5 Websites and Apps for Kids that Make Homeschooling Fun
Lots of parents out there have taken on the unexpected role of teacher over the last few months during this coronavirus pandemic, and it’s impossible to say yet just how long schools will be closed. And even if they do open up in the fall, there’s no guarantee they won’t close again soon after. So I think it’s very useful for all the new parent/teachers out there to become acquainted with some of the educational options out there.
Our son is 7 years old, and we were homeschooling him this year anyway. His life didn’t change very much when schools closed - other than the fact that dad is around the house all day for some reason. But, for my part, being able to hang out with him all day has been amazing - and being able to see the choices he makes throughout the day has been very interesting. I’ve written before about why we’re homeschooling him this year, but this article isn’t about that. It’s just a helpful, personal list of some of his very favorite resources out there on the internet.
Some people seem to worry that kids will play video games and watch TV all day if they are given the choice. But that’s not giving kids enough credit. Kids are often naturally hungry for new information. They really do love to learn - especially if their curiosity is nurtured from the very beginning. They are like sponges, and if they are engaged with things that interest them, it’s amazing what they can accomplish with the right tools.
To be clear, this list of resources on the internet is not a list of traditional homeschooling curriculum designed to imitate a normal school day. If you’re the least bit familiar with what we do on Dad Suggests, you probably know that I’m personally much more interested in the extra-curricular aspects of school and growing up - music, P.E., art, imagination - than I am with state standards. In fact, I even almost included the amazing piano app Simply Piano that I recently wrote about - but pianos aren’t exactly household fixtures, and not every newly-appointed, at-home teacher out there could make use of it.
We’ve experimented with lots of different resources throughout the years, but there are only a handful that our son actually wants to return to over and over again by choice. His unabashed love for these particular sites is basically the sole criteria for this list. Hopefully other parents and teachers out there will find his personal picks useful - and hopefully your kids will enjoy exploring these engaging and fun platforms.
Best Apps and Websites for Homeschooling and Gameschooling - © ChessKid
1. ChessKid
I teach chess to kids in school all day - and I am passionate that the lessons and skills you can learn from chess have amazing benefits for kids. Chess is the perfect example of thinking outside the box of traditional education - and still reaping impressive benefits for growing brains.
ChessKid.com is the best website and app for kids to learn and play chess on - by a landslide. The videos by Mike Klein (FunMastermike) are expertly crafted and very entertaining for young learners. The leveling-up system is very engaging and encourages self-motivated growth. And, perhaps best of all, it’s very safe.
You can play chess with your friends and challenge kids from across the world - but the ability to chat with those strangers is non-existent. So you can rest assured that this is a very trustworthy platform for your kids to develop their frontal cortex in a very safe way.
Best Apps and Websites for Homeschooling and Gameschooling - © Epic!
2. Epic!
Epic! is an incredibly popular website and app in our house. It’s free for teachers and it requires a subscription for at-home use. Our 7-year-old has spent a good chunk of his quarantine reading e-books and watching videos using Epic!. First and foremost, Epic! is a very large collection of e-books (up to 40,000 they say) for kids to read. Our son particularly likes finding new graphic novels to enjoy. You know we’re huge readers, and it’s nice being able to find a new book whenever he wants - especially with the libraries closed right now.
But he also very quickly realized that Epic! is a great source of inspiration for his creativity as well. His absolute favorite thing to do on Epic! is watch videos with random craft ideas. He’s always said he wants to be an inventor, which makes this perfect for him. He’ll get a new idea, run around the house finding materials, and come tell us about something we can build together.
True story: a video on Epic! also taught him how to tie his shoes. And it’s also a great place to satisfy his unquenchable thirst for learning new magic tricks, or performing science experiments. There’s just no end to the random, entertaining knowledge for his hungry mind to consume. And it’s easy to trust contained websites like this about 1 million times more than YouTube.
Best Apps and Websites for Homeschooling and Gameschooling - © BrainPop
3. BrainPop
BrainPop is a website featuring videos with a cartoon boy and his robot named Tim and Moby. Tim and Moby cover a very wide range of topics with their informational videos - math, science, history, and more. It requires a subscription for at home use - but, as of the moment I’m writing this, access is free during the coronavirus pandemic.
The best thing about Tim and Moby is that the videos are incredibly informative, very entertaining for kids, and bite-sized as well. And the complexity of the topics covers such a wide range, the website can truly be educationally useful from kindergarten all the way through middle school - perhaps even beyond.
I used the videos and quizzes on this website quite often as a 4th grade teacher when I was introducing new topics - and now our 7-year-old son really loves Tim and Moby. It’s about so much more than traditional education. He’s hungry for new random info and these entertaining videos are the perfect source. He’ll start going down the rabbit hole of Tim and Moby lessons, and then he’ll come walking out of the room telling me about square roots or the plot to Lord of the Flies.
Best Apps and Websites for Homeschooling and Gameschooling - © Duolingo
4. DuoLingo
You’ve probably heard of DuoLingo before, but it bears repeating - this is an amazing free resource. Learning a foreign language is a true gift, and it’s a gift that’s a lot easier to receive when you’re young. When you’re able to understand another language, it opens up an entirely new world to enjoy - new books, new music, new people to talk to. Art is a big part of happiness in this world, and the raw ability to consume more art can’t be overestimated.
So we set up our son with a DuoLingo account to work on some foreign languages. I personally thought it would be fun for him to learn German - the one foreign language I’ve learned - so that we could practice together. But he was very insistent on learning Chinese. Of course choice is a huge part of buy-in when it comes to learning, and the freedom of choice is one of the many benefits of homeschooling. Long story short, he’s working away at learning Chinese. I mean, seriously, how cool is that?
Best Apps and Websites for Homeschooling and Gameschooling - © Prodigy
5. Prodigy
Prodigy is a math RPG that I used in my classroom for a long time. You fight monsters, collect treasure, explore the world, and level up your avatar - all while practicing math skills. It’s free to play, with the option of paying to upgrade to a membership to unlock more perks. If all you’re looking for is pure math support - Khan Academy is the place to be. But for the sake of engaging gameschooling, Prodigy is hard to beat.
I brought it home from school to my son and he promptly fell in love with it. We even bought some of the action figures that give you a virtual new pet in the game - kind of similar to Nintendo’s Amiibos. And the fact that he’s engaged and invested in the universe is the reason the concept works so well. Gameschooling is a powerful concept, and learning works best when it is fun and engaging.
The game does a wonderful job of blending math standards for every grade level into the battle system - and it tests kids on all of the concepts they need to work on. And teachers and parents can actually assign exactly the type of math questions they want their kids to practice as well.
And if your kids need help with the basic math facts and tables - make sure to check out Reflex Math as well. It’s a whole lot more fun than flash cards and a lot more engaging.
Are there any websites out there that you don’t mind your kids getting a little obsessed with? What apps or websites have your kids learned a lot from? Let us know in the comments!
