All children have different learning styles. We as adults all have different learning styles and even teaching styles. This was difficult for me to wrap my head around as I started homeschooling our children. We recently had the opportunity to review the Generation Genius online science program, and it has been a great addition to our weekly science studies!

Generation Genius is a science video streaming service for kids in grades 3-5 (they are adding more grade levels soon). Each science topic includes a roughly 12-minute video and includes a lesson plan/DIY guide to help you teach and encourage a love of science in your student. There are also vocabulary lessons, experiment information, and class discussion questions to help your student apply the information in their everyday lives. The lessons meet science guidelines in all 50 states.

Our girls can be very picky about what they watch and what they want to read when it comes to studies. I personally learn best from a textbook with pictures, which I always make sure we have on hand to help me with teaching. The girls do much better with video examples.

However, videos can make things worse if they are boring or dullbecause then the children’s attention is lost, and it is a waste of time. Dr. Jeff knows how to keep a student’s attention! His energetic presentations kept the girls’ attention, and mine too. The videos are the perfect length and keep their interest.The videos usually last about 15 minutes.

His helpers Zoey, Izzy, and Bert, the robot, really drew the girls’ interest into new scientific topics. Included with each video subject is a lesson plan that includes information about hands-on activities to really let science come to life for your child. The experiments and activities match up with what is being done in the video that was being watched. The girls could see how their experiment should turn out and if they did struggle in set up, the video encouraged them and helped them to fix any troubles they were having.

The experiments do not require any complicated materials, and all of them that we worked on used average materials that we already had at home. I only had to buy some bean seeds for one activity. This was wonderful for me and my lesson planning, makes things less complicated when prepping each week. Also, on each DIY guide is an explanation as to why the experiment works the way it does and hints to how the experiment can be used to show the scientific theory that the student to studying. I really liked this, since it also eliminated extra work for me. All these files can easily be printed from PDF files if you desire a print copy, but I was able to easily use them right on our tablet or my laptop.

Also included with each lesson is a printable quiz to review the material with your student. You can also review the material with the use of an interactive quiz game. Great options for different learning styles.

We have thoroughly enjoyed using the thirty-six Generation Genius over the last few weeks. Not only did it help us through our regular science studies, but we also watched other science topics just to have fun experiment days. We will be watching for the next grade level to be released soon. Generation Genius is a great addition to our homeschool life!

-Product review by Renita Kuehner, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, December 2018