Homeschool Review: Standard Deviants Accelerate

I won a FREE year for my son on Standard Deviants Accelerate via a giveaway and later was asked to do a review... So here I am! :) 

"SDA can be used as a supplement to whatever material you already use and is a great addition to any homeschool curriculum. For example, the videos and quizzes can be used for a fresh angle on a challenging topic or as a review before standardized testing. All the important areas of a subject are condensed into concise lessons that cut out the busy work and get right to the point. Or use SDA as a homeschool curriculum spine by adding on extra reading assignments, practice exercises, and projects to accompany our outline of the content."

Standard Deviants Accelerate is pretty straight forward and really easy to follow. I had no trouble getting started. First things first, you will need to make your teacher account, set up your subjects, and classes.

Standard Deviants Accelerate offers 14 courses that include: Earth Science, Nutrition, Biology, Chemistry, Arithmetic, Fundamental Math, Algebra, English Comp., US History, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP US Government & Politics, AP US History, and AP English Composition.

You can find out more about what each subject covers, HERE.

Once you get your classes set up, you will give your students the invite code, and then they can access their lessons with that. I know it sounds a little complicated, but really it isn't. They have a step-by-step tutorial video to help you out or they offer a webinar. I will share the video at the bottom of this post.

When your student signs in, they will see this page:

When they click on a subject, you can see all the lessons/assignments for that subject. They just click the one they are on and they are set. Easy Peasy!

Now they will be able to complete their work via the tabs at the top.

My son, Bailey, hasn't complained at all when asked to complete his assignments on SDA. He doesn't say he loves it, but he doesn't complain, and that in itself is a WIN. He likes that it doesn't take very long to complete an assignment, so I often ask him to do two or three assignments at a time, which he doesn't like very much.

He hasn't had trouble completing the assignments in Arithmetic, as it is mainly review of what he has done before.

Bailey is doing great in Earth Science as well. The only other subject he is working on at this time is Nutrition. He does struggle with that one a little, but you can go back and redo the lessons and quizzes, so we've been doing that fairly often. He loves that he can type in notes (on certain topics) and save it, rather than having to write things down.

When your student has completed their assignment, you can go into your account and check their grades. It will notify you with flags if their grade is below where it should be.

As you can see, it is super easy to find all their grades in one quick glance.

And even easier to create a report card for each subject. 

For us, Standard Deviants Accelerate has not only been a great review but also a fantastic supplement. We are so blessed that we won that giveaway.

Pricing for core subjects is $24.95 per month per student. AP classes are $14.95 per month per student. That's a little out of my price range, as we are strapped for cash, as usual. However, I don't think this is a bad price for a high school course.

It's definitely worth looking into.
Learn more about how it works for homeschool, HERE.


Here are the video tutorials.

Teacher:

Student:

"Standard Deviants Accelerate is a secular or non-religious homeschool curriculum; we like to think of ourselves as neutral. We welcome and encourage people from all backgrounds to use SDA. If you are a member of a religious group that teaches creationism, please be aware that our Biology teaches the theory of Evolution, and our Earth Science teaches the Big Bang Theory."

Want to try Standard Deviants Accelerate FREE? Click the photo below for details or to sign up. This was originally available until 11/15/14, but has been extended until sometime in January.

Homeschool: Clever Dragons Review

Dalton (age 9) and I were given the opportunity to try out Clever Dragons for two months. In exchange I agreed to write a review with only my honest opinions of the site. 

"Clever Dragons is a unique combination of online learning, creative play, and optional, moderated social networking. From math, to reading, to science, to the arts, there are learning games your son will enjoy and motivational rewards to keep him learning." - clever-dragons.com

Dalton (age 9) playing on Clever Dragons.

Our trial started at the end of June. Since we were on summer break, getting him to try anything educational was going to be a hassle. I never once mentioned to him that he would be learning. I simply said, "Dalt, check out this game." and he was in ... hook, line, and sinker. 

He was immediately drawn in by the fact that you could create your own Mini-Me. 

This has continued to be the main attraction for him. He loved changing his clothes and hair every single day.

It's pretty neat that you can buy clothes that others have designed

or design and sell  your own to earn gold. 

The CastleWorld was pretty neat as well.

There you will find an art shop, clothing store, design studio, furniture store, your castle, and as you earn more coins you can even upgrade your castle.

