It’s Monday and I am diligently working on a new project at my job, when I receive a message from Monarch. “You comin’ home anytime soon?” asks my daughter. A second notification arrives: “I did some math.” At that point, it became clear to me that providing my child with electronic messaging was going to improve our communication.
I had set up our new Monarch account for each of my children on the prior evening. My wife and I both work outside the home, so the convenience that Monarch provides can be important and helpful. After using a book-based curriculum for some time, our children were thrilled to do their schooling on the computer. Experiencing Monarch as a curriculum alternative was interesting (and educational!).
Less than five minutes later, I had added each student and assigned a year’s worth of coursework. I was impressed by the simple but personalized interface that enabled me to change how the website handled incorrect answers or which Bible translation was used.
I elected to give immediate feedback on quizzes and tests; instead of merely receiving a grade at the end. The website suggested a grade percentage-to-alphabet grading scale but allowed me to easily raise or lower the percentage required to pass.
Monarch appears to be a rigorous program that combines Alpha Omega Publications’ (AOP) reputation for academic excellence with a flexible online system. It strategically presents a wide selection of content with varying assignments that include essays, projects and games.
We are a larger family, which brought some unique hurdles when using Monarch. I had one device to share across three children. For a family with one device for each student, Monarch works efficiently.
Our family also works on a unique schedule that typically includes school on Saturdays, but not Mondays. For families that have a unique school schedule (such as school on Saturdays), using the automated system takes longer to set up. Each Saturday must be individually changed to a school day in order for the automated system to schedule tasks for that day.
While my daughter enjoyed the technological aspect of Monarch, I was concerned about the amount of time that she would spend interacting with a computer. Would her education still be meaningful and have a lasting impact? Or would it simply become a period of boredom where she was required to click through digital pages without meaningful interaction?
My conclusion is that it was a little of both. As a second-generation homeschool family, we prefer the old-fashioned school experience that our current book-based curriculum provides. But for busy homeschool families who enjoy their students being self-taught and self-driven, Monarch may be the perfect fit.
Monarch‘s curriculum covers all subjects (plus electives) for grades 3-12. Parents using Monarch don’t have to teach the classes. It is a great fit for the family who wants to have automated grading and a self-sufficient teaching program while not sacrificing a solid and rigorous education.
To learn more about Monarch, visit DiscoverMonarch.com.
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