TOS Review: Rainforest Journey from EdTechLens

 

I've been reviewing Rainforest Journey 3rd Grade from EdTechLens with my daughter for a little over a month now and it has really sparked a huge interest in the rainforest. This curriculum gently introduced new topics to my daughter and provided a change to our homeschool science routine. We've been working through Earth Science concepts and switching to Life Science was perfect timing.

Rainforest Journey is an online customizable Life Science curriculum geared toward children in K-5th grade. We received a one-year subscription to the 3rd Grade curriculum. Each grade level digs deeper into the content at the appropriate level, but they all cover the same unit topics. There are 34 lessons covering a variety of Life Science components. The lessons are organized into 5 essential units: The Big Picture of the Rainforest, Adapt or Die, Animals, Plants and Fungi, and Ecosystems. Each unit is further broken down into chapters and lessons. There are 1-5 chapters in each unit and 1-5 lessons per chapter. It's a virtual e-learning adventure through the rainforest which is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards in addition to the New York Standards.

Three types of primary resources were included such as video clips featuring factoid snippets and eight expert interviews were provided and integrated into the content. Several daily journal entries covering Days 1-3 were documented in a trip journal.

The Teacher Resources section consists of Teaching Guidance, Course Materials, and Support. The Course Materials were used the most, because it contained the Lesson Reviews, Unit Assessments, and Hands-On Activities. The Support area provides you with a Quick Start Guide, User Guide, and Contact information. Finally, the Teaching Guidance section addresses Pedagogy and Lesson Planning.

How We Used Rainforest Journey
I used Rainforest Journey from EdTechLens with Alyssa (Age 8) as her core 3rd Grade elementary science curriculum approximately 3-5 times per week for about 15-45 minutes per day. Adobe Reader was necessary for printing the PDF files. The short lessons were completed on our MAC OS X 10.9.5 computer via the student dashboard. Be careful that your child isn't working from the parent dashboard. I did that the first few days and thankfully caught the error before she was further into the curriculum. Each child will have a separate username and password. I could differentiate between the student and parent dashboards, because the student objectives are listed at the bottom of the parent dashboard. Alyssa completed 1-3 lessons per day depending on the length of the lesson and the time spent on the computer. However, I had to pull my daughter off of the computer on many occasions, because her interest in the content was so high.

We covered the content sequentially which is the default guided order. Each section remained locked and couldn't be accessed until she completed a topic. You can change or customize this feature if desired. Her progress through the curriculum was tracked and her grades were recorded. Each completed lesson was marked with a checkmark within a circle. Circles with a dash meant that the material wasn't studied or completed yet. As you can see below, the units are collapsible. The green highlighted content is the portion of the program completed and the pink indicates what hasn't been completed yet.

Student Dashboard
Showing Progress

In the beginning, we printed the Lesson Reviews in PDF format after each lesson. However, we eventually decided to utilize this resource as a way to take notes during the lesson so it was printed before beginning a lesson. This definitely helped Alyssa pay closer attention to the content and details presented.

We started a rainforest-themed word study. Several of the tougher words were added to her personal spelling lists. Alyssa hovered her cursor over each word to immediately obtain the definition on the screen when words were given in green print. This saved us a lot of time looking up words in a dictionary and helped her understand the words and their meanings in the context of the passage.

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Decomposition Vocab Word Defined

Alyssa wrote each bolded vocabulary word from the passages on 3" x 5" index cards to review later. She also created word building flashcard games and made several vocabulary worksheets using another online program. Concentration was one game we enjoyed playing to enrich the vocabulary section of the curriculum. Here are a couple pictures of the flashcards she made and the game we played.

A glossary of words is provided at the end of each unit. A leaf icon indicates a new vocabulary word. The words mentioned are in bold print and listed with definitions at the end of each unit. Important illustrations were also provided at the end of a unit.

My daughter preferred listening to the audio narration. She could easily read the content independently, because she is a strong reader. However, she wanted to follow along as the text was narrated. This feature will greatly benefit non-readers, struggling readers, children with special needs, or auditory learners. The material was presented over several screens including a leveled Enrichment Passage which extends the learning. The material can also be printed in PDF format, but we chose not to print it. The Lexile reading level is a little higher than the norm for third grade which can challenge children in a good way by providing them access to higher level content.

The primary resources were utilized as supplements throughout the week as they were introduced within the text. She listened to or read about each expert interviewed. Her favorite scientist was Phil Torres. Alyssa also visited the daily journal diary entries in order to learn more information and background knowledge about the focused topics.

