As we have worked to create excellent and comprehensive learning resources for every one of our unit studies, we have taken a first step into navigating the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a component of education. Because AI is already typically a part of many traditional school approaches, we have explored various opportunities to incorporate it in a way that is safe and effective for you and your family.
And we are so glad we did! AI, used well, can add a valuable layer of exploration for curious learners.
Using AI Resources In Your Homeschool Unit Studies
You’ll find that throughout our unit studies, we include Ask AI prompts to use with resources like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and other AI options.
You will notice that we use AI only as an enhancement to learning, never the primary resource. We will always recommend books as the spine of any study.
“It is vitally important that we teach these bright young minds how to think and find answers. In this day and age of information explosion, textbook publishers rush to keep adding new information to textbooks, further abridging, condensing and modifying or deleting what they deem less important or not politically correct. Many textbooks now read like encyclopedias, with little interesting reading included, just facts, figures and condensed material.
If we can teach our children with interesting materials, challenging them to think, reason, analyze and dig deeper for further information, we will find them to be well-educated and ready to move on to a lifetime of challenge and questions and adventure. While we will never be able to teach a child everything, we can certainly teach them these things, providing a strong foundation and knowledge base for the future.” – What is a Unit Study? by Amanda Bennett
Explore Twisting Tornadoes, Sensational Sharks, Discover the Senses and more!
Two things to remember to ensure AI learning is safe and beneficial:
- It is important that a parent always supervise a child’s use of an AI chatbot, to help guide their learning and ensure a safe experience.
- When your child wants to ask his/her own questions of the chatbot, make sure that you help create a kid-friendly AI prompt, giving specific instructions to the chatbot – including asking for age-appropriate answers for your child’s age.
“I am 7 years old. What are three characteristics of sharks?”
And now, let’s turn the page and begin this learning adventure with your child!
