BrainPOP Questions

[Josie]

Does anyone subscribe to BrainPOP? If yes, please tell if you find it useful. What are the pros and cons?

 

Did you sign up as family or homeschool? The family subscription is $99 and the homeschool subscription is $150. It mentions simultaneous use for three people as the benefit, but I don't see where I would have three children using different things on BrainPOP at the same time. Are there other benefits to the homeschool package?

 

Thanks!

[Parrothead]

I signed up for it using the least expensive option. We used it once. I never remembered to look up the movies on the subjects we were studying.

[Osaubi]

I looked at this today. I was wondering the same thing. Does anyone know how this would compare to United Streaming?

[jacqui in mo]

I've often thought about subscribing & even did the 2 week free trial they had. I didn't think the site as a whole was worth the amount of money. I especially thought the younger kids version was not that great. For the older kids, I liked the science & history movies for the most part, but you can get great dvds from the library on those subjects. I'd rather watch Bill Nye. Jacqui

[Macrina]

We have it and love it and use it. I signed up for the family option. When I lesson plan on Saturdays I look to see if there are any movies relevant to the week forth coming. There is always at least a couple. I like it because they are less then 5 min long and help explain difficult concepts (like in math) or sum up something breifly (like WWI.) The kids like to log on and watch just for fun. They print out the quiz sheet from the online quizzes that I can add to their portfolio. The Jr. has a smaller selection, but it's newer and growing. The regular one has massive amounts of stuff.

[Michelle T]

I actually just remembered about it this past week, and plan to use it again. The problem is, my DS gets bored of it fairly quickly. Though there are hundreds of videos, and probably one for any topic we are studying, he doesn't often want to watch.

 

I didn't realize when I originally signed up that after your year is up, they will automatically charge your credit card for the next year, with no warning or indication that they are doing so. Automatic renewal. I ended up with another year charged on my credit card for a product we so rarely use.

 

I emailed them to be sure they wouldn't sign me up for another year after this one.

Michelle T

[homeschoolin'mygirls]

Many libraries--including ours--have a 'school' membership, which means the membership gives access each day until around 5, I think.

 

Actually, our library didn't have a membership at first. After I pointed it out to them they signed up and we now have free access.

[jenn&charles]

Does anyone subscribe to BrainPOP? If yes, please tell if you find it useful. What are the pros and cons?

 

Did you sign up as family or homeschool? The family subscription is $99 and the homeschool subscription is $150. It mentions simultaneous use for three people as the benefit, but I don't see where I would have three children using different things on BrainPOP at the same time. Are there other benefits to the homeschool package?

 

Thanks!

 

We have a $99 subscription and we use it almost every day. You don't really need the more expensive option unless you will have more than one student logged on a time. As far as I'm aware there are no other benefits to the hs package.

 

Otter loves the short movies and enjoys the humor. They really help him retain whatever he's learning.

Usually we go and watch a movie whenever he comes across something in a book that he wants more info about.

I've also scheduled it into Otter's Science as well as the geography/history we are doing this year. He also spends some free time on it occasionally.

 

The thing I like about Brainpop is that no matter what we are studying there are usually a couple movies to go with it.

It's quick to use, kind of silly at times and the explanations are very clear. It also doesn't take up a lot of time.

 

One con I can think of is that every once and awhile there is a little bit of material that goes against our beliefs (a brief mention of "millions of years", etc.).

 

Does anyone know how this would compare to United Streaming?

 

United Streaming has thousands of regular movies and programs. We subscribe to United streaming Plus and download/watch movies from PBS like Liberty's Kids, Horrible Histories cartoons and so on. There are also a lot of movies from Discovery Channel, etc.

You can see a full list here:

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/pdf/streamingPlustitle.pdf

 

Brainpop is different in that it has short (usually 5 min long) cartoons using the same characters to briefly explain concepts. There are also little interactive quizzes you can do at the end of each movie to check for retention as well as additional comic strips and sometimes simple experiments or activities tied to the movies.

 

I recommend checking out the free trial and see if your kids like it.

That's what I did and Otter loved it so much I decided it was worth the $ for us. I've made sure to tie the movies into all of the different things we are learning on a very frequent basis so it's really worked out nicely for us.

[Annabel Lee]

This sounds alot like Cosmeo, which is by Discovery Kids. How does it compare?