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Phil Torres Interview

The Hands-On Activities found under Course Materials added an offline twist to the e-learning curriculum. Alyssa truly enjoyed the Hiding In Plain Sight Scavenger Hunt. I hid several pipe cleaner "insects" for her to hunt down and eat pretending as if she were a frog. She tallied up the number of insects eaten and graphed them by color. This was her favorite activity by far! On the right-side of the picture below are the student pages for this activity. On the left-side are the detailed teacher lesson plans. Grab your pipe cleaners and get ready for some fun! My daughter also loves butterflies so her next favorite activity was a simple cut-n-paste life cycle chart.

The end-of the-unit assessment resources were used to see if Alyssa was retaining or recalling the material taught. I appreciate that EdTechLens offered three built-in assessment methods: Factual Assessment, Depth of Knowledge, and Open-Ended Assessment. The Factual Assessment was a multiple choice test which my daughter preferred taking, because it seemed easier having answer choices with the amount of material covered in a lesson. The questions were automatically graded. The Depth of Knowledge contained multiple choice, matching questions, and other higher order thinking skill questions. She typed out her responses to the Open-Ended Assessment questions which needed to be manually graded by me. You must set aside some time for this task. I have to admit sometimes I waited a few days before grading them. I didn't always sit with Alyssa to hear or read the content so it made grading a little more difficult and time consuming. The program offered possible answer choices to the Open-Ended questions which helped when grading her assignments. I encouraged complete sentence responses, but accepted incomplete sentences.

I did add in related reading and writing assignments as supplemental enrichments. I wanted her to make even more connections with what she was learning. The fascinating non-fiction text passages and beautiful images turned out to be great research and report writing topics.

Overall Thoughts and Results
My daughter retained some of the information learned using Rainforest Journey from EdTechLens. She mainly remembered the facts that she felt were most important based on her interests. The grade level Open-Ended assessments proved to be a bit challenging at times, but she was a good sport. She did look forward to me grading them and expected feedback in the message area. I have to tell you a funny story . . . Alyssa also played a trick on me and sent a "Warning" message telling me I had to grade my child's assignment. I seriously thought it was from the company until I heard her giggle behind me as I read it aloud.  

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She was immediately drawn to the content especially the information about the unique animals found in the rainforest. The clear and vivid photographs were breathtaking. Most of the photographs are taken up close with what seems to be a macro lens providing exceptionally detailed images. The photographs were my favorite part. The photographers definitely captured the beauty of the rainforest.

Rainforest Journey seems more like a supplement. It is comprehensive for its purposes, but unfortunately we couldn't use it as a full year science curriculum. The content can definitely be covered in less than a year's time. My daughter has completed more than half of the program in a little over a month. The only way for us to continue this program would be to add a new grade level to our account. I am sure she'll be disappointed when she completes the program. At the rate that Alyssa completes the lessons, I wouldn't be able to afford adding the number of grade levels in one year that she would need in order to make it a full year science curriculum on a single mom's budget. Not to mention, this is only a Life Science curriculum. We're looking for a curriculum that covers several science fields for next year, but overall Rainforest Journey makes an excellent online unit study or interactive supplement.

I really appreciated being able to track my daughter's progress through the program. It proved to be a helpful overview with regards to the content she's covered and what topics are left to complete.

Parent's Dashboard
Alyssa's Progress

Numerous topics were addressed in the course outline, including but not limited to, the water cycle, life cycles, ecosystems, layers of the rainforest, animals, plants, fungi, predators, prey, and animal adaptations. Any topic discussing animals was Alyssa's favorite subject. She was extremely impressed with the content.  The factual information was thoroughly covered. It drew in her attention and inspired her to further research the topics of interest.

I can't tell you how many times she called me in from the other room to show me something new she learned. She wanted to share every interesting fact and photograph with me. And when I say every  . . . I mean EVERYTHING. I had to be near the computer just in case.

She is extremely interested in learning about animals. Alyssa liked how the curriculum was organized into separate units. She says it helped her learn the material better, because it was in categories. She also likes the different topics being studied. We will definitely finish the 3rd Grade curriculum before the school year is over. The rainforest theme was a topic we hadn't discussed much so this journey benefited our homeschool greatly.

