At Lakeshore Christian School, we use the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum because we see several advantages:
Individualized Instruction
Your child is more than a number of a group. He or she is an individual with unique past experiences, capabilities, needs and goals. In a group teaching situation, he may be comparatively slow, average, or advanced.
The Accelerated Christian Education program is planned and directed towards learning and the individual. It is designed so the student can work on his own, at his own speed, based on his own experience and capabilities. In this way, he can accelerate from where he is toward his highest potential.
Each student works in his own private office complete with ample study area, a bulletin board, and personal achievement record. Dividers between the students eliminate most audio-visual classroom distraction. Each student can increase his level of interest, seek to meet his own needs, and learn to set his own goals and attain them.
Multigraded Instruction
The conventional practice of grading and grouping students according to their chronological age is replaced by multigrading. A thorough program of testing evaluates the students' level of vocabulary and skills in each subject. This makes it possible to prescribe their instruction at their current level of achievement. A multigraded student may be working on 7th grade English, 8th grade Math, and 9th grade Science. Students of relative social and mental maturity are grouped into the Junior and Senior High classes.
Christ-Centered Instruction
Promotion, admission policies, discipline, classroom decor, environment, and staff philosophy are first and foremost Christ-honoring and Bible-oriented. The Bible is the source book of absolute principles of life and conduct. Each day opens with the pledges to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible, followed by Scripture reading and devotions from the Bible relative to successful living. The Scripture reading is designed to direct the student to see life from God's point of view. Devotional group-dynamics sessions permit students to share Scripture principles relative to their level of interests and needs. During these sessions self-image, self-acceptance, self-confidence, problem solving, friends, achievement, and success are viewed from a Biblical perspective.
Situation ethics and the "new morality" are refuted and replaced by the absolute standards of right and wrong which made America great. The students' search for a meaningful experience is offered as they are led to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Through Chapel services, retreats, Accelerated Christian Education Student Conventions, and daily devotions, Christ is held up as the answer to all of life's questions. Individual effort is made to help each student grow in Christ and develop an attitude and spirit of submission to the Will of God. The key to successful Christian maturity and learning is to see life from God's point of view.
Achievement-Oriented Instruction
People thrive on achievement. There is a certain thrill involved in finishing something tangible with obvious results. Students are no exception. The Accelerated Christian Education curriculum takes the tools of academic learning out of the hands of the teacher and places them in the hands of the student. Since the tools are tailored to his ability, a degree of success is certain. The program provides built-in incentives and the student who succeeds tends to become more and more successful. Success is the greatest incentive for achievement.
Self-Directed Instruction
The curriculum package is a unique combination of recorded teaching, text books, and work exercises contained in the Packet of Accelerated Christian Education (PACE). The students work individually on their PACEs at their own speed. Since the teacher's time is not consumed with lecturing, the teacher is available for individual counseling and assistance to the student as the need arises.
Thoroughly Biblical Instruction
The Accelerated Christian Education curriculum materials are written by qualified Christian educators with a genuine Biblical underlying philosophy. Biblical precepts are written into the text of each PACE. Biblical principles radiate throughout the entire curriculum. All this is done on an academic "scope and sequence" designed to place students well ahead of national norms on standardized achievement tests.
