Homeschooling Tips: ACE/SOT Curriculum

The Accelerated Christian Education/School of Tomorrow curriculum is the one we are using for my son's Preschool homeschool program. We are happy to report that a week in since we started and we are breezing through it. I love how this program integrates values and Bible training in the academics. For those who would love to explore the shores of homeschooling, ACE/SOT is the curriculum to look into.

The Accelerated Christian Education has been around since 1970. Students undergo diagnostic exam upon entering the program and are placed where they belong based on the result.

Unlike traditional education, this program allows for students to advance from pace to pace as they demonstrate mastery. The advancement is done with the supervision of instructors. What I especially love about the School of Tomorrow curriculum is it is more than quality academics. The foundation stands on the value for students to learn the things they need to know from God’s point of view. Students are encouraged to nurture their personal relationship with God and their personal responsibilities towards their family, church and community. 

A word from Executive Director of School of Tomorrow, from their webpage, www.sotphil.net:

The present economic situation of our world lends itself to introduce the discussion and theme of School of Tomorrow® for this year. Each day the bad news seems to swell into our lives like the tsunami that rolls into the shore, affecting everything in its path. Where and when will it end? Why did it have to come?

These are the questions, but the answers are found in a realization that calamities like this really do help us define what is TRUE TREASURE! We must see that when all the problems are gone and the effects are seen, the true treasure is still there. Some things wash away, but real treasure remains.

So often in education we have placed our trust and hopes in fake treasures. We have made the accumulation of riches the end of the pursuit of education. A better college or university (by whose standards, we have to ask) is the goal for our graduates. And after that a better job and higher salary. But even these pale when the crunch comes. There is no sure standing or guarantee in these times.

The TRUE TREASURES are few, but totally REQUIRED for our lives. They must be eternal. Earthly riches fade, tarnish or devaluate. Even priceless antiquities are but temporary and can be destroyed by fire, water or aging. When heaven and earth pass away, those things built on relationships will last. The greatest of these is the relationship with God and his Son, Jesus Christ. No wonder Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness…”

Second they must be RELEVANT. Relationships with family and friends remain and often are even stronger when trials come. We see differences vanish as they draw us together. The relevancy of relationships are seen and are demonstrably common in our Filipino society. We have those particular names such as “cuya” and “ate”. These mean a special relationship and delegate responsibility as well.

Finally, True Treasures should be RESILIENT so that they never fail, never are out-dated or in need of renewal. God’s Word and the principles taught there are permanently true. They will “never pass away”, and as such make the educational process totally and truly TREASURES.

School of Tomorrow® will do that for those who use the curriculum (which is Individualized, Scoped and Sequenced) and procedures (developing character with each component). The different programs such as ABC’s, the Educator’s and student conventions, the retraining of staff, and then school visits, ALL combine to make us a system of value. We are not just an individual school using a portion. We are a SYSTEM of parts and Parts of a SYSTEM!

Let us determine to be a TRUE TREASURE for this Nation’s future growth, impact and blessing. Only as we work together will the impact be realized.