If you haven’t been to Khan Academy.org lately, you are missing out on an amazing free website that can really help your homeschool. Khan Academy’s mission is “A free world-class education for anyone, anywhere”. They have over 3300 videos that cover Math, Science, Computer Science, Finance and Economics, History, American Civics, Art History and last, but not least, Test Prep. And it’s free!
Khan Academy’s primary focus has always been Math and that they do very well. The first thing I found fascinating was the diagram that shows how all Math is interrelated. As a right brain person, Math has always been a challenge for me, mostly because I couldn’t see why I was learning what I was learning and how it all went together. This diagram would have helped me see the connections and how the pieces fit. When we know the whys of learning we can understand the how too.
There are many ways to use Khan Academy. It can be a supplement to the math program you are using. If you child gets stuck and they need more help, there are easy to find videos they can watch to help them understand things. There are also practice problems they can do to make sure they understand the concepts.
The Academy can also be a self paced learning program by itself. There are badges and points for learning that your student can earn as they work their way through videos and practice problems. The great thing is you, the parent, can see their progress too. The Academy has graphs and charts that let you, the parent, know which videos they have watched, how long they spent on the site and best of all, how they did on the practice problems. This is a wonderful resource for a parent of a math student who is moving faster in their learning than their parent can keep up with.
The practice problems have hints the student can click on to help them solve the problem. You are able to go into their profiles and see how many hints, if any, they needed and what they are struggling with, so they can have more help on those areas, and not get bogged down in the areas they already understand.
In addition to the math, there are hundreds of other videos for science, history and art history. If, after watching the videos, you have a question, you are encouraged to ask it in the comments section and they will answer it for you. These are high school level sciences, but your younger, eager, students can understand them with your help.
I can’t say enough good things about this resource for homeschooling. Check it out today and decide for yourself how you will use it in yours.