HomeEd Expert gettingstarted

HomeEd Expert Quick Start Help (Read-Me before you begin)

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the header menu for access to the complete FAQ tree if you are not already there.

How do you use Quick Start?

If HomeEdExpert Advisor has peaked your intrigue, yet you don't know where to start, whether to initiate a 30 Day Free Trial or purchase an annual membership subscription, then Quick Start is your "easy button." Our technology team aptly named this "Wise Mode" as you'll essentially allow our experts to guide you through the input of information and the output of recommendations. If you wish to pause or run out of time, you can resume later.

Why do you need to sign up?

HomeEd Expert Sign Up will automatically create your FREE 30 Day Sample Trial. No credit card is required. We are pleased to have you test our services suite and look forward to your feedback and testimony… so that we may continually improve. During your trial, you will be limited to one student profile, and one subject area Spelling, for whom you’ll receive Expert Product Recommendations.

Can you explain the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial?

We are pleased to have you test our service suite in the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial of Home Ed Expert Advisor, and look forward to your feedback and testimony so that we may continually improve. During your trial, you will be limited to one student profile, and one subject area: Spelling, for which you'll receive Expert Product Recommendations. For more comparison and details between our FREE 30 Day Sample Trial and the Membership Subscriptions, click the Pricing link or in the menu bar on the top of each of the webpages. To learn more about Home Ed Expert Advisor, click here. If you encounter any issues, please feel free to let us know and/or just tell us about your suggestions for and thoughts of our services.

Purchased Membership Subscription coupon code has been Redeemed... what next?

Now that your Membership Subscription coupon code has been activated, simply go to the Progress Bar and Click "Teacher" to begin

How does the HomeEd Expert and HomeEd Shopper services suite work?

Navigation guidance and user tips

General Questions (A great place to start)

What do you offer?

The HomeEd Expert - HomeEd Shopper Services Suite... click here or Services in the main menu bar at the top of the webpages to learn more about our powerful searches and recommendations. The HomeEd Shopper search capability "levels the playing field" across our multiple providers and many publishers to find you the most competitive prices on new and used products. We also allow you to organize and sort these results in various orders so that you can interact with it effectively and efficiently. You can you save your searches and recommendations through PDF and Excel downloads to your own computer for further review and purchase at a later time.

When you visit your website using on old Internet browser, why may the information appear to be jumbled?

Our website is built on the most current technology. The problem is most likely the web browser version you are using; it may not display our webpages correctly. You will find instructions by searching Google on "how to update <brand name> web browser;" for security reasons, this is always good to do. Feel free to contact us. Click the Contact Us link at the bottom of each of our webpages, or by email support@homeedexpert.com or simply calling toll-free (888) 672-6284. There is a link in the blue footer banner at the bottom of each page of the website.

Can you explain the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial?

Is there a cost for the HomeEd Expert Advisor and Shopper Express Services Suite?

HomeEd Shopper Express is completely FREE and always will be; it searches and retrieves educational product from our providers and publishers, and transforms the results into a dashboard of competing prices for new and/or used options. HomeEd Expert Advisor takes "personal" selection to a whole new level by mapping and matching expert recommendations to teacher and student profiles and styles. We are pleased to have you test our services suite in the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial of Home Ed Expert Advisor, and look forward to your feedback and testimony so that we may continually improve. During your trial, you will be limited to one student profile, and one subject area Spelling, for whom you'll receive Expert Product Recommendations. No credit card is required during the trial. Membership Subscription to HomeEdExpert Advisor provides the most up to date educational product recommendations for the full range of subjects for each of your account students; further HomeEd Shopper Express continues to function free of charge with continuous updates, maintenance and support. Additionally, we have added the capability to filter and sort as well as download into PDF and/or Excel, further allowing you to arrange and organize your information onto a computer or another devise. You'll find our modest monthly subscription fees to be exceptional value in support of your homeschool administration and operation. Our powerful search and recommendation capability is unique in its ability to traverse across multiple distributors in search of the very best prices new and used. Click the Pricing link or in the main menu bar heading on each of the webpages.

Do you need an Expert to help with home education?

An "expert" is an individual sought for their knowledge and wisdom; you seek them for advice and assistance when you're not fully qualified to make complex decision, given the consideration of large amounts of information and their interdependencies. The situation of selecting educational products is precisely when you should consult an expert, to validate your ideas. HomeEdExpert Advisor makes it affordable and easy, and attaches equal emphasis on mapping and matching teaching style as well as learning style.

How does the term "educational products" differ from "textbooks?"

Educational products include traditional hard back and soft back textbooks and workbooks along with DVDs, e-books, parent helps, solution manuals, teaching and testing guides and many other formats. Textbooks are a common and popular format, but only a subset of the Educational Products portfolio. Today, digital formats, like e-books, online classes, etc., provide a large array of choices, often at considerable savings compared to new textbooks; that's precisely why used products are included in HomeEdExpert Advisor and HomeEdShopper Express.

Can you simply ask other home educators what products they recommend?

