Kids across the country are out of school. Suddenly, we’re all home-school moms (or dads)— a title many of us never sought. Some of us are still working full- or part-time while doing this homeschooling thing. But here’s the thing… we don’t have to do e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Fortunately, there are some amazing educational resources out there.
Here are a few tips that might make life easier for you and your child:
- Set goals.
- Stick to a schedule.
- Designate a specific space for learning. If possible, create the space away from televisions and video games.
- Ask your kids’ teachers about remotely accessing district-approved learning materials.
Here are some online educational resources that will help you and your kids make the most of their time away from class:
ABC Mouse – This early learning academy is designed for children aged 2-8. More than 9,000 activities and the first month is free.
ABC Ya – If your kids don’t already use this one, it’s a great time to start. ABCya provides more than 400 fun and educational games for grades pre-k through 6.
Adventure Academy – From the creators of ABC Mouse, this is the next step — designed for kids 8-13. Learning videos and games for math, reading, science and more. Sign up to get a free month.
Amazing Educational Resources – This is a bare-bones website, but it has a dozens and dozens of great resources (many of them free — at least temporarily) and the fine folks there are continually updating it.
Bill Nye The Science Guy – This is a site full of the popular children’s science show episodes. They’re broken down into life science, physical science and planetary science lessons.
Brainpop – Free access for students whose schools are closed due to COVID-19.
The site even has a section teaching kids (at their level) about coronavirus.
DK find out! – You know those dozens of DK children’s books dotting the library? This is their website. It has free resources for parents, as well as videos and interactive fun on a variety of subjects.
Duolingo – Learn a language (or multiple languages) for free. Yep, you heard that right. No hidden fees. No premium content. Free. And it’s really fun and user friendly.
Education Galaxy – Education Galaxy provides online assessment for students to help prepare them for state testing. Education Galaxy is built to state standards and provides an effective way for students to master all their state standards.
Epic! – Thousands of books and videos online for kids 12 and under. There’s a 30-day free trial.
Frontiers for Young Minds – A free collection of science-related material for kids. If your child likes medical stuff, this is a great resource.
Funbrain – Pre-k through 8th grade, Funbrain offers hundreds of games, books, comics, and videos that develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving and literacy.
Go Noodle – Get kids m-o-v-i-n-g with this free online program. Lots of schools use it to help kids get the wiggles out. Think of it as “active screen time” to wake up kids’ bodies and engage their minds.
Highlights Kids – Remember the Highlights magazines from your own childhood? This is Highlights 2.0 with games, jokes, activities and more!
History for Kids – A student in Ireland started building this site when he was 12 as part of a school project. He’s 14 now and this site is fantastic — history, described in terms kids will understand and love.
Homer – Designed for kids aged 2-8, this is a customizable reading program. It’s free for the first month.
Into the Book – A reading comprehension resource for elementary students. It focuses on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Lots of online interactive activities.
IXL – This site offers a K-12 curriculum, starting at $9.95 per month. The page is broken down by grade level and subject matter, so you can choose exactly what your child needs.
Khan Academy – Free, online excercises, quizzes and videos in lots of subjects. This nonprofit’s mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.
Kids Activities Blog – This is a big list of education companies offering free subscriptions due to school closings.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems – Draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day. New episodes are posted each weekday at 1 pm EST.
Minecraft: Education Edition – In light of school closings, Microsoft has extended access to this program to support remote learning. See details here.
MobyMax – Many school districts have subscriptions to this online program. Check with your child’s teacher to see whether they might and if so, how to log in from home. There is also a “Start using Moby Max free” bar on the right side of the page for homeschool families.
Museums – Travel + Leisure has assembled a list of some of the world’s most famous museums that you can virtually tour from home.
National Geographic for Kids – This is the little-person version of the 132-year-old yellow border magazine. Parents might learn something, too!
Outschool – Live, low-cost, online classes for ages 3-18. Access to 10,000 small group video chat classes—created and taught by teachers.
PBS Kids – Need to plop your little ones somewhere safe for 30 minutes? How about the Rocky Mountain PBS website? They can play with Daniel Tiger and Elmo while you finish the dishes.
Prodigy Game – This free math platform is a HUGE hit at our house. As in… my kids will turn off X-Box and ask to play this instead. It’s designed for grades 1-8.
Quiver Vision – 3D augmented reality for kids. This is flat out cool. Download the app, print out some pages, let your kids color them, then hover the phone over the page. The characters your kids colored will jump to life with movement, music and even games.
Raddish Kids – Want your kids to learn to cook? Discover delicious activities for kids of all ages! Raddish is giving away 25,000 kits for free.
Raz-Kids – Designed for K-5 students, this reading site from Learning A-Z offers a free trial.
Reading Eggs – This program covers a wide spectrum of ages — from 2 to 13. Lots of games, songs and rewards to keep kids motivated.
Reading Plus – If your child has a school account for this, get the login info, so you can be using it at home, too.
Scholastic Learn at Home – This free resource provides children with 20 days of exciting articles and stories, videos and learning challenges. Children can complete them anytime, in any order. They can work on their own or with family.
Seussville – There are games to play. Things to do. Clips to watch. Explore Seussville, you!
Shmoop – For high schoolers who are planning for college. Online test prep (ACT, SAT, AP and more). Online courses. Study guides.
Squiggle Park – Bite-sized video games help independently build mastery of foundational reading skills through practice and play.
Starfall – This site opened in 2002 as a free public service to teach children to read. Since then, it has expanded to include language arts and mathematics for pre-k through 3rd grade.
Storyline Online – The Screen Actors Guild has commandeered some of their top stars to read popular books to kids. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more.
Switch Zoo – Listen, watch and play games to learn about animals. Then, switch them up and make your own.
Teach Your Monster To Read – This site is fantastic for the younger set. It covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences. The computer version is free.
Typing Agent – Check with your child’s teacher. If they use this at school, they can continue at home — they just need their login and password. A fun program that has classmates competing for top spot!
Typing Club – A free online typing tutorial, kids can practice a few minutes each day to achieve big results.
Which of the above sites have your kids tried? Tell us which ones you love and please let us know if there are others we should add to the list.
Need more ideas?
Check out this post about pairing children’s books with the corresponding movies. Or this mega list of board games, books and other activities to keep your sanity during these unusual times.
