Using YouTube in Your Homeschool Classroom {Technology Series}

This is the 2nd post in a series of posts on Homeschooling with Technology. 

For more posts on using technology in your homeschool, visit Raising Arrows.  

 

We all know the power that video can have over our kids.  Why not lasso some of that power and use it to enhance our children’s education?  There’s videos about everything imaginable on You Tube.  If you use them, your teenagers will think you’re really cool and that you actually know a bit about technology, even if you don’t.  Your elementary kids will think you’re really smart….even if you’re not.  🙂

First, let’s talk about the statistics.

• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
• 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth

Personally, I found these statistics a bit shocking.  Until recently, I’ve been living in a slow internet connection world.  I’ve never been fond of waiting to let that video load.  Now that my videos are loading much faster, I’m a lot more excited about the possibilities!

Did you know that there is an educator’s channel on You Tube?  YouTube Teachers has videos separated out by grade and subject.  Each subject is separated into playlists that are grouped together by content.  Even better, they allow you to make your own educational video playlists AND you can search other teachers’ playlists as well.  SCORE!  There are loads of videos separated out by subject matter.  It’s a homeschooling paradise!

 

You Tube Videos on Organizing & Planning Your Homeschool

There’s many differing ways you can organize your homeschool.  It all depends on your space, style and personality.  Here’s a few ways that stood out to me that are offered on YouTube.

Homeschooling in a Small Space

 

Organizing School Supplies When you Don’t Have a Separate School Room

 

Organizing Your Home School with the Workbox System

 

Homeschool Math Videos on You Tube

There’s a guy from TabletClass.com and HomeschoolMathQuiz.com who has over 300 videos  on YouTube, just for solving math problems.  Here’s one of them.

How Teaching Textbooks Works

We personally love Teaching Textbooks.  It has cut out the frustration from math time.  I would have wanted to see this video before I purchased my first Teaching Textbooks, just to know how it works.

Science You Tube Videos

Dan Morris from Letters From Dan is a Homeschool Dad who teaches people in the ins and outs of blogging.  He also takes the time to do science experiments with his kids.  Here’s a great example of one you an see, but there are thousands of science experiments on YouTube!

 

A Video on Putting the Earth’s Size into Perspective

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History Videos on You Tube

Untold stories of the Civil War by National Geographic

Gettysburg Address Rap

Just For Fun:

Tim Hawkins is a fellow homeschool dad.  He’s remade a bunch of songs to make fun of different things in life.  Here’s a funny one that we like.

 

This is obviously just a very small sampling of what is available on You Tube.  You will know what your family wants to learn about the most and will use it to find the perfect videos for YOUR family.

What is your favorite You Tube video for home schooling?

 

This is the 2nd in a series on Using Technology in Your Homeschool.  For more ideas, go to Raising Arrows or Peace Creek on the Prarie.