What We Liked

• Interesting Multi-Media Videos
• Fascinating Non-Fiction Reading Passages
• Integration of Hands-On Activities
• Scientist Biographies and Other Primary Resources
• Audio Narration Available 
• Easy to Navigate and Use
• Accessible on ANY Internet Connected Device
• Visual and Auditory Learning Styles Addressed
• Beautiful, Real Photographs

Wet Sundew Plant
Dew attracts insects and it feeds on them. 

Alyssa said, "Awwww I want one.
Mom, come look!"

Possible Vendor Suggestions

• Lesson Review Answer Keys would be helpful even if they don't give exact answers. Otherwise, the parent must grade the papers by reading the content or watching the videos with the child which isn't always an easy task for larger or busy families. Some information will obviously be known by the parent or educator too.  

Recommendations

I recommend the Rainforest Journey from EdTechLens as a homeschool science curriculum supplement to any homeschool family or classroom with children in grades K-5 especially if the rainforest is being studied. It will work great as a whole class activity for a single grade level if viewed on a whiteboard system, small group classroom computer station exploration, as a single grade level co-op class, or as an individual study which is what we did. All learning styles and preferences are addressed. This curriculum is a fantastic option for ALL students wanting to explore the rainforest!

Price
$50 per year/per grade level/one student
$180/year for classrooms (up to 35 users - one grade level)
Register for a free account to view grade level sample lessons

Visit the FAQ to learn more about Rainforest Journey.

Social Media
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The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog has a collection of reviews from my colleagues covering several different grade levels of Rainforest Journey created by EdTechLens. Check them out!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful, But Play Inside Can Be Delightful!

I have a lot of memories of growing up and the fun things I did with my sisters.  We had a massive garage and no matter what the weather was, we would be outside in some way.  She would pull the car out into the driveway so we could ride our bikes or play games in that garage.  During the fall, we would be given rakes and make mazes or homes with our piles of leaves.  We were encouraged to play, be creative and have fun.  My husband and I have worked hard in making sure our daughter has a life where she is encouraged to do the same things.  Even though we live in New York City, we have found ways to make sure these things happen.  We build snowmen in front of our Brooklyn brownstone.  We walk through the park and collect leaves and acorns.  With the change in seasons comes a whole new level of creativity in order to keep our little one busy and excited!

So now that we are officially at that time of the year where you can't predict the weather, it can sometimes be much more challenging to keep your little ones entertained.  Whether it be because of rain, snow or that it's simply too cold to be outside, kids seem to become more easily bored and in need of entertainment.  As parents, we struggle with keeping our kids entertained and keeping ourselves sane! I live in NYC so snow days are not very common but when they happen, it means that we have to find ways to keep ourselves and kids as busy and occupied as possible.  And for most parents, that means we don't want to sit our kids down in front of the tv or the iPad all day long even though that would be the easiest solution to our keeping our kids busy problem.   While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if it works for your family, there are a lot of other great activities out there that make those days that seem like they will never end.  If it's just a snowy day, the obvious thing is to just grab a sled and find a hill or find some friends to make a snow person with.  For many, this may not be an option so I am going to offer you some others.  Ones that get your kids moving, thinking and most importantly, having fun.

I have a lot of memories of growing up and the fun things I did with my sisters.  We had a massive garage and no matter what the weather was, we would be outside in some way.  She would pull the car out into the driveway so we could ride our bikes or play games in that garage.  During the fall, we would be given rakes and make mazes or homes with our piles of leaves.  We were encouraged to play, be creative and have fun.  My husband and I have worked hard in making sure our daughter has a life where she is encouraged to do the same things.  Even though we live in New York City, we have found ways to make sure these things happen.  We build snowmen in front of our Brooklyn brownstone.  We walk through the park and collect leaves and acorns.

Baking

One of my daughter's favorite activities to do with me is to bake.  We keep it simple and something that she can be actively involved with the entire time.  Baking can be something that can be done with just one child or a small group of kids.  I love using baking as a tool to improve social skills. Here are some of our favorites right now:

Pizza-we are partial to using real pizza dough when we make our pizza, but you can also make pizza bagels and english muffin pizzas if you want to simplify things a bit.  Kids can be fairly independent in the whole process starting at kneading and flattening the dough to putting the sauce and cheese on.  If you have an older child, you can have them cut toppings like mushrooms, peppers or tear basil.  Making pizza is a great OT activity because you can work on so many skills including improving bilateral coordination, increase upper body and fine motor strength and executive functioning skills.  

If you want to make this project last a little longer, you can read Pete's A Pizza, a great board book by William Steig.  You can read it to them while the pizza is cooking and cooling off before eating it!

