TOS Crew Review: Lesson Planet

The now infamous dwarf planet-Pluto

I was taught (back in the good ole days) that there were 9 planets circling our sun, but due to a series of unfortunate events (we'll leave Lemony Sniket out of it)-Pluto was kicked to the curb. What could possibly fill that void? Determined to forgo the lack of sensitivity the world was showing ole Pluto-we decided to keep it. I was obliviously unaware that another had moved in to fill the position-that this planet was now orbiting the sun too. Well, Pluto lovers-you need not panic, this cyber-orb is a "horse of a different color"-one called Lesson Planet.


But what exactly is a "Lesson Planet"?  Does one need to propel several light-years through space to find this place?  With a click of a few keys on your computer-you can access over 150,000 lesson plans, and some 75,000 worksheets designed to address most educator's needs.  This search engine has several different components that can assist a gal or guy, in locating a variety of topics and subjects to use in the classroom.

In general, this is a pretty good idea...especially for time-strapped teachers. But even with best intentions, there are bound to be a few problems.  Unlike my usual approach to reviews, I have decided to note "what I like" and what I "don't like" about this service.  Remember-I am a homeschool vet that has a stash of goodies at my fingertips, in various forms that can be easily added to our regular studies-so my need for such things is purely random.  I may need to pull up an additional activity or two in order to "cement" a concept or topic into my precious students' minds.  But I do not use this as a way to carry on our regularly scheduled courses. Those reading this, may actually prefer this route-so keep that in mind and consider what your very specific needs are before drawing your own conclusion.  Better yet-take advantage of the free 10 day trial to see for yourself.

So here we go-

What I liked:
*pinpoints age level (fairly accurately)
*has a rating system-so you can see what others thought of it (but this is subjective-so it may not meet your standards)
*search sections for lesson plans or worksheets
*wide variety of subjects and topics
*pages that have been reviewed by someone (so at least you know you are not hitting on some unsavory site)
*if you need such things to meet state HS requirements-the lessons point out the standards/assessment tools
*you can save your finds into a folder for later use
*informs you right below the title: the subject heading, where it came from (source), time duration to present/complete, type of method and the group it is meant to address
*there is a section directly relating to homeschooling
*could click on the Homeschooling Guide section to browse through articles with links relating to various subject-actually found that more refreshing than the other parts

Not a bad list really, but of course-there is always the down side to things.  Here is where it gets rather disheartening.

What I didn't like:

*encountered a lot of problems when searching. For example-when looking under US women in history and US history, I got more spelling/ vocab activities than the history worksheets I was looking for (common event when searching a vast amount of subjects)

*too wide of a scope,  it made it so that I spent more time going through the lists, in order to find perhaps one or two things, that fit that category-very time consuming. It is just too broad of a pool of hits, it needs to be fine tuned to not pull up every document that may have that word/subject matter listed in it

*found very few items I would consider even printing-not a big worksheet user, but on occasion will add it to notebooks or tear it apart to use components of it-was not finding what I needed

*Too many dead links (yes, there is a report button-but I would have spent more time doing this than searching) to make it worth my time/effort

*the price is way too high for this type of service-esp. when I can find the majority of these things on free searches, or through free websites

*types of activities/worksheets were somewhat lame, or rather mindless.  I would not even consider using the majority of the ones I searched.  Very typical of what you would see a PS child (no offense here, I am not teaching 30 kids in one hour blocks, trying to keep the peace whilst expounding the material to them all-meaning that I do not usually have a call for said material) use/bring home.  Out of all the searching and investigating-I found 3, yes only 3 items I would use.  One was a guideline to create a comic strip about mutualism in organisms (for my teen's biology), one was a website with a virtual tour of the Lascaux caverns (early cave drawings in France) and one worksheet for my 8 year old.  Not exactly the best results one would expect.

So there you have it. Simply stated, this was not a good fit for us.  I have been able to procure more links using free searches (and within a quicker time frame), and by going to sites that are also free or priced significantly lower.  I truly do not have a great need for this type of service because I tend to steer clear of using tons of worksheets.  I use them when needed, but as a way to highlight the studies at hand, not to teach it.  It is not that this service is without merit-for a particular niche it could serve as a gateway to finding just the right material one needs (esp. if having to meet the state standards), or providing avenues to enhance the textbook coverage of various subjects. But for us, we'll need to gently jettison Lesson Planet back into deep space to frolic with the asteroids. 

I want to only give this a 1/2 a raft-as it simply did not serve our needs-but it very well may be just what you need

Need help with icons? Click Here

Lesson Planet Homepage

$39.95 year subscription fee

10 day free trial offer available

Don't forget to check out what my TOS mates had to say about this and many other fine homeschool products on our TOS Review Crew Homepage.

***Lesson Planet provided me with a free 4 month (approx.) access to their site, in order to go through and test out the site.  I did not receive any financial compensation in exchange for my honest opinion of this service.