As a homeschool mom for eleven years and counting, I understand the value of finding free resources to help you educate at home. Homeschooling expenses can quickly add up, especially if you have multiple children!
Fortunately, there are plenty of free homeschool resources available. Keep reading to learn how to homeschool preschool with Khan Academy Kids. With it’s fun learning and play activities, it’s a practical tool to start homeschooling your preschooler quickly, easily, and affordably!
Why Homeschool Preschool?
You may be uncertain about whether you should homeschool preschool. Many parents are concerned they lack the skill or know-how to educate their children.
Other parents feel they don’t have the time or energy to homeschool preschool. Finally, some parents may think they can’t afford to homeschool. After all, isn’t there a curriculum and supplies to purchase?
(If you relate to these questions or need additional ideas, tips, and resources for homeschooling preschool, refer to How to Homeschool Preschool: An Essential Guide. I go into much greater depth about all things homeschool preschool.)
When you choose to homeschool, you are saying yes to great opportunities for you and your child, like a personalized learning experience, a flexible schedule, and more time spent together.
Let’s explore these fantastic benefits as they relate to homeschooling preschool even further!
Personalized Learning Experience
One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is pursuing what your family wants to learn in the ways that work best. When you decide to homeschool preschool, you personalize your child’s education. You can follow their interests, learn at their pace, and present learning activities in the best modality for your child (think auditory, tactile, visual learning).
Additionally, you can select and adapt materials and resources based on your child’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning goals. This is not something that happens as easily (if at all) in a formal school setting.
Flexible Schedule
Homeschooling preschool doesn’t require hours and hours each day. Really, children are learning all the time, whether that’s in a structured form, like using the Khan Academy Kids app, or through exploring nature and play. Many parents who choose to school at home can also flex work schedules or work part-time to accommodate this choice.
When you have the freedom to make your schedule, you can do what’s best for your family, and have the ability to learn anytime, anywhere. Over the years, we’ve schooled on vacation, at grandma and grandpa’s, or even outside.
More Time Spent Together
When you choose to homeschool preschool, you are increasing precious time spent together. This was a huge factor in my desire to continue homeschooling after completing preschool at home. The extra hours I’ve spent with my kiddos have resulted in more memories and opportunities to be together as a family.
What Is Khan Academy Kids?
Khan Academy Kids is a free app geared specifically for children ages Pre-K-2nd grade. According to the website, it was developed by learning experts at Stanford University.
It offers your student activities based upon a wide range of subjects including: math, reading, writing, language development, and social-emotional learning. There are also plenty of activities featuring song, dance, music, and art as well.
Key Benefits of Khan Academy Kids
Firstly, the app is easy for young children to navigate. Once you’ve set it all up, your child can click their avatar and start learning immediately. The program has an adaptive learning path, which means it adapts to your child and gives them a unique experience.
Secondly, your child can most likely use the app on their own. Stories are read aloud, and most activities make it pretty clear where your child needs to tap to keep things moving.
When your child can use something independently, this provides windows of time you can use to complete a task without needing to help them every few seconds. This is a big help when you have other students learning at home too!
A third benefit of this program is the ability to track your child’s progress. Within the app’s library, you can view all the activities in each category, along with colored check marks that indicate whether your child has mastered the activity (green check mark), is in progress (yellow check mark), or is developing (orange check mark).
Finally, I appreciate that my child has access to a decent selection of activities offline. While some apps are only usable with internet connection, that is not true with Khan Academy Kids. A nice feature for those random times you are without the internet.
Getting Started with Khan Academy Kids
To begin homeschooling preschool with Khan Academy Kids, follow these simple steps:
- Download the App: Visit your device’s app store and search for Khan Academy Kids. Download and install the app on your phone or tablet.
- Create a Profile: Set up a profile for your child within the app. Then you can customize the learning experience and track progress.
- Check it Out: Have fun exploring all the different activities and options! It was always interesting to see what activities my child was attracted to when I allowed her to choose.
(Tip: As with any app, it’s a good idea for a parent to peruse content and try using it before your child gets started).
Using Khan Academy Kids to Homeschool Preschool
While it may be tempting to hand your child a tablet to let them learn entirely on their own each day, I suggest you try to be involved with your child while using the app.
This allows you to see firsthand what they are learning, and be available for comments or questions to help increase engagement and comprehension.
Here are some additional ideas for language, math, and science learning that would complement the program well:
- Language and Literacy: Use the app to read interactive books, learn the sounds of letters, and word recognition. In addition, provide your kids with further access to books on particular topics that interest them. You can provide hands-on learning through alphabet tiles, free printable worksheets, or even sidewalk chalk.
- Math: Use the app to learn counting, numbers, shapes, measurements, etc. Practice counting, grouping, and sorting with household objects like blocks, crayons, or toys.
- Science: As your child completes a science lesson about animals, nature, and simple experiments, further the impact with additional learning activities. A trip to the zoo, a few books from the library, or re-creating that science experiment at home can cement what a child is learning.
How I Used Khan Academy Kids
I primarily used Khan Academy Kids as a supplement to my child’s preschool education. As you’ll discover in How to Homeschool Preschool: Your Essential Guide, I utilized an eclectic mix of activities, books, online programs, and more to create preschool at home.
Most days, this app was something my daughter played when she had her daily game time on the tablet. Other days, if I wasn’t feeling well or we were short on time, she’d use the app (choosing some activities on her own, and some that I required), and we’d call it good for that day.
Over time, when she complained that the activities seemed too easy, I simply changed her setting from preschool to kindergarten.
While I didn’t use this app as a stand-alone preschool curriculum, I believe it could be used well in this way. My suggestion would be to limit the amount of time your child spends on the app in any one sitting, breaking up screen time with hands-on activities, imaginative play, books, chores, time outdoors, etc.
That’s the beauty of creating homeschool preschool. You can create the day YOU want your child to have, using the resources YOU want to use.
Additional Resources and Support
The Khan Academy Kids website provides free worksheets you can download and print to use with your student.
Additionally, they offer a YouTube channel called Circle Time. The videos, hosted by the Khan Academy Kids team, feature stories and lessons about various topics.
I mention many other learning ideas and free resources to help you homeschool preschool in the post How to Homeschool Preschool: Your Essential Guide.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are plenty of benefits to homeschooling preschool. It can be a rewarding experience for you and your child, and with the right resources, an affordable option as well.
When you homeschool preschool with Khan Academy Kids you will have an array of activities at your fingertips to help you cover the essentials of early education. Using this resource as a foundation to build on, you will create an excellent learning environment for your preschooler.
What questions do you have about homeschooling preschool or using an online resource? Please leave your question or comment below.