There is a wealth of teaching and learning materials, and the selection are extensively diverse, but your ability to take control, begins with HomeEdExpert Advisor. What may be right for your friends and/or their children isn't necessarily the best fit for you or yours. Your teaching style and your students' learning styles may be different than those of fellow homeschoolers. Simple variances, like level of computer literacy, or preference to an approach, such for independent study, may yield vastly unique curricular recommendations when you attach equal emphasis on mapping and matching teaching style as well as learning style.

How do other home education websites compare to HomeEdExpert?

If you do a simple search on home education, you will find many websites and major players. Although their offerings vary, the prevailing theme is to conform to their options. Our approach is to first find for the teacher and student duo the right educational products, then allowing you to select your PERFECT MATCH. We are product, provider and publisher agnostic; that is, both HomeEdExpert Advisor and HomeEd Shopper Express are unbiased. HomeEdExpert Advisor provides expert recommendations, with the premise that the teacher and student are unique in many ways; so educational products should be tailored for your homeschool. Our services focuses on the specific dynamics between the teacher profile and style along with the student(s) learning profiles and style. Our patented methods and processes provide you with the ability to search and save your recommendations as well as purchase them new or used without panic or pressure.

Will this website work on my phone?

Absolutely, our website was responsively designed and developed to be deployed on any computer devise, including mobile phones and tablets. Our technical team ensured that our website will resize to fit the smallest to the largest screen sizes. We understand your busy schedules and put a high priority on giving you access to HomeEd Expert from any device at home and on the go.

Can you save searches and recommendations to a file on your computer?

Yes you can save your searches as a PDF and/or Excel files as an always free feature of HomeEd Shopper; also our newly added capability is a full feature in your Membership Subscription and as a limited feature in your Free 30 Day Sample Trial. In either HomeEdShopper Express or HomeEdExpert Advisor, the PDF and Excel icons are easily accessible at the top of the page; further the PDF and Excels files on your devises will allow you to follow all of the links to the products. Additionally in MS Excel, you can copy and paste the product links back into your browser to find competitive prices. This convenience allows you to go to the the bookstore and conventions in order to compare competitive prices, make notes on it etc. Note that a Member Subscription will afford you all recommendations for all students and all subjects from HomeEd Expert Advisor and HomeEd Shopper Express. The Free 30 Day Trial will give you only Spelling recommendations in HomeEd Expert and a portion of the search results in HomeEdShopper Express. To get this capability as a full feature, upgrade to a Membership Subscription in Sign Up .

Why are there no advertisements on this website?

We are product, provider and publisher agnostic; that is, both HomeEdExpert Advisor and HomeEd Shopper Express are unbiased. There are references to our partners and retailers simply to show you who they are, but we're here on your behalf to search for the most competitive prices on the range of expert recommendations, rather than promote the sale of specific products and services.

How is the HomeEd Expert Services Suite different from other comparison shopping engines?

HomeEdExpert Advisor uses a series of profile and style questions about the teacher and student to find expert recommended educational products tailored to your unique teacher-student dynamic circumstances. Once you receive your recommendations generated by HomeEdExpert Advisor, behind the scenes our systems transition you seamlessly into HomeEdShopper Express to compare competitive prices on your expert recommended products, neatly arranged in order of Overall "best fit" for your homeschool situation. You can also access HomeEdShopper Express free of charge at anytime, as a standalone tool to search and shop for individual products via author, keywords, publisher and/or title.

What retailers are included in the Home Ed Expert services suite?

Currently, our retailers include Abe Books, Alibris, Amazon.com, Biblio, Buy.com, Christian Book Distributors, eBay and Half.com. We are working to add more online retailers, and independent distributors in our HomeEdExpert Affiliates serve, in order to provide an even wider range and diverse selection with more specialized and niche products. Expanded capability will be coming soon.

Where can you find the definitions to frequently used terms on this website?

To access the Glossary, click here or in the menu bar header on each of the webpages. You will also notice a small BLUE circle with a question mark? loaded with contextual definitions to terms throughout the website. Last, but not least, use the "search FAQ database" within the FAQ. If you encounter any issues, please feel free to let us know and/or just tell us about your suggestions for and thoughts of our services. You may reach us through this Contact Us link, by email, support@homeedexpert.com, or simply calling toll-free (888) 672-6284.

How do you use Quick Start?

What benefits do you receive in the Membership Subscription to HomeEd Expert?

What is the difference between HomeEdShopper Express and HomeEdExpert Advisor?

The HomeEdExpert services suite has two major capabilities currently available: HomeEdShopper Express is a FREE product search utility and HomeEdExpert Advisor is a FREE sample trial of expert product recommendations. Both HomeEd Shopper and HomeEd Expert Advisor work together in our services suite; they are powered by our patented system and technology that leverage our product database to provide you with both shopping and recommendation results. HomeEd Shopper Express and HomeEd Expert Advisor utilize this database to identify core products, along with related ancillary, supplemental and parent helps that may be instrumental in providing teaching and learning excellence. Both services also identify alternative formats, e.g., e-book, hardcover, paperback, etc. HomeEdExpert Advisor uses a series of profile and style questions about the teacher and student to find expert recommended educational products tailored to your unique teacher-student dynamic circumstances. Once you receive your recommendations generated by HomeEdExpert Advisor, behind the scenes our systems transition you seamlessly into HomeEdShopper Express to compare competitive prices on your expert recommended products, neatly arranged in order of Overall "best fit" for your homeschool situation. You can also access HomeEdShopper Express free of charge at anytime, as a standalone tool to search and shop for individual products via author, keywords, publisher and/or title.

