NatureGLO e-science {Review}

This review was originally published March 2018 on our Gypsy Road site.

A few months ago, we picked up a Fibonacci course from NatureGlo's eScience to try out, and my son really enjoyed it. Given that he eschews anything math-oriented, this was a great relief! When we were offered the opportunity to try out their new MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle, it was an exciting moment! Something that frames math through a lens of art, nature, and history? Sign him up.

The MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle, as it says, has four different classes, including Math Connections with the Real World, in Ancient Cultures, in the Arts & Sciences, and Patterns in Nature.  Each class is set to a length of six weeks, making the bundle cover a full year of math.  It would be appropriate for upper elementary or middle school, and has several activities that can be tailored up or down to grade level.  

For the sake of this review, we focused primarily on Math Connections in Ancient Cultures.  (If you've followed the blog for any length of time, you'll know that this would be a huge draw, as our son would get to revisit Ancient Greece, as well as learn about some ancient cultures he knew little about.

The course is presented as a live video class, meaning that students can tune in to a class live with the instructor and other students.  Whether from the rural internet connection, or something else, we struggled with the classes and videos; therefore, we only used the pre-recorded portion of the classes.  A few classes in, our connection dropped even further, making it nearly impossible to even watch these pre-recorded classes; therefore, we began downloading materials overnight (because it takes hours to download anything.....again, possibly from our rural connection) and then using the powerpoints, our own research, and the course materials to work through the class together.  

We studied the history and how the math works into the history, and then created the suggested art projects.  At the end of each lesson is a page with suggestions for further study.  There are a LOT of suggestions and videos.....all together, they could make up a complete course credit, but feel free to pick and choose what suits your family's needs.  We even got little brother involved in some of the art projects!

One of his favorite activities was creating the geometric 3-D shapes.  We printed them out and he spent several days putting them together and then into a mobile.

How it Works

• The first video is an overview of everything off to the side.  It is done as a live class that is recorded for you to access later.
• The second video is a slideshow that can be downloaded (without audio) for offline use.  Ultimately, this is what we did for all our classes, as we had playback issues.
• There is a study guide to accompany the slide shows.  You can print it out for the student to complete while watching (or after).
• Art, archaeology, and music are all incorporated into the math lessons.  Each of the lessons for the ancient history course centers around a particular era and culture, while each of the lessons in the nature course centers around an aspect (such as flowers) in nature.

Pros

• I'm really glad we had an opportunity to review this because my kids are enjoying the class as a jumping off point for (what I call) 'bunny trail' research but the price tag is too steep for our budget.
• While these activities and extra videos could be found for free by searching the Internet, I know that many home schooling families will appreciate that Gloria has taken the time to do the research and include them in her course.

Cons

• We had a lot of issues with volume and playback.  It happened every time with the "live" recordings.
• The interactive components just didn’t ‘work’ for us.  After the first few lessons, we selected to forego the live classes and just do the activities off to the side.  We downloaded the powerpoint files and discussed them together before moving forward.

See what others are saying about NatureGlo's eScience at the Homeschool Review Crew!