Let’s get one thing out there in the open: the majority of you are not actually home schooling.
When the decision to home school a child is made, it traditionally takes thought, preparation, time, and often a collaboration between educational facilities and home tutors to create a comprehensive and thorough syllabus for a well-rounded education.
This is not the reality for most in light of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent emergency changes to the education system.
Parents and guardians have been thrust into the role of ‘teacher’ with no training, time, or warning. Unless you are a professional teacher turned home tutor, you are likely putting far too much pressure on your own shoulders — and potentially while worrying about other issues including health, relatives, work, and money, too.
This is an unenviable position to be in.
I left the teaching profession years ago. Drawing upon my previous experience after seeing so many online messages from parents struggling to adapt to their new roles, sweating bullets trying to keep their children entertained for more than an hour or two, I’ll say this: You’re doing your best, and no reasonable teacher out there expects you to fill their shoes.
It’s okay if they get bored. It’s okay if you become frustrated. And believe it or not, if concentration is slipping, breaks do no harm. If you can stick to a schedule and routine, that’s brilliant — but if it doesn’t always work out that way, don’t sweat it. The spread of COVID-19 has created a difficult situation for everyone and wellbeing should be put before anything else.
It is also important to note that at this time in many study calendars, teachers are now meant to be focused on revision and reviewing — rather than learning new content — and the material that teachers are now sending remotely will likely be covered many times over.
It’s not all doom-and-gloom. There are wonderful examples of parents sharing their home school fails; comical videos of parents begging teachers for their forgiveness now they have gained a new respect for the profession, and social media networks are being used to swap hundreds of ideas to keep the tiny humans now under house arrest entertained.
(Parents and guardians struggling to cope can check out advice from headteachers and education professionals here.)
To make life at least a little easier, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of free online resources, separated by age groups and subjects. The free resources and links below are focused on schoolwork as well as subject interest and will be updated as we discover more.
Have anything to add? Let us know below.
English language, literature:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Puzzlemaker: generate your own crosswords
- World Book Day: everything from book extracts to lesson plans
- International children’s library: free ebooks
- Project Gutenberg: public domain ebooks
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Kaligo: free handwriting app
- Learning resources: activity packs, lessons for young learners
- Eduprintables
- Storyline: Free children’s books read out loud
- Edshed: young learner English lessons
- Teach your monster to read: free resources
- Phonicsplay: now free
- British Council: activities and resources
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Grammar practice: free, digestible worksheets
- Quill.org: making students better writers
- The complete works of William Shakespeare
Maths:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Khan Academy: various remote courses
- Maths and games for kids
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Mathsfactor with Carol Vorderman: ages 4 – 12
- Maths dictionary for kids
- Learning resources: activity packs, lessons for young learners
- Bedtime math: learning through fun, activities
- Cool math games
- Eduprintables
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Get revising: study help
- Revision maths: GCSE papers, maths for teenagers resources
- HippoCampus: thousands of STEM explainers and videos
- Mathigon: a comprehensive website exploring mathematical topics
- Transum: maths games, exercises, tests
- Prodigy: free mathematics practice
- Math chase: free online games
Science:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Khan Academy: various remote courses
- Mystery Doug: A weekly video answering a science question to your inbox
- Elements: the periodic table in words and images
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Learning resources: activity packs, lessons for young learners
- Arizona Science Center: learning and home activities
- Smithsonian: resources and games ranging from STEM to nutrition.
- Stories from space: audio and video
- Coloring Nature: free coloring printables
- SciShow Kids: YouTube
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Cyber physics: Notes on a variety of physics topics
- The Great Exhibition at Home: Royal Academy of Engineering, remote weekly engineering challenges for students
- NASA operations
- Discovery Mindblown: videos on interesting science topics
- Siemens: interactive engineering games | also: DIY fun experiments
Physical Education:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- PE with Joe (YouTube)
- Yoga for Kids (YouTube)
- GoNoodle: activities to burn energy for kids
Languages:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Duolingo: free option available
- Babbel: Free for students for 3 months, nine languages in total available
- Learning Chinese resources
- Lingvist: create your own courses, free until July 31.
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Languages online: including French, Spanish, and Italian
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Coffee Break Spanish: podcast
- Rosetta Stone: Free for 3 months for students
- JPF: Japanese language audio resources
- Learn French in five days: YouTube video collection
- Spanish 101 for beginners: YouTube video collection
- Learn German with Anja: YouTube video collection
- Thamatho – Learn Italian for beginners: YouTube video collection
Geography:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Africam: tours, live safari cams
- Google Earth
- World Atlas
- GEOgraphy Focus: YouTube
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Wildlife aid: activity sheets (registration required)
- National Geographic Kids, National Geographic Explorer podcasts
- Rainforest alliance: child activities
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Wildlife with Steve Brackshall: conservation, geography lessons over Facebook | YouTube
- The Great Wall of China: virtual tour
- Climate change and energy science resources
Music:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Musicaltheory.net
- BBC world music archive
- Free music flashcards
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Play the recorder: a free course
- Early years: songs and rhymes
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Fender: 3 months of free guitar lessons
- Chrome music lab: interactive activities and experiments
- Jazz: Limited free jazz lessons and materials
- Yousician: thousands of songs and exercises, free trial
- Musicards: learning how to read music
Art Design, drama:
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Tate Kids
- The Artful parent
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Instagram.com/curiositysprouts
- Activity village: free activity packs, art resources, work sheets
- Crayola: creative activities
- Art lessons for kids: Facebook group
- Art for Kids Hub: YouTube
- Krototak: activities and guides
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Google Arts and Culture
- Artrageous with Nate
- Doodles Academy: free art courses
History
- Revision notes: topics ranging from ancient history to the Vietnam war.
- Natural History Museum resources
- The Big History project: a range of free courses
- 60 Second Histories: free trial
- TripSavvy: Tours around child museums
- Historic Royal Palaces: virtual tours, video guides, stories
Information Technology (IT):
Suitable for a range of levels:
- BBC Bitesize: Primary | Secondary | Post-16 (UK GCSE)
- Khan Academy: various remote courses
- Typing Club: learn how to touch type for free
- Code.org: free IT and coding courses
Pre-school, primary, younger learners:
- Code Spark: three months free with code “schoolclosed”
Secondary learners, up to 16-years-old:
- Codeacademy: A free start to learning how to code
- Roblox | Roblox Studio: learn to code for free
- CodingOverload: free computer science activities
- Thunkable: learn how to develop mobile apps
Other valuable resources / sources of entertainment:
- Toddlers: instagram.com/teaching2and3yearolds
- Twinkl: a month of access to lesson plans free
- Toy Theater: free interactive, educational games for younger learners
- Skillshare: thousands of free online classes on a range of topics
- Teaching ideas: lesson bank — young learners up to middle school
- Daily Adventurers: A daily activity video related to the outside for young learners
- Scholastic: Limited, but free, home learning activity packs
- Free printable worksheets: a range of subjects and ages
- Crash course: Short videos on a variety of topics (YouTube)
- YouVisit: Virtual reality, 360-degree tours around the world
- Pinterest: children’s craft ideas
- Virtual field trips
- Zoo cameras: Panda cam, Cincinnati safaris, San Diego Zoo
- Audible: free and paid audio books
- TripSavvy: virtual trips around the world
Article source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/all-the-free-online-resources-parents-guardians-need-in-home-schooling/#ftag=RSSbaffb68