HomeEd Shopper Express Help (Read-Me before you begin)

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

What do you offer?

Is there a cost for the HomeEd Expert Advisor and Shopper Express Services Suite?

How is the HomeEd Expert Services Suite different from other comparison shopping engines?

What is the difference between HomeEdShopper Express and HomeEdExpert Advisor?

What retailers are included in the Home Ed Expert services suite?

What does the "Add to Favorites" button do?

The Add to Favorites allows you to save the item of interest from your HomeEdExpert Advisor recommendations to your HomeEdShopper Express list of your favorites, maintained for future reference. This allows you to pick items out of your large list of recommendations and create a smaller list to review. If you decide you want to remove the item from your favorites list, simply click the "Remove Favorite" button.

What if you purchase learning or teaching materials based on the recommendation of Home Ed Expert and then want to return?

Although HomeEd Expert Advisor is possibly the most accurate and sophisticated educational evaluation tool, no system is infallible. The recommendations offered are dependent upon the accuracy of the information provided. As with any other outlet for curricula purchases, orders through HomeEd Shopper Express are processed by our partners Abebooks.com, Alibis, Amazon.com, Biblio, Buy.com, Christian Book Distributors, Ebay.com and Half.com. Full refunds cannot be returned if the materials are damaged.

Where can you find the definitions to frequently used terms on this website?

Why are there no advertisements on this website?

Can you save searches and recommendations to a file on your computer?

Will this website work on my phone?

My Account Help (Read-Me before you begin)

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

What do you offer?

Can you explain the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial?

What subjects can you select during the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial?

You may fill out your preferences for any and all subjects; the information will be saved for your recommendations in the full Membership Subscription. However, you will only see Spelling recommendations during your FREE 30 Day Sample Trial. If you upgrade your account from the trial to Membership Subscription, at that time, all the information entered for the teacher, student and subjects will be actionable.

Is there a cost for the HomeEd Expert Advisor and Shopper Express Services Suite?

How do purchase and retrieve the HomeEd Expert Membership Subscription Coupon Code?

In order to Purchase a Membership Subscription Coupon code, click "Purchase Subscription Code from HSLDA," which will take you to the HSLDA Store where you can purchase your code. Upon completing your transaction at HSLDA, they will generate your Subscription Code, with which you return back to HomeEdExpert and enter in the textbox and click "Redeem HSLDA Code." Your account information will appear on the screen which confirms the what type of account, number of students and expiration date. Once your account is activated, go to the progress bar above and click the Teacher link to begin creating profiles and styles in HomeEd Expert.

Purchased Membership Subscription coupon code has been Redeemed... what next?

Now that your Membership Subscription coupon code has been activated, simply go to the Progress Bar and Click "Teacher" to begin

How do you use Quick Start?

How does the HomeEd Expert Progress Bar work?

The progress bar is color coded to give you a visual array on completeness of each step on your way to reaching expert recommendations. This image is what you can expect to see when you begin. The red open circle indicates there are required questions to be answered. A check will appear in the circle to indicate which section you are currently working in. The normal progression is to start with the Teacher Profile and Teaching Style, then the Student Profile and Learning Style, and finally on to the Subjects Selection. Each of the labels clickable link will allow you to navigate back and forth. You can always come back to a section and change your information; when a section has all questions answered and completed, the circle will become filled in and turn green.

What does the check mark mean on the progress bar?

The check indicates what area you are working in. This image tells you that you are in the Student section; it is a green check which indicates that all the required and optional questions for the student section have been completed, and ready for HomeEd Expert.

What do you need to know about the Caret?

Kidding aside, these are simple accents meant to help point out where links are located to enable you to move around our site. Don't click on the caret itself, but rather the link to the right. In the progress bar at the top, they are different colors based on completeness of profile and style questions and point to the labels that are clickable links. Examples would be: Teacher, Student, Subject, etc. The Action Links for Items in Need of Attention areas will also be different colors to indicate priority. So like the vegetable, they do improve your vision...

How do you contact your company?

Click the Contact Us link at the bottom footer of each of our webpages, or by email support@homeedexpert.com or simply calling toll-free (888) 672-6284.

Teacher Help (Read-Me before you begin)

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

Who do you consider to be the Educator/Teacher?

The HomeEd Expert Advisor "teacher," is the educator and/or instructor who will be working with the student(s). Advisor constructs a teacher profile and teaching style as well as a student profile and learning style. Based on this unique teacher-student dynamic relationship, HomeEd Expert generates educational product recommendations. The Membership Subscription includes 1 teacher and 1 or more student(s) and subject (s), depending on the type of membership subscription. Because the educational product recommendations are unique to the teacher-student, you only have 1 teacher per each of our subscription offerings. More students can be added by purchasing additional membership subscriptions, but at some point the most economical would be the Family Membership Subscription. See Pricing for more details.

