SKWIRK reviewed by home educators

first published in Autumn issue of Homeschool Unschool Australia!

According to their website, Skwirk is "an education portal featuring syllabus-specific content for Australian school students in every State and Territory" which covers the core primary and secondary school subjects: Maths, Science, Technology, English, History, Geography, Commerce, SOSE and HSIE. They offer "step by step help for parents and students, test results for tracking learning process, tax refund receipts, and valuable feedback." Learning programs cater to different learning styles and allow students to work at their own pace. If your children need motivation, they can 'earn' points that fosters a sense of achievement - "competition not mere repetition".

The following comments resulted from a question asked on the Homeschool Australia Facebook Group. Many thanks to everyone who responded: https://www.facebook.com/groups/234441996601610/

• 'I was won over by the fact it is an Australian website'
• 'Actually an Australianised version of an American maths program' ( http://www.theheadoftheclass.com/ )
• 'my son finds it boring and I don't think it is good value for what it provides for the cost'
• 'convenient. puts a lot of things in one place'
• 'saves time'
• 'gives you a report'
• 'doesn't do everything; found better resources online in the ABC archives, etc'
• 'slow, prone to faults, limited in information'
• 'enjoyed having the study units as a guideline'
• 'kept crashing and misbehaving'
• 'content is very limited and shallow'
• 'thumbs up for Skwirk customer service!'

Home Education Association members can get 50% off the yearly cost of subscribing to Skwirk, making it $50 for a year instead of $99. (current as at Mar 2012)