YouTube has become an invaluable resource for homeschoolers, offering free, engaging, and visually rich content across nearly every subject imaginable. I have found the available videos to be an enriching tool for our homeschool experience. We use this application to solidify the material, add visual context to our studies and to explore new topics.
As with any application on the internet, we cannot simply allow our kids to have free reign over the videos available to them. I have heard that there are settings that will limit the types of videos available to your children, but I do not trust these settings. We use the YouTube app as an educational tool, so I must tailor it to function in that manner.
Maintain a Central Area for Viewing: The first and most important method of monitoring the material being watched on this application is that we only allow it to be used in the main living areas. (As my older children are maturing, showing responsibility and needing more freedom, we gradually relax this rule for them.)
Utilize One Account on All Devices: We have one YouTube account that we utilize for all devices in our home. I can easily monitor the watch history of my teens without being obvious about it. Having one account prevents frustration and time-wasting with passwords, etc., by allowing everyone to simply open the app and start watching.
Create Playlists: Creating playlists has been a game-changer for me! You can organize videos by subject or unit so you can easily access them when needed. This tool allows the kids to look up the video assigned to them without my assistance and freeing up my time to work with another child during the homeschool day.
How do I set up playlists within the app?
- Find a video that corresponds with a learning objective in your homeschool.
- After previewing the video, hit the "Save" button.
- A pop-up will appear with previously saved playlists and the option to create a new playlist.
- Create a new playlist by choosing a title. There is an option to collaborate, but we keep our playlists private and never use this function.
- After giving your playlist a title, hit the "Create" button.
- Now, your newly created playlist is available under the Playlist tab on YouTube. This will be the same on every device as long as you are using the same account.
How do I use the YouTube playlists during the school day?
- I assign specific videos to their list of independent work. Here is an example of how we incorporate the assignments from our FFA teacher into our regular school day:
The student can independently complete the assignment without assistance. We discuss the videos and other assignments during our review time. - We also like to incorporate student-led videos into our homeschool. This allows the student to choose an educational video to watch within a specific topic area.
For this example, the student can choose any video in the History playlist that they find interesting. After completing the video, they write down the title so that I may update my records with their completed work.
By using YouTube playlists in our homeschool day, it offers a structured yet flexible way to incorporate high-quality visual content into our lessons. I curate the playlists ahead of time to streamline the learning process and keep our students engaged with videos that reinforce and expand on various topics.
YouTube is a simple, effective tool that adds variety and depth to any homeschool routine. Videos can reinforce lessons, introduce new topics, or provide alternative explanations that suit different learning styles. With careful selection and supervision, YouTube becomes a powerful and engaging supplement to any homeschool curriculum.
If you want to add videos to your homeschool routine, I suggest that you start with an informative and entertaining channel that discusses life on a small farm in rural Kentucky: http://www.youtube.com/@growingrootsfarm1