What instructional approaches do HomeEd Expert and HomeEd Shopper product catalogs address?

Great Books / Classical Instructional Approach

The Classical Approach to education is based upon models of learning from the Middle Ages with roots in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Classical education for grades K-12 typically divides learning into three stages, or levels called the Trivium: grammar, dialecticor logic, and rhetoric. The grammar level might be presented quite diversely; some programs concentrate heavily on memorization, repetition and recitation, while others coordinate more of a Charlotte Mason approach through "living" literature. Reading the "Great Books" is the hallmark of classical education, although elementary grades often draw from other literature, and upper grades sometimes expand into the "Good Books," not on the Great Books list. Socratic discussion methods are used to stimulate students to discuss what they have read, debate important questions or ideas, and develop logic and thinking skills. Composition writing is often employed rather than test, quiz.

Montessori Instructional Approach

Montessori Approaches incorporate the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori (1870-1952). Montessori advocated respect for the nature of the child and encouraged hands-on teaching within an orderly and structured environment specifically adapted to the needs of child. Montessori learning is generally incorporated for younger children, generally learning independently with resources under the supervision of a parent/teacher.

Relaxed / Unschooling Instructional Approach

Relaxed or Unschooling combines a range of approaches from one "relaxed," specifically tailored to topic of interest and timing for the student, rather than aligned to "state standards" or with what others might be learning at a particular grade level, to total "unschooling," where the student decides how, what and when to learn for themselves. A loose schedule with more experiential learning is typical of the Relaxed and Unschooling Approaches.

Unit Study Instructional Approach

Unit Studies are designed around a unifying theme or topic. Typically, they will include study of a number of subject areas in relation to the theme/topic, but they might be narrowed to a single topic such as "The Civil War." Unit Studies generally use a combination of real books, discussion, hands-on activities, projects and research. Most Unit Studies encompass Social Studies and Science activities with at least some coverage of Language Arts.

Traditional Instructional Approach

A Traditional Approach to education employs textbooks, and possibly companion workbooks, with a teacher overseeing and/or presenting lessons. Students typically read and research course content, distinct for each subject area, then study activities, assignments, exercises and/or practice problems as well as quizzes and tests. Traditional courses can also relayed via online CD/DVD.

Priniciple Instructional Approach

The Principle Approach to education was developed by the Foundation for American Christian Education (FACE). It is founded upon seven key principles, working from Scripture as the basis for every subject, with special focus on American History and Biblical Reflection of the 18th Century accurately enforcing the seven principles. It incorporates the "notebook method" that requires four steps for the study of each subject: Research, Reason, Relate, and Record.

Independent Study Instructional Approach

Independent Study employ resources designed for students to learn independently without direct instruction and/or supervision. A parent and/or teacher may evaluate progress and performance, but usually he or she only provides guidance and help.

Eclectic Instructional Approach

An Eclectic Approach is a description rather than a label. It describes situations where no one approach dominates. Instead, the parent chooses from various approaches in an eclectic fashion. It might include a mix of Charlotte Mason, Unit Study, Classical and Traditional methods or some other combination.

Charlotte Mason Instructional Approach

Charlotte Mason, a British educator (1842-1923), disapproved of much of the content, methods and processes of the traditional education system, often describing it as "twaddle." She advocated the use of "living" or "real" books rather than textbooks. Children would respond in response to literature through "narration" and/or writing. She also emersion through nature and outdoor field trips, exposure to the fine arts, and encouragement of self-discipline, good habits, and love for learning. Charlotte Mason's concepts and ideas are often incorporated into Unit Studies.

What about the colors and their meaning?

We use the traffic light, RED-YELLOW-GREEN analogy for the colors to quickly identify items that warrant your attention or you're "good-to-go." We use these three colors in two similar but distinct ways. For Teacher and Student Profile and Style as well as Subject questions, Green, Yellow and Red are used to indicate levels of question completeness. Green means "go-to-go" forward, Yellow means go forward but with attention on more information, and Red means stop and more information is required before you can proceed to build your expert recommendations. The more information you provide, the stronger your match to educational products. The Progress bar will reflect these same colors as well, based on the question completeness for each section, such as, Teacher, Student, Subject etc. The second way we use these three colors is in scoring the Teaching Style, Learning style and Recommendations, indicative of score strength, i.e. how perfect the match. Green indicates a high score and a strong match, Yellow indicates a medium score and working match, and Red indicates a low score and weak match. We also use Blue for Information and Help throughout the website, the standard for the Internet. We believe that, once you understand our color scheme and see it in action, it will become intuitive to follow.

How do you immediately decipher the Teacher Style Scores?

Green = Strong Match 100% - 67%, Yellow = Medium Match 66% - 34%, Red = Weak Match 33% - 0%. The higher the number, the better the match. 100 is strongest, 0 is weakest.

How do you interact with the boxed area labeled Teacher?

