If your high school kids are doing distance learning this fall, these YouTube playlists and videos will come in super handy. They teach basic and advanced concepts in an engaging way, unlike a certain platform that most schools use. Take a look!

educational youtube playlists for high school students

Whether your school opted for online learning for the fall or you made the decision on your own because your district came up with the world’s most insane and illogical “plan/no-plan” ever, chances are your teens will spend at least part of the year doing distance learning. When my son did REACH, we didn’t really have to go to crazy finding supplemental lessons, since they do a great job of teaching to all learning styles with engaging content.

This year,  my son opted to do the school’s cyber program this year instead of going back to REACH. He’s in high school and wants to be with his friends, even if it’s just online. They use Edgenuity. While I could write an entire post about why this is the second worst decision his district made this year, let me bottom line it for you. Your kids will basically read the transcripts, run the boring videos in the background, and go watch YouTube. Let them. Just make it a rule that they have to watch something related to the videos they’re currently “skipping.”

25 YouTube Channels That Will Help Your Teen Succeed at Distance Learning

I choose videos that cover all the basic high school core classes.  All of them are engaging enough to keep your teen’s attention, in my opinion. I’m breaking into sections to make it a bit easier to navigate.

High School Science Videos

From 9th grade bio to 12th grade physics, these videos and channels do a great job of teaching complex science concepts to your high school student.

1. Biology Class Playlist

Don’t let the cute name and cartoon-style fool you, the Amoeba Sisters cover just about everything your high school student will learn in biology.

2.Chemistry

Hank Green’s videos mostly cover AP organic chem. If you like this one, check out the Crash Course Tumblr, where you’ll find their entire “course catalog.”

3. Physics Lessons

Center for Online Education has a HUGE list of 100 videos that teach physics. My personal favorite is above, but they offer recommendations for everything from basic concepts to cool experiments.

4. Earth Science Playlist

A great playlist for teens taking Earth Science, it offers up 45 engaging videos covering a wide variety of topics. Most average about 5 minutes. The longest one tops out at just over 12 minutes.

5. Astronomy

When I searched “high school astronomy video playlist that’s not boring,” this one caught my eye.

High School Math YouTube Channels

When it comes to high school math, I’m completely useless and zero help to my son. While I wouldn’t call all of these videos engaging (it’s just hard to make numbers fun, in my opinion), they’re certainly helpful!

6. Algebra

Khan Academy is the least boring learning system when it comes to algebra, and the lessons are easy enough that even I can follow them.

7. Geometry

JoAnn’s School’s Geometry playlist is actually an entire course.

8. Statistics

Khan Academy for the win again.  Here’s their entire Statistics playlist.  

9. Calculus

You really can’t go wrong with lessons led by an MIT professor. Check out the playlist here. 

10. Trigonometry

The Brightstorm Trigonometry Playlist videos are actually fairly engaging. I still don’t have the slightest idea what Trigonometry actually is, but at least they’re pleasant to watch. 😀

High School English

English was always my favorite subject in school. Up until 9th grade, it was also one of my son’s favorites. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the best experience with his Freshman teacher, so now he hates the subject. 🙁 Hopefully, he’ll have a different experience this year.

For the playlists below, I went with the most common English classes. There are so many different elective options, but these are the ones I remember taking in high school.

11. English language and composition

Coach Hall Writes makes the most boring aspect of English class a little more tolerable.

12. Classic Literature (American, Brit Lit, and World Lit)

 

I highly recommend “It’s Lit!” For the most engaging overviews of classic novels.

13. Shakespeare

Ah, Shakespeare. He’s either the bane or the boon of every high school English class. Whether your teens love or hate him, the Will Shakespeare channel will make learning about his plays a lot easier.

14. Poetry

Poetry was never really my thing. While I liked some of the more controversial poets, like Plath and Nin, I never really got into the vast majority of what we learned in high school. However, this playlist of videos recommended by We Are Teachers does a decent job of making them more engaging.

15.Creative Writing

Creative writing really isn’t something your teens can fail (unless they just don’t do the work at all) since it’s such a subjective subject. With that in mind, I chose the Inside Out Literary Arts playlist for inspiration rather than instruction.

Social Studies Playlists for Teens on YouTube

Social studies was another one of my favorite subjects in school. Again, like English, there are so many different classes teens can take, so I focused on the three most common.

16. US history

Professor Dave Explains is a fairly engaging American History playlist that hits on all of the basics. Videos range from just a few minutes to just under half an hour.

17.Sociology

If your teens are taking sociology this year, Crash Course has the best and most engaging playlist out of all of the ones I looked at. I like how the break each section down into short videos, so your teen can just watch the parts they need.

18. Civics & US Government

 

Steve Heimler is the Civics teacher you wish you had in high school! I love his personality and engaging teaching style. His American Government playlist will come in super handy this semester for my son.

Extra Credit: 7 Great Extra Curricular & Elective Videos to Check Out

For the last batch, I’m just sharing some great videos that I love (versus full playlists) that I think really help high school students learn about different concepts. Most of the videos speak for themselves (literally), so I’m not adding a bunch of notes beneath each one for this section.

19. Women’s History

Ms. Mojo’s channel also has other fantastic and engaging women’s history videos. I know the title has the word “badass” in it, which I guess is technically a “curse” word (I don’t have an issue with that personally), but the videos themselves are swear-free.

20. A Quick Overview Women’s Rights

 

21. How Art Helped Shape the Modern World

22.The Secret to Being a Good Math Student

23. American Museum of Natural History’s Wonders of Nature

24. How Music Technology Has Evolved

25. Neat Science Experiments to Do at Home

I hope your high schoolers find these lessons engaging (or at least more engaging than the boring videos in their district’s learning platform). If you know of any other great educational Youtube channels or playlists for high school teens, let me know. We need all the help we can get!