OK, that’s probably a little dramatic, but have you been to this site? Let me tell you a little about it. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a website devoted to classes for homeschooling families. There are over ONE HUNDRED classes available for all grade levels, from Pre-K through high school. Some classes are all online, some offer downloadable and printable pieces. Choices are broken down between full year, one semester, and supplementals. Some classes, like French, offer more than one year. There are new lessons added all the time, but old lessons stay on the site so you can always catch up (for instance, if you start your subscription today, you can start Algebra from the beginning- you don’t have to start with this week’s new lesson).
I just started our subscription a couple of weeks ago so I am still sifting through all of our options. It’s overwhelming in a good way. My face almost cracked from the huge grin I had when I first accessed the site. We could plan a well-rounded school year around what’s available on this site and never have the need for any other curricula. For elementary school you have full year choices in everything from art, language arts, science, music, history, foreign language, and more! The choices are even greater in middle and high school. The site even offers customized checklists you can print off to keep track of everything you’ve done in every subject. And though there are more options than I have even been able to check out yet, everything on the site is really well laid out and easy to navigate.
Because my Big Boy is a huge fan of art and I am not very good at coming up with nor implementing art classes, we decided to begin our journey with the elementary Art Techniques class. This class was designed by Brenda Ellis, the founder of ARTistic Pursuits art curriculum. Since the site keeps an archive of all past lessons, we have the option of going back all the way to February of 2013 and starting at any point we’d like- there is a lesson per week for all of those months. Each month has a theme: chalk pastel, watercolor, etc. The current month is learning about tempera painting. The lesson plan for the first week of the month immediately begins with a list of all the materials you will need for the whole month (making preparing really easy). The lessons are really well written and easy to follow, even if you are art-challenged like me. Brenda writes as if she is really in our home teaching my child, so all I have to do is provide the materials and read what’s written.
Along with more than one hundred class options developed by professionals, you also have access to planners, resources from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine archives, members-only discounts from other companies, and free e-books. At $139 per year for the Yearly Membership, this is an unbeatable deal. Also, that $139 covers the entire family, there’s no extra fees for extra kids. I don’t know about you, but I generally pay WAY more than that in a year for lessons I end up needing to figure out how to teach myself, rather than having everything perfectly laid out for me as these lessons are. Also, now through Christmas Day SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having a HUGE sale. You can get 40% off a monthly membership or 50% off the Yearly Membership. This means it will only be $64.26 for the year AND you get to keep that rate as long as you maintain a continuous membership. WHAT?! I promise you, it is more than worth that price. Click the image below to go to this super sale on their site.