This box appears on the left side of the teacher page and is your mini dashboard for accessing your teacher profile and style. You will notice that the label, the caret and the progress bar above are initially all RED. This means that there are required questions that need to be addressed and completed before expert recommendation can be generated. Simply click on the label Teacher Profile to be taken to those questions. The colors will change from RED to YELLOW to GREEN when questions are progressively answered. The same applies for the Teaching Styles. Remember that you can come back and make changes at anytime.

How does the HomeEd Expert Progress Bar work?

What does the check mark mean on the progress bar?

What are Action Links for Items in Need of Attention?

This area shows you tasks to complete in order to build your expert recommendations. If you click the small arrow on the right of the box, it will expand or collapse. Action items are listed in order of importance and are color coded. If you click on the action item itself, you will be taken to the specific area that requires input. If you have tasks requiring attention, Yellow or Red, they will appear in your list here. When you complete all your tasks, the carets will turn Green to indicate completed all required and optional questions.

What do you need to know about the Caret?

Can you explain the different Teaching Styles?

Each person absorbs information in various ways.

Some students learn best by reading, some by physical sensation or touch, others by some by hearing or sound. Other factors also play important roles, such as environment, group setting, interacting with other people, or independence, working in isolation. Some like to understand the "big picture" before getting into "finer details," while others rather accumulate the "pieces" first, then put them to understand the broader concept. This and much more make up each person's learning style. Teachers generally tend to educate their students according to their own preferred teaching style by default. Yet, students are not clones of their instructors and often have conflicting styles.

You'll capitalize on the concept of styles by first identifying your own capabilities as the teacher in taking the 'Teaching Styles Assessment;' click on the 'Teaching Style' Assessment in the Teacher's step to determine the teacher's teaching style. Then determine each of your children's learning styles by clicking on the 'Learning Styles' Assessments.

Through the HomeEd Expert patented process, you'll become informed of your own teaching tendencies and identify when those are likely to be in conflict with your student(s). Depending upon the needs and preferences of your students, as well as the practicalities of your situation, you'll select recommendations that best adapts to the teacher and/or student styles. You'll find that when you complete all steps in the automated methods in HomeEd Expert, you'll be able to view your recommendations prioritized specifically by teacher and/or student learning style to allow you to make the best choices for your circumstances.

Note: You are not required to complete teaching and learning styles assessments to receive expert recommendations, but they will improve HomeEd Expert present the accurate accurate results.

Perfect Paula Teachers

Perfect Paula Teachers are stable, responsible people who "get things done" even when it isn't exciting or glamorous. Perfect Paula is almost an opposite to Wiggly Willy. She likes everything planned and prepared ahead of time with a schedule to follow. While Perfect Paula is great at "clearing her plate," she tends to be weaker on creativity and flexibility. She's more comfortable with the predictable "tried-and-tested" than with the innovative or spontaneous. Generally, Perfect Paula will prefer to homeschool under an umbrella program rather than acting as an independent "Lone Ranger," at least partly because she comforts in the certainty of maintaining records and meeting requirements. She also appreciates the security of working with others. Perfect Paula will generally choose curricula that are well planned in advance rather than going with open-ended unit studies, which require the teacher to find resources, design activities, and choose the books they use. Similarly, Perfect Paula usually prefers using assessments that have clear answers predictable and provided in a teacher's answer key rather than those that use broad essay questions, portfolios, projects, or other subjective methods. Perfect Paulas have a tougher time understanding why their Wiggly Willy students won't cooperate because those two teaching/learning styles are so opposite. While Perfect Paula is accomplishing and achieving, Wiggly Willy just does not care!

Of all the teaching styles, Perfect Paula is most likely to arrange a classroom in the home that is organized with desks, bulletin boards, white/chalk boards, and other accoutrements of a traditional school.

Wiggly Willy Teachers

For Wiggly Willy, it';s all about the action and things need to happen now. He dislikes long-term planning. He has this feeling that things will change too much before the long term arrives. He tends to be impulsive, and generally has trouble getting initiated and organized. Following through on things can also be problematic, especially when there's something else interesting to tackle that might be more challenging. In fact, if things get boring, Wiggly Willy might inject mischief into a situation just to "stir things up." Wiggly Willys will generally choose to play rather than "work" whenever they can. They tend to seek fun and excitement. Many of them thrive on challenges and competition. Wiggly Willy looks for creative and efficient solutions to problems and tasks rather than conventional ways as expected to be done by others. Sometimes Wiggly Willy Teachers performed poorly in school, but often due to boredom or lack of interest, rather than lack of ability or intelligence. Even as adults, Wiggly Willy's would prefer a hands-on activity over reading a book. They dislike paperwork and record keeping; it seems like a waste of time.

Wiggly Willy Teachers typically teach the fine arts, physical education, and other activity and/or exercise-oriented classes.

