Homeschooling: The topmost educational trend of 2020/current era

Online Resources for Homeschooling | Elaborated Learning Experience | Free Homeschooling Websites |

Homeschooling is something that has evolved into one of the greatest educational trends of all time. In the current era when some parts of the world follow the outdated methods of giving education, most of the developed countries are opting for the idea of homeschooling for years now.

There are misconceptions about homeschooling that make people believe that it is unrealistic and just another way of denying your responsibilities as parents and students. When in reality, homeschooling is not only practical but shapes the educational careers of students in wondrous ways.

To understand the phenomenon better, let me first help you gain some knowledge about homeschooling while also rejecting all the misperceptions.

• Homeschooling does not mean doing everything at home that students are supposed to do at school, following the same educational strategies.
• It is a system designed according to how the human brain works and responds to things.
• Homeschooling kids are not required to study daily in specific timings while finding it difficult to read, write, and learn stuff that they’re not interested in.
• Online homeschooling is one of the greatest uses of technology and the internet where students get to learn and grow in the best possible ways.
• Homeschooling programs do not only include virtual learning but some highly creative activities and games that ideally nurture young minds.

As a homeschooling mom of two, there is a long list of benefits that I can pen down in favor of this amazing schooling design.

But the main purpose of writing this blog is to inform more parents about how online homeschooling is not only convenient (in terms of time and finance management) but also flexible, practical, fun, and excitingly engaging for everyone.

Below I’ll be listing down some of the online tools for homeschooling that I’ve tried and found to be amazingly beneficial for kids, especially younger ones.

Have a look!

Leading online resources for homeschooling

The list mentioned below consists of some websites that are created to spread knowledge via virtual means, some of which exclusively focus on the initial education of young kids.

BrainPOP

The website mainly focuses on spreading knowledge via videos, pictorials, quizess, and worksheets. It covers all the essential topics from almost all subjects like science, math, social studies, and art.

The students can also create movies after gaining complete information on the topic.

Curiosity stream

This website does not particularly benefit students but anyone who is fond of learning in a specific genre. For instance, it has a huge number of non-fictional documentaries and streaming videos about science, history, nature, technology, and general lifestyle that help viewers have an insight into the real world for an improved understanding of the surrounding.

Tynker

This website supports a non-conventional method of teaching kids some technical skills related to coding and creating games/websites. From students to parents and educators, anyone can benefit from this amazing platform without having to spend plenty of money on traditional courses.

Udemy

Udemy is an online source of professional learning for adults and students. The educational courses compiled by highly educated teachers are available at exceptionally low rates like finance, business, IT, marketing, and lots more.

Khan academy

Khan academy is a very popular website for kids that helps students excel in subjects like math and science. They have teachers signed up from all over the world including the US who get a chance to assist students to learn and grow via mutual understanding and customized courses according to their brilliance. The courses, articles, videos, and lessons are absolutely free.

There are loads of other websites that serve somewhat same educational purposes like:

• Outscool
• iReady
• Beast Academy (math)
• Creative bug
• Discovery education

Some of these are for free while some charge a reasonable fee for the outstanding educational services that they’re providing for students to learn in their comfort zone.

Apart from websites, kids, these days are very fond of YouTube as they learn better via watching videos more than anything else, especially for younger kids when they start learning at a junior age.

So, here are some of the names of the YouTube channels that I’ve found to be highly profitable in homeschooling my kids while also having fun.

Crash course kids

This is probably the best online source of learning science for kids in elementary school. The videos consider of a person explaining a scientific phenomenon with some fun graphics in an engaging manner. The words used are also fun and easy to understand for kids in junior school.

National geographic kids

A national geographic channel specifically designed for kids? This one has to be one of the best initiatives for kids around the globe to learn about science, discoveries, inventions, and planet Earth’s geographic history.

Kids learning tube

This channel produces animated musical videos mainly for kids of elementary school. The videos are fun to watch while learning some amazing concepts of letters, numbers, and science.

