How I Use YouTube in My Homeschool

Give her some space, a little free time, and access to a screen and there's no tellin' what she'll create. From crocheting an infinity scarf to learning how to play the ukelele, she's discovered numerous new skills and has grown many new hobbies all within the comfort of our living room and all WITHOUT my help.  

Like many 21st century girls, my daughter has turned to youtube to expand her expertise...she's learned to reach beyond these four walls and has embraced her roll as a lifelong learner.  She knows that while I can't teach her everything, I can point her in the direction of people who can via youtube.

She's a youtube girl.

I'm a youtube mom.

We're a youtube family.

  

We use it DAILY.  

Yep.

Every.Single.Day.

All of us.

Because, while I'm a living-literature-lovin' momma, I also recognize that sometimes a book can't paint nearly as vivid a picture as a video can.  And so, more often than not, after exhausting all the words on the written page, we turn to the screen for clarity.  

Once, in an attempt to help us memorize the books of the Bible, I gathered us all around the computer to watch a Go Fish Video.  I did this every morning.  As in every morning for the entire school year!

(You can watch that video here>>>Go Fish - The Bible Book Bop from gofishguys on GodTube.)

In addition to playing-a-video-so-many-times-that-we-will-actually-have-it-permanently-etched-in-our-brains-for-the-rest-of-our-lives, here's a few other ways that I use youtube in my homeschool...

Impromptu searches

For Everyday Learning

Not a day goes by that I don't open up the youtube search bar and type in some fascinating topic that we just read about in history, science, Bible, phonics...you name it.  

When my son was struggling to tell the difference between a "d" and a "b", I showed him a frew animated D vs. B clips set to music.

Youtube.

After reading about carnivorous plants in the jungles of South America, we just had to watch a bug getting crunched by a venus fly trap!

Youtube.

When we read the biography of famed American Olympic runner, Jesse Owens, and his victory during the controversial 1936 Olympics in Berlin, we wanted to see how fast he ACTUALLY ran.

Youtube.  

For the past eight years, we've had a front row seat to tornados, Holy Land tours, excavations, pearl divings, and much...much more...all because of youtube.  I keep a laptop or iPad handy throughout the day so that at any given moment, we can bring color to the black-and-white words we've been reading.

For Independent, Project-based Learning

As I've mentioned, Youtube has helped to broaden my daughter's ability to learn independently. Each month, when she tackles a new independent study, she almost always begins her research on youtube. Over the last few years, she has watched documentaries, how-to videos, reenactments, and tutorials. For her own personal safety and accountability, I almost always look up the general theme of her topic and find a handful of potential videos for her to choose from. But then, the learning is left up to her. Watching a short video on a topic has been a great introduction to more extended reading and discovery.  

Subscriptions

Over time, I have come to really value the videos from particular youtube channels.  These might include channels that appeal to a particular interest of one of my kids or just channels that provide interesting and thorough information on a wide variety of topics.  Since I, myself, have a youtube channel, I can "Subscribe" to my favorite channels and get updates on their latest videos under the "My Subscriptions" tab.  Not sure how to register for a youtube channel?  Here's a quick youtube video that will walk you through it step-by-painless-step>>

Some of our current favorite channels include...

Grammaropolis- the School House Rock of the 21st Century

How To Draw and Paint- quick and easy art videos

Tiny Grads- preschool educational videos

Easy Kids Science Experiments- experiments my kids can do on their own

Playlists

Often times, I'll come upon fascinating videos that don't necessarily relate to anything we are CURRENTLY studying, but would be great additions to our learning "someday." I file these away in organized youtube "playlists" so that I can revisit them when I need them.  Playlists are simply youtube file folders to categorize videos of a particular theme or topic.  Here's a short video on creating playlists>>

My favorite playlists right now include the following...

Art Tutorials

School House Rock Science

School House Rock Language

Just last week found my Super Boy and I hunkered down to watch a little ditty about nouns.

NOUNS...
an otherwise pretty boring topic
brought to life by animation and a foot-tapping tune.

One final thought...

We live in an interesting age...a time when information comes at the click of a button.  Youtube is just one of many helpful "outside the box" learning tools worth embracing. While I don't think they can ever replace the teaching that happens with hands-on discovery, free videos can enhance any run-of-the-mill lesson and create an endless supply of independent learning opportunities.

*UPDATE: I recently discovered the resource ViewPure.com which allows you to watch youtube videos commercial, ad, and comment free. Simply copy the URL of the youtube video you'd like watch. Paste it into into the "Purify" bar on ViewPure and wait a moment. The cleaned-up video will appear for viewing without all the unwanted junk. The site is currently free for use and has been a huge help to me as I strive to filter all of our home viewing through my Philippians 4:8 grid.

Be sure to join the lovely ladies of iHomeschool Network for more thoughts on Homeschooling with Movies.