Homeschooling parents who are looking for curriculum that provides a full range of subjects, lesson plans, study
helps, quizzes, and progress tracking should take a look at Zane Education. Their service includes all those resources and more, and they have different levels of membership and pricing to fit any family’s homeschooling needs. And right now they are offering a 35% Discount on the purchase of any annual 12-month Gold, Silver or Bronze Membership subscription through until the end of August 2012. The Promotion Code is ZE374HSM (case sensitive).
The first time I looked through the list of available videos, I was very impressed. You may explore their online educational video library and see for yourself. They’ve left no subject stone unturned, and their program is in compliance with state standards and in line with the requirements of K12 curriculum and standardized testing requirements- something many homeschool parents worry about in states that require yearly testing for homeschooled students.
The videos we viewed, with the exception of math, were slideshows with accompanying background music, and were subtitled. I appreciate subtitled videos, as this can help strengthen reading skills and makes note-taking much easier, as the child can see how to properly spell unfamiliar names and terms. However, I found the size of the slideshow somewhat on the small side, and there was no way to enlarge it. While I love classical music, for our ears it was too loud and distracting.
My 10 year old boy enjoyed many of the math videos, especially multiplication, since he has been doing alot of drilling on those lately. Those involved the ‘invisible hand’ writing on a virtual whiteboard. The narrator’s voice was clear, cheerful, and engaging.
The videos we watched ranged from 4 minutes to 20 minutes in length. For parents who want or need to track progress, there are online quizzes for each section.
The number of helps on this site is staggering. Some of the guides are:
HOME EDUCATION:
The Homeschool User Guide
The Christian Homeschool User Guide
The Parent’s User Guide
The Student’s User Guide
The Tutor’s User Guide
The Homework Help User Guide
SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION:
The ADD/ADHD User Guide
The Austism User Guide
The Disabled Student User Guide
The Dyslexia User Guide
The Gifted Student User Guide
The Hearing Impaired User Guide
The Visually Impaired User Guide
The Visually Impaired User Guide (enlarged font)
The Learning Difficulties User Guide
The Other Special Needs User Guide
The Reading Difficulties User Guide
EXTRA-CURRICULUM EDUCATION:
The ESL and English as a Second Language User Guide
The Reading Improvement User Guide
For the Christian homeschooler of a Creationist perspective, you need to know that teaching on evolution is included. However, the Christian Homeschool User Guide was written to help parents use the materials- you can download this guide for free and check it out yourself.
Overall I was satisfied that this curriculum could be recommended to a family that needs a comprehensive, one-stop-shopping solution for their homeschooling family for less than $200 per year. The site is adding new features all the time, and so the value of this resource is highly likely to increase. You can also tailor your subscription to your educational needs:
Subscriptions:
FREE- includes access to Learning Guides and the Math videos
Topic Taster- $5.00/month
Bronze: $8.99/month or $98.89/year
Silver: $12.99/month or $142.89/year
Gold: $17.99/month or $197.89/year
Don’t forget about the 35% Discount on the purchase of any annual 12-month Gold, Silver or Bronze Membership subscription through until the end of August 2012. The Promotion Code is ZE374HSM (case sensitive).
You can also find Zane on Facebook, and more helpful information on their blog.
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