SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers

My children love to utilize online media both for schooling as well as just for fun but I am super cautious as to what they access and can view. We recently had the chance to review SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers from SmartKidz Media. This is an online digital streaming resource that is safe for kids to access! The media resources come in the form of videos, games, e-books and even study guides that can be accessed on any device that has internet. This was a big plus as my children could all access the website at the same time on different devices if they wanted.

When you first log in, you'll notice tabs at the top of the page. These tabs break down the different areas of the website and include:

• World of Discovery- This breaks down even further in different video subjects such as animals, history, science, travel, exercise videos, documentaries, etc. This was one of our favorite areas!

Click on photo to enlarge

• Music & Fine Arts- This section has classical & cultural music, blues & jazz as well as relaxation music.
• The Mighty E-Book Collection- In this section you'll find all sorts of animated books that are broken down into different sections based on age as well as subject such as Aesop's Fables, science, reading readiness, etc. There's even a section that has classic sing-along songs. A special note about the books in this area is that they are read to the child and as they are being read, it shows the highlighted word as it's being read so it makes it easier for your child to follow along with.
• Baby Signs Program- This is a great resource if you are teaching your baby sign language! There is even a section about potty training.

• My Animal Family Program- This section is broken down into different categories- video storybook, fun facts and story songs. The video storybook was our favorite as it showed baby animals in their own environments.
• Quick Find Study Guides-This section is a large resource in helping kids in different subjects such as math (which covers basic math all the way to trigonometry), science, social studies, language arts. They also show that accounting and foreign languages is coming soon.

This is a screen shot when I clicked on Language Arts. You can see the different topics that it covers.

When you choose your topic and click on it, you get a note card view that tells you the definition and gives examples.

• Easy Learning for Special Needs- This section was developed by special need educators and therapists to help teach person, social and coping skills. The books are presented 2 different ways. "Hear the Book" plays the entire book as a movie and "Interactive" read the book page by page, highlighting the words and has the child clicking "next" to turn the page. The subjects in this section cover everyday life, going places, holidays and celebrations, sequencing, arts & science and sing-a-long story songs.
• Living Skills Songs- This section is listed as coming soon but their description says they will have fun & lively songs that help teach children life skills.
• Ready, Set, Sing- This section has over 200 songs that you can stream. This is handy to play on your phone in the car for the kids!
• Fun Zone- This area has interactive games, jokes & riddles as well as puzzles.

As you can see, there is such a wealth of knowledge on this website, I only shared about just a small fraction. SmartKidz media is also continuing to add on more content to their website which they let their subscribers know about in their monthly newsletter. The website is easy to use, just click and go!

Our family is enjoying the subscription. We typically use the website on the iPad or laptop though we do have the ability to hook up our computer to the tv to stream the videos that way. We enjoyed Miracles of Nature: Part 4 that covers the Caribbean as we have been to some of those islands. My history loving son enjoyed the videos on World War 2. My older children are looking forward to utilizing the study guides when we start back with our regular schooling. We typically borrowed educational videos from the library, so I am enjoying having a selection available any time we want saving me a trip out to the library (and potentially not returning it on time!)

If this sounds like a subscription your family would enjoy, you can try out their 2 week Free Trial.