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How To Effectively Use Amazon Prime Video For Homeschool

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Amazon Prime Video is an amazing resource for boost your homeschool learning adventures and more!

Find out how I use this resource with my boys and get ideas for using with your kids, too.

Amazon Prime Video is an excellent way to add learning fun to your homeschool. Find out how to effectively use this affordable resource plus get FREE printable worksheets for your kids to use to boost their learning.

Amazon Prime Video for the Homeschool Win!

I love finding new ways to rock my homeschool and save money. Sharing these new tips and resources with you makes me want to throw on some 80s' tunes and jam! The best scenario:  when you and I can rock our homeschools, save money, and provide resources that our kids will love. Boom!

Are you familiar with Amazon Prime Video?  If not, I will be sharing more about this affordable resource that can truly help you rock your homeschool. If so, scroll down a bit to find out how you can use Amazon Prime Video effectively in your homeschool.

What is Amazon Prime Video?

I am assuming that you are familiar with Amazon, a ginormous online shopping retailer that has pretty much everything, including the kitchen sink. You can literally search for hours, scrolling items that you need and want.

One of the best features this online retail giant is Amazon Prime. With a variety of services and departments, you can rack up major savings with free shipping, discounts, and free materials. Check out all of the features you get with your Amazon Prime membership:

  • Prime Delivery:  On select products, you can get free shipping, free 2-day shipping, and free same-day shipping in some areas.
  • Prime Video:  You can stream thousands of movies and television shows for free.
  • Prime Music:  You are able to stream over two million songs for free. (My boys love to find new songs to jam to here!)
  • Twitch Prime:  A new feature, you get free video game content plus Twitch channel subscription.
  • Audible Channels:  Enjoy listening to original audio series and playlists.
  • Prime Photo:  You get unlimited photo storage for you plus five other people. Another cool feature-search box to easily find pictures.
  • Prime Early Access:  As an Amazon Prime member, you get access to lightning deals thirty minutes prior to start. This factor is clutch because lightning deals sometimes close before they even open!
  • Kindle Books:  You may choose one Kindle book for free from Editor's Picks list.
  • Prime Reading:    Find reading pleasure with over a thousand books, magazines, comics, and more.
  • And at least 12 more awesome features!

Hold onto your hat because here is the best part! You get all of these wondrous Amazon Prime features for only $12.99 a month or $99 for a yearly subscription. Our family pays $8.25 a month for our yearly subscription. We save so much money and time that it is glorious!

We use Amazon Prime Free Shipping all the time. I do not care for shopping and do a happy dance with each Amazon delivery because that is one less shopping trip for me. Less shopping equals more time to rock your homeschool!

[bctt tweet="Add learning fun to your #homeschool with @AmazonVideo! Find out why this resource will boost homeschooling w/ FREE printables. #ihsnet" username="rockyourhs"]

Amazon Prime Video is the highlight of this post. You get unlimited access to free Prime Video. There are thousands of educational and entertaining movies and television shows to watch. Let's find out how you can use this feature for effective homeschooling with movies.

My #1 favorite feature of Amazon Prime Video is NO ADS!  My boys and I occasionally use YouTube videos in our homeschool. We greatly dislike the ads. I am always concerned that inappropriate content will pop up. Amazon Prime Video keeps adding more and more educational videos with no ads. Win, win!

 

How To Effectively Use Amazon Prime Video For Homeschool

Once you have secured your Amazon Prime membership, you need to get organized. Sure, you can just go to your T.V. and put on some random show. To effectively use Amazon Prime Video, it is important to consider these components of your homeschool:

  1. Ages of your kids
  2. Subjects of study
  3. Family schedule
  4. Homeschool goals
  5. Screen time allowance
  6. Independent vs. group activity
  7. Casual or lesson

Of course, you need to select age-appropriate content for your kids. I highly recommend that you preview documentaries, videos, and television shows prior to having your kids watch. Also, previewing allows you to filter content that may not fit your family's values.

Make a list of your current subjects of study for your homeschool. Do a search on Amazon Prime Video for related content. Use generic and specific terms (like science and DNA).

