I get so many questions from viewers about Power Homeschool and Acellus Academy. So I thought I’d try to explain the difference between the two and hopefully answer all of the questions people usually have about the two programs. And make sure you read to the end because there are a couple things I think you might want to know about this company before you give them your money. So let’s review Acellus Academy Vs Power Homeschool.
Power Homeschool
Ok so first let’s talk about Power Homeschool. This is an online homeschooling program, not a school. And what that means is, you are using a curriculum that just happens to be online. So it’s very similar to if you bought textbooks and print curriculum and taught it to your children yourself. But it just happens to be a curriculum that is online. As such, you won’t be getting transcripts or a diploma from Power Homeschool. But you’ll still be able to print out reports for your records.
Usually this would also mean that you’d have a lot of customization options to set the curriculum up to meet the needs of your individual child. But Power Homeschool no longer has that option. You can choose the grade level for each subject, and you can change this at any time, but otherwise, kids just start at the beginning for each subject and grade level and work their way through the program. The lessons are all taught through videos followed by questions to check for understanding. There are also various quizzes and tests throughout the courses.
Now the thing you need to understand here is, the curriculum is exactly the same as the curriculum for Acellus Academy. I don’t mean that it’s similar, or that it was created by the same company. I mean it is exactly the same. In the past, the interface was different, but they’ve recently upgraded Power Homeschool so that even the user interface is exactly the same as Acellus Academy.
Acellus Academy
So if it’s exactly the same, why would anyone pay more for Acellus Academy? Well for most kids in elementary or middle school, you probably shouldn’t. Unless you have a special situation where you need to be using an accredited program, there’s really no reason to pay up to $500 a month for Acellus. You’ll get the exact same program with Power Homeschool, and you’ll pay significantly less. Because the only real difference between the two programs is that Acellus Academy is a school, and as such they can issue transcripts and a diploma. Which is something you may want for your high school student. But most parents won’t need this for elementary and middle school. And in most cases you don’t actually need this for high school either, but I do understand that some parents just feel more comfortable having someone else issue these documents.
And that is why some will choose Acellus Academy over Power Homeschool. You will also probably get a little more support as an Acellus Academy customer. But as far as the program and curriculum goes, it’s exactly the same thing.
I have reviewed both of these programs on my YouTube channel, so I’m not going to get into the details here. If you want to see either program in depth, you can find both reviewed on my YouTube Channel. And you’ll see, especially now that they’ve updated Power Homeschool to the new Acellus HD version, that everything is the same.
Acellus Academy Vs Power Homeschool – FAQs
So now let me just answer a few of the common questions that I get about the two programs. The first one is, can I switch from Power Homeschool to Acellus Academy? And my advice is this. If you haven’t yet started high school, finish out the year on Power Homeschool first. Then print out and save all your records, and then switch to Acellus Academy. This will just make things a lot easier.
Once high school has started, credits earned becomes important. You will need to earn a minimum of 6 credits through Acellus Academy to graduate, and have been enrolled for at least 12 months. However, they do accept transfer credits from Power Homeschool. But they can’t just transfer over the course mid year. So if you’re in 9th or 10th grade, again it probably makes sense to just finish out the year on Power Homeschool and then transfer. But if you’re getting closer to graduation, I would definitely contact Acellus and confirm how this will work before making any switch. You might end up having to retake some courses.
Teacher Support on the Two Programs
Another thing people ask about is teacher support. I think a lot of people assume that because Acellus Academy is a school, suddenly there are going to be real teachers involved in the education. And from what I have seen this is not the case. I want to help make it clear to you that this is the exact same program as Power Homeschool. Maybe there are more people ready to answer your emails with Acellus, but you’re not going to have assigned teachers or anything like that. As I’ve said, there are a lot of online schools out there that offer this kind of thing, but Acellus Academy is not one of them. You’re basically just doing Power Homeschool, but you’re getting a transcript and diploma that says “Acellus Academy” on it. That’s really all there is to it.
Roger Billings Scholarship
And before we conclude this post, there are a couple more things I want to share with you that might help you make your decision. The first has to do with the Roger Billings scholarship. So you can save some money on both Power Homeschool and Acellus Academy when you sign up if you click the button to get the Roger Billings scholarship. Absolutely anyone can qualify for this scholarship, which is really not a scholarship at all. It’s just a discount. And to get the discount, you just have to leave a comment once a week on their science live broadcast. You don’t even have to watch it live. Just find the video and leave a comment.
And what I find so weird about this is that when I’ve done some online shopping, sometimes I’ve been asked if I want to donate to the Roger Billings scholarship fund. And that really bothers me. It seems like such a scam to take people’s money just to offer a discount on a program from a for profit company. I really don’t understand that at all. It really rubs me the wrong way.
Is Acellus Academy a Cult?
The other thing is, I’ve heard some very interesting things from someone who has experience with the company. And I am considering making a full YouTube video on it, but if you just search some info on Roger Billings, or just look up Acellus Academy cult, you’ll see what I mean. You’ll have to dig a little bit but there is some interesting stuff. And I probably would never have given much credit to it, but then I was messaging with someone who had worked for the company, and it was really very interesting to read. Whether it’s true or not I can’t say. But just something to look into if you’re curious.
Hopefully this helped you to understand the difference between Power Homeschool and Acellus Academy. If you have any questions about the two programs, or just a general question about homeschooling, let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to help.
