Home School Guidelines – Level 1

Freedom Christian Homeschool Guidelines – Level 1

Purpose

The purpose of Freedom Christian Homeschool is to assist homeschooling parents in their endeavor to home educate.  We are not an “umbrella” that shields homeschooling parents from state requirements.  As a homeschooling parent you are directly responsible to the state.  Home schooling is legal in Michigan with fairly broad parameters.  Even though there are broad parameters from the state of Michigan, Freedom Christian School is here to help guide you academically and to provide a self-instructional, Christian curriculum.  The purpose of the Level 1 Homeschool through FCS is to keep records, provide academic counsel, order curriculum, give access to FCS on campus classes, proctor on site testing, provide yearly achievement (Iowa) testing, include athletic involvement, issue report cards, and finally issue a high school diploma.

In order to help fulfill the state requirements for home schooling families, we expect students to complete the equivalent of one years’ worth of academic work.  With the Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E.) curriculum, that amounts to 12 PACEs in each subject per year.  A student should be completing no less than 5 subjects per year for a total of at least 60 PACEs completed during that academic year.  Students who do not complete at least one PACE per subject per academic quarter (see school calendar for dates) or who do not make significant academic progress that quarter may be unenrolled from our program at the discretion of the FCS administration.

Financial

Tuition is charged once the registration fee is paid and the completed application is turned in.

$25 registration (or reenrollment) per year per student or $50 registration per year per family

$700 per year per student

$900 per year for 2 students

+$100 added per year for each additional student (4 students = $1000, etc.)

Tuition includes on site testing, record keeping, achievement testing (required Iowa test), involvement in FCS athletics or classes, report cards, transcripts and diploma.  Tuition can be paid quarterly which is due by September 1^st, November 1^st, February 1^st, and April 1^st.  Score (Answer) Keys are to be returned to receive your $20 deposit back (or deposit may be put toward next year’s charges).  Delinquent tuition payments may result in unenrollment from our program.

(*Curriculum for one year is 60 PACEs and the accompanying answer keys.  Additional PACEs will be $3 per PACE.)

Supervision

Upon enrollment in the FCS homeschool program, it then becomes your responsibility to oversee and ensure your child’s academic success.  This includes keeping the integrity of the FCS Homeschool Program by making sure that you take away,  to the best of your ability, the temptation to cheat  (this means keeping score keys locked and by overseeing proper scoring procedures).

Placement

A student who enrolls in the FCS Homeschool Program will be tested with a Diagnostic Test for placement.  There are four Diagnostic Tests –Math, English, Reading and Spelling.   The Diagnostic Tests can be completed at home through the ACEMinistries.org website.  The testing must be closely supervised.  A student cannot get help while doing the testing.  The testing may take up to a total of 6 hours so you may want to spread it out over several days.  Please enter the school’s email address (office@freedomchristianschool.org) as the address to which you send the results.  School staff will then evaluate the results and accordingly place your child at his performance level in that subject.  A student may test below their grade level in a subject.  If that is the case, they will need to do “gap” PACEs to make up work where they may have learning gaps.

Procedures

Please be careful to follow these tried and proven procedures with the A.C.E. PACE curriculum.  A PACE is a workbook that is similar to a chapter of a textbook.  12 PACEs make up one year’s work in that subject like a textbook.  Each PACE has its own final test and there is not a final exam at the end of the course.  The PACE is divided into sections and at the end of each section is a quiz called a checkup.  The checkup tests the student over the material covered in the section previous to the checkup.  At the end of the PACE is a Self Test that tests the student on the information from the Checkups.  The Checkups and the Self Test are quizzes to test a student’s understanding and they should be treated as such.  Therefore, a student should study for the Checkup or Self Test but they are not allowed to look back in the PACE while doing them.  Be sure that all of the work before the Checkup or Self Test is completed and scored/rescored before the Checkup or Self Test is begun.

In order to complete at least 12 PACEs per year in each subject, a student needs to complete at least 4-6 pages per day in each subject.  On average a student should complete no less than one and half PACEs per week and he should complete at least three PACEs per subject each marking period.  A student who is behind in a subject should do extra pages in that subject each day.

