Homeschool Review Crew Applications are Now Open

This year, I've had the opportunity to participate in the Homeschool Review Crew. The Homeschool Review Crew is one of the divisions of The Old Schoolhouse® which also includes a quarterly published magazine, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Schoolhouse Teachers which is an excellent on-line resource of self-paced classes for students and families. As a result of being on the Homeschool Review Crew, I have had the option to use and review products that we might not have tried otherwise. We have discovered excellent learning tools to use to our home school.

Each review was done after using the product with a student or students for a recommended period of time. Most here were done with my daughter, my current home school student. We have discovered useful curriculum and incorporated many new resources into our home school efforts as a result of doing the reviews.

There have been so many benefits to being a member of Homeschool Review Crew. An obvious one is the access to curriculum and products that I might not have tried otherwise. There have been side benefits beyond just added homeschooling materials. There is access to a supportive community of homeschooling moms and mentors via an online forum. Questions regarding products and reviews are welcome there, as well as, feedback for written reviews. 

Another added value for me has come from the increased writing that I have had to do. The external motivation that comes from a commitment with deadlines helps produce results! Being a part of "The Crew" has bumped up my writing confidence and my writing productivity. It has given me a group of supportive homeschooling moms who are also writing consistently and available for encouragement and information.

If you have any interest in participating, reviewing new products and improving your writing because you'll being doing more of it. Check out the info by clicking the banner below.

SchoolhouseTeachers Review

2017 was an eventful year for us and looking ahead, as a new year begins, it looks like more of the same. For us, 2018 will bring each of our children to crossroads and decisions that will influence their futures. Graduating from college and considering work possibilities for our oldest son, determining where to continue a degree program with our second son, who is attending classes at a community college and completing and graduating from high school for our youngest. We have used a variety of resources and curriculum to get us to this point. The online resource that I have used the most frequently is  SchoolhouseTeachers.com. This post is a review of  the Yearly Membership of this online product and includes some of what we have found most useful and valuable in that resource so far.

Our youngest is a dancer, and will likely be taking the most unique path of our children. She dreams of dancing in a professional company. As a homeschooling family, we have become accustomed to taking roads less traveled and have been able to accommodate extensive training for her goal. I continue to be grateful for the option to follow the interests of each of our children in an intensive way and can see the beneficial results, as they each launch into the world, pursuing their own life adventures.

Beginning the Year with a Review and a Plan

We have been flexible and eclectic in our approach to homeschooling. However, I have dropped the ball on the basics as a homeschooling teacher at times. Life's adventures and more interesting activities have often sidetracked us. Or life's usual and not so usual events have deterred us along the way, but I have always tried to return to covering the basics, plus some enlightened enrichment in a somewhat structured way. To do so it has been important to have an easy, go to resource to tap into.

For me SchoolhouseTeachers.com has been that primary go to resource for the last several years. The math course offerings alone, found in the math focused learning center, have been useful in keeping us on track in continued learning and practice. We have consistently turned to the math courses for my daughter to work through required high school math courses including pre-alegbra, algebra and geometry.

Yearly Membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com has given us access to an online product that I can go to for a variety of structured courses. With a click or two or three, we have to access to important learning lessons and materials. Membership has given us the structure we need to continue covering what we think is important while adapting it to our own family learning styles. It helps me fulfill a  plan as we homeschool.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com has courses that are sequenced and complete, many include items that are downloadable and printable. There is a video library available, with many of the online classes offering video components to view and learn from. My daughter and I are embarking on viewing the videos for the guitar class together. I am viewing them for a much needed refresher and she is continuing the basics of her learning as a beginning player.

Given that my daughter is currently a high school student, research projects are in the mix. While I still emphasize library book research, I know online research resources are all important in today's world. SchoolhouseTeachers.com provides access to World Book, a feature that adds to both research projects and unit studies. My favorite aspect of World Book is the timeline section. For student interaction, the timeline feature includes the option for a user to add events not already included on the timeline. It is fascinating to see events as they relate to one another historically.
















As we are near the end of our homeschooling days with our daughter, we will be continuing to use the valuable resources offered by SchoolhouseTeachers.com ~ (https://schoolhouseteachers.com/) with her. For myself, I'm looking forward to visiting the parent section, to soak up some of the encouragement there, as our family transitions into a new phase.