Sociable Sue Teachers

Sociable Sue Teachers enjoy interaction and will organize their lives to ensure that there is plenty of it happening. They like to belong to groups, especially for activities. Thus, Sociable Sue is very likely to belong to a co-op or other group of families working together to accomplish homeschooling. Sociable Sues are "tuned into" other people. They understand and are concerned about others, and they also worry about what people think. They might be insecure about how well they are doing within home education circles because they want the approval by others, for themselves and for their students. They are likely to have their students participate in science or art fairs, drama, music, sports or other public performance opportunities. Sociable Sues tend to be idealistic about expectations, goals and rewards. They often see larger societal and higher spiritual goals as being critical factors in homeschooling. They usually will try to transfer that idealism to their students by involving them in community service or other altruistic activities. Sociable Sues tend to like creativity and new ideas. They are likely to want to try out new products or teaching methods, even in the middle of the school year. They can easily lose interest in things when it gets routine or boring, so they will often make changes. Sociable Sues are generally better at seeing the big picture instead of the details. They grasp concepts, but are not too keen on details. Consequently, they might have grand plans for their homeschooling, but they might not very well understand "how to get there from here."

Most often, Sociable Sues will prefer to teach subjects related to language arts, social studies, and, possibly, the fine arts rather than math and science.

Competent Carl Teachers

Competent Carl tends to be independent. He likes to be in control and make decisions for himself. Consequently, he's less likely than others to homeschool under an umbrella program unless it's required. He will probably have spent some time thinking about a philosophy of education and have his own ideas about what needs to be accomplished, regardless of what others do. He tends to be very analytical, so planning and preparation (at least mentally) is a strong suit. (But he might never get those plans into writing!) Competent Carl likes to understand the reasoning and logic behind ideas. The curriculum will likely include critical thinking and logic and philosophy courses for his students since he considers these as vital aspects of education. His thought processes also tend to be logical and analytic, so Competent Carl sometimes can be impatient with those who are illogical or disorganized, sort of like Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame. Even though he thinks logically, he might himself be only selectively organized only in those areas he thinks are important. Competent Carls are often weaker in social situations than others. They have trouble understanding how other people function and even more so with feelings and emotions. Sometimes, they will operate independently to avoid social conflicts or demands.

Generally, Competent Carls will prefer to teach math, science, and other logic-related subjects rather than language arts and social studies.

Student Help (Read-Me before you begin)

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

How does HomeEd Expert work with Students?

The student is the other variable within the all important equation of Teacher-Student. HomeEd Expert Advisor helps you construct the students' profiles and learning styles, along with the teacher profile and teaching style, as the foundation for receiving exceptional recommendations for educational products. The other factors that need to be added and addressed are the subjects. Once your FREE 30 Day Trial for a single student and single subject expires, you can purchase Membership Subscription coupon codes for each student. A Family Membership Subscription is also available as explained on the Pricing page.

Can you delete a student?

Yes you can delete a student. Please note that once a student has been deleted ALL DATA WILL BE PERMANENTLY PURGED and there will be no way to recover. To delete one or more students check the 'Delete' checkbox for the student(s) you wish to delete, and then click the 'Delete Student' button to the right of the Checkboxes. When you click the 'Delete Student' button, you'll have one final chance to CANCEL the delete request. When you click OK on the next warning, the student will finally be deleted. When you are finished go to the progress bar and click on "Student" to take you back to where you left off.

What is the proper way to add a student ?

Adding a student is very simple. Click the Add Student button, which will create a "Unnammed Student 1" template for you. From here, click on "Student Profile" to begin answering the questions about the student which starts with their name. If you are using the free 30 day sample trial, you will be allowed to add only one student. You purchase membership subscription coupons to add additional students and apply them to your My Account.

Can you explain the different Student Learning Styles?

Wiggly Willy Students

Wiggly Willys are those students who learn best by doing, the hands-on learners. They like to be free to move around and act spontaneously. Do you have a little boy who just seems to fall off his chair if he tries to stay put for more than ten minutes? That's typical for a Wiggly Willy. They have short attention spans most of the time, although it's interesting to see how their attention span lengthens when they get into an activity of their own choosing! These children are usually not interested in deep thinking or analysis if it means sitting still very long. On the other hand, they generally do very well with hands-on projects. They can be very creative and imaginative. These are carefree children who live for the moment. However, they can be difficult to motivate. Wiggly Willys hate being bored. They'll create interesting moments to break the boredom. They don't think ahead about consequences, positive or negative. You cannot usually motivate them with: Study hard and get good grades so you can get into a good college ten years from now. Ten years from now is a non-existent concept for them, so why on earth would they sacrifice present pleasure for that? These children need short-term goals and immediate gratifications. Wiggly Willys can be disruptive in groups. Sometimes these children are labeled as having attention deficit disorder (ADD is a real disorder for some children), although the actual problem is that, because of their age and temperament, they need to be moving around more than is allowed for in a typical classroom. Wiggly Willies will generally choose to play rather than "work" whenever they can. They tend to seek fun and excitement. Many of them thrive on challenges and competition.

Sociable Sue Students

Sociable Sues are, of course, sociable. They often have warm, responsive personalities. They are interested in people, and as they get older, that interest expands into ideas, principles, and values. But they also tend to be "big picture people;" concepts are more interesting to them than details and technicalities. They don't like memorizing names and dates for history, but they want to understand how different cultures and events affect one another. They love change and new projects. They can be very excited about an assignment but easily lose steam once the novelty has worn off. Sometimes you have to switch activities or add exercises with Sociable Sues to reignite their interest; a different curriculum, a supplemental workbook, an educational game, a field trip, etc. They are motivated by relationships and care a great deal about what others think of them. They like to be recognized and acknowledged for their achievements. Because of this, they will sometimes be over-achievers, putting out extraordinary effort to impress people. For the same reason, they are vulnerable to conflict and criticism. They often avoid and dislike competitions, preferring cooperation so that no one's feelings are hurt.

