Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Khan Academy

My son very recently "enrolled" in Khan Academy.

We were aware of this resource before and used it from time to time, but now he has decided to sign up officially.

Here's what he says:

"It's Fun! It's Amazing! It's Educational! And you get to earn Badges!

I was even able to learn about Negative Exponents!"

Khan is a series of video lessons designed to help any child in the world obtain a free education. It is strongest in math and science, but some humanities courses are available and more classes are being added all the time.

What you do is watch a video and then practice. Practice exercises are provided for many topics. Hints and solutions are available if you get stuck. Students earn badges for proficiency and also for consistent work, persistence and perserverance. Parents and teachers, as well as students, can track progress quite easily.

Khan will not provide a complete education, but for now it will be excellent supplement to what we do at home. I recommend that homeschoolers check it out.

But there is more to it.  Khan Academy was founded by Salman Khan and is run by a small international team with the goal of providing a high quality education to just about everyone -- anyone who has access to an internet connected computer. It is a donor-supported nonprofit and all of it is free to users, so even kids in dire poverty have a chance to use it.

I think that is a great mission.


What educational resources have you found helpful lately?

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