Cookies and Brownies-we happen to be a family who has a pretty big sweet tooth and baking cookies and brownies is one of our favorite things to do, especially when we are stuck inside for one reason or another.  If you aren't into making cookies from scratch, you can get the pre-made dough.  Have the kids either slice the cookies or rip off a piece of the dough and roll them into balls.  With sugar cookies, they can do the same thing and decorate them with sprinkles or candies.  This whole activity is great for working on bilateral coordination, increasing upper body/fine motor strength and executive functioning skills.

Arts and Crafts

I happen to live in a neighborhood that offers a ton of great rainy day craft places.  Our personal favorite is Hiho Batik, a DIY batik studio where you can make shirts, bags and other great items.  What I love about it is that you are actually making something that you can use.  However, most people aren't as lucky as we are to live in such a neighborhood so they have to find things that they can do at home.  While people want to keep their kids entertained, they don't want to get involved in something too time consuming or messy.  You also want to do things that your kids can do mostly on their own.  Here are a couple of simple but fun activities you can do with your kids.

Superhero Mask-this can be a simple and very fun activity to do with your kids.  Using felt and a glue gun, your child can express their personality through their masks.   I've done this before where I

cut out different shaped eye masks and then a bunch of shapes that they can glue on.  For older kids, they can be in charge of cutting out all the shapes.  

Superhero Cape-I LOVE this easy DIY superhero cape and can't wait to try this with some of my kids at work.  All you need is a large t-shirt (the larger the better so it can really flow like a cape), felt, scissors and glue.  Kids can make a cape with their initial, their favorite superhero log or whatever else they want to make this speak to what kind of superhero they are.  For step-by-step instructions, check out this link.  

Arts and crafts should be fun and exciting for kids.  It should not be stressful or make them feel like they have to follow a bunch of rules.  It should be a time for them to be creative and to express themselves and let their personality shine through.
Crafts are also a great way to work on improving fine motor, visual motor/perceptual and executive functioning skills.  Carefully choose the writing instruments you provide your child with.  If they have an immature pencil grip, you should present broken crayons or short pencils.  If your child has a weak grip and tires easily when coloring or drawing, be sure to use markers as they require less strength

Science Experments

I've been running small social skills groups for years and what I have discovered is that kids love a good science experiment.  They love seeing something new and exciting and the more hands on it is, the better it is.  Science activities are great for working on focus and attention, following directions, increasing fine motor skills and encouraging language.  While I am the baker in my house, my husband is the science guy and has done some pretty cool experiments using everyday household items.  Here are a couple of fun ones for you to try!

A Color Symphony-you will need a flat baking tray, whole milk, liquid dish soap and food coloring.  Pour the whole milk into the pan so it covers the entire bottom of the tray.  Put 6-8 drops of different colored food coloring in different parts of the pan.  Next place a few drops of soap onto each colored spot and see what happens.  Kids love watching the colors move all around. 

We have done this at home with our daughter and instead of dropping the soap onto the food coloring, we dipped a q-tip into the soap and placed them into the food coloring.  This is good because you can work on improving fine motor and grasping skills at the same time.  

Homemade Slime-I've always loved this science project.  Most of us have made homemade playdough (which is also a really fun thing to do on an inside kind of day) at some point in our lives but there is something really fun about the slime and what I like most about it is that there is no cooking involved with it.  I actually just made this last week for Halloween with my little friends at The Meeting House.  We had the kids put googley eyes and spiders in their mixture and then they had to dig them out which is great for working on building grasp strength and fine motor skills.  Using glue, water, food coloring and Borax (the powder kind that you can find near the detergents in grocery stores or some bodegas).  Kids have the best time watching this liquid concoction turn into a blob of fun that they get to play around with.
These are just a couple of science activities you can do with your kids but there are hundreds more out there.  Check out these websites for more ideas:

ScienceBob-this page has oodles of ideas for you to try at home or in therapy with your kids.  Most instructions are clear and most have videos for you to watch.  There are a variety of experiments so you can find one that will spark any child's interest.  

Red Tricyle-I follow the national and New York Red Tricyle and have gotten some really great ideas from them.  This article from a few weeks ago provides you with almost 20 different classic science experiments you can do at home.  Some of them will bring you back to your childhood!

