Homeschool+ Curriculum Review {Spoiler Alert: We Love It!}
Just so you know, this post contains affiliate links. That means if you use them to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. You can read my full affiliate disclosure HERE.
Our family loves to homeschool with a mixture of hands-on and tech resources. I love the flexibility our online courses give us, and I also love personally teaching my kids and exploring with them.
I was really excited to learn about Homeschool+, and explore this program with my preschooler. I have found it to be an excellent resource for homeschooling families who also enjoy a balanced resource approach, as it offers the benefits of both technology and off-screen activities (which can be hard to find in a single curriculum!).
Homeschool+ will help you give your PreK-2nd grade kiddos a solid foundation in both math and reading, plus a well-rounded experience of other subjects such as art, science, and social studies.
I’m excited to share it with you in this post, and in my behind-the-scenes video walkthrough of our lessons!
What is Homeschool+?
Homeschool+ is created by Age of Learning, the same company that brought you ABCmouse and Adventure Academy. It’s a comprehensive program that combines online interactive, multi-sensory lessons with optional offline activities to really build a strong foundation for academic success in the early years.
That’s truly their mission, along with giving you the tools to help your kids develop a lifelong love of learning.
Within this single program, you’ll find three unique parts:
My Math Academy, which is an adaptive math curriculum that will create a personalized learning pathway for your kids to help ensure concepts are mastered.
My Reading Academy, another fully-adaptive system that helps kids learn to read and is designed to take beginners to full comprehension.
Finally, the Arts, Sciences & General Knowledge portion rounds out the curriculum, offering 12 additional courses your kids can explore.
As of now, Homeschool+ is available for kids 4-8 years old (or about PreK-2nd grade).
6 Reasons I Love Homeschool+
After using the curriculum the past couple of months, here’s a look at all of the features that are really working well for us:
#1 – Adaptive Math and Reading Programs
For homeschooling parents that want to ensure there are no gaps in their child’s math and reading education, an adaptive curriculum is a great option.
What does it mean that a curriculum is adaptive? Simply that as the child progresses through the program, the difficulty level of the lessons automatically adjust to meet their learning needs at that moment.
Both My Math Academy and My Reading Academy utilize Age of Learning’s patented fully-adaptive learning system, creating personalized, real-time instruction just for your kids.
When we first began My Math Academy, my son was given a series of questions to answer so the program could determine what he already knew and be placed at the correct level.
I noticed frequent checks throughout lessons as well, making sure he was actually grasping and remembering the concepts and not just pushing through the program.
I also found the lessons to be scaffolded really well, first showing my son exactly how to complete the activity by an animation or interactive element before he would try on his own. This really helped him build independence and confidence as he worked through his lessons.
#2 – Variety of Additional Topics
In addition to Math and Reading, there is a great selection of other subjects you can choose to incorporate. Homeschool+ recommends adding 1-3 “extra” courses each day, so this is really up to you how much or little you want to do.
We chose to add one extra course each day, and I think we both really liked the variety of something different every day!
The course options for Pre-K/K are: Animals and Habitats, Colors and Shapes (art), First Spanish Words, Cultures and Places to Explore, and Community Citizenship.
(Make sure to take a look at my walk-through video below, as I give a peek inside just how much material is included in these courses!)
For 1st and 2nd grade, the additional course options are Grammar & Writing, Animals and Habitats, Think Like a Scientist, Systems of the Human Body, Science Experiments and Demonstrations, Community Citizenship, Cultures and Places to Explore, Maps & Landmarks, and First Spanish Words.
You are in control of which days you schedule these classes on, how many you want to do, and which parts of the lessons you want to keep on your schedule.
#3 – Engaging & Interactive Lessons
Not only does my 4-year old love the animations (especially the dance parties after he earned his stars!), but the game-based, interactive lessons really kept him motivated and engaged.
He was constantly interacting with my screen, touching, dragging & dropping, and clicking on answers. I really appreciated the multisensory approach, where he was listening, seeing, touching, and moving often!
I thought the reading lessons were especially engaging, as they use a variety of digital books, videos, and activities to help kids build a solid foundation in reading comprehension and fluency.