Here is a list of some more YouTube channels that all homeschooling parents might benefit from in one way or another.

• Science channel
• SciShow kids
• Free school
• Geography focus
• TheBrainScoop
• Geek gurl diaries
• Mike Likes Science
• Science Max
• SoulPancake

Homeschooling: The elaborated learning experience

As I’ve already mentioned and I also keep saying this that homeschooling is not making kids stay at home while making them learn via conventional ways. It is a program that defines the natural human ability to discover knowledge beyond boundaries.

The best part about homeschooling is that it is okay if you don’t have expensive gadgets, fancy tools, and trendy entertaining equipment.

You can always use stuff around from old fashioned board games to the junk lying there in the garage for months. Any sort of activity can be performed daily that kids enjoy and will cherish as a fun time with parents, for example:

• Recycle the old junk by looking into ideas on the internet
• Play old-school games like Chinese whisper, capture the flag, hopscotch, and musical chair, etc.
• Use of Kindle for kids who are fond of reading or listening rather than playing.
• Participating in daily activities with elders like watering the plants, folding laundry, cooking, or housecleaning.

Virtual activities

Apart from studying regular subjects like science and math, games and activities are an equal part of homeschooling. It is also the most exciting thing to do because both kids and parents get to spend quality time together while it also helps students to thoroughly memorize the concept without any external pressure.

So, here are some of the links of websites that have remarkable ideas for games and activities for kids of all ages.

• https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/…/learnathome.html
• https://www.travelandleisure.com/…/museums-with-virtual-tou…
• https://allinonehomeschool.com/
• https://www.starfall.com/h/
• https://www.abcya.com/
• https://www.funbrain.com/
• https://www.splashlearn.com/
• https://www.storylineonline.net/
• https://pbskids.org/
• https://www.highlightskids.com/
• https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
• https://www.coolmath4kids.com/
• https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/
• http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/
• https://www.e-learningforkids.org/

All of these websites have games, quizzes, and interacting video content for students from basic to intermediate levels. From stories to virtual visits to the museums, your kids will have a fun time learning through these websites while also polishing their mental skills.

Online educational games

Turtle diary

Turtle diary has math games for kids of kindergarten to 8^th grade. From learning numbers in sequence, counting, to using a calculator, addition/subtraction, and algebra, this website has it all that kids benefit from via exciting methods.

Seussville

Seussville is an online gaming platform designed by an educationalist named Dr. Seuss. The activities available on the website are interactive and greatly help children in learning commonly used words, rhyming, and answering multiple-choice questions.

Switch zoo

As the name suggests, Switch zoo is a website with games related to animals with some brief yet beneficial information about each. The games include puzzles and quiz through which kids get to know a little extra about the animals apart from primary information.

MathGameTime

Building blocks, color mixing, and counting sheep are some of the many games available on MathGameTime for kindergarten level while there are some brilliant activities for kids of older age up to 7^th grade like multiplication, algebra, measurement, geometry, and time, etc.

Litreactive

Litreactive is a site specifically designed for junior school kids for enhancing their reading skills and phonics sounds. The activities are available in multiple languages other than English with a classic reading guide.

Most of the educational games available online are related to either math or science. The reason for this is that both these subjects demand immense mental effort to learn the basic concept.

Hence, what another possible way to make kids understand the complex ideas than relevant games and activities which kids have fun doing?

Free homeschooling websites

Most of the homeschooling websites are free of cost and just require a basic procedure like signing up or registering to the site before getting started with courses or games. If not, the other websites are charging a reasonable amount for the effort that they’re putting into designing all that is needed for homeschooling kids.

Also, most of these websites are run or supervised by popular educationalists that validate its source of credibility.

During the current global situation revolving around pandemics, child bullying, and increasing suicidal rates due to excessive educational pressure, these websites and YouTube channels prove to be the best companions for both parents and kids.

Make sure to check out the given links and make the most of this extraordinary opportunity of learning from home.

Happy homeschooling!!