Homeschooling Resources Archives | Mercer Homeschooling

How to homeschool with ChatGPT—Your personal homeschooling assistant

How to use ChatGPT as your Homeschooling Assistant

If you’re anything like me, you’re addicted to coffee and writing something in order to procrastinate writing something more urgent. But, to be more on topic, you also view the rise of AI with a mix of intrigue and skepticism.

My biggest fear about using AI for homeschooling was being given bad information. (That and becoming a Matrix-esque pawn in the grand designs of my new digital master.) Of course, getting bogus info was the main argument against search engines when they were new, and we learned how to navigate them. So, I felt I should stay cautiously open-minded.

I began to explore, with suspicion, the capabilities of AI via the ultra-scientific method of screwing around with it. And, lo and behold, I discovered that this tool is good for more than just rewriting the Gettysburg Address in the style of Dr. Seuss. (But if you’re bored, it will do that, too.)

From Phrases to Fluency—How to Homeschool Spanish

I’ve spent about eight years of my life studying Spanish in one form or another. First, with old-fashioned cassette tapes. (Do you even remember those?) Then, by watching a distance-learning class on Channel 9 . . . or was it 11? Finally, I took four years of Spanish in college. Four years! And I finally attained conversational fluency. Like, I could go to a Spanish-speaking country and be all right.

But do you know how much of that I remember now? Almost none. Yep, all that work practically vaporized. Now, it has come in handy with pronunciation, conjugating, etc. when it comes to teaching my own kids Spanish. Some of it does, in fact, come back to you. But I want a more streamlined and (hopefully) lasting experience for my kids.

And you know what? I found it! The winning combo of very specific resources to help my children achieve both a deep understanding of the language and a natural fluency. What’s my secret? Read on homeschooling friends.

Homeschool Guide to Using Educational Videos Effectively

Using online educational videos for homeschooling is becoming more commonplace—whether it’s to supplement your usual curriculum, as stand-alone lessons, or to just get some learning in during one of those days. You know those days.

And why not? There is so much high-quality content available now. I mean, we’re talking well-written, researched content. Some YouTube videos are mini-documentaries, and they are available on every subject imaginable, from how to simplify fractions to the three different types of rocks!

But just because a video claims to be educational doesn’t mean it is. How do you know which videos are worth your child’s time and which are just fluff and nonsense? And how do you leverage the great content you do find to maximize educational effectiveness?

This quick guide to using online videos in your homeschool will help you master the following:

Source credible, high-quality, educational videos.
Turn a good educational video into a real lesson.
Use my #1 favorite (and easy) way to level up educational videos! <—click to skip directly to this part

Suddenly Homeschooling Due to COVID-19?

**This article was written in April 2020, but the advice herein is still timely! 😊

The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has forced many families, like it or not, to embrace homeschooling. And as it sounds, more and more, like many schools may not reopen for the rest of the school year, these parents who have been drafted into the homeschooling community need solutions and guidance specifically for them. If you are one of these parents, please know that there are an abundance of resources to assist you.