How do you feel about Youtube? In our house we don't allow free access to Youtube (mostly because we don't have individual devices) but we do use Youtube for school, a lot! We cast youtube to our tv so we can watch and enjoy, together.
How We Use YouTube for Homeschool
Here's a quick list of all of the ways we use Youtube in our homechool:
Handicraft Tutorials: There are so many handicrafts I want to teach my children but don't have the skills for, so YouTube to the rescue! We've watched embroidery videos, drawing tutorials, needle felting how-to's etc.
Hymns: I love the richness of hymns can transcend many different musical genres and we love watching our hymn of the month be song by a stadium choir or sung on a simple guitar and YouTube has so many wonderful concert and live renditions of hymns that other music streaming services don't.
Folk Songs: This is similar to hymns, but when we study folk songs in our homeschool, usually these songs are hard to find on streaming services. But, many videos can be found on YouTube in concert or other fun formats!
Picture Books: Whether I am previewing a book to decide if I want to purchase it, or if there is a picture book I want that our library doesn't carry, YouTube is a great place to find picture books being read aloud. In times I have been sick, I have pulled a stack of picture books from our book shelf, quickly created a playlist and set my little one up on the couch next time me to read along with all of her picture books. It's a gentle screen-friendly activity to keep in your back pocket for when you need it!
Foreign Language: I am not proficient in the foreign language we are studying, so having someone on YouTube who can help is a huge win! We watch vocabulary videos, making sure we get the pronunciation right or conversational videos to learn more about culture and the language!
Music Lessons: We've done Solfa lessons and piano lessons through YouTube and it has been fantastic. For all of my weaknesses, there are people putting out helpful content on YouTube and it has been great to supplement our music study through videos by experts!
Scripture Memorization: There are so many wonderful Children’s Directors and youth workers who have made videos of songs with actions that help young children memorize Scripture. We value Scripture memory by recitation, but music and songs have helped even our youngest ones hide a lot of Scripture in their hearts. It is wonderful to hear them singing verses as they play, or remembering the song when they hear a verse in our Bible reading.
We also often use YouTube for rabbit trails in our learning. The possibilities seem endless!
A Few Favorite YouTube Channels
Drawing Lessons: Art for Kids Hub
Solfa: Children of the Open Air
Piano: Hoffman Academy
Hymns: Happy Hymnody
If you're nervous about what your child might stumble into watching, makes sure you make playlists and turn off auto-play. You can even pay for YouTube to turn off ads and commercials.
Happy Homeschooling!
