Teaching Kids Sign Language with Self-Paced Online Classes

My son has always been fascinated by foreign languages. He loves the idea that he could use words from a different language to tell a message. It’s like a secret code to him. That’s why he was so excited to discover the Mr. D Math ASL Elementary program! This self-paced course for elementary school students is perfect for teaching kids sign language at home. Read on to learn about how we used this course in our homeschool.

I received compensation and access to Mr. D Math ASL Elementary in exchange for my honest review, but all the opinions in this post are my own. This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission for purchases made through those links.

What is Mr. D Math ASL Elementary?

The Mr. D Math ASL Elementary program is a self-paced online class that teaches American Sign Language to kids in elementary school. The program includes 32 video lessons, plus worksheets, coloring pages, quizzes, and more to help kids remember the simple signs they are learning.

What is ASL?

ASL stands for American Sign Language. When people talk in ASL, they use their hand signs and facial expressions to communicate, instead of spoken words. ASL is legally recognized as a foreign language in most of the United States, and the language includes over 4,000 different ASL signs.

Who is Mr. D?

Dennis DiNoia is a teacher with over 30 years of experience teaching a variety of subjects, including math, test prep, and life skills. His extensive library of both live and self-paced online courses help homeschoolers learn middle and high school math, as well as college and career readiness, high school grammar, music and dance, test prep skills, and more.

Learn more about Dennis DiNoia and Mr. D Math here.

Mr. D also encourages parents on his podcast, A+ Parents. On the podcast, Mr. D interviews homeschool experts and parents about how to help our kids become independent, self-directed learners.

Listen to the A+ Parents Podcast here.

Benefits of Learning Sign Language

Communicate with people who are deaf or hard of hearing

Learning ASL as a second language is a great way to help your child be able to communicate with a deaf friend or family members who may be deaf. But even if you don’t know any deaf people personally, there are many benefits to learning sign language as a member of the hearing community.

First Communication

Baby signing is an important trend that can help parents have better communication with their babies at an earlier age. Babies can learn their first signs at just a few months of age, long before they speak their first words. Using baby signs can help your infant with verbal communication and language acquisition as well.

Communication Skills

For older kids, learning ASL is a great way to practice communication and language skills. As young children learn basic signs, they get the great benefit of learning a new language that will help them with their communication of spoken language, and even their social and emotional skills too.

Fun to Learn

Sign language is a lot of fun to learn, which means that it is a great way to give kids a positive learning experience with a foreign language at a young age. Learning common signs can feel like practicing a secret code, and kids often really enjoy the use of gestures to represent common words.

Understand Other Cultures

Learning a new language is a great way to help kids understand different cultures, and sign language is no different. While your child is learning basic sign language, this is a great time to help them understand the deaf community and deaf culture. Learning important signs can be one of the best ways to create teachable moments in your homeschool about a different culture.

Multisensory Learning

Teaching sign language to our own children is a great idea because it is a multisensory way to practice language skills. Child development tells us that kids often learn better and remember more when they learn with multiple senses. ASL also allows kids to practice fine motor skills in lots of fun and easy ways.

Practice Spelling

One of the most common ways to start learning ASL is with finger spelling, and often kids learn the alphabet before learning signs for an individual word. Learning the ASL alphabet can be a great way to encourage kids to practice their spelling, and finger spelling words can be a good way to help kids remember them.

Teaches Critical Thinking

The process of learning ASL has many long-term cognitive benefits, including building problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Practicing sign language regularly is a great way to help kids develop these skills.

Listening Skills

Learning sign language is also a great way to help kids practice listening skills that will help them be better communicators of the spoken word too. Success in ASL requires skills like memory and concentration, and these skills are important in language development and communication for all kids.

How to Teach Sign Language with Self-Paced Online Classes

As a busy homeschool parent, I love how easy it is to teach my kids ASL with the Mr. D Math ASL Elementary program. The program includes so many features which meet the specific needs of homeschool families.

Self-Paced Lessons

When we logged into the course site, the first thing we noticed was a huge library of 32 lessons. The lessons can be completed in any order, and completing one lesson each week would make this a full-year homeschool curriculum.

Different Ways to Learn

Each lesson includes a video for kids to watch as well as extra materials for them to use for practice. Some of the lessons include worksheets, coloring pages, homework, and quizzes to help kids learn the material that was presented in the video.

Check out all of the Mr. D Math ASL Courses here.

