Digging out again from another eight inches of snow. At least being shut in by the weather helps get new course out. Ive been adding new content on HomeSchool Advantage's premier subject - Geography. Our goal is to have 30,000 facts on all sorts of subjects, but to give you the idea of where we are going with the site we wanted to do at least one subject more fully from the start, and that subject is Geography.
Two reasons for this:
1. Geography is fun.
2. Americans are notoriously bad at Geography.
We are also using Geography to demonstrate that more you build your knowledge nets, the faster you retain new facts. A new geography knowledge net was added to HomeSchool Advantage today. If you have already learned your European countries these new facts will likely be learned very quickly. The new course is located in 500 level Geography.
520 - NE Atlantic
Gulfs, Seas and Straits
It contains wonderful color maps, making it easy to identify the gulfs, seas and straits of the region.
Can you find the Straits of Dover, the Baltic Sea, the Irish Sea? How about the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay?
Fifteen different NE Atlantic bodies of water are included in this course. Time to round out your knowledge of the seas of the NE Atlantic. Learning them will make European history, world news, and current events more interesting and engaging.
Of course, as always, the course is Free to Members.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Australia States and Capitals - New Course
As I look out the window and see snow, I can't help but think that really we should move our HomeSchoolAdvantage headquarters to Australia for at least part of the year.
I have Australia in my mind, because we have just added a new course on Australian States, Territories, and Capitals. It is a relatively short course that does not contain the smaller Australian territorial islands. For the larger Australian States and Territories, native English speakers will find the names familiar and easy to , so we also encourage students in the United States to add this content to their existing Geography studies. It is located in the 400 level column under Oceania.
430 - Australia
States and Capitals
Of course, as always, the course is Free to Members. Australian residents (and others) may elect to assign this course at a younger age. For much of Geography that concerns itself entirely with the names of places and things, the distribution across levels is to distribute the work over time. It does not represent any inherent difficulty in the material.
I have Australia in my mind, because we have just added a new course on Australian States, Territories, and Capitals. It is a relatively short course that does not contain the smaller Australian territorial islands. For the larger Australian States and Territories, native English speakers will find the names familiar and easy to , so we also encourage students in the United States to add this content to their existing Geography studies. It is located in the 400 level column under Oceania.
430 - Australia
States and Capitals
Of course, as always, the course is Free to Members. Australian residents (and others) may elect to assign this course at a younger age. For much of Geography that concerns itself entirely with the names of places and things, the distribution across levels is to distribute the work over time. It does not represent any inherent difficulty in the material.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Arabian Peninsula Gulfs and Seas - New Course
Can you name the Gulfs and Seas surrounding the Arabian Peninsula?
Do you know where the Arabian Sea is? The Gulf of Oman? The Persian Gulf? The Red Sea?
This is an incredibly important region because the Persian Gulf and its coastal areas are the world's largest single source of crude oil. As wars are fought in the lands that contain these precious resources, the least we can do is to learn and appreciate the lay of the land and the water.
Our 400 level Geography courses teach the names of the countries in this region. Our new 500 level Geography course (added today) teaches the names of 10 important bodies of water around the Arabian Peninsula. This is a course that even Mom and Dad should take.
Remember, all new courses are Free to Members!
Do you know where the Arabian Sea is? The Gulf of Oman? The Persian Gulf? The Red Sea?
This is an incredibly important region because the Persian Gulf and its coastal areas are the world's largest single source of crude oil. As wars are fought in the lands that contain these precious resources, the least we can do is to learn and appreciate the lay of the land and the water.
Our 400 level Geography courses teach the names of the countries in this region. Our new 500 level Geography course (added today) teaches the names of 10 important bodies of water around the Arabian Peninsula. This is a course that even Mom and Dad should take.
Remember, all new courses are Free to Members!
Friday, February 12, 2010
A Free 30 Day Trial - Seriously No Obligation
HomeSchool Advantage encourages all homeschool parents everywhere to sign-up for a free 30 day trial.
If, at the end of the free trial, you do not want a paid membership, then YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CANCEL YOUR FREE TRIAL. WE CANCEL IT FOR YOU AUTOMATICALLY. There is no automatic billing at the end of the free trial (some free trial subscribers worry about this sort of thing). IT IS FREE. No Cost. No Obligation. We do not even collect your payment or credit card information until you specifically say you want to become a member.
