What I Learned Asking Kids for Feedback on My Homeschool Educational Videos
The oatmeal on my kitchen table had gone gluey at the edges by the time I finished editing my latest fractions video last month. My phone was propped on a wobbly stack of third grade reading textbooks, I’d spent 20 minutes cutting red and yellow construction paper circles to show equivalent fractions, and I’d re-filmed the intro three times to make sure I sounded warm and approachable. I posted the file to our small homeschool co-op’s shared drive, then remembered a tip I’d jotted down from a local teacher workshop: ask the people actually using your work what they think, don’t just assume it works. I texted the three kids who use my homework help videos to come over after outdoor play, and left a store-bought lemon bar out for each of them.
They showed up 10 minutes later, covered in grass stains, and pulled up chairs to my laptop. I told them straight up: I’m not asking if you liked it, I’m asking what didn’t work for you. No one gets in trouble, no feelings get hurt, I just need to make the next one better.
Mia, my 10-year-old, went first. She twisted the edge of her lemon bar wrapper and said, “The fraction circles are good, but you pause for, like, forever when you forget your next line. I started checking my text messages while I waited and then I missed the part I actually needed.”
Javi, 9, leaned forward. “Why do you do that whole two-minute hello thing at the start? I know who you are. I’m stuck on my homework, I just need to see how to do the problem. I don’t care how my week was going.”
Lila, 11, nodded. “And you put the answer at the end, but if I mess up step two I don’t want to rewatch the whole video. Can you just tell me what minute each step is at?”
I sat there, surprised. I’d spent all that time on the intro because every education creator page I followed said building rapport makes kids more comfortable learning. I’d left those long pauses on purpose, actually, because I thought I was giving kids time to work through the problem before I showed the answer. I had no idea they were just getting bored and scrolling away.
That’s the thing about making educational content as a parent or casual teacher, right? You end up making it based on what you think a “good” educational video should look like, not what the kid actually needs. I was tailoring it to unspoken rules I picked up from adult creators, not to the person sitting in front of the screen who just wants to get their homework done so they can go back to playing tag.
I went back and adjusted that fractions video that same afternoon. I cut the 2-minute intro down to a 5-second “fractions help, problem 7” text card. I added a 3-second on-screen countdown where I’d originally left the long pauses, with text that says “Pause here to solve it yourself” so kids know when to stop the video on their own, instead of waiting for me. I added timestamps for each step at the bottom of the description, just like Lila asked. When I did my next video on mixed numbers, I added two different explanations: the algorithm way the school uses, and the pizza fraction way Mia said made more sense to her when I explained it offline.
I don’t do big formal surveys or anything, and if you make videos for your kids, your class, or a small co-op like me, you don’t need to either. Just grab two or three kids who fit the age group you’re making them for, give them a snack they like, and ask three specific questions. First, what part made you zone out or check something else? Second, what do you wish was here that isn’t? Third, what was still confusing after you finished watching? That takes 10 minutes, max, and you get way more useful info than any online course about educational video creation.
Javi’s mom texted me two weeks ago that his homework time went from almost 45 minutes a night to 25, because he doesn’t have to rewatch entire videos or wait around for me to get to the part he needs. Mia says she doesn’t leave the video playing in another tab while she draws anymore, because she can get what she needs and go.
It’s not all perfect, of course. Last week I posted a long division video, and Mia told me I talked too fast through the step where you carry the remainder, so I had to pull it and re-film that section. I still forget timestamps sometimes, and I still leave the occasional 10 second pause when I knock my notes off the stack of textbooks. I don’t make these for a big audience, so I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to be useful.
This week I’m working on a video about calculating area for the co-op’s 5th grade group. I already wrote a note in my script to add a timestamp specifically for counting half-squares, because that’s where every kid got stuck last unit. I’m not planning a fancy intro, and I’m not going to re-film it three times to get it just right. If it doesn’t work, I’ll ask the kids what went wrong, and I’ll fix it for next time. The people watching the videos are the only ones who get to say if they work, anyway.
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