Back To School Banner

Friday, November 15, 2013

Guest Post- Switched on Schoolhouse Review

Please enjoy this great review provided by my friend and fellow homeschooling Mom Candice!!!  Candice is wonderful Mom who is also an advocate for child allergy awareness.  She is an inspiration!!



Switched on School house

My son is eight years old and has severe food allergies, asthma, and Aspergers. I have had conflict with his school pretty much every year he has been in school. Things getting sent home in his backpack that he is severely allergic to, violations of his IEP, and bullying.

This year was actually going okay. I felt  like I had finally gotten the school where it needed to be as far as his food allergies go. So I was upset when they checked our address to see if we were in zone. They sent home a letter saying Elijah had a week before he had to move schools. I called the Principal and she said there was nothing she could do about it. I'm guessing they were happy to get rid of us. Going to another school would have been too much of a headache as far as his special education and food allergies were concerned so I decided to do homeschool.

Picking a homeschool curriculum was hard. I looked up different curriculums and stressed out over it basically. One night I was watching 19 kids and counting and Michelle Duggar mentioned she used Switched on Schoolhouse. I immediately for up and pulled it up on the computer. I read the reviews and did the demos. One of my friends has also used it before and really liked it. So I ordered it off Amazon. (It was cheaper than the AOP website)

It was weird receiving the little box by UPS. I was expecting a lot more, maybe a book or something. All it was was. Software box containing 5 cd's. You have an option of putting the curriculum on your hard drive or having to put in each individual cd every time you do that subject. I elected to go ahead and install every subject. This was the best option for me and I had extra space for it. Installation took a little under an hour.

The demo videos are a must when getting started or you will be so confused. I love the lesson planner. I just put in the school calendar and it plans out the lessons for me and even has off days for holidays and breaks already programmed in. It also has a place to take attendance. I can't wait to use the report card feature in a few weeks and it also has a transcript feature. I can be as involved as I want with the lessons or I can let him do it on his own. I do recommend if you do this or another type of computer based learning that you sit with them for tests and quizzes because it is really easy to cheat. Math, Language Arts, Science, Geography & History, and Bible were included with my software. You can also add a foreign language at an additional cost. We also do Art and I have him keep a journal, but that's not included.

The only complaint I have is that it doesn't come with readers or scientific equipment. It literally only includes the software, but that's all you need. There are excellent fb groups and a wonderful newsletter they send you that is inspirational and gives great tips. The only downfall for some people is that it is Christian based and that is clearly evident throughout the curriculum not just the bible subject. This was an added bonus for my family, but for some people it may be a turn off. I can't wait to share my journey as a new homeschooling Mom with you all and I will check back in with you in a few weeks!

No comments:

Post a Comment