30+ Learn At-Home Resources For Your Child

At-Home School. Distance Learning. Virtual Schooling – all terms we never expected to associate with our child’s education. And yet, here we are. In some states, districts, and schools, parents are feeling well supported. In others, parents are struggling – with technology, expectations, educational support.

For those navigating this uncertainty, Pride & Grit contributor Lindsay Kuniyuki summarized NINE years of research as a home school mom. I know, most of us aren’t actually “home schooling”. We’re doing our best to keep our kids engaged. We’re doing our best to minimize added stress. We’re simply doing our best to try and meet the expectations of our kids’ teachers and school. Doing our best is all any of us can do.

So, if today is a rockstar day where you feel like you’re nailing this distance schooling thing with your kiddos – acknowledge it and celebrate it! If today wasn’t your day, or your kiddo’s day, we hear you. We are you. Often. Tuck this extensive list of resources away for that day when you are curious if there are resources you could leverage to help your kiddo stay engaged.

Check out Lindsay’s list of resources. Want to add your favorites?  Comment with your own additions and we’ll add them in and list you as the contributor. *Note there are no affiliate links in this article. 

Books

Library (local and military) for ebooks and audiobooks with apps like OverDrive and Libby.

Librivox (website and app) for free public domain ebooks and audiobooks – find nearly all the classics here for free!

Storyline Online is a fun resource providing both a visual and auditory experience as storytellers read popular picture books to their audience. 

Gateway to the Classics is another wonderful online source for public domain books.

Heritage History has an excellent free online library of historical literature.

Read Aloud Revival with Sarah MacKenzie is an excellent resource if you need help choosing quality books for children of any age. Her blog and podcast are excellent sources of information and interviews that will inspire and encourage you to begin or continue your real aloud journey. There is a membership option, but most of her information is available for free.

Music

Hoffman Academy for piano lessons.

His videos are free, but membership gets you the whole experience. Mr. Hoffman is an enjoyable and engaging teacher, and the best part is a one-year membership is about equal in cost to a month of in-person lessons. Obviously, in-person is always best, but in these social-distancing times, here is an easy and cost-effective way to start or keep up lessons.

Ukulele Underground for ukulele lessons.

Science

Supercharged Science. This rocket scientist turned homeschool mom developed a fun and engaging science curriculum. Membership gives you access to her online videos and most of the experiments use common household items. Follow her on FB for her occasional free science classes.

The Happy Scientist is back on FB and sharing his videos for those of us stuck at home. He is engaging and free! 

Art Tutorials

So many art tutorials have been popping up during this crisis! It’s awesome! Some long time favorites in my house are:

  • Let’s Make Art for watercolor.
  • Step by Step Painting for acrylic on canvas.
  • On YouTube
  • And I’ll plug my lovely, artistic sister-in-law, who is an art teacher, the director of a homeschool fine arts co-op in Texas, and happens to be a fellow military spouse. She has been posting tutorials on the school page: Emmanuel School of Fine Arts. You’ll find art, music, Lego robotics, and more on their FB page.

Math

Khan Academy is an excellent free resource for more than just math.

ABCya is part of IXL, which is used by a lot of districts. There are math games for pre-K through 6th grade.  

Math Playground math games for 1st through 6th grades. 

Slice Fractions app – super fun math app for those kiddos learning fractions.

Math Bingo app

Geography

Geo Touch app – great for learning USA states and capitals and world countries and capitals, and more!

Foreign Language

  • Many Military libraries offer free access to Mango online. Mango offers lessons in over 70 languages.

    DuoLingo website and app offers free language lessons in 35 languages. 

General Education

  • Khan Academy is an excellent free resource for more than just math. There are video tutorials for tackling science concepts, as well as many other subjects. Really great resource.
  • Teach Me app – for the early elementary grades these apps for K-3rd grade can’t be beat.
  • Crash Course on YouTube – these clever and educational videos are really well done and a great review of different topics. Best for older kids.
  • ABCya uses games to teach subjects from typing to math to science and everything in between. 
  • The Great Courses online classes – This site offers classes in many subjects, including history, art history, foreign languages, science, math, philosophy, and so much more! They are well reviewed, and many homeschoolers utilize them for high school courses. These are especially wonderful for your older students. 

Reading for Littles

LeapFrog Letter Factory and LeapFrog Word Factory 30 minute videos. Absolutely the best. Sometimes they can be found on Netflix, or you can rent or purchase to stream or on dvd from Amazon. Money well spent! 

BOB books I cannot say enough good things about these books. The pride a child feels when they’ve read a whole book all by themselves right after just learning letter sounds! It’s priceless. Libraries often have these wonderful little books, but with so many closed, your best bet is to order them. 

Other
Favorites

Have a kid that wants to learn chess or one who is already competitive? Check out Chess KidLessons and opportunities to play other kids in a safe online environment with no texting or other communication, just straight chess. 

Executive Function – If you or your child struggle with executive function, Seth Perler has many tips and videos to help parents help their kids succeed at home now and when they do eventually go back to school. Life skills. 

Don’t forget Home Economics! Chores are life skills. Take this time to teach them how to wash dishes, do their own laundry, use the vacuum, clean a toilet. And cook together! Watch cooking or baking shows and have cook-offs in your house. This small investment of time will pay off in big dividends for the rest of their lives. 

And if your kids want to practice their typing lessons, try typing.com. The best part of this site is that it tracks your child’s progress, for free. Dance Mat is another great option for young beginners to learn typing skills. 

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30+ Learn At-Home Resources For Your Child

At-Home School. Distance Learning. Virtual Schooling – all terms we never expected to associate with our child’s education. And yet, here we are. In some states, districts, and schools, parents are feeling well supported. In others, parents are struggling – with technology, expectations, educational support.

Read More »

4 Responses

  1. I can’t believe I forgot Sign Language! My 5yo just came in and signed a question and I realized my terrible mistake. ?‍♀️

    For little ones Signing Time videos can’t be beat. https://www.signingtime.com

    For all ages I really like LifePrint with Bill Vicars. Often we just search his YouTube videos, but he has a website with more information: https://www.lifeprint.com

  2. Thank you for writing this and sharing your knowledge, Lindsay! It is very helpful and reassuring to lean on your experience as we try to do our best in this new normal.

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