Perfect Paula Students

This is the responsible child who likes to see that everything is done correctly. She likes things to be clearly structured, planned, and organized. Perfect Paulas have a narrow comfort zone. They feel more secure when things are orderly. Consequently, they seldom act spontaneously and are uncomfortable with creative activities that lack specific guidelines and structure. For example, if you want them to do an art project, they will demand: Show me what it's supposed to look like. They want to make sure they do it correctly rather than seize an opportunity to express their own creativity They follow rules and respect authority, and often feel their duty to make sure everyone else does as well. They like to follow a typical school curriculum and feel that they are accomplishing the same things as other children their age. They prefer to be part of groups, and they need affirmation and approval that they are doing what is proper.

Competent Carl Students

Competent Carl likes to be in control of himself and his surroundings. He tends to be analytical, constantly trying to figure out what makes things "tick." Problem solving is typically something he enjoys. His analytical/logical bent typically makes math and science his strong subjects and the more-unstructured language arts the weaker subjects. Social skills can be a weak area. Often Competent Carls have difficulty understanding and relating to their peers. Because of this, and sometimes simply by choice, they enjoy solitary activity. They expect others to operate the same as way they do, and they don't find it easy to adapt to other ways of doing things. Competent Carls tend to be self-motivated and enjoy long-term, independent projects. They have their own ideas about what they want to learn, as well as when and how they want to learn it. Some Competent Carls love to brainstorm, think out loud. These more-verbal Competent Carls will probably want a more interactive learning environment or at least one that allows them to ask questions and talk through what they are learning. One-on-one teaching or small groups are likely to be better than large groups for Competent Carl.

What about the colors and their meaning?

How do you immediately decipher the Student Learning Style Scores?

Green = Strong Match 100% - 67%, Yellow = Medium Match 66% - 34%, Red = Weak Match 33% - 0%. The higher the number, the better the match. 100 is strongest, 0 is weakest.

How does the HomeEd Expert Progress Bar work?

What does the check mark mean on the progress bar?

What are Action Links for Items in Need of Attention?

What do you need to know about the Caret?

Subjects Help (Read-Me before you begin)

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

How do you add subjects for the Student?

When you are on the Subjects page, the Named Student box on the left shows the subjects you have selected for that student. Each student will have their own box. The "Subjects/Defaults/Testing" label will always be in the Named Student box, and as a link, it is where you maintain default options you wish to use for all subjects: (a) product formats, (b) testing levels, (c) view of your subjects for that student. This is the only label in your Subjects box that cannot be removed as it applies to all subjects for that student. By clicking the "More Subjects" button, you can select subjects for which you wish to receive expert recommendations. "Add/Remove" moves selected subject(s) from the bottom into the list at the top of the Subjects box. "Add/Remove" also will remove checked items from the list at the top to the bottom of the Subjects box. Subjects in your list have a color coded caret to the left of the label to indicate the completeness of questions. To answer the subject questions, either click on the label in your Named Students Subjects box or the corresponding link in the "Action Links for Items in Need of Attention." It doesn't matter which one you select first, as both ways take you to the same set of questions that you'll eventually answer. If you want to change an answer to a question, you can always come back to the subjects page at anytime.

What are Action Links for Items in Need of Attention?

What about the colors and their meaning?

What do you need to know about the Caret?

How does the HomeEd Expert Progress Bar work?

What does the check mark mean on the progress bar?

What subjects can you select during the FREE 30 Day Sample Trial?

Recommendation Help (Read-Me before you begin) Part A

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

Can you save searches and recommendations to a file on your computer?

What is the best way to generate recommendations?

You have some choices here...

If you click "All Subjects" in the named Student box, as in this example "SampleStudent," you will receive recommendations for all subjects for that student. If you click on the subject itself, you will receive recommendations only for that subject. In this example, we circled "Character Building." Now, if you click on the link "Get All Recommendations," then you will get all recommendations for ALL STUDENTS. If you only have one student, you will receive the same results for that student, but if you have multiple students, you will receive all recommendations for each student, although it may take a minute or two for it to process.

How does the HomeEd Expert Progress Bar work?

What does the check mark mean on the progress bar?

What about the colors and their meaning?

What the colors and their meanings for recommendation?

Green = Strong Match 100% - 67%, Yellow = Medium Match 66% - 34%, Red = Weak Match 33% - 0%. The higher the number, the better the match. 100 is strongest, 0 is weakest.

Recommendation Help (Read-Me before you begin) Part B

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

Why did the recommendations list come up Red for one of the subjects?

Does your recommendation list look like this?

The Red means that you didn't answer the required questions for that subject. In the progress bar, click on "Subjects," then in your named student box, you will see a Red caret next to that subject that has questions in need of answer. Simply click on the subject and answer the questions, at which point the subject caret should turn green if you have answered all of the questions.