For example, during one lesson we had a book to read, and my son was watching the words highlighted on the screen as they were read aloud. The book was often paused to point something out (ex. “The characters were sad because…), and there was a “yes” or “no” question at the end he could click on (“Do you think they will always be friends?”). We also began working on letters during the reading lessons, and he had the opportunity to trace letters on the screen and begin learning about their sounds (you’ll see this in the video as well).
#4 – Availability of Hands-on Options
I know that many parents hesitate to use a program that will have their kids spending too much time on a screen. I think that Homeschool+ provides a wonderful balance of online and offline approaches to learning!
Each of the additional arts, sciences, and general knowledge courses contain about 12-20 lessons, and every single one comes with an offline lesson plan that is hands-on and interactive, and supports what your kids are learning on-screen!
I really appreciate this option; it’s not a requirement to do the offline work, but it’s a great resource if you prefer this style of homeschooling. This means that you don’t have to pay for a separate curriculum, and you have everything you’ll need to complement what your kids are learning online in an easy-to-follow PDF format.
Below is just one example from one of our Animals lessons (you can click on the image to explore it full size). Each PDF will give you the lesson objectives and key vocabulary, activities to explore, dig deeper, and extend the learning, and suggested modifications. I also really love the “Signs of Success and Needs” – super helpful!
If you want, you can even download all your lesson plans for the week for the classes you plan on covering, in case you want to plan ahead or see if there are any extra materials needed. But for the most part, these are open and go, and many of the ones I looked through used common supplies and materials.
#5 – Weekend Free Play
The typical Homeschool+ schedule runs Monday through Friday, but you can also access My Math Academy and My Reading academy on the weekends! This is a great option in case you have a really busy week and want to spend a little bit of time on the weekend working on your lessons.
The Weekend Free Play also includes extra activities your kids can engage with, such as books, games, art activities, puzzles and videos.
Each category is jam packed with so many great resources that your kids will love! Take just a quick peek at all of the content that’s here for my little one to explore:
#6 – Super Easy Planning & Scheduling
Homeschool+ knows that us homeschool mamas are busy enough as it is, so they’ve made the planning aspect really easy!
Essentially, if you miss a day, everything automatically adjusts for you…you don’t have to feel guilty, or spend time rearranging anything.
If you miss one of your weekly lessons, it will automatically move to the next week. Math and reading, being adaptive, will just pick up right where you left off.
Homeschool+ is highly customizable, which fits into our busy schedule really nicely. I love the ability to change our time limit goals as needed, even from day-to-day. You can also move, add, or remove lessons as needed.
Ultimately, you are in control of your child’s education! With these easy planning features, you don’t have to feel bad about taking a mid-week field trip and skipping a lesson. Homeschool+ has the flexibility to handle it (and take scheduling worries off your plate).
A Peek Inside Homeschool+
I really wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look so you could see how easy it is to navigate Homeschool+, and everything it offers. Watch the video below to learn even more!
Other Considerations
I really have enjoyed exploring and using into Homeschool+, and think it will meet the needs of many homeschooling families.
This program would be considered secular, so if you are mindful of applying what you know about the Bible to what your kids are learning, you’ll have to do that on your own.
In my short time using the curriculum, I have not seen anything that would directly oppose what the Bible teaches, but this is just something to keep in mind as you use the curriculum with your kids (if this is important to you!).
Finally, at the launch of this program, it is strictly web-based; but very soon will be accessible on any type of device. The creators are also working on even more flexibility for the lesson planner, so you have even more control over what your kids are learning.
Homeschool+ for Your Flexible Homeschool
I hope you enjoyed reading this review of Homeschool+! If it sounds like a perfect fit for your homeschool, head on over to try out all they have to offer.
And let me know in the comments: what questions do you have about Homeschool+? What features do you think would be the most beneficial for your homeschool? Drop your thoughts below!
Related Posts
- Latin for Beginners: Why We Love Memoria Press Latin Curriculum
- How I’m Teaching Art This Year With Creating a Masterpiece
- Why Homeschool Hall is the Last Homeschooling Tracker You’ll Need
Blessed Homeschool is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. You can read my full affiliate disclosure HERE.