If, at the end of the free trial, you want to become a member, simply sign into the parent account and you will be instructed in how to create a membership account.
So relax, enjoy using the free trial. We want you to get the full benefits of our service! We know our service works and that it creates brilliant students. We are actively seeking not just customers, but partners, home school parents who are interested in working with us to continue to enhance and improve one of the most powerful HomeSchool resources ever.
Thanks to all of you using a free trial, may I suggest you learn some Geography and American History. And thanks to all of our paid members, working together we will forever change the nature of education.
Sign-up for a Free Trial
If, at the end of the free trial, you do not want a paid membership, then YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CANCEL YOUR FREE TRIAL. WE CANCEL IT FOR YOU AUTOMATICALLY. There is no automatic billing at the end of the free trial (some free trial subscribers worry about this sort of thing). IT IS FREE. No Cost. No Obligation. We do not even collect your payment or credit card information until you specifically say you want to become a member.
If, at the end of the free trial, you want to become a member, simply sign into the parent account and you will be instructed in how to create a membership account.
So relax, enjoy using the free trial. We want you to get the full benefits of our service! We know our service works and that it creates brilliant students. We are actively seeking not just customers, but partners, home school parents who are interested in working with us to continue to enhance and improve one of the most powerful HomeSchool resources ever.
Thanks to all of you using a free trial, may I suggest you learn some Geography and American History. And thanks to all of our paid members, working together we will forever change the nature of education.
Sign-up for a Free Trial
When to Start?
What age is a good age to start using a supplemental tool like HomeSchool Advantage?
Using an on-line tool like HomeSchool Advantage requires fundamental skills such as basic reading, using a mouse, and using a keyboard. Many children are ready to do all of these by themselves at seven or eight. Others are not. However, our curriculum does include material for students that young.
HomeSchool Advantage incorporates basic testing concepts that may be new to young student such as how to answer Fill in the Blank Questions, True/False Questions, and Multiple Choice Questions. An adult working with a student can quickly explain these types of questions.
If a younger child is not ready to use the computer themselves, but they are capable of handling the curriculum, some parents operate the computer for the students. They read out loud the questions and enter in the student's answers. In these cases, the parent can still leverage HomeSchool Advantage's advanced spaced repetition, tracking, and scheduling capability.
A guided session with a parent is a great way for a student to learn the names of things, people, and places, before they can even spell! By the time most children are in the third to fourth grade, they can typically use the system without assistance.
The short answer: Our recommended age for starting HomeSchool Advantage is seven or eight, depending on the child. These students are typically assigned 100 level courses.
Of course, there is no maximum age, we want you learning too.
Using an on-line tool like HomeSchool Advantage requires fundamental skills such as basic reading, using a mouse, and using a keyboard. Many children are ready to do all of these by themselves at seven or eight. Others are not. However, our curriculum does include material for students that young.
HomeSchool Advantage incorporates basic testing concepts that may be new to young student such as how to answer Fill in the Blank Questions, True/False Questions, and Multiple Choice Questions. An adult working with a student can quickly explain these types of questions.
If a younger child is not ready to use the computer themselves, but they are capable of handling the curriculum, some parents operate the computer for the students. They read out loud the questions and enter in the student's answers. In these cases, the parent can still leverage HomeSchool Advantage's advanced spaced repetition, tracking, and scheduling capability.
A guided session with a parent is a great way for a student to learn the names of things, people, and places, before they can even spell! By the time most children are in the third to fourth grade, they can typically use the system without assistance.
The short answer: Our recommended age for starting HomeSchool Advantage is seven or eight, depending on the child. These students are typically assigned 100 level courses.
Of course, there is no maximum age, we want you learning too.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Daily Worksheet - Too Little to Do?
The more courses you assign to a student in different subjects, the more daily worksheets the student will have in HomeSchool Advantage. Initially, we recommend that you assign courses in only two different subjects, such as Geography and History. We want you and your students to get a good feel for the system and how it works before adding additional subjects.
