For those who’ve “checked out” of public virtual school
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Anonymous
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Anyone with kids in K-12 who have had it with the low value lessons and assignments coming from FCPS, ACPS, APS, etc... Please check out Khan Academy. This has been the best thing for my kids. I felt hopeless, helpless and defeated until I checked it out. Now my kids do self-paced lessons and quizzes in all subjects. It is efficient and they are learning considerably more, during hours less time, than they had been since virtual started last spring. Our days are so much better now. I feel relieved that they’re staying on track during this time and even catching up from lost learning. I can monitor their progress and it’s FREE!!
I just wanted to share because I know I’m not the only one who was filled with anxiety about this and it truly has been a load off since we started doing it. Oh and we are not doing the public school day any longer. No more frustrations and zombie mode. |
Anonymous
| Definitely doesn’t sound like an ad for Khan academy |
Anonymous
| Nice! As many times as I've seen Khan Academy referenced here, I've never actually looked them up. However, last Friday got a note from our first grade teacher that our kid is basically "failing". She truly wants to help him but doesn't know how. DL is just not working for him, and he's checked out. What grade are you doing? What subjects are you doing? We're supplementing Mathnasium/Kumon...but wouldn't mind consolidating on one platform if it offers broader coverage. |
Anonymous
| OP here, Jeff can check my IP address. This is not an ad, and I don’t think they even do ads?? They’re a nonprofit.. I’m a mom with ES and MS kids in NOVA and Khan really has been amazing for us during this time because we can’t afford tutors or private. I wanted to share it to help others. That is all. |
Anonymous
| I used Khan in the spring and it was great! |
Anonymous
| Agree, Khan Academy is great, especially for math. It covers all grade level requirements in an easy way to understand. |
Anonymous
| For those of you who would rather use a pen and paper, I've just found this: http://www.freemathprogram.com |
Anonymous
We’ve been using the 3rd, 4th, and 7th grade (my eldest is actually in 8th but is behind now because of how bad virtual lessons have been) tutorials... they watch the videos and then answer the questions, there is “leveling up” which they like because they feel like they’re earning something/advancing. I was in the same boat as you having heard of Khan but never looking into it- I thought it was more like a Kumon or something you paid for. Then when I was at my wits end and researching everything I finally went to their website and was very pleasantly surprised. It’s not hard to get started, the site is really easy to navigate, so I definitely think it’s worth a shot trying with your son. Good luck! I hope you find something that works for him. |
Anonymous
It's free. |
Anonymous
Also wanted to add that it’s definitely not all mental math/can be done solely on the laptop. My kids each have a notebook for notes and solving the problems. Then they enter their answers and I don’t have to worry about “correcting” them. |
Anonymous
ABCmouse has a decent program for all subjects (includes the science and social studies curriculum) but it can be glitchy sometimes and there's no way to skip ahead of things that have already been covered. If your primary concern is math and reading, the Reading Eggs program app (program?) is great. One price includes a subscription to the reading programs and the math program (called math seeds). Both include a placement test and allow a parent to move levels. The math matches well with FCPS math but uses mini games and is very interactive. For the reading part my 1st grader enjoyed it and ended up above grade level. The programs are well done because random guessing isn't rewarded but the mini levels make it so when they get things wrong and have to redo them it isn't so much they get angry and give up. They also have a writing program but honestly I haven't found it to be as much help. I picked up a 1st grade language arts workbook and writing workbook to help my DC. My DC enjoys Khan but when we tried it in the spring there didn't seem to be a way to control or adjust the level or topics for specific subject areas. It definitely seemed like a great free option that could compete with ABCmouse. |
Anonymous
Do you think Khan academy employs a cadre of trolls to post stuff like this and drum up business? |
Anonymous
| So my kids are getting some really good teaching with distance learning (relatively speaking, of course), but one of the teachers definitely uses khan academy sometimes. It is so great for math, and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. I love it. |
Anonymous
| There are also lots of lessons on YouTube in everything you could imagine. My youngest had minor speech issues (was seeing a speech therapist) but was having trouble with a couple specific sounds that she couldn’t seem to get through to him about... anyway I was able to find some “speech therapy” videos on there for him and it helped tremendously. My oldest was having trouble with a math concept and I found a video lesson about that as well that helped make it “click” |
Anonymous
Exactly! I totally agree. |