Homeschool Science Curriculum – EdisonLearnNow Review
Science has always been M’s strong subject. He is devouring our homeschool science curricula and accelerating faster than with any other subject.
While that’s amazing for him, it’s a constant source of stress for me because I always need to be on the lookout for more science curricula to keep him engaged and going forward. And I have to admit I am overwhelmed with the choices and my lack of knowledge in this field. SO our only option to find a perfect homeschool science curriculum is through trial and error.
That’s why I never shy away from trying out new curricula for science.
This is a sponsored post. I was given the product to review and I might have been compensated for my time. I would never endorse or recommend programs we wouldn’t use ourselves. Read more about it in my Disclosure.
EdisonLearnNow
EdisonLeanNow is an online learning platform that I just discovered and is aimed at children in grades 6 to 12.
They offer all sorts of classes from core subjects to electives, career prep or even social emotional learning. On top of that, they also offer tutors and access to advisors, which is an aspect I really appreciate about this program.
“Our self-paced eCourses give students the ability to catch up on necessary skills, get a head start before a major transition, or seek enrichment that meets their interests.”
— EdisonLearnNow
Accreditation & Transcripts
While EdisonLearningNow isn’t a school, so it won’t be able to offer us a transcript, I appreciate the fact that they are accredited by one of the US regional accreditation bodies, the MSA-CESS and it’s even NCAA approved.
MSA-CESS or Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is an internationally recognized accreditation body. Having their stamp of approval on a course means this course will be meeting the high standards of colleges.
NCAA is the highest level of college football in the US. This approval is great for athletes bound for college, since this certifies the courses will be recognized by their college.
Choosing solid courses for M is imperative for me since he is college-bound in a STEM career and I want him to be ready to face the rigorousness of serious college classes.
Classes
I like that EdisonLearnNow is covering a lot of high school classes and they even have a Credit Recovery program for those that need it (including for middle school). These are all their classes at a glance, but you can check the subjects they offer in depth on their website or by clicking the image below.
EdisonLearnNow is the first online platform that I’ve seen to offer Project Based classes and I am seriously considering trying their Project Based Physics class next. They will provide online interactive labs for this class as well, which means no stress for us to gather materials for the labs.
Honors or Regular Classes?
Another aspect I appreciate in EdisonLearnNow high school courses is that they offer multiple options for classes, including regular or Honors.
Honors classes are a step up from the regular classes, demanding more work from the student. Honors classes are more rigorous and can boost a student’s GPA.
Our advisor recommended that we take Honors classes for the STEM side, that’s why M will be doing Algebra 1 Honors this year for 6th grade. And I was happy to find an Honors Chemistry for him as well.
Chemistry Honors Course- homeschool science
We already have science picked for this year, but next year, I decided to let M take a high school chemistry class (and get high school credit for it).
He can understand (and already knows) the concepts, but I still can’t help worrying that after paying at least $600 for a teacher-led class, he will find it overwhelming. He will still just be in middle school. I feel better if he is introduced to high school chemistry demands beforehand.
That’s why, when EdisonLearnNow offered me a class of theirs to try out, I chose High School Chemistry Honors for him so he can get a feel for how rigorous a high school chemistry class is.
Student Dashboard
Students have access to a lot of options from their dashboard and I love that they even have a progress bar letting them know if they are behind.
The lessons will unlock only after completing the previous lesson and students get access to advisors or tutors on the course dashboard. This is also where you can see the attendance, grades and messages.
Unfortunately I can’t talk about the live teachers EdisonLearnNow has because we just had a Demo version available to us, but if we decide to go forward with this program, we will definitely use those services.
In the course, students get a full overview of the upcoming lessons, grades, attempts and even due dates.
Lessons
EdisonLearnNow offers self-paced e-courses that are both accessible and rigorous. I love how each unit is broken down into bite-sized chunks that even my 11 year old can tackle without feeling overwhelmed.
Lessons have multiple parts:
Essential Instruction
- students get a brief 1-2 page to read (or listen to online) that introduces the lesson.
- at the end of it, there’s a quick presentation style video that reviews these concepts with them.
Instructional Video
- this is usually a Discovery Education video to provide more insight into the introduced concepts.
Textbook
- this is where students will find the main lesson
- PDF version is downloadable and printable.
- has short questions to review at the end.
Extension
- more opportunities to research
- lots of useful websites for more information
Reteaching
- more information about harder-to-understand concepts.
Assessments
- at the end of each lesson
- usually 4 questions long
- select the correct answer type of test
- automatically graded
Need to Know
- short animated videos providing more information on the concepts covered and a brief recall of the most important concepts.
What we love about this homeschool science curriculum
EdisonLearnNow is a straightforward platform that we really enjoyed using. M finally has an organized chemistry class that helps him tie together the information he accumulated over the years.
And I don’t feel the pressure of having to know everything in a textbook in order to teach the subject.
I really love that each lesson is broken down into smaller chunks of information and it doesn’t feel overwhelming at all (unlike those 1000-pages chemistry textbooks). Students can only access one lesson at a time and this makes it feel less scary.
Independent
I feel that EdisonLearnNow is a great platform that has everything students need to be independent. It’s pretty intuitive to use, even though the many options might seem a bit too much at fist.
Students just need to log in and go through the lessons nd take the tests. My son found this system very straightforward and he is doing his chemistry lesson whenever he feels like.
The tests are automatically graded, making this perfect for busy or clueless parents (like me). This means I don’t need to read the course and know what’s expected of him.
Tutoring help
This is a big thing for us. I know I am not capable of helping him with high school chemistry anymore, so having access to tutoring when he needs to is a tremendous advantage.
I love that he could now get access to teachers and ask his chemistry questions to a knowledgeable person.
Multiple learning styles
Because the information is presented so many times in different formats, this platform is great for visual and auditory learners.
I also appreciate the multitude of sites offed for digging deeper, offering interested students the opportunity of self-led learning.
M is happily exploring some links he is interested in and I love seeing him take his time to dig deeper. We have no time constraints so there’s no deadline for ending this course.
My son also appreciated the option to listen to the text being read to him and he is using this feature a lot.
All in one
Another aspect I love about EdisonLearnNow is that students have all the tools they need on one place.
For example, they have a notepad on screen where they can take notes, a calculator and even highlighters to highlight directly on the screen.
Aside that, they require no separate textbook. It’s all included in the program and I love that we can print this book out as we go since we prefer reading texts on paper.
M doesn’t take notes yet, but I started by encouraging him to underline some key concepts from the text. He prefers doing it on paper so we really love that we can print this coursework out as we go and work on it.
I think EdisonLearnNow is a great learning platform for busy families or for parents that feel they cannot take on the complex subjects in middle and high school because kids will have access to tutors and teachers that can help them when they are stuck. It’s a perfect blend of self-paced flexibility and tutoring services, because kids can ask for real help from tutors only when they need to.
We will definitely be using EdisonLearnNow in the future, especially for science.
COUPON
EdisonLearnNow is offering my readers the first month of their subscription for free. This is a limited time offer. so make sure you take advantage of it before it expires.
First month free with coupon code LevelUp. Expiration date 2022.12.31
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