I would not have won any awards for my pandemic homeschooling. There were no schedules adorning my refrigerator (color-coded or otherwise), I never got the printer set up, and the kids spent as much time looking for four-leaf clovers as they did reading. We did the bare minimum necessary and no more. The only thing I think I did semi-well was limiting screen time. (And when I say “limiting”, please know it still happened on the regular.) But one thing I did manage successfully was getting my kids hooked on podcasts.
I can’t say enough great things about podcasts.
When things were starting to get out of control at my house the combination of fine motor activity + podcast was a salve that worked very regularly. I’d plop all three kids (ages 8, 5 & 3) down at the table with play-doh, legos, a sensory bin, crayons, whatever. I’d throw on one of our favorite podcasts and they would easily play well, for at least an hour! To be honest, I usually ended the activity before they were tired of it.
We even took it outside! (I adore this portable speaker). I’d throw the kids in the sandbox, pop on a Spanish, Science, or History podcast & voila “homeschooling” had been accomplished. And even though ‘pandemic homeschooling’ and distance learning are now (thankfully!) things of the past, these tried and true podcasts are the perfect thing to keep my kids busy and learning over the summer, or anytime when things at home start to get a little crazy.
5 Great Podcasts to Enjoy with Your Kids
Eat Your Spanish
Short family-friendly episodes that combine music, stories, and interactive content, we discovered Eat Your Spanish due to my guilt over completely neglecting the kid’s Spanish Education. (Their school Spanish starts in first grade.) Even my three-year-old has been singing along with the songs. “It teaches you Spanish really well and it’s also REALLY fun to do because you get to listen to songs and play games with the words.”-My 8 year old
Brains On
My science-loving 2nd grader can’t get enough of this podcast, but the content is engaging and well presented enough that most kids would be drawn in. “It teaches you about science and different things.” – My 5 Year Old
Smash Boom Best
This has long been my family’s favorite car trip podcast for a while. Smash Boom Best is a debate show that faces off two fun things (chocolate vs. cheese, unicorns vs. dragons) against each other. Over the course of three rounds, two debaters make their case for their side and after each round, a kid-judge awards a point. There are sound effects, and all the while kids are learning some interesting things about the topics presented. It encourages great conversation, when we listen to it we pause the show in between each “round” and talk about which debater we each think won and why.
Story Pirates
This one is more fun than educational, but the kids love it. Story Pirates take stories written by kids and turn them into songs and sketch comedy shows. It is a riot, and their lineup of special guests (Kristen Bell, Billy Eichner, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dax Shepard, Bowen Yang, Paul Scheer, Claire Danes, John Oliver, David Schwimmer, and Lake Bell) is impressive.
This is a debate style podcast from the same makers of Brains On. In their words, “Every episode takes two cool things, smashes them together and lets you decide which is best.” Batman vs Spiderman, Narwahls vs Jellyfish, Pancakes vs waffles..you get the idea and you can probably see how this could lead to a friendly (but firey!) family debte of your own. Especialy that last one. I mean, who likes pancakes better than wafffles? Right?
