Welcome to The Educents Best Curriculum Guide of 2015! We’ve pulled together some of our favorite tried and true, as well as brand new curriculums and tools for the year based on user reviews, ease-of-use and educational quality. Learn more about each curriculum below!
Rosetta Stone for Homeschool
Rosetta Stone Homeschool features a foreign language curriculum specially designed to provide homeschool students with a rich, fully interactive and engaging language-learning experience, while giving parents the tools and resources needed to manage student progress without extensive planning or supervision. Rosetta Stone Homeschool is self-paced and designed to make it easy for parents to offer language learning even if they don’t understand the language their students are studying. Students are instantly captivated by Rosetta Stone so they stay engaged. Plus, with positive reinforcement and quick results, their language-learning confidence soars! Rosetta Stone provides up to five levels of instruction in select languages, beginning with a foundation of listening comprehension, speaking, grammar, reading and writing. With Rosetta Stone, your children will do more than learn about a language. They’ll learn to use it. Parent Administrative Tools let you track your student’s progress with just a few mouse clicks. You’ll see which exercises they have completed, assess how well they’ve done and determine how long it took them to finish. You will also be able to select predefined lesson plans and generate progress reports, documenting student achievement for college and job applications. Check out their curriculum here.
Schola Publications
You see many phonics and Latin programs for sale, and they may look similar. We invite you to take a moment and discover the difference other parents and teachers have for yourself……
1] Did you know that English DOES make sense and you can confidently teach spelling, handwriting, reading, grammar, composition, literature and even Latin in one seamless method?
2] Utilize this proven technique of brain function learning versus memorization to unlock the greatness in each child.
3] Let me help you learn Latin and teach it to your student at the same time, earning high school foreign language credits as you build advanced English grammar and vocabulary skills.
4] You can teach a child at any level all their language arts subjects or Latin in about 45 minutes per day!
With over 30 years of experience, if you allow me, I consider it an honor to demonstrate these methods and much more…. while optimizing your budget. Author: Barbara Beers
Unlock “The Road” to unlimited possibilities!
WriteWell
WriteWell is an innovative online writing platform that makes writing fun and engaging for kids in grades 4-12. WriteWell helps students produce clear and well organized essays by walking them through the writing process. Students write directly into WriteWell’s innovative “write in chunks” interface by following grade-appropriate supports that tell (and show) the student what to write in each paragraph. WriteWell offers content for a variety of writing styles and grade levels. Write better and more efficiently with a simple and intuitive writing tool. You can also try it for free!
PetraLingua
PetraLingua teaches the basics of Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Russian or ESL English. The courses are available online and in langauage learning sets, and they are suitable for children 6 – 10, for families and schools. Multilingualism is linked to a variety of cognitive benefits, including early reading, better listening perception, improved problem-solving skills, and higher scores on school tests which is why PetraLingua created PetraLingua for Families. Children’s natural sense of curiosity motivates them to learn a new language without any effort, by exploring. With the clear PetraLingua course structure, it’s very easy to plan your lessons by introducing new vocabulary with videos and songs, using interactive exercises to repeat the new words, and practicing with the activity book and flashcards. The PetraLingua for Schools program covers the curriculum of the first 2-3 years and offers all the necessary elements for a beginners language course including step-by-step vocabulary introduction with video lessons and songs, and lessons organized on a progression pinciple, starting from a child’s closest experiences. The program also features lots of revision possibilities with interactive games, activity book and flashcards, different activities to keep young learners interested, and a teacher’s board to track student’s progress. The PetraLingua Homepage offers a free demo lesson for each language and detailled lesson plans are available.
