Khan Academy is our number one homeschooling resource recommendation. Any time another parent asks me how to get started homeschooling, I usually respond with, “Have you heard about Khan Academy?”
Today I want to share the best Khan Academy Courses to use while homeschooling, and how to get started!
Khan Academy is one of the most innovative, forward-thinking websites on the internet. I’d go so far as to say that it’s one of the biggest things to happen to education in the last decade or more. The team at Khan Academy has set up dozens of self-paced, online courses for all ages, bringing quality education to you (for free!) over the internet.
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How to get started using Khan Academy
It’s really quite simple! Head over to the Khan Academy website and follow the instructions to sign up for an account. It’s totally free, and they’ll walk you through the process. You can set up a new account or use your existing Google or Facebook account to sign in.
I recommend signing up as an adult learner first, and then creating accounts for your kids through your account. If you created accounts for your kids first, you can connect their accounts to yours on your settings page. Then you can adjust your notifications so you’ll get a weekly digest of their activity.
When you first log in, you’ll be prompted to choose some courses to start with. Choose any that interest you — you can always make changes later! As you’ll see below, Khan offers courses for all ages!
Khan Academy Course Guide for Homeschool
Khan Academy recently published some sample schedules for students in various age/grade groups, and they are a great resource if you’re trying to figure out how to best structure your day. Check them out here!
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There are so many different things available to learn, so let’s dive in and look at a few!
Math
More than anything else, Khan Academy shines when it comes to math. Their math courses are divided both by grade level (3rd Grade Math, 7th Grade Math) and by subject (Multiplication, Geometry).
Each lesson includes video examples to explain each topic, and students can practice each concept before taking quizzes and unit tests. Best of all, there is no need to grade anything—Khan Academy tells students instantly if they get a question right or wrong, and how to fix it. We do math on Khan Academy every single day.
Science
If you’re homeschooling high schoolers, the science on Khan Academy is exactly what you need! They have courses in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and several other subjects, as well as courses specifically designed to help students pass AP exams.
However, the science section in Khan Academy isn’t particularly useful for elementary students—I had my 11-year-old tackle the Chemistry course, and he enjoyed the early units but by the middle of the course had gotten into material that was above his comprehension level.
Social Studies
Much like the science courses, the social studies offerings on Khan Academy are geared mostly toward high school-aged students. There are courses in US History, World History, Civics, and AP exam prep courses. Again, not geared toward elementary students, but I was able to have my two older kids do portions of the Civics course.
Language Arts
Khan Academy has just released grade-level Language Arts courses! Just like their math offerings, these are grouped by grade level, with videos explaining concepts and practice quizzes.
I had my 6-year-old start the 2nd grade course today, and he’s loving it. He’s actually in 1st grade, but he’s a great reader, and this course is at the perfect level for him—challenging but doable!
Computer Programming
I LOVE the Khan Academy computer programming courses, and so do my kids! I think that it is an extremely important subject for students in 2020 to learn. Even if your kids don’t end up in a computer-related field, technology is so omnipresent in our society (and will be even more so by the time our kids grow up!) that it’s important for them to understand basic concepts and to “think like a programmer.”
Khan Academy offers courses in Javascript, HTML/CSS, and SQL, as well as courses in computer animation and computer science. My two oldest finished their first Javascript course and are halfway through their HTML course and loving it!
My favorite Khan Academy course is computer programming because it is interactive and I get to make my own stuff.
-Carter, 11
Khan Academy Kids
For those little learners, Khan Academy has a fun app designed to teach students ages 2–7. It’s easy to use and features cute cartoon characters. Our third child used it when we first started homeschooling him, although he has since outgrown it. It’s perfect for those little ones!
Growth Mindset
Khan Academy offers a fantastic course on the “Growth Mindset,” teaching students about self-improvement, setting goals, and the importance of a positive outlook. It’s backed by science and research and is a short and easy course. There are activities to put these skills into practice geared toward both older and younger learners. I highly recommend this course to anyone.
Other courses we like
- Imagineering in a Box – My son wants to be a Disney Imagineer someday, so this course was exactly what he needed.
- Pixar in a Box – Learn Storytelling from the absolute masters.
- Grammar – My voracious reader daughter tore through this course and loved it.
- College Admissions – Don’t need this quite yet, but we’ll be grateful for it in a few years!
- Music – This course takes you through some music basics and instrument knowledge.
I liked the music course because it had a lot of interesting information about instruments and there were professional bands in the videos.
-Vanessa, 9
Khan Academy for Adults
Like I said at the beginning of this post, Khan Academy is for all ages! Brush up your math or history knowledge, learn something new like astronomy, or take a course on personal finance. There’s so much to learn!
I hope this post helps as I know many families are unexpectedly homeschooling right now. Please feel free to email or comment with any questions—we’d love to help!
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