Using AI to Kickstart Homeschooling: How ChatGPT Helped Me Get Started
Research and reading for deeper understanding is important to me, but so is efficiency. When I was beginning to prepare for homeschooling, I was still working a full-time job. Like any parent knows, the first and last hours of your day is spent connecting with your kids, feeding them, dressing them, and getting them out the door or in bed. In addition to working, we’re cooking, cleaning, connecting with our spouses, and hopefully finding some time to relax.
Google, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest have been helpful tools to figure out where to start when it comes to homeschooling, but none of those have helped me with efficiency and a real starting point other than generative AI (GenAI).
I specifically use the free version of ChatGPT and so far it has been sufficient. Before I share three key prompts that got us started, some disclaimers:
I use AI as a starting point. Think of it like those activities you set up for your kids as an “invitation to play” or “invitation to observe/ investigate.” It helps me dive deeper into research and other sources/ resources.
It is not the only tool in my toolbox. Straight forward. I lean on books, YouTube videos, experience, friends and family.
It is not a tool I make available to my kids. My kids are 2 and 4. We’re a low-screen/tech household, so opening this up to them doesn’t (yet) fit with our education style. AI is a facilitator/teacher/”mama-and-dada only” tool.
With that said, AI is powerful and can be extremely helpful - especially when you have an idea of how you want to form your curriculum or rhythm but are unsure of exactly where you should start, or if you’re covering all the bases.
Here are the three key prompts that helped us get started and how they’ve informed our starting context:
Document reading: The Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum
The prompt: Read this document ___. Based on this document, what are the key learning outcomes of kindergarten in Ontario and what should my child know/ be able to do before first grade?
Look, this document is nearly 400 pages long. I skimmed and skipped to the key points, but what I really needed to know was in the prompt. Rather than regurgitate ChatGPT’s response, I found it helpful to learn that the Ontario curriculum doesn’t have hard metrics as learning expectations (i.e. it doesn’t state anything about specific numbers, words, or skills children must have by 6 years old). I ultimately got to see how play-based the curriculum is intended to be and how they aim to focus on social skills and self-regulation, in addition to the more formal subjects like numeracy and literacy.
2. Philosophy comparison
The prompt: Compare and contrast the following early education approaches with similarities and differences: Montessori, Waldorf/ Steiner, Charlotte Mason, and Reggio Emilia.
Again, I won’t divulge the response - go and try it yourself! As parents who went through the traditional education system, with more knowledge of Montessori over any other approach, this served to be a great starting point. While I enlist my finite, sequential, and leftover time to reading more deeply into these practices (and more), this helped me have an entry-point to create lessons and rhythms: if I want the girls to focus on practical skills, I can look into Montessori; I want them to have way more imaginative play and connect with nature, so I looked into Waldorf activities and materials; or, I wanted more theme-based inspiration, so I look to Charlotte Mason; and if I needed inspiration for invitations to play, I looked to Reggio Emilia.
What was even more helpful was to see an overview of how these disciplines overlap; ultimately all focusing on the whole child.
3. Book summaries
The Prompt: What are John Holt’s key points in ‘How Children Learn’?
In a future post/video, I will review John Holt’s ‘How Children Learn’. Ideally, I wanted to have read this book before we kicked off homeschool, but just didn’t have the time to do so. Still, I wanted the crumbs to just help set a frame of mind and maintain interest for what I would eventually read.
Some honourable mentions when it comes to helpful prompts :
Activities (found these to be flat): I tried asking ChatGPT to create age appropriate activities for certain themes and topics, while also asking it to be diverse in offering activities across different subjects. While it incorporated some hands-on learning, most of the activities were worksheet-based. Next time, I might try asking it to create Montessori or Waldorf style activities.
Creating printouts… didn’t work: Simply couldn’t download these. Not sure if it’s because I have the free version.
Schedule optimization and creation: When I had become a new mom of two, I tried to see what ChatGPT would suggest when it comes to a general schedule for a 2.5 year old and a newborn. It wasn’t homeschool specific at the time. I haven’t prompted for a schedule creation this time around because I’m focusing on flexible learning blocks and am responding to the day, as opposed to maintaining rigidity.
Meal planning: I know this can be helpful but I haven’t tried prompts in this realm to the fullest just yet.
A Reels series I will have over on my @Honasan.House Instagram account will be all about ChatGPT prompts for the homeschooling beginner. Join along there for more!