Consider your family's schedule and when watching an educational T.V. show, movie, or documentary would work best. In our homeschool, our older boys watch their educational videos during nap time or after their younger brothers are asleep.  Think outside your homeschool schedule box.  Evenings and weekends can be great times to view educational programs (and free up time in your homeschool week!).

Learn how to effectively use Amazon Prime Video for homeschool.
How much screen time do you allow for your kids? Will educational videos makeup part of that time or will expand their allowance? Talk with your kids prior to watching these videos to share your rules.  During this discussion, talk with your kids about your expectations for behavior and attention.

Will your educational video time be a group activity for all kids or used for special independent work? Refer to your homeschool goals and adjust how you use Amazon Prime Video accordingly.

Finally, will you allow your kids to watch educational videos in a casual fashion or with more direct purpose? Will you include formal discussion and worksheets to solidify the information?

As you learn more about Amazon Prime Video features and how you can apply them to your homeschool, use these suggestions and questions to guide your plans.

Top Picks for Amazon Prime Video In Homeschool

Here are a few of the titles that my boys enjoy or have on their to-watch list:

Amazon Prime Video Originals & Exclusives:

Based on Books:

  • Lost in Oz
  • The Snowy Day (based on book by Ezra Keats)
  • If You Give A Mouse A Christmas Cookie
  • The Stinky & Dirty Show (my younger boys love this show!)
  • The Gruffalo
  • Spiderwick Chronicles

Learning Fun Shows:

PBS Kids Shows:

  • Zoboomafo
  • Dinosaur Train
  • WordWorld
  • Nature Cat
  • Wild Kratts
  • Peg + Kat
  • Kratt's Creatures
  • Ready Jet Go!
  • Reading Rainbow (seasons 1-4)

Nickelodeon Shows:

  • Team Umizoomi
  • Dora the Explorer
  • Go Diego Go!

Mother Goose Club:

One of my younger boys' favorites! Great way to introduce kids to nursery rhymes!

Shows/Movies for Older Kids:

Learning Fun For All!:

  • Popular Mechanics for Kids
  • Science for Kids K-8
  • Making Handmade Candy
  • Drawing Lessons
  • Learning Songs for Kids (There are a ton of these titles! Great addition to Morning Time with Months of the Year, Measurement, Skip Counting, and more!)
  • Famous People of the World:  There are so many titles!! Composers, travelers, scientists, artists, writers, philosophers, kings & queens! These videos are short, about 6 minutes long. Great for small chunks of learning fun!

Christian Videos:

Find out how to effectively use Amazon Prime Video in your homeschool. Get these free printables to extend the learning fun with videos!

Free Printable Worksheets for Amazon Prime Video In Homeschool

If you would like to enhance your use of Amazon Prime Video in your homeschool, here are FREE printable worksheets for your kids to record what they have learned while watching movies, T.V. shows, documentaries, and more. Five pages are included in this printable pack:

  • Early Learners
  • Early Writers
  • Middle School +
  • Documentaries
  • Facts

These worksheets are meant to be used for learning fun. Your child will have the opportunity rate each video and share why or why not a friend would like it. Younger kids are encouraged to draw. Early writers are guided to write a few words plus draw their thoughts and experiences. Older kids are given prompts to write according to the topic of the video.

Make learning with videos fun & effective with this free printable pack.

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3 Comments

  1. Please be very careful with the values in Amazon original programming, and Annedroids in particular. I would really urge parents to watch the show BEFORE they allow their children to watch it, especially in the later seasons. There’s some controversial stuff.

  2. Hello Amy. I'm a mother of a 9 yrs old boy, he is in 3rd grade and this is our second year of homeschool. Because he has adhd is becoming a challenge for me to keep him interested in the curriculum we are using. Please, if you could help me make this adventure a little less overwhelming for us, it will be greatly appreciated it. We are using A.C.E curriculum.
    Thank you.
    Have a bless day.

  3. Love this. I recently activated Amazon prime (free through my cell phone company...nice bonus, I'm not paying one penny more than before). Searching for shows, I more or less accidentally discovered educational shows.

    I came wait to start incorporating them into our homeschool.

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