Homeschooling with Technology
On Homeschooling with Technology, former programmer and veteran homeschool mom Meryl van der Merwe helps families use tech with confidence and wisdom — the best apps and online tools, AI for planning and learning (used safely), and practical tips that fit real homeschool days. No jargon, no overwhelm. Listen to an episode below and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for a fresh tip each week.
Episodes
384: A Student’s Perspective on Essential Tech Skills for High School In this episode, Meryl talks with high school senior Ada Anderson about the technology skills she has found most useful throughout her high school years.Ada shares the tools she uses regularly for school, scholarships, personal projects, and staying organized. She also talks about some […]
383: AI Through a Teen’s Eyes with Sofia Alvarez de la Hoz In this episode, Meryl talks with Sophia Alvarez de la Hoz, a former student in Meryl’s AI for Teens class. Sophia shares what she knew about AI before taking the course, what surprised her, and how her understanding changed as she learned about […]
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381: Summer Tech Challenge 8: Create a Video Recommendation Video creation is becoming an essential skill for today’s students. In this episode, homeschool families are challenged to create a short recommendation video using Canva. Whether you’ve never edited a video before or you’re ready to build your skills, this challenge provides a simple way to […]
380: Summer Tech Challenge 7: Create a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story In this week’s Summer Tech Challenge, learn how to turn Google Slides into an interactive choose-your-own-adventure story. This activity combines creativity, planning, writing, and technology while giving students a fun way to present what they’ve learned. In this episode Why choose-your-own-adventure stories are such engaging learning projects ...
379: Summer Tech Challenge 6: Create a Custom Map Did you know you can create your own interactive Google map? In this episode, you will learn about Google My Maps, a free Google tool that allows you to create personalized maps with locations, notes, photos, videos, colors, layers, and routes. Whether you’re planning a family […]
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378: Summer Tech Challenge #5 – Design Your Summer with Padlet Summer is the perfect time to experiment with new technology without the pressure of a full school schedule. In this fifth installment of the Summer Tech Challenge, Meryl introduces one of her favorite educational tools: Padlet. Whether you want to plan summer adventures, organize […]
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377: Summer Tech Challenge 4: Create a Summer Tracker with Google Sheets In the fourth installment of the Summer Tech Challenge, Meryl encourages homeschool parents and teens to explore one of the most useful productivity tools available: Google Sheets. Many students today have limited experience with spreadsheets, yet they are an invaluable tool for organizing […]
376: Summer Tech Challenge 3: Explore Google Arts and Culture This week’s challenge is simple: explore Google Arts & Culture and discover something new. Whether you enjoy art, history, geography, museums, or interactive games, Google Arts & Culture offers countless opportunities for learning and exploration. From virtual museum tours to historical exhibits, famous artworks, cultural […]
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375: Summer Tech Challenge #2 – Create a Trivia Game This week’s summer challenge is to create a trivia game. Students can choose any topic, educational or just for fun, and create a quiz with 10–20 questions. The quiz should use multiple choice, matching, or another format where players select answers on-screen. Episode 83 covers […]
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374: Summer Tech Challenge #1: AI Trip Planning This summer, Homeschooling with Technology is launching a fun nine-week Summer Tech Challenge designed to help homeschool families explore technology together. Each Wednesday in June and July, you’ll receive a short challenge focused on building practical tech skills through hands-on activities. The first challenge explores AI-powered trip […]
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373: Game-based Learning with Boddle In this episode, Meryl interviews sixth-grader Penny Laine Buschle about her experience using Boddle Learning, a free game-based learning platform for students in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Rather than reviewing the platform only from an adult perspective, Meryl invited Penny Laine to spend time actually playing and learning inside Boddle so listeners could […]
372: 4 Digital Tasks Before Summer Break: Homeschool Digital Organization Tips Before summer break begins, take time to organize the digital side of your homeschool life. In this episode, Meryl shares four important homeschool digital organization tasks that can save time, reduce stress, and help you keep better records for high school, college applications, and […]
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371: Turning Summer Walks Into Learning Experiences In this episode, Meryl shares how educational summer walks can become meaningful learning experiences for homeschoolers using simple apps and technology tools. 1. Identify Birds with Merlin Bird ID Meryl discusses using Merlin Bird ID from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to identify birds while walking. The app […]
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370: Teaching Tech Skills Through Family Travel Have you ever thought about turning family travel into a tech skills classroom? In this episode, Meryl shares practical ways to assign your teens real planning tasks before and during a trip — tasks that build digital literacy alongside life skills. Ideas covered in this episode: 1. Pitch […]
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This is a rerun of episode 277 – you can find the original show notes here.
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369: Ways Grandparents and Kids Can Connect Online Staying connected across the miles doesn’t have to mean just phone calls. In this episode, Meryl shares five practical ways grandchildren and grandparents can build real relationships digitally — with the bonus that several of these also sneak in genuine learning. 1. Reading together over video Alternate […]
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368: AI Tips You Can Use This Week In this episode, Meryl shares a practical mix of AI tips you can implement right away. What’s covered: 1. Ask Maps (Google Maps) Google Maps has a new AI feature called Ask Maps, currently rolling out. Instead of browsing categories, you can ask specific questions — gluten-free […]
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367: Exploring Space: Interactive Tools for Your Homeschool The Artemis 2 mission has four astronauts circling the moon right now, and it’s a perfect time to bring space exploration into your homeschool. In this episode, learn about free (and nearly free) tools organized into four categories: learn and explore, games and interactives, simulations, and citizen […]
366: Teaching Geopolitics and World Affairs to Teens Teaching teens about geopolitics and world affairs can feel intimidating—but it doesn’t have to be. In this episode of Homeschooling with Technology, Meryl van der Merwe shares practical tools and creative ideas for helping homeschool students understand current events, global conflict, geography, and media literacy in ways […]
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364: What’s New in NotebookLM NotebookLM has graduated from Google Labs beta into a fully featured, standalone tool — and it has grown dramatically. In this episode, Meryl walks through all nine features currently available in the Studio panel, explaining how homeschool parents can use them to save time and how students can use them […]
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