We had an opportunity to review Zane Education over the last month. Zane Education has tons and tons of online educational videos that teaches a plethora of subjects. There are over 2,000 videos for on the site for more than 260 topics.
From the website:
The Missing Piece…
The reason our online educational videos are unique and offer the best educational benefits and learning outcome, is because with the exception of the Math video, they are all subtitled with closed captions. This is The Missing Piece © that is overlooked by all other online educational video providers. Research has demonstrated the link between the use of subtitles and the potential to improve reading and literacy skills. This means your child can now study each topic AND improve their reading and literacy skills SIMULTANEOUSLY.
When I first logged into the site, I’ll admit to feeling a tiny bit overwhelmed.
Once I zeroed in on this handy menu, I felt A LOT better!
We choose the Elementary Video titles, and select from that list.
Our favorites, so far, have been the Science Videos – which focuses on these topics:
- Animals
- Plants
- The Earth
- The Human Body
- The Solar System
Each of those sections has 6 videos on different subtopics. Each of the videos has an accompanying lesson plan, dictionary, thesaurus, glossary and world fact book, as well as a list of objectives to be learned in the video. There are quizzes as well to test their learning, though I haven’t been doing the quizzes (yet) with my boy. (He is definitely retaining a lot of the information though, based on the conversations we’ve been having!)
The idea behind the subtitled videos is that the child listens to & reads the video once through. The next time they watch the video, they are to do it with the sound off and read the subtitles themselves, only moving through to the next “slide” after they have read the text at their own pace.
This method of using the audio and the subtitles is what makes Zane Education marketable to children with Special Needs, including gifted kids, kids with ADD/ADHD, Autism, reading disabilities and learning disabilities.
For now, with my reluctant reader, we are just watching the videos with the sound on.
The animation in the videos is a bit antiquated, but my 7-year-old says that he loves them. (Though his concern is that with the health videos that the talking skeleton might scare some kids – hehe!)
I love that the videos go from Kindergarten all the way up to adults, and there are no limits to what age groups you can watch, or the number of family members using the subscription. Watching the videos is a bit reminiscent of the science videos we watched in elementary school! 
That much being said, here’s what I found on the website:
Since 1989, our sister company Zane Publishing has been electronically publishing the best educational material in partnership with leading textbook and curriculum publishers. Each title has been specifically designed and developed to teach that material as per the requirements of the K-12 curriculum.
Now, these same titles originally published as educational software on CD-ROM and used in schools, libraries and in home education across North America and many countries around the world, are available to you online as the world’s most comprehensive library of purposely subtitled educational video, accompanied by a variety of online study tools, lesson plans, additional study resources and online testing – using our on-demand subscription system.
My son just started getting into the Geography videos with Lollipop the Dragon, and he’s enjoying those a lot as well.
Having studied the Piano for about half of my life, I’m really looking forward to having my son go through the Great Composer videos.
Interested? Zane Education can be purchased at the following rates:
- GOLD MEMBERSHIP provides access to the videos for all topics at just $17.99 per month or $197.89 per year.
- SILVER MEMBERSHIP provides access to the videos for all topics in a particular Age/Grade at just $12.99 per month or $142.89 per year.
- BRONZE MEMBERSHIP provides access to the videos for all topics in a particular Subject at just $8.99 per month or $98.89 per year.
However, through the month of August, you can receive a 35% Discount of an annual Gold, Silver or Bronze Membership subscription by using Promotion Code: ZE525HSM
There are a number of catalogs that can be downloaded here.
If you’d like to follow Zane Education’s Facebook Page you’ll find that there are 10 Home Educators that contribute daily to the page. These folks range from parents with experience in homeschooling, unschooling, Special Needs children and even Spirited Children! (Having a Spirited/strong-willed child, that is near and dear to my heart!)
Disclaimer: I received a 12-month Gold Membership subscription to Zane Education in exchange for my honest review. All opinions stated are my own, and no monetary compensation was received.
