84 Coronavirus Homeschool Resources from a Public School Teacher

We apparently don’t “carry the 1” anymore.

I'll be continuing to answer questions from wedding, event, and hospitality pros (for free) here on the blog, but today we’re going to tackle the new role you may have suddenly found yourself in: home school teacher (and principal, and P.E. coach, and cafeteria cook, and janitor . . . ).

My friend Crystal, a public school teacher in Texas with a Masters in Education degree, was kind enough to send over some resources that she and her colleagues have been sharing with the parents of their students.

You may find these resources especially helpful if your own school district hasn’t provided much guidance. Resources for students with dyslexia, students with special education needs, and students who may need Autism support are included, as well as kid-friendly resources for mental/emotional health and effectively managing any COVID-19 related anxiety.

In addition, I am not including educational resources that require a district license or specific school/student log-in (Xtra Math, Discovery Education, etc). If your kids’ schools require those platforms, they should have log-in information for you.

First things first, as always, we’re starting off by focusing on the splendid:


Focus on the Splendid

We're an industry that makes our living by celebrating life's milestones, so I'm going to start each of these update posts with a few positive COVID-19 things we can all smile about:

GLOBAL RECOVERY RATE

The recovery rate is now more than 92,000 people, up from 87,500 yesterday.


PRIVATE PIANO CONCERT

84 Resources for Educating Your Kids at Home During Coronavirus


A note of encouragement and resources from my friend Crystal, a public school teacher:

I’m now trying to work at home with kiddos underfoot too (it’s no joke). But my hope is that this will in some way recenter us. The ordinary moments hold the gold. I had such peace today working from home with my boys in reach.

Stressful moments to juggle for sure (video meeting about to start with my youngest screaming crying, banging on the front door), but we are all in a similar place and I hope we can all extend empathy to each other.

I know that everyone's situation is different during this time. My hope is to give you as many options as possible, so that you find the best solution for your family. 


GETTING STARTED RESOURCES

  1. Best practices and ideas for learning at home

  2. Resources for families



KID-FRIENDLY COVID-19 RESOURCES

  1. Kid-friendly comic explaining Coronavirus

  2. Managing anxiety around COVID-19

  3. Coronavirus topic and lesson plan from BrainPOP

  4. Social Story about Coronavirus (created specifically for students with Autism)

  5. Guidance for Speaking With Kids About COVID-19



GENERAL & MULTI-CURRICULUM RESOURCES

  1. Jack Hartmann YouTube Channel: ‘Songs focus on learning numbers, counting, the alphabet, nursery rhymes, letter sounds, reading, math, science, fitness and more.’

  2. BrainPOP: Includes resources for STEM, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar, Listening, Health, Arts, and Music.


    ’If your school is closed due to the COVID-19 virus, click here to receive free, unlimited use of the full BrainPOP suite during the period of closure. You will receive an email with instructions on next steps to set up your account.’ 

  3. PBS Kids: Instructional games [K-5]

  4. Starfall: ‘Starfall teaches through positive reinforcement to ensure children become confident, intrinsically motivated, and successful.’ [PreK-3]

  5. Khan Academy Kids app: ‘Children can learn reading, language, writing, math, social-emotional development, problem-solving skills, and motor development. Open-ended activities and games like drawing, storytelling, and coloring encourage creativity and self-expression.’

  6. Funbrain: ‘Games, books, comics, and videos that develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving and literacy.’ [PreK-8]


  7. National Geographic Kids

  8. SoftSchools.com: Free worksheets and games in every subject. Includes literature summaries for secondary grade levels (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, To Kill A Mockingbird, etc). [K-12]


  9. Scholastic StudyJams: Lessons and activities for science and math. [K-12]

  10. Annenberg Learner: Educational resources on a variety of topics including art, math, social studies, history, science, etc. [K-12]

  11. DynaNotes: Educational resources for math, science, social studies. [3-12]


READING, WRITING, & LANGUAGE RESOURCES

  1. Sight Words: ‘Create flash cards, games and practice activities for learning vocabulary, phonics and increase language skills.’

  2. Poetry4Kids.com: Resource from Kenn Nesbitt, former Children’s Poet Laureate, featuring ‘lots of funny poems for kids, classic children’s poems, games, poetry lessons and activities, plus a rhyming dictionary and videos.’ [Reading levels K-9]

  3. Storyline Online: ‘Videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more. Each book includes supplemental curriculum developed by a credentialed elementary educator, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners.’

  4. ReadTheory: Personalized reading comprehension exercises. [K-12 & ESL]

  5. Cursive Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou app

  6. NoRedInk.com: Online resources to practice writing and editing skills. [6-12]

  7. ReadWorks:  Reading activities. [K-12]

  8. Foreign Language Class Resources (Non-English) [6-12]



MATH RESOURCES

  1. Math-Drills.com: If you have access to a printer, all Math Fact Tests (and keys) are printable. This is one of the student’s favorite exercises in the classroom!  You can set a 5-minute timer, have them write their name and date on the back, when you say “Ready-Set-GO!” they flip their test over and begin filling in their answers. You can use the key to score their test and track their improvement. These are gold for 1st-3rd graders!