Scoring

Scoring or checking the PACE work is a very important step.  It is the student’s responsibility to check their own work.  After a student has completed a page or pages, they need to get permission to score their work. The parent should look over each page making sure that the work is complete and then put a check mark at the bottom of each page that is ready to be scored.   The student then checks his work by comparing his answers against Score (Answer) Key.  If an answer is wrong, they need to mark it with a red x.  When a student is finished scoring, they put the Score Key away and go back and correct all the incorrect answers.  This will require going back to the reading and finding the correct answers or it may include reworking a problem.  Once they have made their corrections, the student will need permission to rescore their work.  While rescoring, any answers that are now correct should have the red x circled indicating that it is correct.  Once the whole page has been corrected, circle the page number also.  Remember that correcting mistakes is an important part of the learning process so be sure that it is done right.

Note:  Do not let student score unattended (an adult should be present).  Also, keep the Score Keys inaccessible while the parent is not around.  Take away the temptation to cheat (copying answers from the Score Key) by close supervision of the scoring process.  Do not let a student copy answers from the score key.

Testing

The next step is the PACE test.  After the entire PACE has been scored, take time to review or ask questions from the Self Test.  The Self Test is preparation for the PACE Test so be sure to go over any answers that were wrong and review any unclear concepts.  When you think the student is ready for the PACE Test,  contact the homeschool director and schedule a time to come to FCS for testing.  If you want to do multiple tests on the same day, that is fine also.

Please consider the following while preparing for a PACE test:

• A student should complete their PACE within three weeks. Longer time may cause the student to forget the material.
• Testing should be done soon after the PACE is completed.
• Be familiar with and memorize important vocabulary, definitions and math/science formulas.
• Make sure the student reads all the text first and then they should go back to find the answers.
• Minimize their distractions in the learning environment.
• Check the anxiety level of the student before testing. Emotional distress may cause a student to not perform well.
• Quiz the student on missed Checkup and Self Test questions the day before testing.

Extra-Curricular

Beyond PACE work there may be some elective courses a student may want to take.   FCS offers drama class, band, choir, physical education and after school sports (girls volleyball, boys soccer and basketball).  These courses are an additional cost and contact the school office for more information.  Gym/physical education may be done in the home for credit (please obtain P.E. guidelines from school office).  Elective courses taken outside of FCS must be approved by the homeschool director if they are to be recorded for FCS credit or grades.  Two foreign language credits are required for high school .  Students may use the A.C.E. PACE course or choose another curriculum.  A Spanish class is available at FCS for those who would like to pursue the Spanish language.

High School Credits

If you would like to receive a high school diploma through FCS for your child, please note the requirements that need to be met.  First, a minimum of 6 credits must be earned through FCS.  For courses taken through FCS, all tests must be taken on campus at FCS as proctored by one of the FCS staff or homeschool director.  The following courses are required in order to receive a FCS diploma:

Math: Algebra I -1cr, Geometry -1cr, Algebra II -1cr, Business Math -1cr

English: Eng. I -1cr, Eng. II -1cr, Eng. III -1cr, Speech -.5cr, Research Paper -.5cr

Science: Biology -1cr, Physical Science -1cr, Health -.5cr, Chemistry or Physics -.5cr

Social Studies: World Geography  -1cr, World History -.5cr, U.S History -.5, Civics -.5cr, Economics -.5cr

Etymology -1cr

Bible: Successful Living -1cr, Foundations for Living -1cr, choice -1cr

Computer skills -1cr

Phy. Ed. -1cr

Fine Arts Elective -1cr

Foreign Language -2cr

Motivation

Motivation of students is another important key in education.  Praise or encouraging words can help boost a student’s confidence.  Small rewards for short term accomplishments completed that day are encouraging too.

A “Star Chart” has been included in your materials to help keep tract of short term accomplishments.  Each time a student passes a PACE test, they should get a star or sticker to put on their chart on the corresponding subject and week.  This gives a visual aid to see their progress and It gives a quick overall view of progress throughout the year.  Older students will also respond to longer term rewards such as having a certain amount of work completed by the end of the week or month.  All high school students should have an Academic Progress toward Graduation chart to help motivate them toward earning credits toward graduation.  Be creative in coming up with ways to motivate your child to learn and achieve!

Convention

Each spring the students at FCS compete at the A.C.E. Regional Student Convention (RSC).  Homeschool students may compete and they must be 13 years of age and using the A.C.E. curriculum to be eligible.  They can compete in various categories such as academics, athletics, art, dramatics, music, and needle/thread.  Students who place at RSC are then eligible to compete at the International Student Convention.    These conventions are a highlight of each year for the students and you can find out more at ACEMinistries.org.

Unenrollment

A student will be unenrolled (expelled) from the FCS program if they do not complete at least one PACE per subject per quarter.  A student may also be unenrolled if they are delinquent in tuition payments.

Revised 8/22/23