Social Media may be the most underutilized tool in the homeschool classroom. Yes they can be websites and apps where the homeschool parent ends up wasting a lot f time, but with a little bit of self discipline these can be turned into very useful resources for the homeschooled students. Here are a list of sites and apps that you can look into.
Google Earth: This is a great tool to supplement your homeschool Geography lessons. Allow your homeschool students to read a map, see the satellite image to identify local hot spots, and even get a street view of your own home. You can set them an assignment about creating a map of their own neighborhood and then compare how they did based on the Google map.
iBooks, Google Books, Kindle Store: Each of these ebook stores has tons of free books on promotion on any given day. While it’s not possible to get on each app and search for things everyday, consider joining a couple of newsletters that do the curating for you. BookBub is a good one to start with. A simple web search with throw up many more newsletters. Don’t join more than a couple or you’ll waste a lot more time.
Google Images or Image Searcher: Ever so often you want to use an image on your homeschool student’s worksheet. Or they need an image for a report or project. These tools allow you to find creative commons images that you can download and use legally. Just adjust the search settings and you are set to go.
Show Me: This app turns your iPad into a personal interactive whiteboard. You can record your voice with instructions as you add images and writing to the whiteboard base. A great tool to pre-record lessons for your homeschool students which can be reused time and again.
Toontastic: This free app from Google allows your homeschool students to get creative and record their own animated cartoon. They can pick characters, create a story line, draw their own character, record their voices, and animate their cartoon. Available on both Android and iTunes.
