Our family is getting the chance to review the Yearly Membership available for SchoolhouseTeachers.com. I generally shy away from online resources, as they often seem like more trouble than they are worth. There aren't enough options or the course feels incomplete. After printing 100+ pages and burning through countless ink cartridges I end up disappointed. I am very happy to report that SchoolhouseTeachers is not your typical online resource.
SchoolhouseTeachers is an entire site devoted to curriculum for all ages. Courses are available for preschool aged children all the way to high-school and there are even a few courses for parents! I really liked that are courses aimed at the whole family as well. There are actually over 300 courses total. With so many options, I think just about any family could find a course that fits. Even if I wanted to, there is no way I could fit that many textbooks and print resources into my house (although, even the thought is tempting). Having access to them virtually means they are at my fingertips, but not taking up precious shelf space.
The range of subjects is huge-
- Art
- Bible
- Computer and Tech
- Drama and Speech
- Electives
- Foreign Languages
- Geography
- Health and Fitness
- History
- Language Arts
- Math
- Music
- Science
- Social Studies
- Unit Studies
I did notice that some courses use books that would have to be acquired. The ones I saw were available at my library or relatively cheap. Which I think is important. It's frustrating when you have already dropped money on something like this, only to learn that to actually use it you now need to spend $200 on more books.
The other membership benefit that I wanted to feature was the access to Rightnow Media. This is a pretty awesome perk. Rightnow media is basically a streaming service like Netflix that offers tons of Christian videos. Members of SchoolhouseTeachers get a free membership to Rightnow. I have heard so many great things about their videos and I am so excited to explore this with my family. We love the Torchlighters series and now will be able to watch them all and go through the accompanying course.
So, how have we been using this resource in our home?
I really love classical music and have desired to implement some sort of education on different composers. I browsed around in the music section and found this course on Great Musicians. There are twelve lessons, each focusing on a great musician such a Beethoven, Chopin or Bach. Each lesson is essentially a short biography. Learning about the childhood of Beethoven humanized him and made him much more interesting to my six-year-old son. Beethoven too, was once a child who didn't really enjoy practicing, who loved his mother and lived in a cozy looking home.
I just pulled the lessons up on my computer and read from there. Of course they can be printed as well. There is a review question sheet that can be used for older kids too. After we read through the lesson I got on Spotify and we listen to a few of each musicians greatest works.
I sometimes feel like this little lady gets a bit neglected as I invest a lot of time into her brother. She loves doing school though. SchoolhouseTeachers has a large section called the Preschool Playground that has resources for toddler to preschool aged kids.
Since she recently started going through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, I thought some handwriting practice might be in order. I printed out the Beginning Handwriting course for her. We practiced writing the letters with our finger and then a little bit with pencil. She loved the little rhymes that went with each letter.
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For me this website seems like a great way to add in some extra learning. There is so much variety than I thought there would be. SchoolhouseTeachers is not just math and reading- there is film making and architecture and so much more. For me, this is really where this site will really get used. We have our bases covered with the basics, using curriculum that works for us. SchoolhouseTeachers opens up the chance to study photography or home economics
. With the holidays over and no end to winter in sight, it's nice to shake things up a bit.
If you're looking to expand your homeschooling resources, give SchoolhouseTeachers a try! If you're on the fence, take advantage of their 30-day trial for $1 and see if it's a fit for your family.
Interested in how SchoolhouseTeachers works with other families? Check out more reviews here!
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