GUEST POST- Monarch Curriculum Review

My good friend Candice has offered us a review previously on  SOS.  This year she tried her hand at a new curriculum which she was also kind enough to write us a brief review on.  Please read below for Candice's review on Monarch.



This year we were really hurting financially when it came time to buy Homeschool Curriculum. So when I saw an advertisement for the new monthly payment plan for Monarch I was sold. Monarch is by Alpha Omega Publications who also makes Switched on Schoolhouse, Life Pac, Horizons, etc. We used Switched on Schoolhouse last year and it was a life changing experience. I didn’t know a lot about Monarch. I had heard some users say that it was basically Switched on Schoolhouse except that it was entirely online. With S.O.S. you have to install discs on one computer and continue to do all your work on that computer for the school year, but it does not require internet. Monarch appealed to me because if my son stayed the night at his grandparents or we went on vacation he wouldn’t miss school because we could always access it online. I was sold. I signed up for the monthly plan which is $39.95 for an individual and $69.95 for the family plan. I have been using Monarch for a little over three months now and I am still not used to it. Don’t let anyone tell you it is just like Switched on Schoolhouse because my friends it is not. The lessons might be the same, but the interface is different. They don’t have an attendance tracker in Monarch which is one of the things I loved about S.O.S. In S.O.S. when my son finished his lessons it would tell him what grade he got immediately. There is not an option for this in Monarch. Monarch is entirely on the internet, so it lags and some days it lags a lot.  You can look up Monarch technical problems and there are a lot of complaints about that. We will not be using Monarch next year unless the technical issues are fixed. I think if I hadn’t used S.O.S first then I would be more excited about Monarch, but it’s kind of like going from an Android to an IPhone.    

Remember to check out and support Candice's facebook page for allergy awareness by clicking on Elijah's Hope!!!