Ready To Use Lesson Plans For K - 12 - Review
I love putting my own lesson plans together but sometimes it takes a lot of time. I've recently been trying out the huge library of ready-to-teach lessons from Educeri. Educeri is a division of DataWORKS and I've really enjoyed having this as part of my homeschool resource toolkit!
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this product for review, all opinions are 100% my own.
Have you ever planned out your homeschool lessons from scratch? If you have you know just how much work goes into making them. I love it I truly do but sometimes I just don't have time to create every detail on my own. That's why I was so excited to try the lessons from the Educeri Lesson Subscription Service.
Ready To Teach Lessons For K to 12
Educeri is a subscription-based service for educators both school teachers and homeschoolers.
Educeri was created by John Hollingsworth and Dr. Silvia Ybarra, owners of DataWORKS Educational Research who have been providing teachers with lessons since 1997. Now they have brought their helpful lessons into digital form making them easily accessible.
On Educeri you'll find over 1100 lessons all created by specialists in each field. With the help of designers, they have packaged the lessons in easy-to-use slideshows.
Lesson Subjects on Educeri:
Math
Science
Language Arts
History
Art
P.E.
Music
Spanish
Although Educeri lists many subject areas, not all subjects are covered in all grade levels.
From using the program I've found that the bulk of the lessons are in the Language Arts category with math being the second largest.
Using Lesson Plans On Educeri
Finding lessons is really easy! When you're logged in there are 3 drop menus at the top of your screen.
Here you can select how many lessons to preview on each page, the grade level you want, and the subject. Changing any of these options immediately reloads the page with new selections.
When you click on a lesson you're taken to another page that shows the cover image for the lesson slideshow.
Under this area is a text description of the lesson and to the right, you often find a PDF worksheet you can download and print. This looks like a paper icon under the title Additional Resources.
I do wish they would make the downloadable more noticeable because I missed them for the first few lessons we tried. I also wish there was a preview of the PDF so I could see what it contained before downloading it.
When you're ready to start your lesson you can click on either the large image icon or the button "Teach Lesson". This opens the lesson screen that is done in a slideshow format.
On the bottom right of the lesson screen are back-and-forth arrows. Clicking these moves you step by step through the questions on the screen.
As you click the next button the correct answer is displayed or circled. Clicking the back button removes the last answer displayed. There is also a menu in the top right corner that gives you different tools you can write on the screen lesson page with.
To move to a new lesson page before completing each of the questions on that page you can click the small menu button on the bottom left of the lesson screen.
This opens up a table of contents for the entire lesson and you can choose what page you want to work on. This is great if you stop a lesson partway through and want to pick it up from where you left off another day.
Unlike many online lessons, this isn't the type of program you just log your children onto and let them work through the lessons. Instead, you need to sit with your children, at least your younger children.
The lessons are designed so that you read and teach the lesson to your child and work through them together. Older children who are reading well could, of course, do the lessons on their own if you prefer.
Along the right side of the lesson page, you will often find note boxes with more information about the lesson. Clicking these opens a new lesson page with detailed examples of the concept.
Like many online programs, they are not a one, size fits all. Some of my children are really enjoying the lessons while others prefer a more interactive video-learning program.
My 10-year-old is loving the LA lessons, especially the ones that teach you how to edit text. I've been enjoying using some of the math topics and LA topics with my 3rd and 4th graders as well. The lessons are short and make a great introduction to a concept or review.
If I could change one thing about the lessons I wish there was an option to have the lessons read aloud on the computer.
I understand that this option isn't there because they are intended for a parent or educator to read the lessons but I think for older children working on a lesson alone and who struggle with reading an audio option would be a wonderful addition.
Educeri offers a FREE 30-day trial if you would like to try it and see if it's a great fit for your homeschool.
