Educational Streaming Videos, Audios & More

I believe nothing quite beats the power videos have over Super Hero’s learning.  When given the chance, he prefers to watch a video 9 and a half times out of 10. Talk about a visual learner! I, too, appreciate a good video. Watching fine instruction is effortless and oh-so-effective! Of course we adore quality books too, and just about any wonderful thing that enhances our learning. Well, this is exactly what SmartKidz Media delivers: Wonderful videos, audios, eBooks and text documents to strengthen our homeschooling.

What We Received

We received a free subscription for a full year from SmartKidz Media. Our subscription includes the SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers, which is available at $10 per month or $99 per year.  In exchange, I committed to deliver my thorough and honest review.

What to Expect of SmartKidz Media

Expect tons, I mean, tons, of educational, entertaining and plain fun videos, audios, ebooks, games, and more in SmartKidz Media.  Accessing the material is easy and straight forward since it’s organized nicely. As soon as you login, you can see bright, colorful buttons in the main header holding the main categories:

• World of discovery
• Music & fine arts
• Mighty eBook collection
• Baby signs program
• My animal family
• Quick study guides
• Learning special needs
• Living skills program
• Ready set sing
• Fun zone

Once inside a particular category, there are further subdivisions. Some like the World of Discovery, with quite extensive collections, such as:

• Animals & Wildlife Collections
• Documentaries & Culture Collections
• Health & Fitness
• History Titles
• Lifestyles & Cuisine
• Science
• Travel & Adventure: World Wide Discovery Collections
• Cooking Instruction

Most of the media is suitable for the entire family, even the little ones.   Animated ebooks may prove a priceless aide to preschoolers or emergent readers, as the system will provide the visual cues to follow along. Music, documentaries and story guides may be appreciated by older kids (upper elementary and up) or parents. And the games, storybooks, and just about everything else might well be enjoyed by everybody in the family.

The streaming woks well in the computer or any mobile device. This is great news for those of us who have come to rely on our iPads for quick accessibility and portability.

How Did We Use It?

We’ve been using SmartKidz Media as an indulgent supplement to our learning. When we first explored the site, we kept identifying appealing topics and titles, making it hard to decide what to watch first.  Of course, Super Hero is free to choose whatever tickles his fancy.  Mostly, I join in for his ride as time permits.  The category we’ve found ourselves coming back to over and over again is “World of Discovery.”   Such a rich collection with plenty to keep us occupied.

I find the nature of the videos so inviting to just relax, cuddle and follow along.  So far, Super Hero has been infatuated with all the cooking videos. We’ve watched master chefs prepare French, Italian, vegetarian, sushi, fish & seafood, and so many other culinary masterpieces. Super Hero had already been very interested in learning to cook, so these shows with real “important” chefs couldn’t have been more timely.  He’s watched them all, and some more than once, I think.  Perhaps these will inspire a budding cook chef 😉

Though SmartKidz Media rightly targets these videos to “the whole family” I would advise caution if you decide to watch historical videos about World War II (I think those would undoubtedly be the worst of all, anyway).  Super Hero and I did watched a few World War II documentaries, and let’s just say some scenes ain’t that cute. Not terrible, I have seen nasty WWII videos before, but better to screen it first by yourself before you let a young or sensible child watch some history videos.

Personally, I loved the Music & Fine Arts category. Included here are soundtracks of glorious compositions by Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, and Chopin. There are also Jazz & Blues, and relaxation music collections. Last but not least, cultural music from Brazil, Africa, China, Australia, Spain, Brazil, Germany, Japan, and pieces from around the world.

The Mighty eBook Collection is another favorite.  Imagine those flip-books popular in the Internet nowadays. Well these are just like those, with the added bonus that the flipping is all automatic (you can go back and forth if you wish too). Plus the actual word gets highlighted as it is spoken by the voiceover.  These are fun to watch, and perfect for a preschooler or emergent reader, as I mentioned earlier.

My Animal Family’s Video Storybook has got to be the sweetest of all. These are poignant and endearing stories about baby animals, and their lives growing up into self-sufficient adults. Too bad there are only 5 storybooks here: Leo, the lion, Korow, the chimp, Ella, the elephant, Tahi, the dolphin, and Nanuq, the polar bear.  I really hope they add more.

The Quick Find Study Guides do not contain videos at all. They are a sort of reference section in language arts, science, math and social studies.  Accounting and foreign languages are coming soon. It’d be handy to have the option of a downloadable PDF. There isn’t. Not yet anyway. Nevertheless, it’s definitely helpful to have quick access to, say, how and when to use a dash  –these will get you the ins and outs of the dash in a dash– 😉

Phew! This is quite a lot already, but we’ve only just scratched SmartKidz Media’s surface. There’s still lots more indulgence waiting to be enjoyed.

So, What Do We Think About SmartKidz?

We have liked and enjoyed SmartKidz Media very much.  Fun and entertaining educational content only. Aside from a bit of caution, if your children are still quite young (remember the war videos?), there are no worries here. No dreadful ads, no inappropriate lures, just good ol’ safe learning.

We have appreciated what SmartKidz Media offers.  It is an excellent site as is. Still, to make a great site greater, it would be terrific if they added some study guides, or activities, or hands-on ideas to the videos. That would totally round up the learning in such an outstanding way. I would appreciate that so much as well.

Want to Learn More?

If so, there’s plenty more reviews from my fellow Crew members. Or just pay these folks a visit at any of their social media accounts. That’ll give you an immediate feel for what they’re all about:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smartkidzhomeschool
Twitter: https://twitter.com/smartkidzmedia