When I created my Ultimate YouTube Playlist for World Geography, I spent many hours scouring the internet for great social studies videos. When you’re studying world geography, you don’t just learn the landforms and call it a day. No, there are other things at play. Things like politics, history, environmental factors, religious differences, economics, and even how geography affects all these things.
Here is my round-up of 11 amazing social studies YouTube channels for your middle and high schoolers to use in homeschool. You may not agree with all of them and their interpretation of politics or history, but it will at least provide great information for ongoing conversations with your teenagers. And that is the best education of all.
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Here are 11 Amazing Social Studies YouTube Channels
Crash Course
Crash Course World History & Crash Course Government & Politics are some of the playlists you will find on this channel.
Real Life Lore
Real Life Lore describes its channel as “Answers to questions that you’ve never asked. Mostly over topics like history, geography, economics and science. The world is an exciting place and there is so much to know.”
My kids love these, “I wonder why…” videos:
- Why Land-Locked Countries Still Have Navies
- How the Geography of the U.S. is Weirder Than You Think
- What if Texas Was an Independent Country?
- How the World Map Looks Wildly Different Than You Think
National Geographic
The National Geographic Channel provides new videos everyday! Check out their history & culture videos on Sunday and their travel & adventure videos on Saturday.
Wendover Productions
Wendover Productions is all about explaining how our world works. From travel, to economics, to geography, to marketing and more, every video will leave you with a little better understanding of our world.
Khan Academy
Most known for its math tutorials and videos, the Khan Academy YouTube channel also has video playlists for History, World History & Economics. These are not as entertaining to watch as some of the other channels, and they are more traditionally taught, but definitely jam-packed with information.
Caspian Report
The Caspian Report videos discuss Geopolitics and Geo-Economics, which is helpful at the upper grades. Older kids can grasp how the study of geography includes not only landforms, but economics, culture, trade, politics, and international relations.
Florida Virtual School
The FVS Channel has a small Civics playlist, but the few videos there can help kids understand complex ideas. Check out this video to see what I mean:
Stratfor
I really love the Statfor channel for its Geographic Challenges videos about many countries in the world. This is ideal for your high schooler who needs to sort through complex issues in their geopolitical studies.
Stratfor brings global events into valuable perspective, empowering businesses, governments and individuals to more confidently navigate their way through an increasingly complex international environment.
Now This World
With new videos weekly, Now This World provides a bit of explanation on the current event stories that your kids are hearing about on the news.
NowThis World is dedicated to bringing you topical explainers about the world around you. Each week we’ll be exploring current stories in international news, by examining the facts, providing historical context, and outlining the key players involved. We’ll also highlight powerful countries, ideologies, influential leaders, and ongoing global conflicts that are shaping the current landscape of the international community across the globe today.
Prager University
PragerU videos will provide an intellectually stimulating starting point for discussing big issues with your kids. Watch these videos with your teenagers and then discuss implications.
PragerU is an online video resource promoting knowledge and clarity on life’s biggest and most interesting topics. We gather some of the world’s best thinkers and distill their best ideas into free, 5-minute videos on things ranging from history and economics to science and happiness. Enjoy.
And finally…
TedEd
TedEd is a wealth of impressively animated educational goodness. Your kids will not be bored watching a TedEd video!
Pin this list for later! And if you haven’t already grabbed my Ultimate YouTube Playlist for World Geography, you can find it in my resource library.
Enjoy!
