Since we are nearing gift giving season, I am going to start off my curriculum reviews with subscription boxes (SB) because they make great holiday gifts that can be under the tree and last all year. A year’s subscription is a great gift idea to give grandparents and other family members for something other than made in China crap that will get lost, broken, or thrown away within a month. Plus most family members like that they are getting to contribute to the child’s education. Children LOVE subscription boxes (as do adults.) Knowing that something fun is coming in the mail each month build anticipation and when the box arrives they are eager to learn about the contents inside. It is also nice for the homeschool parent because all the materials needed for the project are included and there is no searching for something at the last minute.
The idea of a monthly subscription box has really exploded over the last five years and educational subscription boxes are becoming increasingly popular throughout the homeschool community. Science and Social Studies boxes are the majority and are available for any age child but there are definitely more options for the elementary group. Most offer monthly payment plans or a discount for a yearly subscription.
SB cater to multiple learning styles which is important when deciding on curriculum for your child. Kinesthetic/tactile children get the hands on aspect. Visual learners are able to read/look at the accompanying material and directions. Most SB have some sort of online component as well which allows auditory experiences through videos and games. Of course videos and games also help the visual and kinesthetic learners. Since SB are usually authentic child-led learning it is easy to expand upon the topic. I like to take whatever that month’s topic is and expand it to fit into the rest of our learning, whether this is finding documentaries/library books that are related or cooking a meal from the featured culture. I’ve even manage to use a SB as my base curriculum for a subject at times by expending each topic.
Over the next two weeks I will post my ten favorite educational subscription boxes and reasons why they fall in my top ten. If you decide to order any of them please use (or have grandparents use) my links as I may be able to receive a teeny tiny commission from some of them. At the end of the two weeks I will do a drawing from the comments of the posts to win a sample subscription box TBD.