Your Homeschooling Guide
Dear Parents!
Finding yourself trying to homeschool your home-bound kids while still juggling all your regular duties? Us too! Luckily, there are lots of companies, artists and organisations trying to help with virtual classroom activities. We’ve culled some of our favourites for you and built you a mock schedule. Don’t forget to build in breaks for lunch and recess!
1st Period: Math
Whether you aced Calculus or rely on your calculator, we’ve found online math resources for kids (and their grown-ups) for all ages and stages.
ABCMouse: Digital math activities for kids two to eight years old
Adapted Mind: Free math worksheets for first though ninth grade
CK-12: First grade through Pre-Calculus math activities
edHelper: Free daily math workbooks for first through sixth grade
ABCMouse: Digital math activities for kids two to eight years old
Adapted Mind: Free math worksheets for first though ninth grade
CK-12: First grade through Pre-Calculus math activities
edHelper: Free daily math workbooks for first through sixth grade
Eduten: Over 200,000 math tasks for first through ninth grade students
eMathStudio: Digital notebooks and tools, like math editor, calculator and graphing tools
Fiveable: Past and live stream courses on AP prep, Calculus and more
Khan Academy: Early math through AP Calculus
Math Playground: Hundreds of games on topics like shapes, graphs, fractions and decimals
Outschool: Numbers, fractions, statistics, probability and more
Prodigy: Math activities for first through eighth grade students
Varsity Tutors: Live, daily classes for kindergarten through high school seniors
2nd Period: Art
Get creative with Mo Willems, learn to draw Mickey Mouse or try some craft ideas for even the littlest of kids. These are our favourite online arts and crafts tutorials.
Transcendence Theatre Company - This English language/arts development program is offering free online videos that help kids not only develop their English skills, but also integrates art education (think how to make a comic book or how to pantomime.). Geared towards students in grades 1-5, parents can access the four weekly videos and lesson packets by clicking here.
World of Eric Carle - Check out free coloring pages, scavenger hunts, printable bookmarks and more as part of Eric Carle's free resources. Parents will also love the complete teaching kit, poster,Very Hungry Caterpillar poster and tons of additional resources.
Crayola's At-Home Creative Hub is here for kids, parents and teachers. The platform provides easy access to educational and crafting resources, including creative lesson plans, how-to videos, DIY crafts, free coloring pages, and weekly At-Home inspirational emails. Users will find hundreds of craft tutorials, free videos and craft recipes and weekly live crafting events!
Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence, Mo Willems invites your kids into his studio every day for Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems. Kids of all ages can practice their drawing skills with each virtual studio visit. Every day at 1 pm ET, the Kennedy Center’s official YouTube account will post a new lesson centering on Willems’ beloved characters
Simple lessons and fun downloadable printables await at Raising Wonder. During every weekday that the world is social distancing, Sarah Jane Wright guides kids through different themes with simple drawing projects. So far, she's covered topics like home, town, animals and world.
The artists at Disney are spoiling us! They've recently released a series of videos to teach kids how to draw 1920's Mickey,Contemporary MickeyandPie-Eyed Mickeythat are all free over on YouTube.
3rd Period: Music
Thinking about starting a Family Band? Whether you’re a natural born Beethoven or just like to rock out, get your daily music fix—from lessons to interactive dance parties right here. Looking for extra?
Enjoy the sounds of classical music with the New York Philharmonic on NY Phil Plays On,a portal for free digital content. Currently, the platform hosts over 150+ hours of performance footage and will grow over time as well.
Leading tech, media and music company Stingray is giving one-month access to free content in three of its apps:Stingray Karaoke,Stingray Qello, andStingray Classica. Users can get access to50,000+ songs from today and decades past, Disney faves, pre-made party mixes, full-length concert films and music documetaries, orchestral performances, ballets and operas with high-quality audio and visuals.
Children's musician Laurie Berkner is hosting live "Berkner Break" concerts from her home to help kids and parents get moving, play and learn together. Join her on her Facebook page most weekdays up at 10:00 a.m. EDT, and also check out her YouTube page for a free "50+ Minute Educational Videos" compilation!
