If you have been researching the different types of homeschool curricula, you may have seen that there are quite a lot of online learning resources that are available on the market today. Maybe you are wondering if online learning would be a good fit for your family.

Digital learning has been gaining a lot of popularity and there are more and more options to choose from when it comes to online learning. I sure do love a good book that I can hold in my hands and read out loud to my children, but there are times when using online learning just makes sense and can really be a blessing!

Let’s discuss some of the ways that online learning can benefit a homeschooling family:

1. It can be used when there are multiple children to homeschool.

Homeschooling multiple ages and grades is not an easy task. When you are working one on one with a child, you have to make sure that the other children can work independetly. One way I like to keep some calm and organization in our house is to have some online learning options available to keep them busy. If I am helping an older child with more difficult school work, then I can have a younger child doing some reading or math practice facts on the computer. This also works in the opposite effect. If I am helping a younger child learn to read, the older children can be doing some of the tougher subjects online. This helps us to be able to get everything accomplished in one day without me having to bounce all over the place helping everyone!

2. When you need some time to rest after a new baby or an illness.

School can often get put on the back burner when a new baby is welcomed into a family. Mom needs plenty of time to rest and bond with baby and it’s a lot harder to homeschool all the children during a period of rest. If you have some online learning resources in place your children can work independently and practice with educational games to keep them busy. This works great during times of illness. I remember one year our entire family got the flu and we were down for 3 weeks. During that time our homeschool consisted of lots of online games and resources they could do from their tablets in bed or on the couch!

3. If you want to see how your child is doing academically.

Sometimes it can be hard to evaluate where you child is at academically or grade level wise from a textbook. There are a lot of online learning programs that have assessments built into them. These are helpful for you to see how they are doing and what they need to learn to progress forward. There are even online programs that will keep track of your child’s progress for you to see and send you reports. This is very motivating for a child that may be struggling with a specific subject or concept, because they can see how they are advancing.

4. It can be used when you are on the road or traveling.

Does your family like to travel or take trips? It can be very challenging to pack all the school books with you. If you are going to be gone on a long trip to visit family, or traveling for a convention, or for work, online learning can be very helpful. There are many online resources that can be downloaded to a tablet and work can be done right in the car. A laptop takes up much less space then loads of books for multiple children. It is so much more portable. Online learning works well if you are out an about for lots of different doctors appointments or therapy appointments too!

5. It is great to use during and after a move.

Moving can be so stressful! When you are packing up to move, not only is it time consuming, it can be difficult to keep all the school books organized and out of the way from getting packed up into boxes. Then once they do get packed up, then you are busy moving and unpacking and school can get lost in the shuffle. Online learning can be a wonderful option during a move because it’s portable and contained to one device.

A wonderful resource for online learning is Time 4 Learning! 

It is a comprehensive, online curriculum for grades Pre-K-12th grade. It is perfect for homeschooling as it is student paced with built in review, adjustable grade levels, automatic grading and over 4,000 online learning activities to keep learning fun and engaging. It is also one of Cathy Duffy’s Top 102 picks!