Ways to Make Digital Resources Work for Your Homeschool
Published:
February 1, 2021
Contributor:
Jeannette Tuionetoa
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.
Accessing online resources or going digital in your homeschool is not for every family. If you are wondering how to add alternative learning methods to your lessons, check out these ways to make digital resources work for your homeschool.
Digital learning is any type of learning that uses technology. It can happen across all curriculum learning areas.
When I first started homeschooling, I didn’t want to jump straight into teaching by myself – basically, because I was scared. I had fear of not teaching my kids well, not understanding things myself, or just wanted to transition to homeschool a little easier – for myself.
During my first year of homeschooling, I learned that my kids did NOT do well with straight digital or online homeschooling. They struggled with sitting and watching a screen more than I would care to admit before today.
I also struggled because I spend a LOT of time trying to help them with content they didn’t understand. My daughter was bored out of her mind, and my son just couldn’t stay still long enough to finish his work.
I had to adjust. It was inevitable for me to man-up and start teaching my kids content myself. I used resources that helped me and guess what? There was no giving up on digital homeschooling. I always knew that I needed digital resources to homeschool. Why?
There is value in using digital content. I know that the internet and access to technology could be used to help my kids and help me with homeschooling. It changed things up and broke up the monotony of our regular homeschool days.
Throughout the years we have used digital resources in varying ways to enhance learning in our homeschool environment and processes. Please review the following resources for content and appropriateness for your family. Some websites listed may have some lessons that are not compatible with a Christian worldview.
Some resources my kids enjoy more than the others, but here are various ways to make digital resources work for your homeschool.
Organize everything!
There is no hiding the fact that going digital in our homeschool is super useful for technologically-savvy families. So, using digital resources to keep organized is a given and a must-have.
Organize Your Digital Homeschool Resources with Trello
Benefits of Digital Curriculum – Affordable Printing & Easy Storage
FREE Digital Graphic Organizers for Grades 3-5 | Jennifer Findley
Benefits of Digital Curriculum – Affordable Printing, Easy Storage
Easy (And FREE) Tech Ideas for Home School Or Distance Learning Classrooms | Samson’s Shoppe
Research
The internet has an amazing source of information for our children to glean from. Of course, there is bad out there, but we can totally use the internet for our benefit.
Having our children do research online is an excellent way for us to add digital access to our kid’s learning experience. It wise to share with kids which sites safe for them to gather research on.
Reference and Research Apps and Websites | Common Sense. Media
6 Great Research Websites for Kids | Ask a Tech Teacher
Most Reliable and Credible Sources for Students | Common Sense Media
Ebooks and virtual library
I am not saying libraries are a thing of the past. The times we live in now have forced us to do things differently, making eBooks more and more popular.
How You Can Use Websites to Teach Reading
Project Gutenberg – This digital resource has over 45,000 free eBooks to grow your home library that includes a large collection of classic children’s literature all families should explore.
Language lessons online
Learning a new language can be challenging. Teaching a new language can be even more stressful for a parent (who doesn’t know the second language).
Using digital resources for adding a second language to your child’s schedule is a great help to many homeschool parents.
Duolingo – Duolingo is a FREE language app (available on iPhone, Android, and the internet) for kids to learn a variety of languages, including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and English.
Learn 48 Languages Online for Free: Spanish, Chinese, English & More | Open Culture
5 Fantastic and Free Spanish Websites for Kids | Take Lessons
Curriculum and online lessons
Using a full homeschool curriculum is a big commitment. Many parents go through much research just to find one curriculum that works for their children. They may even go through a few before deciding on one.
If you are exploring a full curriculum, then free digital curriculum resources may be a great way to go.
Ambleside Online is a totally free Charlotte Mason style, Christian based homeschool curriculum for K-12 students.
Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool is an absolutely free online resource that contains full homeschool curriculum from a Christian worldview for grades K-12.
FREE Full Online Homeschool Curriculum Options! | How to Homeschool for Free
Connections Academy — Connections Academy is a tuition-free full-time online public school for grades K–12, with schools located in communities across the country.
FREE Elementary Homeschool Curriculum | Year-Round Homeschooling
Complete and FREE Curriculum for Homeschool | Life in the Nerddom
Individual courses and distance learning
Don’t want to try a full curriculum? Many of us don’t. You can, however, find courses and options for distance learning that fit into your homeschool just right. Check out some digital courses and distance learning resources below:
Science FREE Video Course and Lesson Plan
FREE Mini-Course Let’s Study Isaac Newton: A Life of Discovery
Digital Resources (FREE) for Distance Learning | One Stop Teacher Shop
FREE Digital Teaching Resources for Distance Learning | Foxwell Forest
Digital Teaching Resources for Distance Learning (FREE) | Tiny Teaching Shack
120 Digital Resources for Home-Schooling | Teach.com
50+ Free Educational Resources To Use Online During Social Distancing | The Homeschool Mom
FREE Digital Resources for Distance Learning | One Stop Shop
100+ Online Courses for Homeschoolers: The Ultimate Guide for Homeschool Success | iChooseJoy
100 Free Digital Resources for Homeschool Families | Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network
FREE Digital Resources to use for Remote Learning | One Stop Teacher Stop
Khan Academy – This amazing FREE resource offers online lessons and interactive exercises on many subjects including math (K-12), science, technology, economics, art history and so much more via lectures on YouTube. I use this absolutely free resources often, especially when it comes to art history for some reason.
