Monarch (Alpha Omega Publications)

Monarch is the online homeschool management system and curriculum from Alpha Omega Publications (AOP). AOP's Monarch page says parents schedule the school year, assign courses, and manage progress, while students complete interactive, faith-based lessons in the courses assigned to them. The page lists a catalog of 100+ courses for grades 3-12. AOP's help center says a new Monarch platform was released in January 2026 and that features are being added in stages.

Last updated: 2026-10-08 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Online, student-paced, mastery learning, as AOP's Full Access page describes it; parents schedule the school year and assign courses. Every Homeschool's directory files Monarch under its online academy method category; the Monarch page describes Monarch as a parent-managed homeschool platform and curriculum, not a school
Worldview	Christian; the Monarch page describes the courses as faith-based, and AOP's About page carries a six-item Statement of Faith that names no denomination. AOP's description of one course, the grade 12 Christian Theology course, says it explores systematic theology from a Protestant, evangelical perspective. The worldview label in the directory is Every Homeschool's classification
Grades	3-12: Language Arts, History & Geography, Math, Science, Bible, and electives are each listed for grades 3-12. AOP's Electives scope and sequence document says electives are available for students in grades 4-12
Formats	Online. AOP's help center says Monarch is a web application for desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones, with a high-speed connection and a current version of Safari, Chrome, or Edge, and that viewing, completing, and grading assignments are not available on screens with a viewport narrower than 960 pixels. The Monarch page FAQ says Monarch is compatible with most modern web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge
Cost tier	Standard (Every Homeschool classification). Full Access is $439.95 per year or $43.95 per month per student, and a single course is $109.95 per year or $10.95 per month per student, retrieved October 2026
Parent intensity	2 (Every Homeschool rating)
ESA-common	The Monarch page, retrieved October 2026, says ESAs are accepted, and AOP's funding page, retrieved October 2026, says AOP is an approved vendor in many states; see the ESA section below
Accredited	No; the Monarch page says Monarch is a parent-managed homeschool platform and curriculum, not an accredited school, and points families who want an accredited program to Ignite Christian Academy
Established	AOP's About page says Alpha Omega Publications was founded in 1977. AOP's blog introduced Monarch as a new online homeschool curriculum on March 11, 2010, and a March 4, 2010 post said Monarch was coming on April 1, 2010. A new Monarch platform was released in January 2026
Website	aop.com/pages/monarch

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Every Homeschool rating. AOP publishes scope and sequence documents by subject; the Language Arts document lists ten units in each course, including writing units
Ease of teaching	5	Every Homeschool rating. AOP's April 2026 blog post says Monarch automatically grades most assignments, and the Monarch page says parents set and edit schedules; the help center describes a Report Card and an Assignments Completed Report
Content quality	3	Every Homeschool rating. AOP's course updates page says many courses in new Monarch were modernized, rewritten, or newly developed, and some were not changed
Flexibility	3	Every Homeschool rating. The Monarch page says you can assign courses above or below a student's age level, and AOP's help center comparison page lists unassigning and assigning units and assignments as available in new Monarch and says a course can be rescheduled from the new default of Monday to Friday. The same page lists printing assignments and a closed-book setting for quizzes and tests as temporarily unavailable in new Monarch
Value for money	3	Every Homeschool rating. Full Access is $439.95 per year per student for 100+ courses, and AOP's terms say there is no discount for more than one Full Access subscription (retrieved October 2026)
Worldview scope	1	Every Homeschool rating. AOP's course descriptions bring a Christian worldview into subjects beyond Bible, for example Biology and American History; see the publisher section below
Visual/design	4	Every Homeschool rating; we did not view the logged-in lessons or dashboards. AOP says the January 2026 platform included redesigned parent and student dashboards
Support resources	3	Every Homeschool rating. AOP lists Monarch customer service and technical support by phone, Monday to Friday 7am-5pm CT, and a Monarch homeschool family group on Facebook

Who the publisher is

Alpha Omega Publications says on its About page that it was founded in 1977, and describes itself as a provider of PreK-12 Christian curriculum, educational resources, and services to Christian schools and homeschool families. AOP's archived support notice says Switched-On Schoolhouse was released on CD-ROM in 1997 and has been discontinued, and calls Monarch the next generation of SOS. AOP's March 11, 2010 blog post introduced Monarch as an online homeschool curriculum for grades 3-12 with five core subjects (Bible, history and geography, language arts, math, and science) and over 35 electives. The new Monarch platform released in January 2026 sits beside Monarch Classic, which AOP's Monarch page says is for users finishing courses assigned before January 14, 2026.

AOP's privacy policy states that Alpha Omega Publications and Ignite Christian Academy are owned by Imagine Learning LLC. The Contact page gives the mailing address of AOP's Homeschool Division as Rock Rapids, Iowa, and lists Monarch customer service and technical support by phone, Monday to Friday 7am-5pm CT.

