Compare Acellus with us
Acellus teaches through filmed lessons and runs an online school, Acellus Academy. We teach your child through readings written around what they care about, graded as soon as they submit.
What a lesson is made of
Acellus is standards-based courseware for Kindergarten through Grade 12, with 470 courses for schools, virtual programs, and families. Acellus Academy, a program of the International Academy of Science in Kansas City, is an online private school.
We take a different route: your child learns from readings written around their interests, and your family runs the homeschool.
Where your child starts
Acellus recommends core courses by grade level. Its Deficiency Diagnostics and Prism Diagnostics find gaps and teach the missing concepts before a student returns to the lesson.
To start your child where they actually are, we write a placement test for each subject. It has 25 questions, or 12 for younger learners, and it adapts as your child answers.
From every answer, we estimate where your child is solid but not yet finished, and that's where they start. Each subject is placed on its own, so your child might begin in the middle of fourth-grade math and the beginning of fifth-grade reading. In grades 3 to 12, a child who prefers paper can print the free placement test, then upload a photo of the answer sheet for grading.
What a school day looks like
An Acellus lesson begins with a teacher presenting one concept on video. Students work through the courses at their own pace, while parents arrange school time and set weekly goals around that coursework.
Our Parent Dashboard lays out today's lessons by subject. You can build the week around your family's hours and print it for the fridge.
Interactive articles weave in your child's interests, with images and videos made for them. Reading checks confirm understanding, then your child applies the idea in a project, such as optimizing lap times for F1 or working out a rocket’s fuel load.
When your child gets stuck
In Acellus, help comes from the course itself: a student can rewatch the lesson video, and the diagnostics step in when a gap shows.
Our Always-On Mentor sits beside every reading and project, so help is there the moment your child needs it.
The mentor also steps in on its own when your child seems stuck, explains the idea another way, and can make it visual by drawing on its board. In a reading check or a project, it guides your child's thinking without giving the answer away.
Learning to keep a notebook
From Grade 3, our readings offer an optional Notebook guide to help your child organize their learning. It encourages lesson headings and unit labels, and the printable guide offers tips for taking notes in their own words rather than copying the article.
The guide encourages your child to note where they struggled and how they got past it. One tip is to star a useful takeaway, then gather those takeaways into a review page. When your child scans and uploads their notebook pages, we help them remember those ideas and shape practice problems around the places they struggled.
Who grades the work
Acellus automatically grades work entered into its program. Those results come from the shared video courses and exercises the student is taking, rather than lessons written separately for that child.
We grade everything your child submits as soon as they submit it, so grading never lands on you. When your child gets something wrong, we help them work through it, and projects come back with feedback so they can revise them.
Records, state paperwork, and the transcript
Acellus Academy awards a diploma after 24 high school credits. Families can request official transcripts and student records from the Academy as the school their child is enrolled in.
At TheHomeschoolingCompany, your child's school record builds as they work: daily check-ins log attendance, and everything they finish is saved automatically. Attendance logs and learning summaries are ready to export, and we draft the documents your state asks for from that same record, including portfolios with real work samples.
Our high school transcript builds from completed work, with courses, letter grades, credits, and GPA calculated for you.
Moving from Acellus to us
School in a Box includes up to 12 subjects, from the core to custom electives on anything your child is curious about. Single Subject covers one course, if you would rather start there.
Start the 14-day trial and choose School in a Box or Single Subject.
Pick your child's subjects, including any topics they have been asking to learn more about.
Your child takes a placement in each subject, and their whole curriculum is built around them.
Other questions
- Can we use ESA funds?
- Yes. We are an approved vendor in Arizona, Alabama, New Hampshire, and Utah. Your program decides which purchases it covers and how to pay through ClassWallet or Odyssey.
- Can a child who is not reading yet use it?
- Yes. Kindergarten through Grade 2 is spoken. Your child listens, answers out loud, and an adult only needs to be nearby.
- Can my child retake placement later in the year?
- Yes. Your child can retake placement in one subject while their other courses carry on, and completed work stays saved.
Your child's curriculum. Your family's time.
Try an explanation built for your child, with each answer graded the moment they submit it.
$149/month per child after the trial.