Things We Like about Mr. D Math ASL Elementary Online Classes

Makes ASL Accessible to Homeschoolers

As a homeschool mom, I know there are many advantages of homeschooling, but I am always aware of the opportunities that my kids are missing out on because of the limits of my knowledge as their teacher. That’s why I love classes like Mr. D Math ASL Elementary. I don’t know any sign language myself, but it was easy to help my son watch the videos and I even learned some sign language along with him!

I love how easy this curriculum is to use, even for parents with no sign language experience. This is great news for parents who want their kids to learn ASL but aren’t sure where to start!

Check out what other homeschool parents had to say about Mr. D Math here.

No Prep Required

The Mr. D Math ASL Elementary curriculum is well organized, and this is good news for busy homeschool families. When it was time to practice sign language in our homeschool, all we had to do was log in to the course website and choose a video. The lessons and activities were all planned and ready to go, and there was no extra prep needed or supplies required.

As a busy homeschool mom, I am always looking for a curriculum that is easy to prep and easy to use, and Mr. D Math ASL Elementary fits the bill. We were even able to add in some extra lessons when my kids were bored and had a few minutes of free time because it was so easy to pick up the curriculum and use it right away.

Work At Your Own Pace

One of my favorite things about Mr. D Math ASL Elementary was the ability to work at our own pace.

The lessons can be completed in any order, which is such a good idea when encouraging young kids to learn a foreign language. I try to give my kids choices about what they learn in their homeschool as much as possible because this helps them take ownership of their learning and be more excited and motivated to learn.

When we were using Mr. D Math ASL Elementary, I was able to ask my kids what topic they wanted to learn about and let them choose the lesson for the day, and they loved that. My daughter loves animals, and so she was so excited to start with the animal lessons first.

When we were using the video lessons, we also discovered that we could change the speed of the videos, and I appreciated this. My kids are younger, so we were able to watch the videos at a slower speed to give them more time to understand and make the individual signs along with the video.

In addition, we could easily re-watch parts of the videos over and over to practice the signs. This was great for my son, who wanted to practice the same signs over and over to make sure he knew them. He was able to re-watch the same video and hear the lesson multiple times until he remembered it.

Perfect for Beginners

Mr. D ASL Elementary starts at the very beginning, introducing kids to sign language and teaching basic signs. The lessons teach sign language step by step and explain everything in a way that is perfect for even younger elementary students to understand.

Short Videos

The video lessons are definitely the best part of Mr. D Math ASL Elementary. I love that each video was short because this was perfect for the short attention span of my younger kids.

Each video taught just a few signs, and after watching the videos my kids felt confident and excited in their ability to use ASL.

I think if we had tried to watch too many videos at once my kids would have gotten frustrated and overwhelmed. I love that the curriculum breaks up a complicated language like ASL into manageable chunks that kids can learn.

Check out all of the Mr. D classes here.

Expert Teacher

All of the videos in Mr. D Math ASL Elementary are taught by Thia, who is a former homeschool student and sign language expert. My kids loved learning from her because she made sign language fun and easy for them to understand.

Practice Assignments

Once kids learn new signs in Mr. D Math ASL Elementary, they have lots of opportunities to practice what they have learned. My kids enjoyed the extra practice assignments. We were able to print the worksheets and coloring pages and use them for review throughout the week.

My daughter loved the coloring pages, and I loved that they included pictures showing the signs so that we could remember and practice the new signs my kids were learning any time.

Deaf Culture

I love that the Mr. D Math ASL ELementary curriculum goes beyond just teaching ASL to help kids understand a little bit about what it means to be deaf as well.

The curriculum includes lessons that help kids understand that deaf people can do anything hearing people can do, except hear. There is even an interview where kids ask common questions to a deaf person. These lessons are a great way to help kids understand deaf culture better, and are a rich addition to the course.

Kid-Friendly Topics

One of my favorite parts of the Mr. D Math ASL Elementary curriculum is how it focuses on kid-friendly topics that get kids excited to learn sign language. My kids loved choosing the lesson topic for the week. Lessons about colors, food, animals, and family were fun and relatable for my kids.

My daughter’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so one of the first lessons we tried was the birthday lesson. My kids were so excited to learn the birthday signs, and they have been practicing signing “birthday cake” to each other all week! I love that these kinds of fun topics are making ASL exciting for my kids.

Try it for Yourself

I am so glad that we found the Mr. D Math ASL Elementary program. My kids have really enjoyed learning sign language and the video lessons make it so fun and easy for them to learn new signs. I would highly recommend this curriculum to anyone who is excited about teaching kids sign language in their homeschool.

Learn more about Mr. D Math ASL Elementary and try it for yourself here.