BiblioPlan online has been an idea we have tossed around for several years now but always ‘for the distant future.’ Honestly, we really didn’t have any clear idea how to go about teaching online. Then COVID happened and the in-person history classes I was teaching were forced to go online. Along with the rest of the world, I was thrown into the deep end of the online teaching pool with not much of a life jacket.

Zoom teaching is a world of difference from in-person teaching. It is much harder to engage a computer full of screen faces than a roomful of talkative, wiggly children. All my in-person lesson plans had to be scrapped, and I had to design visually engaging lessons that kept all those screen faces focused. It was a steep learning curve, but I began to figure out what I needed to do to keep my students involved and interested.

That was last spring. When the fall came around, I was convinced that we would be back to normal soon.

Unfortunately, our local co-op was not able to go back to in-person classes, and so I have spent the entire school year teaching Ancient history and Early Modern history through Zoom. I have spent hundreds of hours designing lessons to keep my students engaged. It was challenging and time-consuming but rewarding as my students responded positively to my efforts.

After all the hours I spent developing lessons for two of the four time periods, we began to realize that doing BiblioPlan online was not such a far-fetched idea anymore. What I designed for my co-op students could easily be adapted and expanded for our BiblioPlan family.

My oldest son, Ben, team taught with me a few years ago at a local Christian School and so asking him to jump onboard as we moved BiblioPlan into the online world was an easy decision. He responded with enthusiasm.

So here we are. BiblioPlan will officially be online this fall. We are offering classes for Ancients, Medieval and Early Modern Remember the Days students in grades 3-9. We will expand in coming years as we develop the online material.

BiblioPlan Online is called “Zoom Through the Ages.” Students will be happily engaged each week reviewing what they read through follow-along text and pictures, answering questions, watching short video clips that are age-appropriate, playing games, engaging in discussions, doing occasional hands-on activities, checking their Cool History questions and Hands on Maps and learning a ton of geography.

If you are looking for a way to make history a bit more engaging and fun – consider joining us in our Zoom Through the Ages classes. If you are looking for a way to relieve some of the pressure off your shoulders, then definitely consider joining our classes.

We are offering prices that allows students in the same grade ranges to join in together on the screen. This has worked well this year and allows families to do history as a family! We are limiting our classes to 20 students/families!

If you have questions, concerns etc – please feel free to e-mail me at contactus@biblioplan.net!!

Thank you,

Julia Nalle