ScienceFun-this is a great resource for a variety of experiments that is dedicated to making science fun for kids.  Their goal is to make learning a magical experience where you take science and allow kids to use their imagination.  They have partnered with students, teachers and parents in putting together a website filled with great activities.  I like how this particular page breaks down activities by age ranges making it easy to figure out what is appropriate for your kid.

Blocks and Building Toys

It seems simple, but building toys can take up hours and hours of a day that has to be spent inside.  Encourage your kids to dump out all their blocks and other building toys and mix and match them to make something amazing.  Who says that Legos can't be used with MagnaTiles?  The more you have, the larger and more creative your kids can be as they are building.   If you want to wild, give them a bunch of characters and have them come up with stories with their siblings or friends.  You can have them practice and then have them put on a show you can record and share with people.  Don't worry about making a mess...that's easy enough to clean up later on!
Some of my favorite building toys are:

MagnaTiles

Tegu Magnetic Wooden Blocks

Lego/Duplo

Janod Building Sets

Games

I think it's important to have a hidden stash of games that only come out on these kinds of inside days.  If your kids are anything like my daughter or the kids I work with, they get obsessed with a certain game or two and play them until everyone in the house is sick and tired of them.  When you find yourself with a day that you know will be keeping you all inside, it's fun to pull out a few things that they can look forward to.  I like to pick games that are more physical and get the kids up and moving around.  For example, Twister, Kids On Stage and Charades for Kids are good choices.  They not only get your kids up and moving around, they are great for improving language skills, gross motor skills and social skills.  

For some of you, it might be pulling out those kid-friendly video game systems you have and letting them get some action.  I appreciate that not everyone is into video games, but While I know not everyone believes in video games for their kids, there are several systems out there now that provide your children with more physically active gaming opportunities.  For example, the Nintendo Wii has all kinds of fun sports related games like baseball, bowling and golf.  My nieces are big fans of the Just Dance and SingStar games.  The nice thing about all of these games are that you have to be on your feet, you have to move your body and you have to focus and attend to what is on the screen.  For kids who may struggle with focus and attention, this could be a really fun way to work on this skill.  In addition, all of these kinds of video games are great for working on improving motor planning, eye-hand coordination and visual perceptual skills.   

I'm cutting this post short as to not bore you all but I could go on and on with fun activities to do with your kids during bad weather.  I've shared some of my favorites but would really love to hear from some of you about your favorite inclement weather activities.  Do you have something that you love to do with your kids when you are stuck inside all day?  If you have some fantastic family activity you do with your kids, please share them with me and my readers.  I'm always a click away and love hearing from each and every one of you!

Schoolhouse Review: Digital Science Online by Visual Learning Systems

Reviewing the Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) and the Digital Science Online: Secondary Edition (Grades 6-12) developed by Visual Learning Systems was an absolute blessing! I was thrilled when I found out that the Schoolhouse Review Crew would receive a full one-year subscription to BOTH levels with access to a single student, teacher, and admin account for the purposes of this review.

Finding a science curriculum that both you and your child likes isn't always an easy process. We were using a curriculum that I liked, but I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to focus on only one specific science topic for an entire year. The science curricula we were using would too often get set aside due to teacher prep time or lack of materials. I live in the country and unless I plan ahead, I don't always have project items on hand. 

Product Description
Visual Learning Systems is a Vermont-based family owned and operated business offering Digital Science Online (DSO) programs for children in grades K-12. This educational science publisher produces high-quality visual-based content that teaches and encourages children to learn. Brian Jerome, a former science instructor with a Ph.D, is the unit creator behind the scenes. Digital Science Online uses a combination of animations, still life images, interactive graphics, and a collection of informative videos that capture and engage the child in the learning process. This complete multi-media curriculum teaching tool enables children to learn about their world. The annual subscription also includes the following components:

• Comprehensive Teacher Guides (Downloadable PDF File) with Pre and Post Assessments
• Subtitled and Close-Captioned Content-Specific Videos
• Reproducible Student Activities (Printable PDF)

Teacher Guide - The teacher guides contain 15-30 pages of teaching resources including introductory activities, viewing suggestions, itemized learning objectives, national standards and correlations, assessments, student activity blackline masters, and video scripts. Answer keys are also provided for all student activities, the video review and quiz, and for the assessments. The teacher guide is available as a PDF file or can be viewed in sections online. I never printed the teacher guides because I was able to view them online. If you have an iPad, then you can view the teacher guide as your student works online. 

Video scripts from the teacher manual are helpful on days we aren't watching the videos together. They are broken into numbered sections that can also be read online. I had the ability to review, skim, and prepare for the day's lesson and content in advance. It's a wonderful summary of the content addressed.