On faith, AOP's Statement of Faith has six items. It says the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and reveal the three Persons of the Godhead; affirms the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ; says man was created in God's image but is separated from God by sin; says man is redeemed by grace through faith in Christ's atonement; says eternal life is available to all and that those who receive Christ by faith are regenerated by the Holy Spirit; and affirms the bodily resurrection of Christ, his imminent return, and the resurrection of his people. It names no denomination. The Monarch page describes the Bible course as exploring scripture from Genesis to Revelation, with biblical history and key figures, biblical doctrine, and applications to daily living.

AOP's course descriptions bring the Christian worldview into other subjects as well. The Monarch Biology page says the course explores the design and complexity of life through the lens of God's creation. The Monarch American History page says the course emphasizes God's providence in history and the importance of biblical values in shaping American identity. The History & Geography scope and sequence describes the courses as a study of God's activity as seen through historical events, and the Science scope and sequence says the courses explore God's universe, with unit titles that include God's Creation of the Universe (grade 3) and Records in the Rock: The Flood (grade 5). AOP's help center says new Monarch uses the ESV for Bible text, where Monarch Classic uses King James and NIV (comparison page).

The core pedagogy

AOP says Monarch courses are primarily text-based, enhanced with rich multimedia, and typically include short videos, audio clips, and interactive elements. AOP's scope and sequence documents for Language Arts, History & Geography, Math, Science, and Bible list the units of each course, and its Electives document lists course titles only. The Language Arts document lists ten units for each course; the tenth is a review in every course except English II, whose tenth unit is Poetry. Some Math, History & Geography, and Science courses list 11 to 13 units. The Language Arts document includes writing units in several courses, for example Writing Skills in grade 6, Essay Writing & Research in English I, and Creative Writing in English IV. The Monarch page describes the Language Arts courses as integrated reading and writing, study of roots, prefixes, and suffixes, integrated grammar and communication, and Christian literary analysis.

AOP's comparison page says multiple choice, drop-down, and multiple-select items continue to be the majority of items in new Monarch, and that updated courses reduce the number of essay or paragraph items a parent has to grade. In new Monarch a student submits an entire assignment at once, where Monarch Classic had students submit each question individually.

AOP describes these parent controls. Parents set the school year, assign courses, and edit the calendar, and the comparison page says a course can be rescheduled from the new default of Monday to Friday and lists unassigning and assigning units and assignments among the parent features. The comparison page also says the same course can be assigned more than once to a student, making it easier to start over on a course. The grading article gives a default scale of A for 90% and above, B for 80-89%, C for 70-79%, D for 60-69%, and F below 60%, and default weights of Tests 50%, Quizzes 25%, Projects 20%, and Lessons 5%. It also says scores of 80% and below display in red on assignment cards. AOP's feature releases page lists, under its July 7, 2026 release, a Manage academic settings area that lets parents change a student's grading scale and weights, set for an individual student and modified for each course assigned.

On mastery, AOP's April 2026 blog post says Monarch is designed with mastery in mind, lets students work at their own pace, retake assessments, and receive instant feedback on auto-graded assignments, and automatically grades most assignments.

For records, the help center's Reports overview says parents can run an Assignments Completed Report and a Report Card, which shows cumulative grades for all courses in a school year, and print either one or save it as a PDF. For manual records, AOP's reporting templates include report card templates, a daily assignment log, and a high school transcript template. The comparison page lists the grade report as temporarily unavailable in new Monarch.

How Monarch works, as AOP describes it

AOP's Full Access page gives the setup as four steps: add a student, check out to start a 30-day free trial, click Monarch Access to launch Monarch, and follow the guided setup to assign courses. The Monarch page lists the steps as start a free trial, log in for a guided setup, schedule and assign courses, and start learning. The feature releases page says Monarch pre-populates common holidays such as Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas break, and that parents can add events, such as spring break, that clear assignments from non-school days. Students complete their assigned work in the browser, on a screen with a viewport of 960 pixels or wider, since AOP's system requirements say assignments cannot be viewed or completed on narrower screens. AOP states the share of automatically graded work in more than one way: its April 2026 blog post says Monarch automatically grades most assignments, the Monarch page lists 85% automatic grading in its feature list and over 85% auto grading on its pricing cards, and its scope and sequence documents, for example the Language Arts document, say about 85% of all student work is automatically graded. AOP's comparison page says parents find assignments that need grading under My Tasks, where in new Monarch they see a whole assignment with all of its items at one time. The Monarch page lists calendar tools, dashboard notifications, and progress monitoring among its features.

What they do exceptionally well

Scheduling and grading tools. AOP's help center describes a calendar with a Monday to Friday default, pre-populated holidays and parent-added events, default grade weights, and, in a July 7, 2026 release, grading scales and weights that a parent can change for each student and course. In our assessment, these tools cover much of the planning and grading work for a parent managing several courses.

One platform for many subjects. Under one Full Access subscription AOP lists Bible, Language Arts, History & Geography, Math, and Science for grades 3-12 plus over 60 electives.

