Online learning is, in my opinion, one of the most amazing reasons to homeschool your kids. First, it provides immense flexibility and provides the opportunity for your child to get the best education no matter your location. My husband’s job makes it hard for us to stay in one place more than a few years. We knew this when we had kids, and knew it would be very difficult for our kids to change schools. Of the many reasons we decided to homeschool, the consistency that homeschooling provides for our kids was one of the major reasons we chose to go this route. With the invention of online learning, we have been able to give our kids a world-class education from anywhere. It’s really amazing and we enjoy the freedom and flexibility that online learning provides our family! Not only does it help provide stability for our kids, but we also get access to fantastic programs and teachers no matter where we are in the world. Whether we’re in a new city for my husband’s job, or we’re traveling for fun, homeschooling removes all the barriers.
When we had the chance to review the Monarch Homeschool Curriculum, I was thrilled. We’ve always loved the AOP brand of curriculum and believe they provide a robust and comprehensive program for all homeschoolers. Monarch Homeschool Curriculum provides everything you need for homeschooling. Your Monarch plan gives you unprecedented access to 5 core subjects in grades 3-12. The subjects offered include Bible, History and Geography, Language Arts, Math, and Science! My oldest daughter is in 8th grade, so we chose that grade level for this review; however, Monarch provides a full, comprehensive curriculum for grades 3-12.
Not only does Monarch provide a complete homeschool curriculum for your child, but it also has automatic grading to free up your time as a parent/teacher, convenient record keeping, and dynamic lessons that keep your kids engaged. Their subscription plans are affordable, at just $39.95 per month (or $399.95 for the year — you save ~$80/yr if you sign up for the yearly plan) which include the core classes of Bible, History & Geography, Language Arts, Math and Science and it’s just an additional $9.95 per month (or $99.95 for the year — saving $20/yr) for any elective. Plus, it’s award-winning! 
I will go into each core subject below; with a list of what your student will learn. My daughter was able to spend some time with this program and her feedback was invaluable. First, she loved how easy the interface was. She has used programs in the past that were easy to get lost in, or skip ahead. I appreciate that Monarch won’t really let your child skip ahead. I have to assign classes and courses to her and she can learn at her own pace, but she cannot jump ahead. I also like that I can customize the assignment settings, allowing her X number of chances to get something right, or being able to edit the grading scale.
Further, the reports were easy to create in my parent admin. I was able to see how she was doing on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. It was also very easy to get help from their support if I needed it. It was quick and thorough. Overall, we were incredibly impressed with the Monarch Homeschool Curriculum and would highly recommend it to any homeschooling family who has kids in grades 3-12. It is comprehensive, easy to use, and very reasonably priced given how much content, grading, and testing you get! Read on to see what is included in each core subject. Please remember that my daughter is in 8th grade, so that’s what we are showcasing here, but you can view more detailed information on grade levels here: https://monarch-commerce.aop.com/catalog
Monarch Homeschool Curriculum Review: Bible
Since my daughter is in 8th grade, I am showing you parts of the 8th grade curriculum. However, as I mentioned previously, the Monarch program is for grades 3-12.
The Bible 800 course provides a developmental and in-depth academic study of the teachings of the Old and New Testaments. It focuses on prayer, salvation, the attributes of God, the book of Proverbs, and interpersonal relationships. Special emphasis is given to a survey of Church history from the early Church through the Reformation. These areas target five content strands: theology, the attributes of God, biblical literature, Christian growth, and Church history (a special topic).
The Course Objectives Include:
- Understand the nature and use of prayer.
- Explain the relationship of sin and salvation in the Gospel message.
- Describe various attributes that belong to God.
- Identify key people, places, and events in Church history.
- Describe the deterioration of the Church in the Middle Ages.
- Pursue biblical truths in the development of relationships.
- Explain the relationship between parents and children.
Monarch Homeschool Curriculum Review: History/Geography
History and Geography 800 continues the process of developing in students an understanding of and appreciation for God’s activity as seen in the record of man and his relationships. The course focuses on American History, covering the subject from early exploration through the present day, with special emphasis given to the Civil War and to inventions and technology of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These areas of focus target three major content strands: History, Geography, and Government and Citizenship.
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to do the following:
- Identify significant explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, Francisco Coronado, Sir Francis Drake, Ferdinand Magellan, Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Samuel de Champlain, noting their accomplishments.
- Understand how conflict between the American colonies and Great Britain led to American independence
- Understand political, economic, and social changes that occurred in the United States during the 19th century, including changes resulting from the Industrial Revolution, and explain how these changes led to:
- movement into the western frontier, and
- conflict among sections of the United States.
- Describe the causes and effects of the Civil War and its aftermath.
- Describe the causes and effects of both World Wars.