Can you explain the different categories of educational products?

Educational products fall into 4 categories:

Core Products
Ancillaries
Supplements
Parent Helps

When you receive recommendations, you can view the categories for each subject.

Core Curricula

These are the main courses or major subjects.

Ancillaries

Products that provide reinforcement and/or support role to a core curriculum, and aren't employed by themselves to teach a subject. A good example would be flash cards to support a core curriculum in math.We call out ancillaries in a separate category so that they're easily identified as such.

Supplementals

Products that reinforce core concepts and utilized as an indirect medium. An example would be a workbook to support a core curriculum in math. We call out supplements in a separate category so that they're easily identified as such.

Parent Helps

These products help home educators and teachers with the process and procedures. We call out parent helps in a separate category so that their easily identified as such.

How do you know what category you are viewing if you click one of the sort categories

After the title of each item, you will see the category in parenthesis; when fitting into more than one category, all categories will appear after the title. Your recommendations will not always contain educational products across multiple categories.

What about the colors and their meaning?

How do you immediately decipher your recommendations and their scores?

If you don't receive very much data or no data at all, then your profiles and styles need more attention to the questions and answers. When you have recommendations, view the score assigned to each one. They will be color coded: Green = Strong Match 100% - 67%, Yellow = Medium Match 66% - 34%, Red = Weak Match 33% - 0%. The higher the number, the better the match. 100 is strongest, 0 is weakest.

Can you sort recommendations?

Yes, you can sort recommendations in multiple ways! When HomeEd Expert Advisor retrieves your recommendations, the little "Sort By" label, and the sort buttons, are circled in RED below. The C, A, S, P indicate Core Curricula, Ancillaries, Supplements and Parent Helps, respectively. The definitions of these words are found in the FAQ or the Glossary. The default view is "C" - Core Curricula, and the "A", "S" or "P" buttons will switch to their respective category views. Once you expand a subject, you will see the full selection of your recommendations; at that point you can also sort your recommendations by their different scores strengths: Overall, Teacher Profile, Teaching Style, Student Profile, Learning Style. The default view is Overall, HIGH to LOW, and the "Teacher Profile", "Teaching Style," "Student Profile," or "Learning Style" buttons will switch to their respective strength views, HIGH to LOW. If you click the same option again, you will reverse the order, LOW to HIGH.

Why does it take time to load recommendations, and again when you come back to them?

Availability of products from providers and publishers, as well as competitive pricing is constantly changing, so each time you access expert recommendations and shopper, our systems search and retrieve the latest updates. We constantly tune and fine-tune our information gathering process to reduce the time it takes to build and rebuild your recommendations. Thank you for your patience.

Can you save searches and recommendations to a file on your computer?

What does the "Add to Favorites" button do?

BLOG Help

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

BLOG... Hooty Hoot?

We enjoy what we do and how we do it, the many aspects around home education; hence the title of our BLOG "Hooty Hoot." HomeEd Expert touches on a great number of the major issues, but the website is also quite dense with much information with so many subtleties. The BLOG is a wonderful way to share and transfer both the major issues and minor nuances that may have huge impact on your homeschool. So, please visit our BLOG frequently and forward your feedback.

FAQ and Help

Navigation guidance and user tips. Click FAQ here or in the blue banner header menu on each of the webpages to access the complete FAQ.

What information is in FAQ?

FAQ covers the wide range of topics from high level conceptual ideas to lower level process steps. We had fun writing it, so we hope you have some reading it. Don't be shy; expand and collapse sections to see what is inside. An Overview section addresses the services suite. How does this tool suite work? covers detailed steps to follow. Ultimately, we hope it helps. Please let us know where we can improve. Contact Us in the blue banner footer at the bottom of each Webpage.

Why is FAQ so large?

Please don't be concerned about the volume; the FAQ guides you through our services suite with information that will orient you in the right direction. It allows you to search by keywords and retrieve relevant answers to your questions. One day soon we'll have video guided tours, but for now we hope this tool will provide the required navigation guidance and user tips.

How do you find help and information throughout your website?

RED circles in the FAQ indicate areas of importance and interest. The menu bar at the top to of each of the webpages has FAQ and Glossary links. Within the FAQ, it allows you to search by keywords and retrieve relevant answers to your questions. One day soon we'll have video guided tours, but for now we hope this tool will provide the required navigation guidance and user tips. The little "chevrons," (down pointed arrows) on the far right will expand and collapse the FAQ tree. Lastly, you will find Help Icons (BLUE circles with a question mark?) in various locations throughout this website with context specific information. We look forward to hearing from you with any questions or concerns… so that we may continually improve. You may reach us through this Contact Us link, by email, support@homeedexpert.com or simply calling toll-free (888) 672-6284.

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Step 4. Utilize HomeEdExpert Advisor

Upon acceptance and activation, you’re ready to get going… follow the instructions on the HomeEd Expert Advisor page. You’ll begin with your progress bar at 0%, and as you provide information about the teacher, student(s) and subject(s), you’ll proceed through completion to your recommendations.