I eagerly signed up to review Educator.com, since I have one son in grade 9 this year, and another trailing only slightly behind, in grade 8. Perfect!

I have to admit that I didn’t know anything at all about this site before testing the waters. Would they be rocky? Would the level be over our heads?  Most importantly, what would the cost be?

Well, I am happy to say that I concur with the writing on their own wall, if you will, where they boast that Educator.com has over 500 math and science subjects, is a self-paced learning program, able to pinpoint exactly where your subject of interest is explained (incredibly important to those of us who simply cannot stand wading through myriads of information when we already know just what it is we need) AND you get unlimited access to every course they offer for one price.

I even thought the price tag was right on the money, at a $200 yearly subscription or a monthly $20 option. Not bad considering the cost of a tutor (used to be one and it sure helped me through University!) or an individualized program elsewhere, that also has you leaving the house.

The first time through, for some weird reason, I was unable to watch or hear any of the videos. The second time I tried, a few days later, I was only able to hear. I am persistent, though, and found that the third time truly can be a charm.

The videos are well put together, informative and easy to understand, even for a non-math person like me. Having just returned from school, where I became a licensed educational therapist, these courses hit the nail on the proverbial head for me.

I know that it is important to learn the basics and form a solid foundation in key subjects, math being one of the most important, if a student is to succeed academically.  The video for Order of Operations gives a great illustration:

Imagine you are driving and you reach an intersection … there has to be some agreement so you know what the rules of the road are. Without that rule, nothing would be clear, right?  Well, on Educator.com, you find simple examples of rules that everyone MUST learn, in order to function well. Just as you need a rule for who goes first, next, etc, at a four-way stop, you also need rules in math (or any other subject) so you know what to do and in what order.

I also appreciated the “Quick Notes” found underneath all the instruction videos. It would be great to have your child not only read out the note, but also to add it to a workbook so it could be reviewed at a later time.

Some of the videos are quite lengthy, more than 16 minutes. It would be a great idea to play the video for one lesson, perhaps practice a few questions afterward, and talk about what was learned from watching. I would have my son make some notes in his workbook, rewording what he discovered, then I would leave it for that day. The next day, you could tackle a regular lesson, putting in to practice what had been learned the day before. The video could always be watched again, for review, or to catch what might have been missed the first time. I like to add videos into my learning because it is refreshing to not always be the “only one” explaining something. I also like the idea of someone else’s take on a subject being part of our school, too. I may be multi-talented, but I certainly don’t have the inside scoop on EVERYthing!

Another thing I liked about Educator.com’s videos were the questions it got me asking myself. Ruth Beechick talks about the importance of posing questions you would like to answer when reading new material. In asking questions before you read something, your mind focuses on finding the answers AS you digest and process the material, guiding the learning process. You automatically filter out the unnecessary information and are likely to connect new material with knowledge you already possess, making the transition from short term to long term memory. In the Chemistry video, What is Chemistry?, we learned how significant chemistry really is. It helped us to think about the subject in new ways and defined things neatly.

Did my fourteen year old love it?  His first quote was: “I could imagine falling asleep to this”, but we are on vacation from school for the time being, so take his opinion with a grain of salt. He has yet to actually fall asleep in school!  He also changed his tune after watching different subjects, not just Biology.

The Quick Facts videos were pretty cool, too. We reviewed some things we already knew and learned new ones, without any trouble.  Good times!

We all love to reach the right conclusion … in my humble opinion, Educator.com is a great solution!

*****

We are happy to announce that Educator.com is a sponsor for the 2009 Heart of the Matter Conference!

Conference Attendees will have four chances to win a subscription to Educator.com:

Kristina is a happily married wife in her eleventh year of homeschooling the flybytheseatofyourpants method. So far her two boys seem intelligible and relatively unscathed. She is an intern Educational Therapist with NILD and in her spare time loves to scrapbook, paint, make linoprints and write novel study guides. In your spare time, check out her blog On Fire at: www.kristinacamp.blogspot.com