- Understand some of the key challenges facing American society in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Additionally, students will gain practice in report-writing, covering topics like the thirteen colonies, the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War, inventors, and more
Monarch Homeschool Curriculum Review: Science
The course seeks to develop the student’s ability to be aware of and participate in scientific inquiry. The units contain experiments and projects to capitalize on the students’ natural curiosity. The student will explore, observe, and manipulate everyday objects and materials in their environment. Students at this level should show understanding of interrelationships between organisms and the environment, recognize patterns in systems, and expand their knowledge of cellular dimensions of living systems. Collectively, this should help students develop and build on their subject-matter knowledge base.
- Science and Society: Students will define science, describe its history, and use their main senses for observation of the world around them.
- Structure of Matter (Part 1): Students will describe elements and compounds in the terms of atoms and molecules.
- Structure of Matter (Part 2): Students will demonstrate a knowledge of the different changes in matter.
- Health and Nutrition: Students will learn how to develop good health habits.
- Energy (Part 1): Students will explain and give examples of the different types of energy.
- Energy (Part 2): Students will define magnetism and electricity and describe their relationship.
- Machines (Part 1): Students will define force and work, and evaluate the relationship that exists between work and energy.
- Machines (Part 2): Students will describe the different types of simple machines.
- Balance in Nature: Students will discuss the balance in nature regarding the different cycles.
- Science and Technology: Student will review the other units and explore careers in science and technology.
Monarch Homeschool Curriculum Review: Language Arts
Language Arts 800 continues to build on the sequential development and integration of communication skills in four major areas—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It most specifically focuses on deepening and furthering students’ understanding in the following ways:
- Reading–reinforces reading comprehension skills by teaching students how to analyze propaganda and other forms of writing, including biographies, autobiographies, formal essays, and informal essays; shows students how to make denotative, symbolic, and connotative readings of a text; introduces both Old English and Middle English languages and literature to develop students’ understanding of English language formation and development; prepares students for the higher level literary comprehension skills required in the upper grades.
- Writing–develops students’ understanding of sentence structure, providing hands-on experience with conjunctions, transitions, clauses, and common sentence errors; teaches language histories and etymologies to help students build on knowledge of word structures, including topics like prefixes, roots, and suffixes; expands on students’ vocabulary and spelling skills; gives students the opportunity to develop their abilities in writing business letters, friendly letters, informal essays, and basic literature analyses.
- Speaking–offers students experience in delivering oral reports; teaches skills that enable students to become effective speakers and communicators, weaving these skills together throughout the course.
- Listening–teaches effective listening comprehension skills, weaving these together throughout the lessons; builds upon students’ study skills, as well as helping them become reliable and efficient note takers.
Monarch Homeschool Curriculum Review: Mathematics
Mathematics 800 Fundamentals is an introductory algebra course designed to prepare junior-high school students for Algebra I. The course focuses on strengthening needed skills in problem solving, integers, equations, and graphing. Students will begin to see the “big picture” of mathematics and learn how numeric, algebraic, and geometric concepts are woven together to build a foundation for higher mathematical thinking.
- The Real Number System: Student will explore different properties of numbers, and how to use them to simplify expressions and formulas to make computations easier.
- Modeling Problems in Integers: Student will translate and solve one-step equations, or two-step equations in context, and check solutions for reasonableness, using the order of operations, and by substituting values for variables.
- Modeling Problems with Rational Numbers: Student will add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers with variables, likes, and unlike denominators to solve one and two-step word problems.
- Proportional Reasoning: Student will convert between fractions, decimals, and percents, and compare them, and identify similar and congruent figures and their corresponding parts, and solve for missing measures.
- More with Functions: Student will identify the parts of a line or quadratic equation and be able to graph it, and explore arithmetic and geometric sequences, as well as exponential growth and decay.
- Measurement: Student will explore relationships between sets of lines and the angles they create, understand and use the Pythagorean theorem, and identify characteristics of polygons.
- Plane Geometry: Student will determine how to calculate areas of common polygons, identify different transformations and how to determine the type and original image location.
- Measures of Solid Figures: Student will calculate surface area and volume of different objects, and solve for missing measures of 3 dimensional figures when given surface area or volume, and explain the relationship between surface area and volume.
- Data Analysis: Student will identify the mean, median, mode, range, lower quartile, and upper quartile of different data sets and construct the best display of the information.
- Probability: Student will identify all the possible outcomes of a given situation using combinations, permutations, and probability, and determine if events are dependent or independent.
Monarch Homeschool Curriculum Review: Electives
While my student did not choose electives as part of this review, I think the breadth of electives that Monarch has is so impressive. These electives allow students to explore subjects that pique their interest, deepen their knowledge, and create a more well-rounded education. Available for students in grades 4–12, Monarch electives offer a concentrated focus in specific disciplines. Choose from subjects that include world languages, history, literature, math, science, geography, health, civics, career courses, and more!
TRY MONARCH TODAY – CLAIM YOUR 30 DAY FREE TRIAL!
