TOS Review - Standard Deviants Accelerate

We are a visual family. Watching educational videos is something we have used in our home for many years. Six or seven years ago when my son was in 11th grade we would check out from the library the Standard Deviants DVDs for him to solidify different concepts in his education. Standard Deviants Accelerate has now taken their product a step further with Standard Deviants Accelerate Homeschool Courses. They have sold millions of videos worldwide over the years. Standard Deviants came up with this winning concept over 20 years ago. Take academic subjects, pack a ton of information into the video, then make the video funny and entertaining to the student.

 

 

 

Since I was very familiar with the concept of Standard Deviants I jumped at the chance for my family to review their new product. A completely online program that can be used anytime, anywhere - as long as an Internet connection is available. We were blessed to receive a year's subscription that allowed us to check out all the available subjects. Currently one course/subject can be purchased for $99.00 a year or $24.95 per month. AP courses are also available at $14.95 a month. Standard Deviants offers courses for ages 8 and up.

 

Current Available Courses

 

Arithmetic

Fundamental Math

Earth Science

Nutrition

Algebra

Biology

Chemistry

English Composition

U.S. History

AP Biology

AP Chemistry

AP US Government and Politics

AP U.S. History

AP English Composition

 

In our home we concentrated on U.S. History and Biology because Grace is taking these courses for her 10th grade year. Included in each subject area the parent and student will find videos, quizzes, written transcripts, tests, drag and drop diagrams, note taking sections, and red flag alerts which will alert the parent when low scores are taking place. The parent and student will have two separate accounts. This way the parent can go and view grade reports, red flag alerts, editable scoring Rubrics, and progress indicators. There is a wonderful video the parent can view with all the particulars of what the parent account has to offer. On the same page is a video of what the student is offered through their account as well. Standard Deviant uses an immersive approach in teaching a subject and takes a neutral stand in the world view arena. I only mention this because some homeschool parents may wish to skip the videos on Evolution in Biology and The Big Bang Theory in the Earth Science class. For us it isn't a big deal as we have listened and watched information from both viewpoints in the past so that Grace is prepared to debate this issue intellectually in the future.

 

 

As I mentioned before we decided to us Biology and U.S. History. We found the website very easy to maneuver around and had absolutely no technical difficulties or glitches. Topics available in the Biology course were; Molecules and Cells, Heredity and Inheritance, Molecular Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Organisms and Populations, Human Physiology and Immune Response, Ecology, and a subject review area. At the time we started this review our own personal Biology course was starting the body system studies so Grace concentrated on Molecules and Cells as well as Human Physiology and Immune Response. In History the topics available include; American Presidents, Women's Movement, Civil Reform, America at War, Economic Changes, and again a subject review area. Unfortunately none of the mentioned subjects lined up with her current history studies so we jumped around in this section.

 

Tons of information is packed into each video and will need to be watched repeatedly for retention. Standard Deviants recommends this program as a supplement to other programs. It would be great to watch the videos to begin a new topic or as review after studying said topic. I would definitely like to use this in the future, especially for Government and Chemistry to help Grace understand principles and concepts better. Catchy, funny videos are always a great way to capture the attention of students at any age.

 

Take the time to visit Standard Deviants Accelerate as well as visit the Crew Page and read their thoughts concerning this new product.