I was provided this resource for free and paid a wee bit to write this review, but just like with all things from The WOLFe Pack, what you will find here is an honest opinion from a seasoned homeschool mom with a Master’s Degree in Education and a decade of experience in the classroom…who also happens to be a mom with way too little sleep, too much laundry to do and only 12 months left on her homeschool clock.
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Elephango
Before being offered this opportunity to review curriculum resource, I had never heard of Elephango. But, after looking into it a wee bit and reading descriptive terms including personalized curriculum companion and game-changing homeschool sidekick, I decided to give it a whirl!
And, I am so glad I did. But not for any reason I would have imagined!
Read on for my full review and see what unexpected need Elephango filled for my homeschool!
WHO is Elephango, the company?
If you are anything like me, you like to know the company behind the educational products you put in front of your kids. So, who is Elephango, the company?
Well, I was a little sad NOT to find a cute little story about a sweet homeschool family who had a daughter named Ellie who asked a lot of questions which prompted them to start this small bsuiness. Instead, it turns out Elephango is rather a rather large, successful company. According to their website, “Elephango is the industry leader in research-based homeschool curriculum resources. A part of the Edovate Learning Corp family, Elephango is a rich online educational resource center that is the perfect curriculum companion for any K-12 student or school.”
So, what is Edovate? Edovate Learning Corp. is “a creative, innovative leader in personalized education and edTech solutions whose vision is to positively impact the future through transformative learning that inspires students to pursue their excellence.” We specialize in learning that is truly personalized, dynamic, and drives individual growth.” Bridgeway Academy, Curriculum Express and Discover all fall under the Edovate.
Okay, yeah, that does not totally clear up all of my questions about who is the creative force behind Elephango but the rabbit trails I took while on their site did show me enough to give me confidence to continue.
WHAT is Elephango, the resource?
Elephango is a website filled with (seemingly) a gazillion lessons literally at the tip of your fingers (click, click, click!) I could not find how many they claim to have, but let’s just say it’s more than a few thousand but fewer than a gazillion.
If your student wants to know more about the electoral college, he can type it into Elephango’s search bar and then sift through the dozens of lessons that pop up. With Elephango, there is no need to be on Google where your student can land on who-knows-what when he clicks on something like, “The Electoral College: How It Is Destroying the Rainforest.”
Or better, yet, YOU can do the searching and then assign lessons to your students. (More on that below.)
So, WHAT is Elephango? To me, it is like a personalized homeschool search engine with all of the results housed on one safe, easy-to-use site.
HOW can Elephango help your homeschool?
In a variety of ways! It bills itself as a supplement and I would definitley agree with that. It has super simple to use search features (more on that below) so you can easily search for and select a lesson or two or twelve on a specific topic. So, it’s a perfect way to supplement whatever it is you are learning about in your homechool.
But, it is also more than that. First of all…if you are an unschooler, this would be an amazing option for you. Like, give your kid access and let him/her have at it! It could seriously keep them entertained and educated for an entire school year.
But, if you are also somebody who likes to create their own curriculum by finding things to meet specific standards or skills, you could use Elephango to check most, if not all, of the boxes you decide you need. Would it be a lot of work? Yes. And no. Elephango actually has a “search by standards” option which allows you to select a state and pick the standards you want to teach to. So, with a fair amount of work, you could use Elephango to meet the vast majority of your curriculum needs.
But, that is not how we have been using Elephango in my home. My teenage son is in the middle of studying for the ACT. Last week he did a practice test and then made a list of areas in which he needed to work so he could improve his score. These areas included topics like commas, geometry, idioms and more. My son did such an impressive job getting all of that organized (thanks to Greg Landry’s ACT Prep Class) but then came to me with this list of topics like, “Okay…now what? I know I need to work on these. Are you going to sit down and teach them all to me right now?” Ha! Not at all. Elephango to the rescue! With just a few clicks, I was able to search for, select and assign lessons to teach everything on his list. It was so simple!
WHO should use Elephango?
Any student old enough to work on a computer and a website is old enough for Elephango. And the upper bounds actually go beyond High School. So, really, it is for all ages. And it includes all subject areas. But, it also teaches to different learning styles too!
And, they don’t just teach to different learning styles. They actually tag every lesson with the learning style it was best designed for which means you can search by learning style too!
HOW simple is it to use Elephango?
The site is very easy to use. It’s designed in a very intuitive way…meaning it just makes sense to find what you want and end up where you need to be.
There are two different ways for your student to experience the site.
- Do a search and select one of the lessons that comes up.
- Do the lessons you have assigned for him/her.
In the image below, you can see that Gussie did a search for the electoral college and then selected one of the options that came up. It took just three clicks to get to the lesson.
And, in the image below you can see that Gussie is selecting a lesson from her Grammar List that I put together for her. This also just took three clicks. Super simple for kids of all ages to maneuver!
Now let me show you how simple it is to create search for lessons and then assign those lessons to individual lists for each of your students. Check out the video below!
CAN you try out Elephango without purchasing it?
Yes! They have several fully developed lesson plans on a variety of topics and grade levels available for you and your students to explore for free. These free lessons include everything from sea turtle conservation to the Emancipation Proclamation…from percents, angles and predictions to the Russia-Ukraine War…from Plymouth Colony to Ruth Bader Ginsburg…and loads of things in between! Go HERE or click the image to check them out.
HOW much does Elephango cost?
Elephango is $19.99/month for a family plan of 4 students. Or if paid annually, you can save a bit and pay $200 for an entire year of access. But, Elephango designed a special code just for this review. Use code 33off1yearblog10 to save 33% off an annual subscription! Click HERE or the image below to learn more.
WHAT are my final thoughts on Elephango?
Before I give my final thoughts, I want to share a few quotes from some other homeschool moms.
And check out what Cathy Duffy has to say about Elephango!
So, what are my final thoughts? Elephango is a super duper handy homeschooling tool that can be used in a variety of ways including:
- a fun way to safely let your kids explore online
- an easy way to supplement your current curriculum
- a reliable option to fill holes as you find them in your student’s learning
- a great option for an unschoooling adventure
- a feasible way to meet state standards or grade-based skills
- and, apparently, as an unexpected way to study for the ACT!
