Fascinating Biology from Fascinating Education~ REVIEW

 

Fascinating Education was so kind to give us the Blessing of using and reviewing one of their three Online Science courses they have available.  The course we were given is called Fascinating Biology, the name says it all. :)   Dr. Margulies is a Neurologist and started Fascinating Education because he wanted to create a program to provide a way of learning that didn't just rely solely on the use of text books as the primary teaching tool.  He designed this program to teach Science in a clear, easy-to-understand, logic thinking way for Kiddos in Middle-school and High-school.  Dr. Margulies uses vivid illustrations and audio as the main learning tool.  You can say that this program is an audio/visual party for your mind!  Since it uses the right-hemisphere of your brain to teach you the Science information you are most likely to learn it and understand it.  Not just store it in your short term memory bank until the test is finished. 
 

I have to say in my Opinion this is hands down a Winner if you have a High Functioning Kiddo on the Spectrum.  Kaden Loves watching tons of videos on YouTube to learn about all kinds of things.  A few months ago he spent nearly 5 weeks going over and over an aerodynamics video series.  I almost died from boredom, but he was in Heaven!!!  Day one of looking at this program Kaden was hooked.  This was Christmas for his Brain he told me while learning about Homeostasis after breakfast one morning.  I decided even though Mahala is in High-school I would still use this mainly for Kaden.  She listened in on some of the lessons, but I used this daily with Kaden for the review period.  And he is still going on strong plowing through the lessons.

When you log in this colorful screen pops up.  You will find that each unit is visible to you. I like that you can see everything right upfront with a small picture that kind of explains what that particular Unit is about.  Very Helpful for all Kiddos, but especially for a Kiddo with Special needs.  Under each picture are 3 simple Tabs.  The first Tab takes you directly to the Lesson.  The next Tab says Script and when you click this you'll open up a handy PDF of the lesson your Kiddo is currently on.  The 3rd and final Tab says Test, clicking on this will open up the lesson test.  This program doesn't track the grades for you.  So, you will need to do that separately if you want to have that on file. I do not track test scores only course completion, so this was not a problem for me.  The tests are in a PDF if you’d rather just give your Kiddo their test yourself instead of online.  

I just have to say a few things that I LOVE about the testing with this program....the test offers multiple choice questions, for both typical and Special needs Kiddos this is helpful.  I know for Kaden it is hard for him to come up with correct answers sometimes because even though he knows the answer he may word it differently in his mind then someone else would even think of.  Multiple Choice is Awesome!  I also like that the test requires at least 80%  of the questions to be correct before you are given a pass.  After taking the test your Kiddo can take a look at all the questions they answered incorrectly.  They are even given the chance to see the correct answers and given the opportunity to go back and retake the test.  All my Kiddos dislike it when a program they are working with doesn't offer an overview of their missed questions.  So, it's a major bonus star from my Kiddos that this program goes over incorrect answers and points them in the right direction to actually learn what they missed.  :)

 

Fascinating Education currently offers 3 science courses for children in middle school and high school.

For our review we received the course Fascinating Biology.  

It has 19 different lessons.

 *What is Life 

*Chemistry Review 

*The Cell Membrane 

*Take in Nutrients 

*Take in Energy Part 1,2,3 & 4 

*Grow 

*Reproduce Part 1, 2 & 3 

*Homeostasis Part 1 & 2 

*Adapt Part 1 & 2 

*Prokaryotes, Protists, Animals, and Fungi 

*Plants 

*Hypothesis Testing 

My Final word about this program is I feel it's Solid.   And that it will allow you to give your Kiddos more then just a watered down version of some pretty tough Science courses.  I think for audio and visual learners this is a must to have in your Home-school.  Let me just say for those of us that have straightforward Kiddos the visuals are not bright, snazzy elementary style.  This made Kaden happy and ready to fire up the computer almost every single day without being told to.  I know the program says this is designed for Middle school and High school, but for some Middle school Kiddos may not be able to work Independently.  I would see this being a problem with the new vocabulary that is introduced and possibly topics discussed.  Kaden is 7 years old, but loves Science and was able to work independently except he needed help with the test portion.  

Fascinating Chemistry, Fascinating Biology and Fascinating Physics all cost $79 each for 1 years access.
If you register for 2 of the courses at the same time the cost is $125 for a year of access.  If you register for all 3 courses it's only $175 for 2 years access.  I will definitely be getting the other 2 courses for sure! 

Head on over to Fascinating Education online so you can check out the FREE samples of each class, that way you can see if it is a good fit for your family or not.