10 Tech Tools For Teachers and Homeschool Parents

I love technology. I love bringing technology into our homeschool classroom, especially when it will expand our knowledge, entertain and teach the kids, or keep me more organized. Today I want to share 10 different tech tools I have come across that are great for teachers and homeschool parents. These are all either tools that I currently use or will use as the year progresses.

1. Pinterest... I know, duh! 

2. Youtube is full of knowledge. My kids to get to watch a science video once a week during school. I like being able to find things posted by teachers, scientists, and educational cartoons in one place. 

3. Newsela is an amazing resource, especially for young readers. Newsela takes stories from popular news outlets and "levels" them for different reading levels, allowing kids to understand what is going on in the world and improve in literacy. It is also helping to teach students very important critical thinking skills, that are lacked by so many. The CEO founded the company after his son was given a Dr. Seuss book to read while other students were reading chapter books - not only disempowering his son but also helping him realize that teachers don’t have the tools to deal with students reading at different levels. 

4. StartWrite is a great handwriting worksheet software that is really easy to use. I like to use it to make copywork sheets.

5. Wonderopolis "where the wonders of learning never cease," is a great place to get information and fun facts to accompany a lesson. I like to use it during our "question of the day," when Tbomb can't think of a question.

6. Teach With Movies provides free lesson plans to accompany movies for just about any subject.

7. Space Place, brought to you by NASA, provides fun and educational lessons for kids on space.

8. PBS online gives access to online programming for almost any subject matter.

9. Kid Courses. Is there something you want your students to learn, but do not feel comfortable teaching or want to learn with them?  KidCourses may be the answer, I am especially fond of the sign language courses.

10. Typing Club is a free way to teach kids to type. Great concept!

Another amazing trend is a class website. I have seen this and continue to like what I see. Teachers can use a class website for news, pdfs of assignments, and even resources. Homeschoolers can use a website to log lessons, create a scrapbook, and so much more. My advice: make sure you have a great web design!