This isn't just an interactive online science program that you put in front of your child with assignments to complete. You do need to set aside a little time to grade multiple choice assessments and dedicate some time to look over the worksheet answers IF you utilize those tools.

Implementing the suggestions found in the teacher guide that activiate the child's prior background knowledge about a topic can be extremely helpful. My daughter always surprised me with the information she already knew when she was given a pre-assesment. I knew not to waste as much time on material already known. Pre-assessments helped me identify problem areas and emphasize the difficult, misunderstood topics.

Educational Videos - The videos were developmentally appropriate for the grade level ranges. They taught concepts in understandable terms using a clearly understood narration voice with proper pronunciation. Furthermore, the bite-sized segmented videos can be spread out throughout the week. The video content immediately captured Alyssa's attention. The videos lasted 10-20 minutes depending on the grade range selected. The longer videos were from the Secondary Edition. There were over 136 videos in just the Elementary Edition (K-5) and 125 video titles in Secondary Edition (6-12). 

Student Activities - Clickable thumbnail images of the student activities can be seen online. The student activities varied including but not limited to cut and paste, fill-ins, matching, lab investigations, illustrations, labeling, reading passages with comprehension questions, projects, writing prompts, and word finds. The best part is that you have control over which activities you complete and how many activities you do from the units. The Elementary Edition Grades 3-5 worksheets can be writing intensive at times.  

The science curriculum covers topics from several major elementary science fields including Life, Physical, Earth, and Health in the Elementary Edition which is something our current mastery-based program doesn't do. There are also ESL and Integrated units studies. Biology is covered in the Secondary Edition.   

How We Used Digital Science Online

The program is compatible with updated versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. We used Chrome as our preferred browser on a MAC computer to stream videos over the Internet. As long as we had an internet connection, we could conveniently access our subscription easily 24/7. No additional software was needed. I navigated the website easily and had the option of searching the database for specific science topics. The Crew received BOTH levels of the program to review so we could evaluate each one. We primarily used the Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) resources and online videos with my 7-year-old daughter approximately 4-5 times a week in conjunction with and as a supplement to her core astronomy science curriculum. Science took approximately 15-45 minutes each day depending on the number of activities we completed. 

My daughter begged me to review this product so she was extremely eager to get started! First, I explored the different levels and unit studies available as soon as we received our log-in information. When exploring the website, it is best if you choose a grade range first, then the core science field, and finally decide on a specific topic to teach.  

There wasn't really any order or sequence that you needed to follow. I asked Alyssa to make a list of interesting unit studies she wanted to learn about from the Elementary Edition. We started with complementary topics related to the content addressed in her current science studies and then we branched out to the interest-based unit studies.

The Elementary Edition is divided into two grade range categories: Primary Grades K-2 and Elementary Grades 3-5. My intention was to complete the unit studies from the Elementary Grades 3-5 section first in hopes to challenge my daughter and use the Primary Grades K-2 unit studies independently taking a more interest-based, delight-directed approach. However, we ended up switching between the two grade ranges but almost all units came from the Primary grade level. Our emphasis was on Earth and Life Science unit studies. We completed the following unit studies during the review period: "Day and Night," "Sun and Stars," "Planets," "Earth's Nearest Neighbors," "What Do Living Things Need," "What is a Mammal," and we recently finished "What is an Insect." Her favorite unit studies were "Planets" and "What is a Mammal." Alyssa also enjoyed quizzing relatives and friends about the content she learned. 

The first unit study Alyssa jumped into was the Primary Planets unit study which she completed within two days. I immediately realized that I wanted to break a unit study up over several days to encourage and facilitate better comprehension of the concepts instead of covering one unit study a day. Would you like to see what our week looks like?

A Weekly Glance

• Monday

A pre-assessment in multiple choice format was given to Alyssa at the beginning of the lesson before being exposed to the video content. It enabled me to informally evaluate her prior knowledge about a topic without taking grades.

The introductory activity from the teacher guide was next on our agenda. Many introductory activities required very few materials and little prep. Materials were easily gathered from our home within a matter of minutes. I usually prepped while my daughter completed the pre-assessment or other lessons. These short activities sparked my daughter's natural curiosity for the topic. She began to ask questions about what she was going to learn. I will say that Alyssa reads a lot of non-fiction animal texts so she was already familiar with many of the terms in the following unit. She also used some of the information from the pre-assessment to create the graphic organizer and mammal list. 

