in pursuit of wild things

For the past month my crew has enjoyed exploring a few online electives from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. We took all of December off from academic learning so the kids spent their time exploring courses suited to their interests. Oldest and Sparkles found the guitar lessons offered by Jerry Jennings fun and informative. Middle Boy jumped into creating art through Twelve Great Artists lessons found within the Elementary Art section. Fortunately we were given a subscription to the Yearly Membership so everyone has time to finish their chosen classes at leisure now that school is starting back up for us.

The site offers over two hundred courses with over ten thousand streaming videos from twelfth grade all the way down to preschool. I found the site easy and intuitive to navigate. There is also a video for those who prefer learning their way around in a more sensible manner. Classes can be searched by grade level (Preschool, Elementary, Middle and High School) or by subjects. You can easily explore the available classes from the Courses menu. The easiest way to access the classes once you are finished exploring is through the Quick Links subheading under the Courses menu tab. Classes are offered within these subjects: Art, Bible, Computer & Technology, Drama & Speech, Electives, Foreign Language, History, Geography & Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Music, Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Preschool, and Science. A subscription also includes access to RightNow Media Library with tons of videos and Christian content from Bible studies to preschool videos.

Many of the classes offered are easy to print off and file into lesson plans. I’ve pulled several of the art lessons to have on hand for those days we need something fun during these cold winter months. So far Middle Boy has worked through the lessons on Van Gogh, Monet, and Cassatt. The guitar class that Oldest is taking also has video lessons from the instructor. He usually re-watches the video a couple of times during the week and practices the assigned chords. He was in guitar classes before we moved so this class is filling in nicely for us until we can find a local teacher. After watching her older brother on the video lessons Sparkles plans to start too. She’s always wanted to learn guitar and this is a very affordable way for us to provide the lessons for now.

Schoolhouse Teachers isn’t just classes for homeschooled kids. They also supply a number of articles and resources for the homeschooling parent. The included articles are both practical and encouraging on homeschooling and parenting topics. Several homeschool planners are available for download (valued at $125). One of the more helpful organizing items on the site is the Master Course Checklist that lets you see in a glance the offered courses and the corresponding grade level. For easy record keeping they also provide a Skills Learned Form and a Blank Monthly Printable Checklist to help you keep up with the online lesson plans. So far I have found these two forms very helpful in keeping up with my kids progress in their individual classes.

Now that we are starting back up with school I plan to use several of the preschool and Kindergarten classes with my youngest. There are lessons for learning the alphabet, shapes, numbers, letter formation, nature study, character training, and so much more. Other than a library card, outside space, paper and crayons; Littlest has everything he needs through Schoolhouse Teachers for the next year!! That is a sweet deal for the early years.

Interested? Use this discount code for half price on a one year subscription: CREWFOLLOWER  The discount code is good through 1/31/2016.

Social Media:
Facebook   Twitter  Google+   Pinterest