The Nomadic Professor: A Timberdoodle Review
You know the routine. This is a sponsored post. I received this product at no cost to test and to review. But that’s the end. The words and thoughts and opinions are completely my own.
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Just like ALL of my own life, homeschooling has shifted and changed in the seasons of our family’s life.
I only have older students and this year I graduate my FOURTH child and no, I cannot comprehend all of that.
So far all three graduates have chosen their own good paths, as they do, and I could write an entire book with my thoughts on the pressures we put on high school students to DECIDE, to KNOW, to be PASSIONATE, to PERFORM.
But that rant is for another day.
One of the my favorite parts of homeschooling has always been the communal aspect. I worked hard for most of our homeschool life to merge what subjects I could merge. To learn about eras and science topics and authors all at the same time whenever humanly possible. History was one of my favorites for that because any age can learn about World War I at the same time. All the kids, from kindergarten to middle school, can study the Middle Ages together. It was simple to pull together books and resources to fit each child’s reading ability but to stay on topic. This allowed us to get the most out of field trips and museums and documentaries.
I held onto that history model for all of our homeschool years. Until this one.
As a senior in a home where we did A LOT of history reading, and as a senior in South Carolina where four history courses are not required for graduation (another rant I could go on … ) Bergen did not need a history credit this year. (Which is not to say that I am signing off on him reading or learning any more history. In fact, he’s reading more historical fiction this year, traveling and doing map studies just because I cannot bear to send him off without that extra knowledge!)
My ninth grader had been requesting more work that was self-directed. More opportunities to do her own schedule and to complete work at her own pace.
Enter The Nomadic Professor and Timberdoodle.
The Nomadic Professor is a video-based history series.
Two men – Dr. Jackson and Nate Noorlander – have put together a crazy extensive set of videos and assignments – quizzes, documents, notes etc. They are an impressive team. Dr. Jackson travels ALL over and the videos are onsite all around the world. He’s passionate and engaging and very smart.
The lessons are self-paced. You are watching a video lecture or taking a quiz or studying lecture notes. There are multiple ways to access the same info if you have a learner who needs to read along instead of just listening to the lectures.
It’s truly a little overwhelming at first because there is SO MUCH information. But there are systems and the team walks you through it clearly, plus they respond quickly to email questions.
Currently the American History is available. Coming soon will be World, Asian, Western Civilization. And inside the American History series there are two courses. You can see a preview before you commit.
You could have more than one child do these courses together but it is definitely easier if each student can answer their own quizzes and track their own pace online.
Although this works really well in high school and is included in the 10th and 11th grade options for Timberdoodle, this is quality material and if you’re an adult learner, this is not just for high schoolers. It’s solid and an education some of us might have missed in our own high school experiences.
Piper is able to set the pace and handle this without any real direction from me, and it is easy to keep up with your student’s progress.
Because I am not doing this program with her, I do feel a little disconnected from what she is learning. This can be helped with some narrations and discussions – and, of course, if I made the time to watch all of the videos with her. (Which is not happening at all this year, despite my cute intentions.)
I definitely plan to use this again for Otto as well.
I’m not always a fan of video-based series but this has been an engaging way to interact with history with a truly passionate educator.
