Are your kids stuck at home due to coronavirus COVID-19? Want some free educational ways to keep them engaged while school is closed?
Here are some free ways to keep them engaged and perhaps even build on subjects that get less focus throughout the school year:
Comprehensive Education
Looking to keep up on all the subjects? Check out these great K-12 resources. Thank you to all of my friends that shared these on Facebook!
- Khan Academy: Super amazing video-based site designed to help schools around the globe have access to free, excellent education. From early math to Physics, Science and Engineering to History and Economics, this site has a ton of options. They are even offering help getting started for families who are out of school with COVID-19 here.
- Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool: from Science to History, Art to Language Arts, Math to Spanish, this one has a ton of options.
- Ambleside Online: these are free Charlotte-Mason style school resources online.
- Scholastic: offering free online materials due to COVID-19.
- Lark’s Song: offers a free kids well-being program.
- Comprehensive List of Education Companies offering Free Programs due to COVID-19
- Hoopla and Tumblebooks: library apps with tons of books and activities for kids (if your library has these).
- IXL: This one is not free, but comes highly recommended.
Learn to Type
Dance Mat Typing is a fun, free, and hilarious way for kids to learn to type from home. It progresses logically, with each lesson building on 2 or more letters until children are able to type the whole alphabet. My kids love the cartoons and reward songs at the end. They will wait to type the last letter in each lesson until the whole family gathers round to enjoy and laugh together about the songs at the end.
Dance Mat Typing
Learn to Draw
Get out some pencils, markers or pens and give your kids the chance to learn to draw. I started to believe the lie as a kid that only a few talented kids could really draw. My homeschool friends confidently cleared that up, having had teachers that believed and proved that anyone can. Take some time to build your kids’ confidence in their ability to draw. Here are a couple Youtube sites my son loves:
Learn a New Language
Since language teaching is my thing, this is especially exciting. While kids are young, they are able to achieve native pronunciation in a second language, so it’s a great time to start. If you don’t have a teacher, I’m partial to Pimsleur programs, which most libraries carry in CD form. Our library offers language-learning apps as well. My friend Julie shared this awesome site if you are learning Spanish:
The Fable Cottage: Fairy Tales in Spanish
Learn to Read Better
Whatever age your kids are, you can have them spend a minimum of 30 minutes to an hour a day reading. Some families have the requirement that for every hour on screens, you have to spend at least one hour reading. Having some kind of screen rule that fits your family can promote hands-on play (Check out How Play Can Make or Break our Kids’ Futures), reading and more. If your kids are still learning to read, I have a whole post on this here:
Teach Your Kids To Read- Inexpensively and Effectively
Learn Math Better
Tons of resources are out there for Math work. I use Dad’s Math Worksheets nearly every day alongside our homeschool curriculum. We do the spaceship math to ensure we’ve got the memory down. Check out these homeschool sites for more:
Learn to Code
Give your kids the chance to learn computer coding. Khan Academy and Code.org have this.
Learn to Solve Problems
With the ubiquitous job market our kids will face- so different from what was available to us, our kids will need to do two things well:
- Be completely human (do things computers can’t)
- Solve problems
So, why not load your kids up with opportunities to solve problems, doing puzzles, mind-benders, logic puzzles and more. Even better, have them look for problems others around them face and create (and even provide or market) their solution.
Have Fun!
Enjoying time with your kids is one of the best gifts on earth. Think about the time you have with them from their perspective, and communicate in word and action that you:
- treasure them
- value them
- respect them
- believe in them
What About You?
What do you do to keep your kids learning from home? Please share in the comments. Links are welcome!
More Like This:
Sip Life Slowly is here to provide resources as you seek to delight in the macro and micro of life in community with your whole heart. More posts are to come with ideas for fun things to do from home with your kids, so be sure to follow. You may also like:
- Family Book Theater
- DIY Beach Day at Home
- Teach Your Kids To Read- Inexpensively and Effectively
- 5 Ways to Engage With your Kids
- The Key to Both Wisdom and Knowledge
- 10 Life Breathing Phrases To Speak Life to Your Kids
Copyright © 2020 Angela Edmonds. All rights reserved.
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