Parents of school-aged children across the country are appreciating their kids’ teachers ten times more these days. School closures due to COVID-19 have forced parents to step into the role of home-educators. For many, it’s been no easy task....
Parents of school-aged children across the country are appreciating their kids’ teachers ten times more these days.
School closures due to COVID-19 have forced parents to step into the role of home-educators. For many, it’s been no easy task.
Here’s all of our coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, which we will be updating every day.
To help fill the days and keep your kids learning, we’ve compiled a list of companies, organizations and programs providing free online education resources. These are mostly for children in elementary to middle school grades. Your teens probably don’t need — or want — your assistance navigating the internet.
Use these resources to complement any recommended learning materials from your kids’ teachers or school district. And remember, this transition is a learning curve for everyone, so have patience with your kiddos — and yourself.
1. Audible
Bored with the books you have at home? Audible is offering free access for students to listen to audio books online.
You can search for your favorite stories or authors, check out titles grouped by age or browse categories like literary classics or fairy tales.
2. Babbel
Babbel is offering three months of free language lessons for students from kindergarten through college. Learn one of 13 different languages through conversation and repetition.
Speech recognition technology helps ensure kids are speaking correctly, and personalized reviews helps them retain the knowledge.
3. BrainPOP
BrainPOP uses videos, games and interactive activities to teach elementary and middle school students a variety of subjects, including science, social studies, health and art. It also has webinars for parents about how to teach kids transitioning to a remote learning environment.
4. History
The History Channel offers a digital classroom with study guides, biography lessons, daily happenings in history and more. It is also providing free access to a collection of educational shows that fit middle and high school history curriculum.
5. Khan Academy
As a nonprofit, Khan Academy provides free educational resources year round. This is a great site to turn to for courses on math, science and other topics.
For children ages 2 to 7, try Khan Academy Kids.
Khan Academy also created schedules for parents to use at home for their kids — broken down by age groups.
6. Math Learning Center
Math Learning Center has lessons, workbooks and apps for students from kindergarten to fifth grade to stay on course. There are also games to help make math fun.
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7. National Geographic
National Geographic Kids helps students explore the world from home. There’s fun content about animals, people and places. Kids can play games, take quizzes and learn experiments.
8. PBS Kids
The parent site for PBS Kids offers advice on helping children learn at home in fun ways. Hone in on specific topics — from math and literacy to self awareness and social skills — and get instructions for crafts and experiments.
Sign up for the PBS Kids newsletter for daily activities and tips.
9. Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is letting students learn a foreign language with its program at no cost for the next three months. Kids can learn one of more than 20 languages through immersion while getting feedback and reports on their progress.
Students as young as kindergarteners can use this tool.
10. Scholastic
Scholastic has three weeks of educational content for four different age groups, which span from pre-K through ninth grade. Children can read books and articles, watch videos and learn how to create projects at home.
Scholastic also offers free worksheets, a collection of science videos and an app called Home Base that lets readers connect with characters from their favorite books.
11. STEM From the Start
STEM for the Start teaches students through second grade about the concepts of science, technology, engineering and math. Three space aliens guide video lessons to make learning entertaining. There are quizzes so students can evaluate what they’ve learned.
12. Wow in the World
Wow in the World is an NPR podcast for kids ages 5 to 12 that explores science and technology. Full episodes are about 30 minutes or less. Kids with shorter attention spans can tune into “Two Whats?! and a Wow!” — game show spinoff with episodes less than 10 minutes long.
Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.