Each subject will introduce your students to just a few new facts each day, sometime only two or three. At first, only two or three new facts a day may seem too easy. Although it is possible to request additional facts, we encourage your students not to cram. Three new facts a day means the student will learn over 1000 new facts a year. If they are studying five subjects, then they will learn as many as 5,000 new facts a year.
HomeSchool Advantage is a revolutionary new way to approach knowledge. We treat knowledge acquisition as a marathon, not a sprint. We are delighted if your students only learn three new history facts a day, because we know that if they can actually remember these facts, your students will become brilliant history students. Is is not what you learn that makes you brilliant, it is what you remember.
If your students study several subjects a day, learning just two or three new facts, in a few years they will master tens of thousands of facts, making them, in any objective measure, brilliant students.
This is our goal for your students: for them to learn, retain, and recall tens of thousands of facts by the time they leave your homeschool. However, this goal will not be reached if the students get overwhelmed and give up.
Start slowly with just two courses. Don't add extra facts too quickly. But do have your students return almost every day, which is easy for them to do at home. This is the beauty of home schooling, and this is the beauty of HomeSchool Advantage.
Each subject will introduce your students to just a few new facts each day, sometime only two or three. At first, only two or three new facts a day may seem too easy. Although it is possible to request additional facts, we encourage your students not to cram. Three new facts a day means the student will learn over 1000 new facts a year. If they are studying five subjects, then they will learn as many as 5,000 new facts a year.
HomeSchool Advantage is a revolutionary new way to approach knowledge. We treat knowledge acquisition as a marathon, not a sprint. We are delighted if your students only learn three new history facts a day, because we know that if they can actually remember these facts, your students will become brilliant history students. Is is not what you learn that makes you brilliant, it is what you remember.
If your students study several subjects a day, learning just two or three new facts, in a few years they will master tens of thousands of facts, making them, in any objective measure, brilliant students.
This is our goal for your students: for them to learn, retain, and recall tens of thousands of facts by the time they leave your homeschool. However, this goal will not be reached if the students get overwhelmed and give up.
Start slowly with just two courses. Don't add extra facts too quickly. But do have your students return almost every day, which is easy for them to do at home. This is the beauty of home schooling, and this is the beauty of HomeSchool Advantage.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Course Levels on the Assignments Page
The Assignments page is only visible to parents, and it is the most important page in HomeSchool Advantage. On this page you can see the courses that are available to your students arranged by subject. We are frequently releasing new courses and will keep you posted as they are made available. If you have suggestions for new courses, let us know!
The courses are listed in numerical order, the order we recommend that they be taken. The 100 level are the easiest courses and the 500 level the most difficult.
To assign a course in a subject simply click on the check box next to the course name. Make sure you press “save” to save your selections.
If you have a student in lower elementary start by assigning them only 100 level courses.
At middle elementary, 100 and 200 level courses.
In upper elementary 100, 200, and 300 level courses.
Older students are assigned course at ALL LEVELS.
For some subjects, like Geography, even adults should be assigned the 100 level course. The 100 level geography courses contain fundamentals that everyone should know. Older students will complete 100 level courses very quickly. However, it would be a mistake to skip these courses because most students DO NOT KNOW all of the facts covered at the lower levels.
In summary: Your student will have a daily worksheet for each subject where you have assigned courses. Facts are added to the daily worksheet from only one course at a time, the lowest number course you assigned in that subject. We automatically advance to the next highest course when the previous course is complete.
The courses are listed in numerical order, the order we recommend that they be taken. The 100 level are the easiest courses and the 500 level the most difficult.
To assign a course in a subject simply click on the check box next to the course name. Make sure you press “save” to save your selections.
If you have a student in lower elementary start by assigning them only 100 level courses.
At middle elementary, 100 and 200 level courses.
In upper elementary 100, 200, and 300 level courses.
Older students are assigned course at ALL LEVELS.
For some subjects, like Geography, even adults should be assigned the 100 level course. The 100 level geography courses contain fundamentals that everyone should know. Older students will complete 100 level courses very quickly. However, it would be a mistake to skip these courses because most students DO NOT KNOW all of the facts covered at the lower levels.
