10 Ways to Use an Amazon Echo Dot in Your Homeschool

When the Amazon Echo Dot was originally released many people saw the smart speaker as nothing more than a novelty. Many people bought it and its older sibling the Amazon Echo and quickly realized how helpful it could be in their day-to-day lives. The Amazon Echo Dot has a lot of functionality in it that helps with day-to-day activities. With it, you can set reminders, message other people, and buy milk when you’ve run out. Homeschoolers can make use of the Amazon Echo Dot too. Here are 10 ways to use an Amazon Echo Dot for homeschooling. As a quick side note, many of these things will work with Google Home Mini too. Side note: I forgot to include the theme music in this podcast. Spelling and Definitions If your kids are constantly asking you how to spell “amoeba” or what existentialism means Alexa has got you covered! All of your kids can ask Alexa how to spell a word or for its definition. Setting a Timer or Reminders We use timers a lot in our house. Whether it’s for cooking or playing video games, there’s always a beep, ding, or ring going off for something in our house. You can have multiple timers running simultaneously and Alexa will remind you which timer is going off. It’s very helpful. Researching Topics If your kids have ever needed to “just look something up” but all of the screens are in use, Alexa can help with basic research. All you need to do is ask about a specific topic and Alexa will provide a brief overview and sometimes offer additional information. This is very useful if you need to look up one specific fact. Translate Languages If your kids are like mine, they like to play around with languages. They can ask Alexa how to say, “I love BTS,” in Korean, and impress their fellow ARMY members when they get together to watch YouTube videos. Solving Math Problems Your Amazon Echo Dot isn’t going to be solving differential equations any time soon but it can help with simple math problems. Our kids have tried multiplication, division, percentages, and square roots. Converting Between Units of Measurement Need to know how many furlongs are in a kilometer? Alexa has got you covered. For those quick conversions, a smart speaker can be very helpful. Listening to Educational Podcasts There are a lot of educational podcasts that you and your family can listen to together. Simply ask Alexa to play a podcast and it will usually find it. If you’re having trouble getting one to play, try using the MyCast skill from Blubrry . Listening to News for Current Events Flash briefings are a great way to keep up with current events and news. Pick a trusted news source and listen to their flash briefing while discussing the day’s news. Play Trivia Games Trivia and guessing games are a great way for kids to test their knowledge or they can provide a much-needed break on a busy homeschooling day. Games like Jeopardy! , Cat Trivia, and The Science Game are great ways to entertain and test your kids’ knowledge. Install Educational Skills There are a number of educational skills that can help your kids learn more simply by interacting with Alexa. Educational stories and facts are a question away! If you found value in these ideas, maybe consider buying me a coffee ? Even though new episodes aren’t actively being made, there are still costs for hosting and maintaining the website. You can also follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and other platforms . And just so you know, some links you might see are “affiliate links,” meaning if you click and buy, I might get a commission. Sometimes I even get free samples to review, all disclosed transparently. Music for the podcast is “RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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10 Ways to Use an Amazon Echo Dot in Your Homeschool is an episode from The Wired Homeschool by John Wilkerson.

This episode is 10:25 long.

This episode was published on Jul 20, 2018.

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