  2. SplashLearn [K-5]

  3. Geoboard app: ‘Learners stretch bands around the pegs to form line segments and polygons and make discoveries about perimeter, area, angles, congruence, fractions, and more.’ [K-5]

  4. Math Playground: ‘Includes a wide variety of math topics, from problem solving and mathematical art to real world math and thinking games.’ [1-6]


SCIENCE RESOURCES

  1. Living or Non-Living app: ‘Dividing the world into living and nonliving things. Using the characteristics of living things, students will sort and classify objects into the two categories.’

  2. Play and Learn Science app: ‘Games that help them learn core scientific concepts, all while building and developing problem-solving skills.’

  3. Seek by iNaturalist app: ‘Use the power of image recognition technology to identify the plants and animals all around you.’


  4. Project Learning Tree: ‘Helps develop students’ awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of the environment, builds their skills and ability to make informed decisions, and encourages them to take personal responsibility for sustaining the environment and our quality of life that depends on it.’ [PreK-12]

  5. Ology: Educational lessons, activities, and games from the American Museum of Natural History. Topics include archaeology, genetics, marine biology, biodiversity, zoology, physics, and more.



SOCIAL STUDIES RESOURCES

  1. Khan Academy [6-12]

  2. iCivics: educational games on the topics of government and civics [9-12]

  3. Geography Now! Countries A-Z: YouTube channel that covers every single country of the world. [9-12]

  4. Crash Course Videos on YouTube [9-12]



COMPUTER SCIENCE & CODING LITERACY RESOURCES

  1. CODE.org: Learn computer science from basics coding with blocks to more advanced programming. [K-12]

  2. Scratch from MIT: ‘The ability to code computer programs is an important part of literacy in today’s society. When people learn to code in Scratch, they learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas.’ [3-12]

  3. ScratchJr: ‘Young children can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer.’ [PreK-2]

  4. Tynker: Offers self-paced online courses for children to learn coding. Complies with Common Core standards. [1-8]


DYSLEXIA RESOURCES

  1. Dance Mat Typing

  2. Typing Club

  3. Learning Ally: online audiobooks for students



SPECIAL EDUCATION RESOURCES

  1. SnapType App: ‘Helps students keep up with their peers in class, even when their penmanship holds them back. Take a picture and type into document. Students feel more self-confident, intelligent and independent.’

  2. Socratic Math & Homework Help App: ‘Take a photo of your homework question and get INSTANT explanations, graphs, videos and step-by-step help.’

  3. Accessibyte: Educational apps for hearing impaired and visually impaired students.

  4. Control Alt Achieve: Google Chrome extensions for struggling students and special needs.

  5. MobyMax: Everything you need to find and fix learning gaps.



STRUCTURED SUPPORT & AUTISM SUPPORT RESOURCES

  1. Boardmaker: Symbols and activities to create visual schedules, activities, and social stories

  2. How to set up an independent work box station

  3. Ideas for work tasks

  4. Autism Games: Teacher and parent guide to games for children with moderate to severe Autism. Topics include coping with change, schedules, identifying emotions, etc. (Adobe Flash required)

  5. Kidmunicate: This site allows parents to build social stories for students who need help processing situations.

  6. How to write a social story



MENTAL HEALTH & SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) RESOURCES

  1. SEL Practices: Science-based practices for kinder, happier schools.

  2. Breath Ball app: Relieve stress and anxiety.

  3. The Adventures of Super Stretch: ‘An educational fitness program offering simple yet effective resiliency tips and tools to eliminate stress and anxiety. Flip the negative switch in the mind and plug into your super powers to live a healthy, happy life. Learn positive, skillful solutions to respond wisely and enjoy life’s ever-changing adventures.’

  4. Student mindfulness videos



BRAIN BREAKS

  1. Take Brain Breaks! GoNoodle.com is a great place for brain breaks, and you can even do it “with” your student! 



ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

  1. From Pobble: Non-screen activities you can do at home.

  2. Teachers Pay Teachers: A great resource for parents without a district providing instruction and materials. You can search by grade level and there are many free printables (others you have to pay for).

  3. Super Teacher Worksheets: Another parent purchased a very large learning packet for $25 and it seems like it's teaching and assessing valuable, grade appropriate skills.

Written by
LIENE STEVENS

Liene Stevens, the founder and CEO of Think Splendid, is an author, speaker, and award-winning business strategist. Armed with $2000, a healthy work ethic, and an undeserved dose of privilege, Liene bootstrapped Think Splendid from a scribble in a notebook to a successful wedding business consulting firm with a client list spanning 94 countries.

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