The spread of COVID-19 has impacted various elements of our lives. While many working adults are navigating the new normal of working from home, those who are parents may also be faced with having their children's education shifting to at-home as well.
To help, below is a list that we have compiled for our Maritz Motivation employees to aid in managing at-home learning for children. Many of the resources are utilized in classrooms and accredited homeschooling programs around the world.
Online Learning Resources and Platforms
- BrainPop: BrainPop’s mission is to turn any room into a classroom. In light of recent school closures, they have extended free access to families and schools to help keep children learning. They provide over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12 that are combined with quizzes and related materials covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.
- Curiosity Stream: is a subscription site for $14.99/annually (usually $19.99/annually) or $2.99/monthly that provides thousands of up-to-date, engaging educational documentaries for students K-12, as well as post-secondary options.
- Tynker: Tynker is a platform for children that integrates coding education for children as young as 5. It integrates logic problems, STEM projects, and code with kid’s interest – like Minecraft, Barbie, Legos, Hotwheels, etc. into over 3,700 learning modules.
- Outschool: Outschool provides live, online classes for kids ages 3-18 for as low as $5/class. Class subjects include arts, English, life skills, music, social studies, coding and technology, health and wellness, math, science and nature, and world languages.
- Udemy: Udemy provides over 100,000 at-your-pace online learning courses, taught by subject experts, on pretty much any topic imaginable. Course prices vary, averaging around $10-$15 per course.
- iReady: iReady offers assessments and gives data-driven feedback on individual needs of each child. It immediately connects educators with instructional materials that best suit the needs of each child.
- Beast Academy (Math): Beast Academy is an interactive online learning tool to help math instruction in ages 8-13. They provide comprehensive curriculum, help videos, guide books, practice problems, challenging puzzles, and detailed reporting on progress. They currently are offering $15 off a new monthly or yearly subscription to the service using the code "FlattenTheCurve" at checkout.
- Khan Academy: Khan Academy is a nonprofit providing free, world-class education from ages 2-graduate school topics. They partner in classrooms in districts and private schools all over the world, and a recent study, students were over twice as likely to meet grade-level standards utilizing their curriculum, completely free. Additionally, they have gathered resources for parents, teachers and students during this time of school closures, including daily schedules, support documents for parents, and many other resources available at this link.
- Creativebug: Creativebug offers an online platform with thousands of arts and crafts workshops and techniques, with new ones being added daily. This platform isn’t just for kids, it is also geared towards adults as well.
- Discovery Education: Discovery Education provides digital curriculum and textbooks for students K-12. Additionally, they have provided content on how to discuss the global COVID-19 situation with children, available at this link.
YouTube Channels
- Crash Course Kids: Short videos aimed toward children to help understand grade school science. They post new content every Tuesday and Thursday, and have a vast amount of content already posted.
- Science Channel: Learn about outer space, leading scientific exploration, new technology, basic earth science.
- SciShow Kids: Videos exploring all topics that make kids ask "why." They conduct easy experiments, research new questions, and talk with experts. They upload new content each Tuesday and Thursday.
- National Geographic Kids: Videos aimed toward kids, about animals, wildlife and more.
- FreeSchool: Videos aimed at exposing children to famous art, classical music, children’s literature and natural science in an age-appropriate way.
- Geography Focus: Videos profiling countries and regions, descriptions of important landmarks and geographical features (both natural and man-made) and international issue discussion.
- TheBrainScoop: Videos made by The Field Museum in Chicago about a variety of animal and natural science topics.
- SciShow: New uploads everyday – Sundays: Miscellaneous Topics, Monday: ‘Weird World’ topics, Tuesdays: Answers to Quick Questions, Wednesdays: talk or quiz show with a guest, Thursday: Wonders of the world, Friday: latest in science news and Saturdays: Quick Questions answered.
- Kids Learning Tube: Educational videos for kids on music and animation in a fun and unique approach to learning.
- Geek Gurl Diaries: Videos surrounding computer science and programming.
- Mike Likes Science: Science-inspired music videos to aid science learning.
- ScienceMax: Large-scale science experiment videos
- SoulPancake: Videos and content to open minds and hearts by exploring ways that humans seek connection, love, hope, truth, and purpose.
MORE resources to help with kids at home
- Scholastic: Scholastic created a free learn-from-home site with over 20 days-worth of learning and activities for ages K-8
- Museums: Famous museums are offering free virtual tours, including:
- The British Museum in London
- The Guggenheim in NYC
- The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
- Musee d’Orsay in Paris
- National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul
- Pergamon Museum in Berlin
- Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
- Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
- The J. Paul Getty Museum in LA
- The Uffizi Gallery in Florance
- The Museu Arte de Sao Paulo in Brazil
- National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
- Free curriculum for at-home learning
- Free list of thinking games by grade