Time4Learning
Time4Learning is an online, interactive curriculum for PreK-12th. It can be
used for homeschool, skill building, and summer study. Time4Learning combines the technology kids love with the education they need to make learning fun! Real life concepts are taught with animation, adding a sense of humor, to make lessons engaging. The curriculum can be used by following Time4Learning’s lesson plans or you can use the activity finder to hone in on a particular area of study. For example, if you want to work on fractions and nouns only, you can. With automated reporting, adjustable grade levels, and support, Time4Learning helps customize a curriculum to your child’s needs. Give your children the tools to work independently, study confidently, and excel in the comfort and safety of their own home. Over the past decade, Time4Learning has helped over 400,000 homeschool students including gifted, special needs, and mainstream, discover their learning styles and instill a love for learning. Whether you’re looking for homeschool curriculum, skill sharpening, or looking for educational summer fun, Time4Learning can help! Time4Learning is available on tablets now, perfect for traveling. Their award-winning curriculum is available all year long, is student-paced, and accommodates every family’s schedule, even on the go!
Time4Writing
Time4Writing.com offers 8-week online writing courses for elementary, middle and high school students. Each online course is led by a certified teacher who provides one-on-one instruction, personalized feedback and guidance along the way. Time4Writing offers basic, intermediate and advanced courses that teach topics such as grammar, sentence structure, paragraph writing, essay writing, sentence writing, writing for the SAT and research papers. Each course includes fun, interactive lessons and writing assignments. Students can easily access the virtual campus with their own secure login from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection. The writing process includes learning to think, asking good questions, building confidence, and getting your thoughts out. Students work on their schedule, at their own pace. Once an assignment is submitted, students receive constructive feedback from their teacher within one business day. Parents can also log in to monitor reports and purchase additional courses. In addition to teaching students the ins and outs of a particular area of writing, Time4Writing also teaches students how to think and express themselves clearly and confidently. Time4Writing curriculum helps elementary, middle and high school students build skills and master the art of writing at all levels. Courses come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
CTC Math
CTC Math specializes in providing online video tutorials which take a multi-sensory approach to learning. Favorably reviewed in Cathy Duffy’s 102 Top Picks and The Old Schoolhouse Crew Review the lessons are short and concise to help your student break down concepts and appreciate math in a whole new way! The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test” and CTC Math is NOT aligned to Common Core. Each one of the video tutorials are taught by internationally acclaimed teacher Pat Murray who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). CTC Math has seen students who struggled with math are now getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
MathScore
Your children will ask to play MathScore because they genuinely think it is fun – but when you watch them play, you realize they are getting rigorous math training! Since when did math become fun? Making math practice feel like a game is what makes MathScore so special. Developed by MIT graduates, MathScore’s proprietary adaptive algorithms keep students motivated because the content adapts to be just challenging enough (not too hard and not too easy) for students to believe they can succeed. This motivation leads to improved performance and fast learning. Multiple public school studies showed a direct link between time spent on MathScore and improvement on standardized tests. Read the testimonials at www.MathScore.com to learn about how the more time a child spent “playing” MathScore, the more their test scores increased! Best of all, MathScore is free to start. Take as long as you need to experience real success, then
pay to unlock the rest of the content when ready. MathScore supports grades K-9 and parents of all ages. Also, kindergarten is 100% free!
Leadership Education
Educators often get so concerned with “what” to teach that they neglect the “how” and “why.” Yet understanding these creates happier, more empowered children. TJEd gives you the “how” and the “why” to make the “what” more powerful, more memorable, more relevant to your children. They will be inspired as you apply the 7 Keys of Great Teaching and the 4 Phases of Learning. You will bring them face-to-face with greatness. And they will love learning. Discovered and articulated by Oliver and Rachel DeMille, Thomas Jefferson Education, or “TJEd,” (pronounced “tee-jay-ED”) is an educational philosophy and a methodology by which great individuals throughout history have been educated. Thousands of families and professional educators are applying those same principles today, with amazing success. The 5 Habits of Highly Successfully Homeschoolers will show you the “secrets” of excellent homeschooling. Use coupon code EDUCENTS-15 to get 80% off your copy here! AND! TJEd is also offering their premium parent training, the 7 Keys Certification ($160 value) – free when you sign up for their newsletter here! Remember, an investment in your education is not a withdrawal from your kids’. It will pay dividends on a gold standard for generations to come!
[…] believe that facilitating play beyond the classroom is vital for a rounded education. There are so many fun educational field trip ideas. From a local trip to the forest or a day trip […]