When you first start out, the inside of your castle is a blank canvas that you can decorate any way you wish. In order to do that, you have to have coins. That is where it gets sneaky (and educational).

You can visit other homes as well for inspiration.

Once you have used up all your coins, you will need more. How do you get them? Play "games" or watch videos. 

Dalton liked to play the game Dragon Egg and we used the Geometry Shapes Quiz a lot to reinforce his math lessons.

He did cave and watch a few videos when I would ask him to do so.

I think his favorite part of the day was getting to SPIN and win free coins.  He would laugh and get super excited when he won 50. The competition with kids for the most coins earned is great too. A real motivator. 

One thing we didn't use much was the chat board. Dalton really wasn't interested in that, but I am sure it is great for older children. 

I like that there is a free parent login where you can see your child's learning progress. You can even reward them with gold for doing their chores or homework.  For those y'all that want a more detailed overview, assessments, and reports you can upgrade. 

Now, down to the nitty-gritty... price.

As I said before, we were given a free two month trial, but new members can try it for a month for only $3.95 and then $8.95 there after. There are many more payment options to chose from as you can see from the screenshot below.

Would I try Clever Dragons again if I had to pay $3.95 a month. Yes, it is absolutely worth that. Would I pay $8.95? Right now, probably not. Our budget is really tight. But in the future, absolutely.

Now, if you are wondering "What about the girls?" Never fear. They have a sister site called Always Ice Cream just for them!

Give it a shot. You won't regret it. 

The Crossmaker - See The Light :: Homeschool Review and Giveaway!

The boys and I were absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to review The Crossmaker by See The Light. They provided us with the DVD in exchange for an honest review. That is exactly what you will find here. My honest opinion. 100% true and 100% my own!

I really wasn't sure what to expect from the DVD except that it was The Easter Story and art lessons. But, in the homeschooling world, if something is good, word gets around. I'd heard several people talking about how good these art lessons by See The Light are. We were given the option to chose whichever lesson we wanted to try out. Since it is very close to Easter, we decided to would go with The Crossmaker. I'm very glad we did! 

I rounded the boys (and the dogs) up and we all settled in to watch.

 *The DVD in it's entirety is 150 minutes. The Crossmaker is 16 minutes long and the lessons are approximately 25-35 minutes each. *

Bailey is 12 and Dalton is 8.

The Crossmaker is the story of "Dominic, the son of a carpenter, (who) finds himself drawn into the unforgettable trial of the man called Jesus." 

I wasn't certain how well the film would hold my boys attention because it is told with the drawings of See The Light chalk artist, Gloria Kholmann. 

There is no animation. However, none is needed.

My boys never moved a muscle, never even flinched. OK, well maybe they flinched, but they didn't move from the couch the entire time The Crossmaker was playing. It was gripping, stunning, breathtaking. There just aren't words to describe it. I literally had tears running down my checks. It was perfect. But nothing that wasn't OK for even my 8 year old to view.

After The Crossmaker was finished, we immediately jumped to He is Not Here! He is Risen! This are lesson finishes up the Easter story with the resurrection. See the Light Master Art Teacher, Pat Knepley, gives a step-by-step drawing lesson using chalk pastels.

Dalton decided he wanted to give this lesson a try. Yet, he is not a fan of getting chalk on his hands. So he decided he would do the drawing with pencils and crayons. 

This lesson would have probably been better suited for Bailey, but Dalton was determined to give it a go. I think he did a fantastic job. Don't you? 

(He didn't want to use purple on the hills and insisted on using green!)

After Dalton finished up, Bailey decided he would give Jim Pence's mixed media, Three Crosses on a Hill, a shot. Probably because it was quick and easy. Pre-teens!

We didn't have water-colors on hand, so he decided he would use his oil pastels. 

I think he did a fantastic job! 

Heidi Short also has a lesson on the DVD called Glory that teaches the art of creative lettering. 

I honestly can't give this DVD enough praise or a positive enough review. I will certainly be purchasing the other Bible stories as we get the money. Bailey, Dalton, and I absolutely loved this!

If you would like to purchase The Crossmaker or any other See The Light art lesson, stop by their web page and be sure "Like" their Facebook page also.

Would you like to WIN a copy of The Crossmaker?

To ENTER the giveaway

Stop by and "Like" my brand new Bull Rock Barn and Home Facebook Page. Then, come back here and leave a comment.

