Monday, June 22, 2015

Schoolhouse Review: SmartKidz Media Library #hsreviews

SmartKidz Media Review

It's always exciting to find new things to enhance our homeschooling journey.  I am blessed to be able to review cool products and websites and share them with you and I always hope that you'll find them just as wonderfully engaging as we do.  Homeschooling affords us the opportunity to meet our children right where they are and invite them to fall in love with the process of learning through a variety of tools and methods.  That's one of my favorite things about educating my children at home -- I can specifically tailor each child's education to their individual learning styles.  Finding resources that present "something for everyone" all in one place that's easy to find is a WIN in this momma's book and SmartKidz Media has proven to be just that.  The SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers offers a digital media resource library for you to use at home that includes music, videos, eBooks, and more.

Talk about something for everyone, there's a TON of neat stuff on this family-friendly website that I've been able to turn my family loose on.  My kids thrive on documentaries and "how stuff works" videos.  It is not unusual for the Eagle Scout  to tell me some tidbit of information during school lessons and then explain what programs he watched the night before that taught him all about it.  That my friends is what homeschooling is all about.  I LOVE it when my children take the initiative to study and attain knowledge all by themselves.  The SmartKidz Media Library makes it easy for them to do just that.  Super user-friendly, it is set up in such a way that we can access it all from our iPhones, iPads, and computers.  I've been able to allow my children to visit topics of interest and I've enjoyed sitting back and watching to see what they wanted to learn.  We've also used the Smart Kidz Media Library as our "family time" entertainment.  I love it when learning just "happens."   Don't you?  With 16 different categories in the World of Discovery collection, we can literally find something about everything.  There are 5 - 10 videos in each category ranging from Animals & Wildlife, Nature, and Cultural Documentaries to Health & Fitness and Lifestyle & Cuisine.  You can take off on adventure as you Travel the world and soon you'll even be able to learn about Sports and History.  We are enthralled with the travel documentaries and are having fun imagining life abroad as we "visit" new places through video.

This barely scratches the surface of what is available.

One of the things that I remember about my grandfather was his love of great music.  He played a double-barreled silver clarinet as a child and that fed his life-long passion for toe-tapping tunes.  It was not uncommon to walk into his house on any given day and hear jazz tunes or the blues blaring from the tape deck of his stereo.  He was a fan of the big band era and his passion fueled an appreciation in each of my children.  Can you imagine my delight when I came across the Music & Fine Arts Collection of SmartKidz Media?  With volumes of classical, cultural, jazz & blues classics, and relaxation music, we could easily find something to reminisce over as we listened to some of Poppa's favorites over the internet.  We found some really cool new things to add to our favorites list as well.  (You've GOT to check out the 25 Rhythms of the World for the neatest cultural experience and the most hauntingly beautiful rendition of Danny Boy that I've ever heard.)

The Mighty eBook Collection contains flash animated eBooks that the children in your family will fall in love with and ask to watch over and over and over.   I'll even admit to enjoy singing along to some of the songs myself.   What a great way to promote literacy beginning with our littlest learners.  The books in this section reminded me so much of the sweet little VHS tapes I used to play when my girls were mere babes.  (Yes, I realize I'm dating myself because WHO even knows what a VHS tape is anymore?)  I so loved sharing Aesop Fables and The Real Mother Goose with my children.  It's nice to know that those sweet lessons can continue.  The sing-along books help your little ones learn to read as the highlighted words are spoken and sung to them.  With science lessons and Bible stories included, there's something here for everyone.  Speaking of cool things for kids, there's even a Baby Signs program and Potty Training Help.  Neat, huh?

I love, love, love the Quick Find Study Guides that offer help in categories from Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, AND Science to the new categories that are soon to arrive -- Basic Accounting and Foreign Languages.  There's even a Special Needs section on SmartKidz Media that has tons of helpful read-along books and videos to learn by.  Seriously, you need to check this learning resource out for your family.  You're going to love it!

You can find out even more about what SmartKidz Media has to offer your homeschool environment by visiting the following Social Media sites:



Crew Disclaimer

I was given the opportunity to review SmartKidz Media as a member of the Schoolhouse ReviewCrew.   You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Schoolhouse ReviewCrew thought of this and other products as well (or just click on the banner below.)

SmartKidz Media Review
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