With the ongoing lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders, kids and parents all over the country are having to learn about homeschooling in a hurry. It isn’t easy putting together lessons, making them educational and entertaining, all while juggling daily life, but we’re here to help.
YouTube is a treasure trove of educational resources, many of which are already used in classrooms, that combine fun and facts for your kids of almost any age. YouTube: It’s more than just cats playing the piano!
If you need some homeschooling tech, check out Newegg’s homeschooling page.
Crash Course Kids
Crash Course is an educational powerhouse on YoTtube, and its main channel has been producing varied content that appeals to older kids and adults for nearly a decade. With Crash Course Kids, they have multiple series of fun and engaging videos that cover the physical sciences in a way that anyone can understand.
SciShow Kids
Produced by many of the same people as Crash Course Kids, SciShow Kids has tons of videos that cover the sciences, from space exploration to cooking, covered in a fun, kid-friendly way. If you liked Bill Nye as a kid, this feels like what he’d make on YouTube if his show aired today. Check out the main SciShow channel for videos that teens and adults will find fascinating and informative.
The Brain Scoop
Does your little one like animals and the ookier side of science? They’ll love The Brain Scoop, hosted by the Chief Curiosity Correspondent of The Field Museum in Chicago, which explores animals and how we study them. Just as a warning, there are some taxidermied animals from the museum’s collections shown, so make sure your child is cool with things that might be considered a bit gross by some.
National Geographic Kids
Exciting experiments, fun science, cute animals, and tons of amazing photos all come together in a kid-friendly channel from the people at National Geographic. If you’re familiar with the magazine and TV channel, you’ll know the kind of high-quality content they produce. The videos appeal to kids across a wide range of ages, so you might have to decide on a case-by-case if a video is right for your child, but with so much content, you’ll have plenty to choose from.
CGP Grey
This one will appeal to your junior high schooler and teens with videos on the weirdness of the world’s flags, automation, why borders are shaped how they are, and more. The animation in these is simple but filled with jokes, and CGP Grey is a very capable narrator. If your teen has an interest in the weird ways the world works, this channel will keep them entertained with years of uploaded content.
The homeschooling tech you need
Those channels should provide hours of entertainment that nourishes the brain of your youngsters and, hopefully, keeps you entertained as well. If you’re looking for some tech recommendations to make homeschooling easier, we’ve collected a few helpful items below.
Chromebooks for homeschooling
Chromebooks are already assigned by many schools to students because, while being a full-fledged laptop, they’re limited in what distracting apps can be installed. Your learner will have access to all the educational content they need, like the YouTube channels we recommended above, and a full office suite in a compact, inexpensive, and power-sipping package.
Headphones for homeschooling
Headphones, both bluetooth and wired, are great for concentration. Bluetooth models won’t keep your kid tethered to their laptop, which is great if they need to get up and burn off some energy, and wired models are very cost-effective. You can find everything from inexpensive wireless earbuds to premium headphones with noise-canceling features at the link above. I’m a big fan of these hefty headphones for their noise-canceling and incredible sound quality.
We hope these help make homeschooling as stress-free and fun as possible and remember to check back here for more work-from-home and homeschooling content as this situation continues. Good luck!
For homeschooling laptops and other hardware, check out Newegg’s homeschooling page.
