Disclaimer: I received a complimentary 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.
My family had the privilege of trying a one year access to NatureGlo's eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle from NatureGlo's eScience for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.
NatureGlo's eScience is a neutral worldview (non-faith based viewpoint) math enrichment (MathArt) and science live and self-paced online courses and curriculum for home and school educators and students. It is founded and directed by Gloria Brooks; a nature lover, longtime RVer, and curriculum writer. She has been teaching since 1997 and holds a BA in k-12 education.
The NatureGlo's eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle is a private bundle created only for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew. It has roughly 25 courses with lessons in MathArt, Marine Biology, Herps (Reptiles & Amphibians), Botany, and Geology. Class content is completely digital with a year access. These self-paced classes are pre-recorded and include PowerPoint presentations with slideshows, study guides, lesson enhancing YouTube videos and web resources. Each class has a study guide and sometimes quizzes (using Quizlet) you can base grades off of also and participation and completion of activities can be recorded by parents. The study guide has questions and an answer key.
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| Roadmap |
There are two ways to go about having your student do the courses. You can have them follow NatureGlo's eScience MathArt & Science Roadmap or go through the courses and lessons how you choose. This makes it more flexible. If you choose to follow the roadmap you will need to go in order of all the lessons, how they are presented. If you choose to skip around you may do so, but you have to be in the "My Courses" list in the "Student Dashboard". Once your student has selected and clicked on the course they would like to do they can scroll down and click on the first green bar lesson on that course page to start. This is courseware, which means when students go through and finish a lesson they can mark lessons complete and earn a digital award per lesson section they finish.
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| My Courses in the Dashboard |
These courses are recommended for ages 10 and up. Content is appropriate for upper elementary, middle and high schoolers. Each course can be used with multiple students in the same household. You can either share one account or make individual accounts for each student using different emails/password per child's account so they can go at their own pace. These courses could be applied towards middle school and high school credits depending upon your state homeschool requirements. This can be used as a standalone curriculum, typically for very relaxed or unschooled families. Other families that homeschool in a more ridged way can use this as a supplement to their learning.
NatureGlo's eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle Lessons:
- Introduction to MathArt
- MathArt: Patterns & Shapes in Nature – 1 Lesson
- Math Connections with the Real World – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- MathArt in Ancient Cultures – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- Mathematics in the Arts & Sciences – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- MathArt: Patterns in Nature – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- Bubbleology – 1 Lesson
- The Life & Mathematical Art of Leonardo da Vinci – 2 Lessons
- The Life & Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher – 2 Lessons
- Oceanography, Marine Plants and Invertebrates – 6 Lessons
- Jellies, Mollusks and Whales of the World – 6 Lessons
- Marine Invertebrates and Fish – 6 Lessons
- Cephalopods, Marine Turtles, Snakes and Mammals – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- Dramatic Deep Sea Creatures – 6 Lessons
- Tide Pool Communities – 1 Lesson
- Marine Zoology – Mandarinfish, Hermit Crab, & Queen Conch – 3 Lessons
- Marine Zoology – Seahorses, Beluga Whale, and Loggerhead Sea Turtle – 3 Lessons
- Herps Explorers: Anatomy, Caecilians & Crocs – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- Herps Explorers: Frogs, Geckos & Chameleons – 6 Lesson Unit Study
- Herps Zoology: Poison Dart Frog, Python, and Caiman – 3 Lessons
- Herps Zoology: Marbled Salamander, Children’s Python, and Galapagos Tortoise – 3 Lessons
- Marine Reptiles
- Exploring the Giant Redwood Trees – 1 Lesson
- Intro to Rockhounding – 1 Lesson
How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
We received NatureGlo's eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle which is a private 25-course bundle of lessons in MathArt, Marine Biology, Herps (Reptiles & Amphibians), Botany, and Geology. I had reviewed NatureGlo's eScience MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle before and we enjoyed the courses so much that we wanted to review this as well.
When you go to each course they all have the same format. The courses have a main PowerPoint slide video that Gloria does. Some of the videos, since they were live previously, have kids that are interacting with her on them. There is a study guide that she has made to go with the main video. There are other resources in the form of links, projects, activities, and videos. This content is sourced from other parts of the web.
Since we had already finished the MathArt courses except Bubbleology previously I had my daughter Teela who is 12 pick some courses she wanted to start from the "My Courses" page. We were expected to use minimum of three weeks of lessons for this review. We had a 6 week period. My daughter picked Botany: Exploring the Giant Redwood Trees, Geology: Intro. to Rockhounding, and Bubbleology because they were all one lesson long and would take about a week each.
We learned a lot about the Giant Redwood Trees the first week. I hope to take my family to see them someday. They are such awe inspiring massive specimens. We learned about the largest and tallest of the redwoods and the 3 main species: Dawn and Coastal Redwoods and the super giant, the Sequoia tree. We learned about logging that happened in the 1850's too. We are sad that so many of these magnificent and mighty trees were chopped down for lumber. There was a lot we learned from the extra resources too. We enjoyed going to the many web resources, literature, activities and videos. We however, couldn't listen to Grandmother Cedar Audio story, see Redwood Ed, Giant Sequoia Groves - Interactive Map, and The Three Trees PDF because the links were broken. We also got to explore the redwoods virtually by live webcam.
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| A part of my rock and mineral collection. |
The next week we learned about Rockhounding. This was all about rock and mineral collecting. My family loves looking for interesting looking rocks and minerals and bringing them home with us when we can. We have gone agate and diamond hunting before too. The agates we usually find around here, but I found a nice one at the Crater of Diamonds State Park when we were looking for diamonds on our Memorial Road Trip in 2010. We also love going to rock and mineral shows to see what others have found. We learned about basic and advanced rockhounding equipment and I remembered that I have a hand loupe magnifier that I purchased when I was taking my Master Gardeners courses. We learned about storing and labeling your collection, good rockhounding practices. We also watched the video on Holleywood Ranch that is in Oregon where rockhounds go to dig specimens, especially petrified wood.
The third week we learned about Bubbleology. This was all about the science and mathematics of soap bubbles. We learned about how bubbles are made, soap bubble physics, soup bubble mathematics (minimal surface), etc. The main lesson video was a bit different than the other two lessons we watched. It was more interactive and had poll, quiz and short answer questions to answer that popped up in the middle of the video. There were 6 questions to answer and there was no right or wrong. We loved the other resources of links and videos. The link to the Soap Films in Action had a problem loading for us, but we loved the videos of Melody Yang.
There were things that could have been better. I wish some of the links were not broken and that the links would open in a new window instead of having to go back and forth between the Resource Virtual Library Pages and the links on the page. This would certainly make the learning flow a lot better. I also had some bonus? courses that were not in the Roadmap list that were in "My Courses" list, these were: Sharks Online Unit Study Free Sample Lesson, Herps Explorers: The Komodo Dragon, Invertebrates: Insects of the World, Mammals: Wildcat, Gray Wolf, and Right Whale; MathArt: Polygons and Patterns in Nature, and MathArt: The Geometric Beauty of Snowflakes. I might have purchased these "extras", on my own, but I am not certain. We were not given a list of the courses except from the Roadmap. If these "extra" courses should have actually gone with the Roadmap they should have been listed there...but they were not, so I wasn't sure.
There is a lot of content to NatureGlo's eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle other than what we have experienced so far. I can't wait to have my kids go through the Marine Biology courses because that was always my favorite in school and the Insects of the World Course looks neat too because it has a science, history, literature, art, and math connection. 25 courses is a lot to consume and there was so much in the lessons we went through that even I learned along with my kids. We can't wait to delve in deeper.
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