Retakes and course customization. AOP's April 2026 blog post says students can retake assessments, and the comparison page says a course can be assigned again. AOP says parents can assign courses above or below a student's age level, and its comparison page lists unassigning and assigning units and assignments.

What they do poorly

Features still being released. AOP's help center says the new platform is launching in phases. The comparison page lists as temporarily unavailable printing assignments, blocking assignments, deleting school years, the grade report, and a setting for a closed-book experience for quizzes and tests, which means the default is open book. The feature releases page lists printing assignments and a closed-book experience as work still to come. AOP's course updates page says retired courses, including Bible Doctrine and Music Appreciation, remain available on Monarch Classic until December 2026.

Screen size. AOP's system requirements say viewing, completing, and grading assignments are not available on a viewport narrower than 960 pixels, which AOP says includes most smartphones and some smaller tablets.

Per-student pricing and separate purchases. AOP's terms say there is no discount for purchasing more than one Monarch Full Access subscription. Science lab kits are separate purchases; the Biology page says the Biology Lab Kit is available for separate purchase, and AOP's Language Arts scope and sequence marks some required readers, such as The Hiding Place in grade 7 Language Arts, as sold separately.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Monarch if: you want an online, student-paced, mastery-based Christian curriculum for grades 3-12, as AOP describes it; you want most assignments graded automatically (AOP's April 2026 blog post says Monarch automatically grades most assignments); you want to assign courses across grade levels; your students will work on screens with a viewport of 960 pixels or wider.

• Skip Monarch if: you want print curriculum (AOP's print lines are LIFEPAC and Horizons); you want an accredited school rather than a curriculum (AOP points families who want an accredited program to Ignite Christian Academy); you want curriculum without Christian content; you need a feature AOP lists as temporarily unavailable, such as printing assignments or a closed-book quiz setting; you are looking for a multi-student discount, which AOP's terms say does not exist for Full Access.

Cost honest assessment

All prices in this section are AOP's current selling prices, retrieved October 2026. Monarch prices are from AOP's Monarch page: Full Access is $439.95 per year or $43.95 per month per student, and the page advertises two months free on a yearly subscription. A single course is $109.95 per year or $10.95 per month per student. AOP's terms say each student is eligible for one 30-day free trial, which moves to a paid plan automatically unless the subscription is cancelled before the trial ends. The terms also say there is no discount for purchasing more than one Full Access subscription, and the Monarch page prices Full Access per student, so each additional student on Full Access costs the same $439.95 per year, before any of the discounts AOP mentions on the Monarch page.

Science lab kits are separate purchases: the Biology page says the Biology Lab Kit is available for separate purchase, and AOP's lab kits page shows kits for grades 3-10 and links to more, for example Science 500 at $51.95 and Biology at $146.95. For comparison within AOP's own lineup, the LIFEPAC Complete Grade Set, with five core subjects, is $468.00 for each of grades 2-12. AOP's financial assistance page lists a 20% discount on AOP curriculum and Ignite tuition for the U.S. Armed Forces, Department of Defense staff, veterans, and first responders, and for missionaries and pastors, redeemed by contacting AOP; the offer excludes Monarch monthly plans, science lab kits, and LIFEPAC Launch Packs. AOP also runs a rewards program.

ESA eligibility notes

The Monarch page, retrieved October 2026, says discounts and loyalty savings are available and that ESAs are accepted. AOP's State Education Funds and Homeschooling page, also retrieved October 2026, says AOP and Ignite Christian Academy are approved vendors in many states, and its state table places a check in the AOP Homeschool column for 23 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

AOP has a page or post for each of the four platforms its funding page lists (retrieved October 2026). Its ClassWallet page says homeschool families in states using ClassWallet to manage ESA funds can buy Monarch, LIFEPAC, and Horizons by Marketplace, by Direct Pay (call customer service with the order and request an invoice), or by Reimbursement. Its MyScholarShop page says Florida families using the EMA portal can purchase AOP curriculum through the MyScholarShop marketplace or by reimbursement. Its December 2024 Student First Technologies post says West Virginia families will use the request reimbursement feature to purchase Monarch and notes that Monarch is a curriculum and not simply a subscription in the request, and it says TheoPay can be used to purchase LIFEPAC and Horizons. Its Odyssey page says homeschool families in states using Odyssey to manage ESA funds can purchase AOP's Monarch, LIFEPAC, and Horizons curriculum. AOP tells families to check their state department of education website for current rules. Verify eligibility with your state program before ordering.

Alternatives

• LIFEPAC (AOP) is AOP's print option. AOP's LIFEPAC page describes self-paced, mastery-based workbooks, and AOP's FAQ says parents are responsible for grading assignments and tests using the provided answer keys and guides.
• Ignite Christian Academy is the accredited online school that AOP points families to when they want an accredited program; AOP's Monarch FAQ says it is a fully accredited online Christian school with certified teachers who manage instruction, grading, and support.
• Other online programs reviewed on Every Homeschool include BJU Press Distance Learning and Abeka Academy, and the online programs comparison sets Monarch beside three other online programs. See each publisher's own pages for its description.