If you’re like many parents, the stay-at-home orders in light of the Coronavirus pandemic forced you into a new role: homeschool teacher. With many jobs switching to work-from-home and schools switching to at-home, online learning, parents were forced to take on the role of teacher to help their kids learn through that challenging transition.
Summer break might have relieved you of your homeschooling duties, but it may have introduced a new but familiar problem. How do you keep kids busy for over two months? With social distancing policies still in effect in most of the country, kids are stuck at home, bored. If you’re still working from home, you’re feeling this pressure twofold.
If you’re looking to keep your kids happy and occupied while they learn a thing or two, here are a few online learning resources perfect for the era of COVID-19.
Scholastic Classroom Magazines
Scholastic is a reputable and widely-known publishing, education, and media company. They provide online or mail-in magazines that can serve as wonderful learning resources for your children this summer.
Scholastic truly has a magazine for every kid, regardless of age, language, or special learning requirement. From pre-K to twelfth grade, Scholastic has something to offer for every age.
Their Let’s Find Out magazine covers seasonal science and social studies themes in a fun, engaging manner for preschoolers and kindergarteners, while Upfront magazine covers the latest news stories accessibly for teens.
Learning Resources
Learning Resources offers unlimited learning choices for your toddler to school-age children. They primarily sell toys, but they also offer free learning activities for kids at home! You can browse downloadable games, videos, coloring pages, and activity kits by grade and subject.
The Learning Resources blog is also a treasure trove of fun at-home learning activities. They’ve got learning-at-home activity ideas like scavenger hunts and sidewalk chalk art, as well as a page dedicated to learning coding! It may sound daunting, but really, what better time than now to learn coding alongside your child?
If your child is the crafty type, they’ve got a page dedicated to arts and crafts just for them. If you’re looking for tips on keeping your toddler occupied, entertained, and learning during this time, they’ve got that too.
Brain Pop Jr.
Brain Pop Jr. is a fan favorite among kids. The site offers engaging, entertaining videos on all kinds of topics, from classroom basics like science, math, English, and social studies to other important topics like art, music, technology, engineering, and health. Family plans start at $9.95/month.
What makes the videos so engaging are the cast of characters and funny dialogue, which make the videos feel like mini TV episodes, all while being packed with important yet digestible knowledge.
Brain Pop Jr. is geared towards the K-3 age group, while Brain Pop is geared towards older kids. They also offer special sites for Spanish speakers, French speakers, and English learners. Additionally, they offer Camp BrainPOP, a paid-plan learning program for kids at home over the summer.
International Children’s Library
Is your public library still closed? Don’t worry! There is still a way to reap the convenient and affordable benefits of a public library for entertaining your kids this summer.
The International Children’s Library website is a database of hundreds of books, available for free for you and your child to read on your computer. The website offers a user-friendly search feature for searching for books by length, age group, genre, and even color!
It’s never been easier to access a world of knowledge at the click of a mouse than it is today. That’s one thing we can all be thankful for during this time of staying at home. These online learning resources are an excellent way to make the best of this time.