Mammal Introductory Activity

Then, Alyssa and I usually watched the full content-rich video together. She completed the Video Review as a student activity while watching the video. This was also a great time for me to check for and clarify misunderstandings about the content as they occur. I taught her to listen and watch for the question cues. Slides with the Words "Video Review," "You Decide," "Your Describe," You Observe" would pop up on the screen. Once she heard and saw the cues, she would get her pencil ready. She developed and fine tuned her note-taking and attention skills. The video was paused while she recorded her answers to the questions and responded in written format. The company did give some response time for answers so depending on how fast your child writes you may not need to pause the video. I encouraged her to write in neat, complete sentences.

When a key term was mentioned on the screen, we also paused the video for a brief discussion about any confusing vocabulary words when necessary. For example, some discussion was needed to further discuss the terms "rotation" and "revolution" when watching an Earth science video. 

The video review lesson ended with an outstanding summary noting the key, important concepts addressed during the lesson. This served as wonderful review and reiterated the main concepts. 

Completed Insect Video Review and Quiz

The last activity for the day was the 5-Question Video Quiz (as seen above). This is the second part of the video review. I appreciate that both the video review and quiz were on the same page saving on paper and ink costs. If you wanted separate pages for children who are overwhelmed with a lot of information, then you can always cut the page between the two activities. The Video Quiz was utilized as a graded mini-assessment to gauge whether or not Alyssa understood the presented topic. The video quizzes she took were fill-in the blank type questions as seen in the screenshot below. 

• Tuesday

One or two student activities were assigned on this day. Alyssa rewatched related video segments on the computer or on the iPad. We also discussed animations further and enjoyed the beautiful images. If it were a Primary unit study, then we read a book from the provided list. Alyssa made her own connections and told me how the book relates to the video content. The Word Find worksheets were one of her favorite student activities. 

• Wednesday  Day OFF to participate in extracurricular activities or extra student activity

• Thursday 

One or two student activities were completed on this day along with watching video segments, discussing animations, and viewing the related still life images. If another book was available to read, then we incorporated it into the lesson. She found the reading passages to be "just right" containing interesting facts. 

Mammal Reading Passage

• Friday

Alyssa watched the full unit study video prior to taking the post-assessment which was graded. You can choose whether or not to grade the tests. They can also be completed verbally if desired. The tests she took so far were in multiple choice format (fill in the correct bubble). Other types of test questions seen in both levels vary including but not limited to fill-in, short answer, true or false, and matching. All of which are simple and effective ways to assess a knowledge base.

The questions she got wrong on the pre-assessment were always correct on the final test. Post-assessments are usually helpful in noting the effectiveness of programs and help gauge progress over time. I was hoping to see how much she actually learned after utilizing the videos, however, it was difficult for me to tell because my daughter memorized the answers from the pre-assessment. 

Fridays were also our "plan ahead" days. We would chose another unit study to cover for the following week. This gave us a few days to gather related literature and additional materials. The Primary teacher guides give a list of related literature connected to the topic. If you can't find the specific books in your library, then you can do a simple search based on the main topics addressed in the student objectives for additional book substitutes.

Additional Usage Notes
If the unit study addressed was more in-depth covering more complex topics, then Alyssa watched the full video every day to reinforce the concept.

What We Liked

• Thorough Teacher's Guides with Everything Planned Out
• Pre-Video Introductory Activity Suggestions Spark an Interest in the Topic

• Captivating Images and Fascinating Life Action Footage

• Short Age-Appropriate Video Lengths for Shorter Attention Spans
• Time-Saver By Integrating Reading, Writing, and Math Into Lessons 
• Consists of a Wide Variety of High Interest Topics from Core Science Areas
• Relevant, Factual Information Presented
• Multiple Learning Styles Addressed
• Exposure to Basic and Advanced Vocabulary with Simplified Terms and Explanations

• Limited Color Used on Worksheets Making Printing More Affordable
• Primary Grade K-2 Literature Connections - I appreciate the literature connections which helped integrate and incorporate more science-based reading into our homeschool. One of our goals this year is to increase the amount of reading we do and the booklists added another dimension to the unit studies. The number of connections made to the topic also increased while reinforcing the learning process. The book suggestions can be read prior to watching the video or after a video lesson. One of the cute picture books mentioned in the Mammal unit study was Pinduli by Janell Cannon. I've never read this book, but I'm glad that I was introduced to it.   

