Free Homeschooling Resources for Parents During COVID-19
Posted by : Admin
Across the country, schools are closing to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19. This has many families seeking homeschooling resources to keep their children busy and learning during the pandemic. We understand that being stuck at home can be challenging in many ways, so we’ve pulled together 10 free homeschooling tools for parents doubling as teachers for the next few weeks.
1. Create a Schedule with Schedule Maker:
Children crave routine. Being at school allows students to focus on the task at hand, plan for meals and breaks, and stay active throughout the day. Being home all day can make it easy to slip out of the daily routine, making it difficult for kids and parents to focus. Creating a schedule with a schedule maker is a quick and easy way to keep everyone on track. Here’s a free homeschooling schedule template to help you get started. Simply download the PDF into Adobe Acrobat or PDF reader of choice and edit to fit your child’s needs.
2. Create Day-by-Day Projects to Keep Kids Reading, Thinking, and Growing:
Creating a daily schedule is the single most important step you can take in keeping you and your children sane while you’re cooped up inside. You’ll soon realize, however, that doing the same thing every day will get boring and eventually reverse the desired outcome – kids will disconnect from the activities and parents will have a harder time enforcing good habits. Adding in new day-by-day projects will break up the monotony and give everyone something to look forward to. Scholastic has create these helpful free resources for students from Pre-K to 9th grade.
3. Bring Your Kids on Virtual Field Trips:
While much of the outside world has been closed off to groups of visitors, it’s still possible –more than ever thanks to the internet – to explore many of our nation’s landmarks and cultural attractions virtually. Take a trip to the San Diego Zoo, explore the natural wonders of Yellowstone National Park, or even blast off to Mars!
4. Take a Brain Break with a Fun Activity:
While it’s important to keep your children learning in their time away from school, it’s equally as important to take breaks and have fun. The folks at Hello, Wonderful have shared 50 fun and easy indoor activities for your family to enjoy. That’s enough to keep you busy for 10 weeks! But, let’s hope everything’s back to normal by then.
5. Go for a Walk in the Park:
In this time of social distancing, it’s still possible to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Local parks, trails, and public spaces offer a refreshing escape from the cabin fever you may be feeling. Use the free bird identifier by Merlin to spot birds in your area. You can also identify trees along the trail with the Arbor Day Foundation’s “What Tree is That?” tool.
6. Exercise Your Inner Scientist:
Kids love science. It’s a combination of magic and learning that everyone can get on board with. Every weekday at 10 a.m. PDT, the California Science Center is livestreaming “Stuck at Home Science,” a new video series of science activities you can do at home. Teen science fans will love Nova Labs at PBS, where they’ll discover multimedia experiences that combine video, animation and games to delve into fascinating scientific topics, such as polar ecosystems, solar storms and renewable energy.
7. Get Creative:
Art provides a relaxing, quiet way for students to flex their creativity. Color Our Collections offers free PDF downloads of coloring pages created from art in the collections of 117 institutions, including The New York Academy of Medicine Library, Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, and RISD Museum. Artist and writer Mo Willems is hosting daily Lunch Doodles video sessions every weekday at 1 p.m. EDT. Each daily episode is accompanied by a downloadable activity page.
8. Stay Calm with Family Yoga:
Need a good stretch, or just a relaxing way for the whole family to move? LV Yoga Fareham is offering free yoga classes, which are being live-streamed on its Facebook page. The yoga studio is offering children’s yoga classes every day.
9. Get Cooking:
Having some extra hands at home means that everyone can get involved in meal prep. Cooking together as a family sparks creativity, gets kids invested in trying new foods, and can create some fun memories along the way. Each weekday at 1 pm EST, Delish.com has announced that its editorial director, Joanna Saltz, and her kids will go live on Instagram to share cook-along videos for parents and children. The ingredients are revealed ahead of time so you can add them to your grocery shopping list.
10. End the Day with a Dance Party:
Music is the universal language. Take time at the end of each day to shake off the stress of the day and have fun. Cut up a bunch of pieces of paper (we’ll say 50+), write a different band or musician on each and place in a jar on the counter. Each day, take turns picking a band to listen to from the jar. This is a great way to learn about the musical tastes of your family.
It’s important to remember to take this time day by day and that we’re all in this together. We hope you find these tips helpful. Let us know how you and your family are staying busy and active.
