Homeschooling With YouTube

YouTube for Social Studies: Much of the 20th century's greatest moments and it seems as though all of the 21st century's, as well, have been captured by video cameras. Don't simply read about an event - witness it firsthand. Search for the event itself - 1968 Olympics - or for a key figure - Neil Armstrong. You may not have been born when the moon landings occurred, but you can still watch them with all the awe and wonder of those who were there. For events previous to the days before moving pictures, there are a wide choice of videos including entire movies (The Crossing, for example,) documentaries (National Geographic's Ancient Egypt) and home movies of costumed reenactments. And then there are the travel documentaries, giving you a real world view of cultures and places you can't truly experience with a book.
YouTube for Science: Everything from nature documentaries to home-made science experiments have been posted to YouTube. You can even see a frog dissection, a fine example of Bernoulli's Principle in action or a volcanic eruption caught on film.
YouTube for Maths: Having trouble with algebra? Or calculus? Or are you stuck on long division? There's a video tutorial for all of it. You'll probably find what you're looking for quickly and easily by add "Basics" to your keyword search - Algebra basics, basic long division, etc.
YouTube for Language: From phonics videos with catchy tunes and animation for the little ones to a college professor giving a tutorial on effective essay writing, to scenes from Shakespearean productions to both the famous and the not-so-famous reading or reciting poetry, YouTube has a plethora of videos to add some spark to your language lessons. You can even see a vid on how to do the dreaded sentence diagramming. Not that you'd want to, but you can.....
YouTube for Foreign Language: YouTube has at least one channel devoted to teaching foreign language basics - foreignlanguagehouse. However you can also find music videos, newscasts, even soap operas and movies, in a wide variety of foreign languages.
YouTube for the Arts: Want to watch a biography of Leonardo da Vinci from the History Channel? Or how about a video series on watercolor technique? Or have a front row seat at a performance of Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz by the Vienna Philharmonic? You can have that all in one afternoon thanks to YouTube's more culturally literate side. Talk about a music video!
You may not have thought of YouTube as an educational aid, but as you can see, it has a great deal to offer your homeschool. And it's all for free, which makes it even better!

Homeschooling Pros and Cons

One of the biggest positive factors influencing the choosing of teaching at home is the freedom to schedule teaching around the children's needs. The small teacher/student ratio is also a big plus as well as the safety of the home versus the school.
However, children schooled at home don't get the social interaction or develop the social skills that their public schooled peers get. They are not exposed to antibody-building infections that will serve them well later on in life. Homeschooling also tends to be more expensive than public schools. Very few parents-as-teachers are qualified to teach all the subjects needed by their children. Also college admission policies tend to be stricter for homeschooled students.
Parents have tough decisions to face these days when it comes to having their children educated. On the one hand, public schools provide more social skills training, a more varied curriculum and, usually, better educated teachers. On the other hand, homeschooling gives the students more individualized attention, safety from peer violence and greater freedom in scheduling. Determining the track record a particular school has is a good first step in deciding which is better: homeschooling or public schooling.