HelpTeaching.com is the Homeschooler's Secret to FUN!

I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

If you are homeschooling, and not using any of the 'boxed curricula' then you know the one thing you might be missing- supplements and tests! Also known as the bane of teaching! LOL. I hadn't given it much thought until I started thinking about next year, when we will start grading again, as Miss Grace may be starting some of her high school classes early (YES, EEK!!!). Suddenly I knew I needed some extra help and resources!

So I was uber-thrilled to be given the chance to check out HelpTeaching.com. The website is for teachers, tutors, trainers, and homeschooling parents, of kids in classes Pre-k thru 12 (aka ALL kids!). The website gives you Printable and Online Tests, Activities, Lessons, and Games. And the BEST part? Those tests can be ones YOU make, and that the kids take online! Yup, you can foster independent learning AND test taking, all off one website! There are 3 levels of membership, Free (limited), Help Teaching Pro (unlimited). and Group Pro (for schools). At under $40 for the year, the Pro plan is an amazing resource to have in your arsenal!

Let's take a look at what all is included in the Help Teaching Pro plan, by looking at the Online Lessons. As you can see from this Math cover page- there are basic math, algebraic and geometry related lessons. These lessons can be individually ,or class wise, assigned to your students.Then when you click into the lessons your student will get an introduction, any diagrams needed, and a learning video (created by Help Teaching team or obtained with permission from sources, such as Khan Academy, Educator.com, and Bozeman Science). They can also view (and answer) practice questions to see if they understood the lesson. The answers are available as well, to help them understand any errors they make. The great thing is if you have assigned the lesson, the system lets you know how much time your student spent on the lesson, and if they tried the questions (which could be the assignment). Additionally, any related lessons and worksheets are shown, as well as any additional resources. Topics covered include Math, Science (Astronomy, Biology,Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and more), ELA (Grammar, Phonics, Reading, Spelling, Vocabulary, Writing and more), and Social Science (Geography, American and World History, and US Government).

Additional resources include printable worksheets and games for all of those subjects. These are SO great for when you have a day on the go, or if you just need a BREAK, and to do something FUN, but still get some learning in! Besides being for all grade levels in the subjects listed above, they also have holiday themed worksheets (yes, I just heard your inner-Martha scream in joy!), Early Education (alphabet, number) printables, Art and Music worksheets, PE worksheets (I know you home school mommas just sang "Hallalelua!" for those 3 subjects) AND a HUGE one for me-Vocational Educational worksheets. Now Miss Grace plans on going to college (Go Belhaven!), BUT I plan on having a Life Skills elective for her, encompassing what we had in home economics, finance and life basics, and these worksheets are PERFECT for JUST that! I love the idea of being able to test her use of measurements in cooking (get that Math in there!), as well as how long foods are good for, how to budget a paycheck, parts of a sewing machine, etc! There are so many worksheets that we may get a whole year's worth of a course for her! WOO HOO! But the HUGE component is the TESTING!

As you can see, there are 3 ways you can test, using the system. You can start 100% from scratch and make up your own questions. Which is superb, if you're like us, an using an eclectic curricula with multiple resources per subject- with Helpteaching you can compile the IMPORTANT test questions all on ONE test, instead of pulling from here and there, and being bogged down with multiple pieces of PAPER! Just think how much paper and ink your could save by making ONLINE tests! But you can also print out the tests, if you need documentation of them. As you can see below, I used one of the premade tests as it actually matched what she was learning in her Map curriculum! You can make any of the tests as long, or short as a quick quiz, as you want!

Plus you can pull questions from the tests already online in Helpteaching. And finally you can search by keyword and grade level, and let the system build a test for you! personally I like the third option, as if we didn't cover something on the test, then Miss Grace can make that one as an extra, and then go and look up the answer (research skill) and use those questions for bonus points instead. Right now that works for us. But as we edge more into Middle School/High School grading, the First and second options will be a bigger help!

It is very easy to add students into the system, you just need name or nickname for system, as well as email (if sending links). You can set up a password, and then after they sign in and start their FREE account, they can change it if they need to, or add in an email for their account.

Once you have students in, then you can set them into different classes as well. That way students at different levels can be taking different test, but possibly all taking the same one as well.

If you have set up emails for your students, then once you assign them into a class, and schedule a test or assignment for them, they will receive an email with a link button to take the test. As a parent, I love that the link button takes them DIRECTLY to the test, they don't have to go hunt for it (but they DO need to sign in, so their results can be counted). If you haven't set up an email, then you are given a link for the test, to print out (or send in individual or group email) and give to your student(s).

As your students start taking the test, you will be given the option to grade the test, if it wasn't set up for auto grading. Then once you set the grade, it will show in the results tab.

This is great because it also lets you know if they started the test, but then stopped/paused it, and still need to finish it. You can also set a time period for the testing, such as 1 day, 1 week, etc. So for those homeschooling, you can set up tests/classes at the beginning of your school year, and just have to grade/record grades during the year! HOW cool is that! Plus, since you can use the plan for multiple children, you can do it for all of the kids, no matter their grade! Trust me when I say that the Pro Plan will pay for itself within one month, especially if you have multiple kids! And if you year round homeschool, then you're only talking about the cost of a small coffee per month, for use with one child! But SO SO SO worth it!

If you have a child who prefers online learning and testing, Help Teaching Pro is an amazing resource that your homeschool NEEDS. if you're a parent, whose child needs to work on different subjects at home, or with a tutor, again it is a valuable tool that can REALLY help your student AND teacher save time, aggravation and money! once you try it, you'll think so too! Just see what other comments my fellow reviewers have too, before you decide it IS for you! Just click the box below to check out their reviews!