I love finding supplemental online programs for my kids to work on. A lot of times these are great for days when I have a ton of things going on and I need my kids to be able to work independently. We have been using the Complete Home Learning Suite by Essential Skills Advantage for the last few weeks and it has been a real treasure.
One thing that I love about doing reviews is that I get the chance to sample products from companies that I have never heard of. There are so many educational websites out there, it's virtually impossible to try them all. ESA is one of those that has become a daily activity for Gavin, one that he asks to do, and loves. ESA has been developed by highly experienced educational teachers, writers, and developers. As their name implies, they cover the essential skills so that the student is able to achieve success no matter the grade level.
Besides the Complete Home Learning Suite, they offer courses including:
- the Premium Spelling, Language, Grammar, and Creative Writing Suite
- Complete Math K-6
- Science: Comprehensive K-3
- Geography: Comprehensive 4-6
We received an online subscription for one year. All you need for this program is a computer and Internet. The rest is fully included within the program itself.
How did we use the Complete Home Learning Suite?
This was such a wonderful program and was perfectly timed for us to review. Like I've said in my past reviews we were moving during this time. I do not like having extended periods of time where my kids aren't doing something educational. This program was perfect because I could get Gav all set up for the day, and he could work on multiple subjects with little or no help from me. Gavin used this on average 3 days a week. Sometimes it would be 4 or even 5 depending on what we were doing. He really enjoys it, so sometimes I would just let him pick something that he wanted to work on.
Set up for the program was very easy. I added Gavin as my student and he was ready to go. I was able to give him his own password that he can remember so that logging in for him is made simple.
After he logged in, he was ready to get started. I decided ahead of time that we would start on the 5th grade level and mainly use it to supplement his Grammar, Reading, and Geography. We did do a few Math lessons too, but I didn't want him to get into something we haven't covered yet.
You will come to a screen that looks something like this. It will list the subjects for that grade level.
You will simply click on the subject that you want to start on and it will break that subject down into smaller sections. This way you can choose what branch of that lesson you will want to work on that day. This is what the breakdown for 5th grade Language and Grammar looks like. There are plenty of activities to keep the student busy.
One of the sections that we have been using is the Grammar section. Again, once you click on that task, it will take you to a screen that has all of the activities for that section.
One of the sections that we have been using is the Grammar section. Again, once you click on that task, it will take you to a screen that has all of the activities for that section.
I really love the fact that it tells you how many activities there are per lesson, and it gives you yellow stars for completed lessons.
Once you are to the lessons you will see that they are colorful and very interactive. Gavin likes that he can do a lesson fairly quickly and move on.
Once you are to the lessons you will see that they are colorful and very interactive. Gavin likes that he can do a lesson fairly quickly and move on.
What did we think?
Well Gavin says that ESA should stand for:
Well Gavin says that ESA should stand for:
E- Educational
S- Super
A - Awesome
That should tell you something! As a parent, I think that this is one of the best supplemental programs there is to offer. The fact that I can go in and pull up his reports makes it even easier especially since he is pretty independent with this. I would suggest this for not only homeschoolers, but also kids that attend public school that may need a little extra help. It would be a great tool for summer too so that the kids can have something educational to do that is also fun. We will definitely continue to use this in our school all year long!
Please feel free to check out the Complete Home Learning Suite by Essential Skills Advantage for yourself!
ESA was very generous and let 100 of us on the crew review their products, please go read other reviews by clicking the banner below!
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