What's New at SchoolhouseTeachers.com! {Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is the homeschooler's one-stop site, with complete curriculum, aids such as printables, daily lessons, lapbooks, free e-books, and conference recordings on various homeschool topics prepared by recognized homeschool leaders.  You have access to daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly lesson plans by some of the best from within the homeschooling community.  It covers grades Pre-K through 12th grade...every subject!

There are also some seriously cool bonuses to having a Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership. 

• They provide you with multiple printable planners, a free membership to World Book Library (e-books), Right Start Media access (streamable movies, such as Drive Through History), and access to the Applecore recordkeeping system.
• There are sections on homemaking, homeschool living, monthly menu plans, and discounts for a multitude of vendors–there’s even a section just for craft ideas for the kids!  
• You get a print copy of The Old Schoolhouse magazine, and all back issues are online as well, so that you can access the information as it becomes relevant to your school.  
• Entire pages are dedicated to parenting special needs, preschoolers, high schoolers, and focused learning centers (new ideas for teaching struggling learners).  
• The Monthly Menu page offers up an entire month of seasonally-appropriate recipes for each month of the year.  
• There are printable lesson plans for courses that help you keep track of lesson completion.  They also offer a handy checklist that shows which courses are appropriate for each grade level.
• Schoolhouse Expo seminars, classes specifically for adults, family movie access (streaming), and extra member discounts make this great for parents, too!
• There are over 300 courses taught by outstanding teachers. Courses vary in length from a few weeks to a full year or more, and there is something for every member of the family.
• One membership covers every class on the site for your entire family, from preschool to high school, and beyond.
• Classes are not live, so you can start ANY time!
• Options are available for co-op or group use.
• There are no per-class or per-child fees and you can cancel anytime.

For one flat rate, you have everything needed for the school year -- all grades, all classes -- at your fingertips.  You choose whether to use printable or streaming classes.  The only thing required is reliable internet!

Peek Inside a Course - Drive Thru History (Ancient History)

The boys have always enjoyed Dave Stotts and his Drive Thru History videos, so we were pleased to find Ancient History among the updated courses. The Ancient History course is geared for 6th-9th graders and comprised of 12 lessons. Each lesson is about 45 minutes long. I would probably combine both Ancient and American history courses from Drive Thru History for one full semester of history. Alternately, they make a nice break from the regular curriculum for, say, Fun Fridays!

Drive Thru History and explore more than 2,500 years of the past with host Dave Stotts. This homeschool history course takes you on a whirlwind tour of ancient history with a special focus on Rome, Greece, Turkey, and Byzantium. Visit the Forum, the Parthenon, Mars Hill, Corinth, Istanbul, and so much more! Plus, enjoy a special set of worksheets available only on SchoolhouseTeachers.com!         ~SchoolhouseTeachers.com

For each course, there is a welcome page that shows you what the course is about, the outline, and how to get started.  With Ancient History, we downloaded both the course outline and the class lesson plans.  The course outline is a brief walk-through of how the course works, what you will need, and the topics to be covered.  The lessons plans are more in depth, showing what will be completed each day of the week, including the videos, quizzes / comprehension questions, and supplemental activities.

There are twelve episodes to this course that are directly embedded into the site, so no external links for your kids to follow into who-know-what-kind-of-bunny-trails.  Streaming the videos was our biggest problem with this course.  Living the rural life is fantastic, and we wouldn't have it any other way...but it does come with its own set of challenges for online use.  For this reason, we prefer to download as much of the content as possible during off-peak hours...

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is in the process of creating interactive content for all of its courses, so that kids can take quizzes and submit work without the parents having to one-on-one teach.  Ancient History is one of the classes that already has interactive content added.  One thing we noticed is that the downloadable quizzes are the same as the interactive quizzes, so you'll only need to do one of those.  It depends on your preference for how you want to grade your students.

Focused Learning Centers

These resource pages will direct you to the courses, lessons, and articles that will be most helpful to your family's unique situation, whether it be special needs children or high school students.  There are also learning centers directed at extra assistance with particular subjects, such as science, math, or foreign language.  Here are some of the resources that we uncovered in the  High School Learning Center....

Video Library
The membership also comes with a video streaming service that provides educational and entertaining content that has been vetted for wholesomeness.  There are over 450 videos, some which also include complementary worksheets, activities, and materials.  Videos are sorted by category (such as the Foreign Languages category, shown below), and also include Kids, Art, Apologetics, Bible, Electives, Geography, History, Language Arts, Math, Marriage, Missions & Persecution, Music, Parents, Science, Christmas, and Easter.

Why should you check out SchoolhouseTeachers.com?

• The site offers incredible flexibility, allowing families to put together a customized curriculum for each child, from preschool up through high school graduation.  It may be used as a complete curriculum or as a supplement.
• The Scope & Sequence tool assists parents in choosing a customized curriculum to meet their children's specific needs.  Parents may also contact Customer Service for additional help at no charge.
• There are both streaming and downloadable courses, so you can choose based on your family's preference and internet capabilities.
• Interactive courses allow children to learn without needing direct instruction, allowing more flexibility for parents who might work at home or otherwise need an indirect method.
• Any time a course is added, updated, or enhanced, these are automatically added to your membership.
• It's not just about classes.  There are parental resources, too, including marriage and parenting help, homesteading projects, and more fun items for adults to enjoy!