Pinna is offering a free 60-day trial (30 additional days from the regular period!) for kids and parents to get access to music, podcast and audiobooks. Pinna is the only ad-free, screen-free audio service just for kids! To activate, go to www.pinna.fm and use promo code: PINNA4KIDS at signup.
Here are some musical Instrument you can make at home:
The ever-creative Jackie from Happy Hooligans makes good use out of CDs. We love especially love these "cymbals" due to the fact that they don't actually sound like real cymbals. Get more details here.
We love these sensory bin shakers because it'll extend sensory play time. It's also easy for your kids to make on their own. Head over to Fun-a-Day to see how to make your own.
This super cute and colourful instrument is as much fun to make as it is to play. Get the scoop on how to do it yourself over at And Next Comes L.
Not only does this DIY pan flute actually make music, they are as bright and colourful as can be. We loveHandmade Charlotte's take on this homemade instrument. Get the how-to for her singing straws (and several other adorable handmade instruments!) by clicking here.
4th Period: PE
Whether you’re looking to keep the kids centered with yoga, learn to Pop See Ko, or you’re ready for a workout at the virtual YMCA, lively, joyous physical education can happen even in small spaces!
The YMCA is offering free classes to anyone, membership or not. The classes available include the Y’s most popular group exercise classes like Boot Camp, Barre, Yoga and low impact programs for seniors.Click here to see the entire list.
Cosmic Kids Yoga videos are specifically designed for kids ages three and up. They are sorted by age and activity level, so an easy beginner video would be suitable for younger children whereas a more advanced video would be a good fit for your active older child.
Go Noodle videos keep kids active with silly songs that get kids up on their feet.
Jack Hartman Music Channel videos incorporate learning activities, such as sign language, math and science with exercise.
The Body Coach offers videos for all ages and activity levels.
5th Period: Science
From California Science Center’s “Stuck-at-Home Science” to the Kennedy Space Center’s live presentations, your daily science class is right here.
Polar Bears International is debuting a curriculum that includes live chats with scientists, webcasts, research involvement opportunities and more! First up is a chat about Polar Bears Under the Northern Lights! Kids can learn with Tundra Connections websites and curriculums, follow the polar bear tracker and watch the Northern Lights Live Cam every night. You can check out the the full schedule here.
Cal Science's content experts and professional have created "Stuck at Home Science." The ongoing, online series of hands-on and age-appropriate science activities features a video and an downloadable lesson. Kids can watch daily at 10 am Pacific Standard Time with lessons are easy to understand and available at californiasciencecenter.org in both English and Spanish.
Go behind the scenes of millions of specimens, tour and learn about the streets of Los Angeles and chat with scientists and educators––all online! The NHMLAC is virtually connecting families with science through online resources.
Join the Natural Museum of History Utah every weekday for live classes at 9:30 a.m. MDT for kids in 4th – 7th grade. Each class is led by professional museum educators and is designed to build critical-thinking skills. Kids can also view the full archive of classes here after the live showing.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex shares daily Facebook Live video experiences that pair with an at-home activity! The education team covers tours of Space Shuttle Atlantis, the Astronaut Training Experience, living in space and on Mars, rocketry 101, and more. Kids can also do hands-on activities using everyday items as well as downloadable activities. Presentations are Monday through Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET for younger children, and 1 p.m. for young adults with a Q&A portion at the end of each presentation.
6th Period: Elective
Got a little baker in your household? These online baking and cooking classes are perfect for kids. Craving a field trip?
Nonprofit Food Literacy Center is committed to bringing families together through food. The organization is currently offering tools that will help kids and parents learn to cook together, that include recipes, worksheets and lesson plans.
King Arthur wants kids to know how easy it is to bake bread! The company not only has an online tutorial perfect but a fun kids recipe booklet, too!
Join Delish's editorial director Joanna Saltz and her kids live on Instagram every week day at 1pm EST to share cook-along videos for the entire fam. If you want to get a preview at what they'll be making, check out Delish to make sure you have all the ingredients you need!
Head to America’s Test Kitchen Kids where all resources are free! Families can check out recipes, activities and experiments, plus daily lesson plans and videos. Don't miss out on the huge collection of free recipes, and visit their social sites where they'll be answering home cook questions.
Or, try one of these virtual trips right now:
Animals and more!
Dairy Farm Tours
Cool Places
Keep calm and Imagine on.