The internet has so much free material to offer that it can be overwhelming to a busy homeschooling parent. Lesson Pathways has taken the hassle out of searching for materials online by putting them in one place. For the low price of $12.95 per month or $99.00 for a year, you get access to more than 800 pathways covering kindergarten through fifth grade. You can use the site for many children as you wish at no extra cost. The subjects included are science, history, reading and phonics, math, and language arts covering 36 weeks of instructions.

A pathway is a "guided journey" for each subject that uses multi-sensory lessons, with online videos, educational games, hands-on experiments and activities, and printable worksheets. After clicking on a subject, you choose the grade level you need. Then a list of pathways, or learning units, will appear. You can complete them in order or simply pick and choose the ones that best suit your needs. This is perfect if you are just wanting to supplement the curriculum you are already using. Once you've decided on your pathways, you can assign them to your students in the planner. Pathways are easily added and deleted to the planner, and you can mark them completed as you finish them.

I found Lesson Pathways to be very easy to navigate. All the links are prescreened, so you don't have to worry about what you will find once you click on a link. Each pathway has numerous links offering different fun activities for learning. The pathways are supposed to last a week, but no daily schedule is given. You will have to decide which activities you do each day. For each link there is a list of supplies that will be needed.

There are no options to print out any of the plans, so you will have to get creative as to how you organize your pathways offline. If you normally do your lesson planning on the computer and don't need a hard copy, you will be fine. However, if you are like me and like to have a hard copy of what you need to do each day, you may get discouraged. Soon you will be able to print out the planner, but I'm unsure if it will be just the list of the pathways or if you will be able to print out the plans for each pathway as well.

The site has made some great upgrades recently and now includes a blog feature and a forum. They've also added after-schooling and classroom pathways. I think Lesson Pathways is a vital tool for the homeschooling community, and who can beat the price? You get so much for so little! We've really enjoyed using it. The site offers a tour and a free trial. If you are unsure about subscribing, give it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Product review by Stacy Rocha, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, December 2009