How We Use Khan Academy in our Homeschool

Being a tech geek, I've been supplementing my own higher education studies in various subjects with some of the free resources available online. When the materials in my curriculums fall short of my learning style needs, I hit YouTube, the Kahn Academy, Academic Earth, etc. for lectures on those subjects to supplement and assist my learning. It's worked well for economics and calculus so far. 

I am a proponent of homeschooling, but have yet to flip the switch due to time constraints, though I am looking at it in the coming years. I recently found that the Khan Academy offers programs that could work well for our first grader while she is still in public schools, giving her another boost ahead of what the public schools offer. I'm happy to find that other parents have already taken the leap and have seen positive results with the experience. YMMV

Earlier this month I wrote about our upcoming 7th grade curriculum choices.  In the comments, April asked how we use the free, online math program found at Khan Academy in our homeschool.

First, I set my daughter up as a user.  Since she didn't have an email account at the time, and I was having problems getting her one, I set up a "dummy" Facebook account for her.  (She doesn't use this for anything except logging on to Khan Academy.)

Then, I set up my account so I can act as her "coach".  With this enabled, I can login and see how long she does math, problems she gets correct or wrong, general progress, etc. It was pretty easy to set up. 

Once both accounts are linked, your student is able to begin. 

The main menu is the celestial "knowledge map" where you can pick and choose what you would like to practice.  I don't have Morgan click on that, at all.

To the left of the knowledge map is a "suggested exercises" menu.  This is where I have Morgan get her problems.  I have her start at the top of the menu.  Whatever is at the top, is the next suggestion thing she should be working on.  This is because after you achieve "Mastery" in a topic, the program will automatically generate practice problems every so often.  If the practice problems are answered correctly, it goes away and "Mastery" level is maintained.  If the problem is answered wrong, new problems will be generated in that topic to refresh and regain mastery.

Since Khan Academy is completely self-paced I have Morgan just work through the menu as it is suggested.  She knows she is to watch every video as it is offered.  She also knows that she is to work problems for a minimum of 20 minutes. 

When we started using Khan Academy, we began at "Addition 1".   That is basic one digit addition.  Obviously, she raced through that.  Once she was proficient, it gave her a different topic.  That is how we move through the program.  If she gets it, we move forward.  If she doesn't we work through it a little longer, but she still eventually gets it. 

This has been one of the best moves that we have made this past year.  In fact, on her standardized test results, we saw her math scores jump significantly. 

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