Interactive resources
Sometimes homeschool can seem mundane and get a little monotonous. Kids love technology. Marrying technology with homeschool and adding some fun is a great mix up for your homeschool days.
Interactive games, activities, and learning resources online are guaranteed to spruce up any lessons at home.
FREE Google Slides for 2nd/3rd Grade
StarFall – I used these free online learning lessons for kids even when my children were in public school. They are great for beginner readers and beginning math students.
Exploratorium – This resource has anything from free activities, videos, printables, to interactive online fun on a variety of math and science topics.
NASA for Students – NASA’s website for students has a variety of free articles, activities, videos, and games for students in grades K–12 on topics related to STEM, aeronautics, and space exploration.
HowtoSmile – This digital resource provides over 3,000 award-winning hands-on math and science activities for homeschooling families.
PowerMyLearning – This is a web-based platform (FREE) filled with games, videos, and interactive activities in all subjects from grades K-12 subjects.
Funbrain – This digital site offers FREE educational games, comics, books, and videos for children in grades focusing on math reading, problem-solving, and literacy Pre-K through 8th.
Virtual field trips and tours
We use virtual field trips and tours with every geography or history unit we do. Even before borders were closed due to restrictions on travel, our homeschool still used virtual tours and field trips.
We don’t have the money to travel everywhere, even within our own country. However, virtual field trips and tours make accessing locations possible. Virtual field trips and tours always enhance our geography or history lessons hands down.
My kids enjoy them and get excited to see the places, landmarks, ecosystems, and other areas that they have been learning about.
Fine Arts Study at Home – Virtual Art Museums
15 Museums You Can Visit From Home
Homeschool Resources for Virtual Field Trips
The 12 Best Virtual Vacations You Can Take Without Traveling | TripSavvy
7 Virtual Field Trips | ThoughtCo.
10 Children’s Museums You Can Visit Virtually | TripSavvy
Current events, social studies, and history
Watching the news on television is definitely not what it used to be. However, it is still important for us to share current events with our children.
Digital resources for learning about history, current events, and social studies, make for a great tool to use for your homeschool.
FREE Geography + Missions Magazine (Digital)
Ancient Rome Resources & FREEBIES for Your Digital Homeschool
The Learning Network – This digital resource is a New York Times (NYT) blog filled with FREE daily lessons on civics, social studies, history and other current events and news topics.
Math help, review, and practice
We can use all the help we can with math. Amen? Using digital resources to help your lessons along, to practice what kids learned, and to review math skills is perfect way to add to math experiences at home.
11 FREE Math Sites for Kids: Math Websites for Students | Really Good Stuff Teacher’s Lounge
FREE Online Math Resources for Kids of All Ages | RedTricycle
Math Games (FREE) | Education.com
XtraMath– This is a non-profit organization that features free math videos, lessons, and activities as well as progress reports and resources for teachers and parents.
Exercise
Yes, we can use digital resources to even help our kids exercise and be active.
GoNoodle is a free app and website with a variety of games and videos designed to manage kids’ energy levels and to get them out and active.
Virtual Physical Activity Resources | PISE
12 FREE Online Exercise Resources for Kids | Family eGuide
Bible lessons, resources, and courses online
We are not always quick to develop data for our Bible lessons at home. Digital help for studying the Bible with our kids is an excellent way for us to keep the Bible at the forefront of our homeschool teaching.
FREE 6-Week Course – God’s Wonder-Filled Science of Birds, Flight, & Feathers
Genesis Worldview FREE Video Course
Bible Resources: Downloads & FREE Stuff | The Bible Project
FREE Digital Bible Study Library | Scott Lake Baptist Church
Logos 8 Basic FREE Bible software
Free Resources About Intelligent Design
FREE Resources About the Global Flood
My homeschool wouldn’t be the same without digital resources or courses online. As my kids get older they are able to access these sources easier.
They are a great overall benefit for older kids and younger kids alike. Digital resources also allow me to work-at-home while they are doing school. It truly is a win-win for our family. I hope you find these ways useful to make digital resources work for your homeschool this year.
