BrainPop Review

 At the same time that we started using Time4Learning (see my review here), I paid for a year of BrainPop.  I was worried at the time that it might be redundant, but I had heard such good things about it that I went ahead and got it.  Boy, am I glad I did.

BrainPop is a site that provides hundreds of short videos starring Tim and his robot, Moby.  Tim and Moby explain everything from who Amelia Earhart was to the Pythagorean Theory to how wind energy works to how to organize an essay.  Seriously, I can't remember a time that I looked for a topic and couldn't find anything on it.  The videos are usually only 2-3 minutes but pack a lot of information into that short time.  The site is extremely well-organized and easy to navigate.  Obviously, this is not a full curriculum.  But these little videos make a great introduction to a new topic, or a good way to recap a lesson.  Sometimes, it is just fun to pick a random video and watch it.  Or, if a tangent topic comes up in something we are reading (Who was Marie Curie? or What is an isotope?), we know we can get a good explanation here.

Each video also has a 10-question quiz associated with it.  Kids can take the quiz for just review (they are shown whether they got the correct answer right away), or they can do it as a graded quiz and have the results sent to your email.  Each topic also has extra written information available and sometimes, other activities that you can add.

One of the best parts of the site are the games that they have added recently.  Games related to a topic you are watching are shown on that video's page, or you can browse through them from the games button on the homepage.  Now, there is nothing I hate more than pointless online games.  And my kids hate them too.  So many of the online "educational" games either have very little educational value, or are no more than "drill and kill" exercises with aliens added.  Not these games.  These games rock.

One of our absolute favorites, that we discovered during our study of elections last fall, is the Executive Command game.  In it, you play the POTUS.  You have a limited amount of time to propose legislation, meet with legislators to advance your chosen agenda, react to foreign aggression, and fly around the world to meet with global leaders.  As the game progresses, it become a frenetic race to keep up with all the emails coming into your inbox while you race around Washington and the world trying to put out fires.  It gives us a little glimpse of what a day in the life of the President must really be like.

Another game is called Win the White House.  In it, you are running for President.  You choose your party, your running mate and your platform.  Then you travel around the country raising money, making speeches, deciding where and when to run advertisements and almost obsessively watching the electoral college votes as states change allegiances.  We played this game several times as we followed the election and nothing brought home the importance of  the electoral votes than this game.  We found ourselves saying, "Pah, you can have Arkansas! Get me on a plane to Ohio so I can make a speech!".  And, sure enough, when we checked where each candidate was spending time that week, they were visiting the same states we were in the game.

A few notes on the games.  These games were not all developed by BrainPop, and I believe they might be available elsewhere on the web.  But I have never been disappointed by a game we've found on BrainPop, so I think they have very high standards for which games they use.  Also, the games are one of the features of BrainPop that is free - so you can use them even if you have not bought a subscription.

Speaking of free, BrainPop has several videos in each topic that are free.  So you can check them out if you are looking at buying a subscription.  They also have a large free section called BrainPop Educators.  There, you will find lesson plans on hundreds of topics, resources, planning tools and professional development.  I haven't used this section much, but it is packed with information.

We regularly use several BrainPop videos and other resources a week and I feel like we are getting good value for the price.  We bought the family membership for $99 for a year.  The Homeschool membership is $199 and gives you up to three separate logins.  We usually watch the videos and do the quiz together, so I haven't felt the need for separate accounts.  They also offer BrainPop Jr for younger kids and BrainPop Espanol.  I highly recommend BrainPop as a resource you will use over and over again.