  

Possible Vendor Suggestions

• There weren't as many hands-on activities as I had expected. I would suggest adding even more hands-on projects and experiments to different primary and elementary studies. Of course . . . this is based on my observations from only the few units we completed. I am hoping as I continue to explore the units, that I will discover more hands-on activities that can be used with one child over time. The day and night activity below was not from the unit study, but the study and literature suggestions inspired us to do it. "The Shape of an Orbit" activity from the Elementary Earth Science unit titled, "Earth's Nearest Neighbors" was one of the activities that we did in addition to the worksheets. 

Day and Night Activity

Shape of an Orbit

• I also wished that the student activities showed adaptations for homeschool families, including those homeschooling an only child. Several of the student activities were more geared towards classroom settings. Granted, you can easily make adaptations to the assignment to fit your situation or come up with your own activities. For example, when studying "Earth's Nearest Neighbors" each group of students were given a planet to create for a solar system model. You can have just one child complete the activity over a longer period of time or divide the work between several children in your home. However, I chose to skip the activity. This project would have taken several days for my daughter to finish which is more time than I wanted to devote to that topic since we were reviewing the concept. Another project that seemed overwhelming for one child was the sun activity from the "Sun and Stars" unit. Each child in the class cuts out 40 circles and arranges a total of 1,000 circles to create the sun. This was definitely too much cutting for one child. However, it is a great activity for a class to discuss the size of Earth compared to the sun.    
• My daughter quickly realized that the assessments are basically the same exact questions for both the pre-assessment and post assessment. She has a great memory and could easily memorize the answers. I would suggest rewording the questions instead of just reordering them.
• We hope that the company will eventually add more unit studies and video clips to the program, because we enjoyed watching them and learned a tremendous amount. The presentations are straightforward and informative. 

Digital Science Online Homeschool Pricing
Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) $99
Digital Science Online: Secondary Edition (Grades 6-12) $99

*You have the opportunity to possibly differentiate learning within a unit study by checking all the grade level videos for similar topics if you purchase both annual digital subscriptions. Each edition costs $99.

Please Note: The homeschool reduced prices offered are for home use only for up to 8 children. You do NOT have public performance rights.

The price is fairly cost effective when you consider what you're paying for and what you get for a year. You can decide on the pace that works best for your family giving you the option of working at a much faster pace covering one unit study a day choosing several student activities to complete in one sitting or you can slow things down like we did. You have more than enough content to cover over a year's worth of learning depending on the pace you choose. Visit Visual Learning Systems for more information and to start using this tool with your family.

Overall Thoughts

I can confidently and successfully teach Alyssa core science topics through engaging online video clips and structured lessons found in the teacher guides. The solid program gives me the essentials I need to effectively teach science and be more involved in her lessons. I still have the flexibility that I desire. I also noticed that lessons were smoother and she was more enthusiastic about science! My daughter is actually learning the material presented and is definitely increasing her knowledge of scientific concepts. I had a difficult time getting Alyssa off the computer after the first video lesson, because she wanted to watch more videos and I don't blame her because they are indeed captivating. I believe that children can learn and retain a great deal of information just from watching the online videos with audio. 

There's a HUGE possibility that this product due to its comprehensiveness may actually replace her current science curriculum for the rest of the year. The Visual Learning System unit studies available through Digital Science Online helped fill a void we had in science while exposing my daughter to additional concepts not covered in our core curriculum. This curriculum will be extremely helpful when we sell our house and move, because when we pack up her curricula we'll still have access to a high-quality science education program requiring minimal prep and time.  

Recommendations
I HIGHLY recommend the Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) annual subscription created by Visual Learning Systems. This digital subscription resource will appeal to both homeschool families and classroom teachers. It would be an invaluable resource particularly for individuals that teach science at ANY grade level. It's an exceptional resource that will save you an enormous amount of prep time. You also have the relief and convenience that all standards are covered if you are required to meet those expectations in your state. This complete K-12 grade science education curriculum would be an outstanding option for audio-visual learners. Notebooking, lapbooking, more experiments, additional hands-on activities, and copywork extensions can easily be incorporated into these unit studies if desired, but are definitely NOT required due to the thoroughness and simplicity of the product. 

Be sure to visit the following link for Tutorials and Demo Samples. You can even request a trial. You'll find a PDF file containing Frequently Asked Questions available on the website that may answer basic questions you have about the subscription or program. If you contact the company, customer service reps were reliable, quick to respond, and friendly.

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