Homeschoolers have the luxury of learning whatever they want whenever they want, making online videos especially relevant.  We believe that its better to assume kids can grasp advanced concepts than to assume they can’t.  What’s more, providing material that is challenging is better than offering lessons that are easily mastered.  With those philosophies, we (sometimes randomly) select  college course videos to watch with our young homeschooler.  Sometimes, it leads to genuine interest, lots of questions and a course of study we hadn’t planned.

More and more Universities are placing courses online.  ITunes U, of course, has a nicely organized collection of university content.   However,  iTunes U requires iTunes software which users must install and navigate through numerous clicks to get to desired content.  After all of that, you have to download content to your hard drive.  And sharing a link to the content with others in a blog?  It’s possible, but not many people know how!  Although iTunes U has its place and you should check it out, our preference is for quick and easy access.  Since YouTube is just a website, a web browser is all you need to quickly search, view, bookmark, etc.

Here are some really good ‘YouTube U’ courses. Please add your suggestions via a comment.

Stanford University

• Modern Physics
• Introduction to Chemical Engineering
• Darwin’s Legacy
• Geography of United States Elections
• Programming Methodology

UC Berkeley

• Functional Programming I
• Environmental Law
• Integrative Biology
• General Psychology

MIT OpenCourseware

• Linear Algebra
• Single Variable Calculus
• Introduction to Bioengineering
• Community-Owned Enterprise and Civic Participation
• Listening, Speaking & Pronunciation

MIT neatly organizes lectures into ‘playlists’.  Browse all MIT playlists