAC customers, policemen, firemen, EMT, EMS, other first-responders, farmers, ranchers, pastors, missionaries, wounded warriors, or combined group single order, shipped to a single location, of $1000 or more.

Customers can contact us to receive a discount code. More information available here.

 

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