In summary: Your student will have a daily worksheet for each subject where you have assigned courses. Facts are added to the daily worksheet from only one course at a time, the lowest number course you assigned in that subject. We automatically advance to the next highest course when the previous course is complete.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Curriculum Order
HomeSchool Advantage provides curriculum in a specific order. We encourage parents to assign multiple courses in the same subject at a time, however, we present facts to your students from only one course at a time (for each subject). We start presenting facts first from the lowest numbered course, and when that course has no additional facts to present, we progress to the next higher numbered course.
You do not have to do the curriculum in the order we recommend, and you do not have to do all of the courses in a subject. You may skip any course you are not interested in studying - just do not check that course on the assignments page.
If you want your first course to be a 500 level course, simply select that course and do not select anything with a lower number.
The parent can always go back and select lower courses on another day. However, this should only be done after the higher level course is complete. You are free to skip any course you are not interested in studying.
You do not have to do the curriculum in the order we recommend, and you do not have to do all of the courses in a subject. You may skip any course you are not interested in studying - just do not check that course on the assignments page.
If you want your first course to be a 500 level course, simply select that course and do not select anything with a lower number.
The parent can always go back and select lower courses on another day. However, this should only be done after the higher level course is complete. You are free to skip any course you are not interested in studying.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Permanently Delete
We sometimes are asked, "Is there a way to delete some facts that are not important for us to remember?"
The answer is yes. We have a 'permanent delete' feature.
When a student sees a question they do not want to ever revew again, they can press the permanently delete button on the menu bar and that fact will no longer be reviewed.
Where is the permanently delete button? This button is the first button in the button bar above a question. It looks like a circle with the line though it.
This button is available whenever a question is asked.
Of course, we think all of the facts in HomeSchoolAdvantage are important to remember, but if you really don't want to ever see a fact again, we do support a permanent delete feature.
The answer is yes. We have a 'permanent delete' feature.
When a student sees a question they do not want to ever revew again, they can press the permanently delete button on the menu bar and that fact will no longer be reviewed.
Where is the permanently delete button? This button is the first button in the button bar above a question. It looks like a circle with the line though it.
This button is available whenever a question is asked.
Of course, we think all of the facts in HomeSchoolAdvantage are important to remember, but if you really don't want to ever see a fact again, we do support a permanent delete feature.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Deleting Facts and Changing Your Score
If you have been on HomeSchool Advantage you know that we have had a busy holiday season. The hundreds of new users have pushed us to continually enhance and improve our service. Every day you make the service better!
Last night we increased the size of the quiz button bar, making the buttons bigger and easier to press. We also removed unused buttons, and made other buttons easier to understand. Did you know you can permanently delete a fact and even change your score?
If you had a bug that stopped you from using the trial version please try us again! We will reset your trial version to 30 full days if you send us a message. The large influx of users in December pushed us to resolve every open issue we know of, so we believe you will have a good experience. If you are the first person to report a problem to us, we will give you an extra 30 days free, plus 30 free days for each and every bug you find first, even if it is just a typo!
Thanks,
-Tom
Last night we increased the size of the quiz button bar, making the buttons bigger and easier to press. We also removed unused buttons, and made other buttons easier to understand. Did you know you can permanently delete a fact and even change your score?
- To delete a fact you no longer want to see, press the delete button on the menu bar.
- To give yourself credit for a wrong answer, simply press the check button in the menu bar.
- To let us know you got an answer right just because you were lucky, press the X button on the menu bar.
- To peek at an answer you don't know and schedule it again for tomorrow, press the eye button in the menu bar.
- We have fixed several display errors where text was wrapping poorly making it difficult to read in some browsers.
- We have fixed six troublesome images in the US Flags, British Isles, and Organic Chemistry courses that were not displaying as they should have.
- We have made it more difficult to accidentally cause an action to be performed multiple times (specifically adding more facts).
If you had a bug that stopped you from using the trial version please try us again! We will reset your trial version to 30 full days if you send us a message. The large influx of users in December pushed us to resolve every open issue we know of, so we believe you will have a good experience. If you are the first person to report a problem to us, we will give you an extra 30 days free, plus 30 free days for each and every bug you find first, even if it is just a typo!
Thanks,
-Tom
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