Grace Christian Homeschool: Review of Standard Deviants Accelerate Homeschool Courses

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Review of Standard Deviants Accelerate Homeschool Courses

One of the most asked questions I hear lately is - What do I do with my middle and high schooler? As homeschooling continues to grow, so do the options and choices we have. The product in this review has some subject areas available for younger grades of 3 + but the majority of the subjects are for grades 6+ including some AP courses.

Standard Deviants Accelerate offers an easy to use online curriculum called Standard Deviants Accelerate Homeschool Courses. The subjects offered are...

Arithmetic
Fundamental Math
Earth Science
Nutrition
Algebra
Biology
Chemistry
English Composition
U.S. History
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP U.S. Government & Politics
AP U.S. History
AP English Composition

The subjects are taught using video lessons, review activities, quizzes, vocabulary, writing assignments, and tests. Each course is broken down into chapters and lessons. Each chapter begins with a chapter introduction and ends with a chapter review. Each lesson in the chapter contains a video to watch, a vocabulary section with definitions and pronunciations, diagram section with word back for labeling the diagram, quiz section with multiple choice answers, and a written answer section. Each subject available above follows the same format which makes it really simple for your child to feel comfortable tackling each subject on their own.

Information To Remember

This is an online curriculum so it is available 24/7
You will need an Internet connection to access the curriculum.
This will work on iPad, laptop, or any device that has access to the internet.
These courses are great supplements to any curriculum that you are already using.

How we used SDA in our homeschool

I let Jonathan (my 10th headed to 11th grader) try this review out since it was focused on higher grades. I let him choose the course he wanted to try out and he chose Nutrition. I also looked over the History, Biology, and AP courses myself. For this review, we will focus on the Nutrition course and what was offered.

As with all the subject areas, you begin your lesson with a pre-assessment and introduction to the chapter. Here is how the nutrition chapters are broken down. Remember that each chapter is then broken down into 3-6 lessons and contains a chapter introduction and chapter review as well.

Intro To Nutrition: Cells and Macronutrients

What Your Body Does With Food

Food Spectrum

Micronutrients: Vitamins, Minerals, and Water

Preventing Nutritional Disorders

Eating in Context

Where Does Your Food Come From?

The Savvy Eater

The videos included with each lesson were hard for us to describe. They are extremely silly and goofy but filled with facts and information at the same time! At first, Jonathan had his doubts that he would ever say that he liked this course. However, almost daily he also couldn't wait to show us (his 2 siblings and myself) the craziness of the videos. Now, he has also asked to do the U.S. History course when he finishes the one he is currently doing! I think at first glance, both he and myself, had that deer in the headlight look and wondered how on earth any knowledge could ever come from such silliness. I want to be clear that the videos are not dumbed down silly because they are full of facts. They just contain a fun and different twist on presenting the material. In the beginning, Jonathan did a lesson each day and actually did not do well on the quizzes. If you do not get an answer correct on the quiz, it will give you the correct answer and give you a link to the video at exactly the point where the information was presented. I thought that was a great feature! Instead of having to watch the entire video again, you could just click that link and find the answer quickly. In the end, Jonathan began to pay attention more to the facts given, take notes, and he began to do better on the quizzes as well.

Direct quotes from Jonathan - "This course is crazy and goofy but in a good way and please add more of the hippie girl."

The homeschool pricing for Standard Deviants Accelerate is available in several ways. For one course and one student, you can pay the annual price of $99 or monthly for $24.95. The AP courses are available for $14.95 monthly.

Currently, Standard Deviants Accelerate is offering a wonderful deal for homeschooling families to try out their online curriculum. Until November 15th, you can sign up to try all 14 of their subjects for 1 parent and up to 4 students for FREE for 6 months! Click below to find out more! This is the absolute best way for you to try these courses out and see what you think. This is great for families with students in grades 3 and above.