One entry per person, please.

Good luck! I'll announce the winner on Wednesday night.

Many thanks to See The Light for the opportunity!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED! 

***Congratulations, BECKY COLLIE! You are the WINNER!***

(Facebook is in no way affiliated with this giveaway)

K-5 Learning Reading and Math Enrichment Review

As I said in my disclosure, the boys and I were given the opportunity to try out K-5 Learning: Reading and Math Enrichment for six weeks. The six weeks we were given actually fell right in the holiday season, but we used it as much as we could in order to be able to give an accurate review.  We started on November 25 and finished up on January 6. All opinions given are true and 100% my own.

Bailey (7th Grade) and Dalton (3rd Grade)

After signing up, the boys were given both reading and math assessments to see exactly where they fell within the K-5 grade levels. 

Here is a screen shot example of the lower level reading of the assessment that Dalton did.

 And here is a screen shot of the higher level reading that Bailey worked through.

When I looked at the results of the assessment, I really thought that Bailey just blew his way through it, answering the questions just any way to get it over with. As a result, his score was lower than it should have been, at least in my opinion. So, I simply sent in for a repeat assessment and explained the situation. It was then given to him and he did MUCH better. Dalton's results in the beginning were pretty spot on. He is behind in some areas and way ahead in others.

There was one thing I wasn't crazy about... you have to request assessments. It isn't instant gratification. You request it and it may be 24 hours before the child is actually given it. I may be too demanding, because I like to have things right when I want them. Also, they don't normally let you repeat the assessments... Toward the end of the six weeks, I wanted both boys to repeat the assessments to see if they were still on track. We had continued to do our normal curriculum at the same time we were doing K-5 and I thought that maybe they would fall into different areas of their current levels since we had covered most of what was assigned to them on K-5. When I requested the assessment, they said they don't normally repeat them. But that if you felt the level was too hard or too easy, you could let them know and they could adjust it. You can also follow your child's progress in the reports section if that is your concern. I just think that re-doing the assessment would be easier to tell where they should be working than having to email back and forth saying this is too hard or this is too easy. I'd also like to be able to set where I think my child should be instead of having to request them to do it. Again, I like instant gratification. I know within a moment or two if something is too hard or too easy for my child. It'd be much easier and less time consuming to adjust it on my own. This was really my only dislike. Everything else was pretty great.

(Eventually, I realized that it would probably be easier to do an actual screen shot on the computer than it would be to try to take a photo with my camera. So I did some of those as well. )

After the assessments, when the child signs in, this is the screen that they will come to. Clean, simple, and easy to understand. 

If they chose the Reading & Math button, they will come to this screen. The reading lesson and math lesson were both automatically assigned by K-5. But you can go in and assign things that you think your child needs to cover. That is the math assignment link. 

You can also choose if you want to work on Vocabulary or Spelling and the number of words to work on at a time. I really like that. Because with Bailey, I expect him to do a larger number of words than Dalton. Simply because he is older. 

The boys did eventually get to work. Here is a screen shot of Dalton's lower level math,

 and Bailey's upper level math when they first started their assignments.

Along with a few shots of Dalton's math facts work from the first couple days.

As you can see it is bright and fun,

and the graphics are great!

Dalty was showing me the funny little dude on the screen.

There wasn't any whining or complaining when I asked them to do their work on K-5 and that is ALWAYS a plus. You don't want their education to be dull and boring when it can be fun and upbeat with the same results.

 K-5 isn't just work, work, work, though. Dalton enjoyed the little games between assignments and especially loved that he could customize his avatar. 

Of course that is all fine and good, your child needs to be happy. But Mommy needs to be happy too, and this Mommy loved all the different progress reports!

The money situation in our house is always tight these days. So, after the initial trial, I couldn't afford to continue with the program. It costs $25 per month for the 1st child and then $15 a month for each additional child. I simply couldn't pay that. If it were free, I'd use it every day. But since it isn't, we sadly had to walk away. If our financial situation improved, I'd sign up in a flash. If you pay annually, you can save over $150 for two kids. That is exactly how I'd do it if I had the cash in hand.

Overall, I have to say that K-5 is certainly worth a shot and there is no credit card required for the free trial. You can't go wrong there!

K-5 Learning Reading and Math Enrichment Review!

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students. I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program. If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.