A curated list of awesome resources for teaching your kids at home. More Billie Eilish than Billy Graham.
Keeping some sort of schedule is key. You need to work in some uninterrupted blocks, your spouse/partner needs to work in some uninterrupted blocks, and your kids, somehow, are still there! Every week we make a grid for each boy with the days of a week across the top, and all the subjects/activities down the side. The older boy fills in his plan of work by himself, which we then review and approve, and we sit with the younger boy and fill his grid in together. If your school is sending home work with the regular subjects, that obviously makes it easier. If not, and you’re trying to stay in an academic rhythm, then you might try the usual subjects of math, reading, writing, science, social studies, world language, and physical wellness. Or you know, maybe break the day into reading, video game time, pillow fight, making cookies, National Geographic videos, movie time, arts & crafts, whatever works your family!
The key is to compare the adults’ work schedules, stagger where you can, and make sure your kids have something to do independently when they need to. (And to be clear, that is almost certainly going to involve movies and TV and video games, not just school work – be kind to yourself!) But you’re also going to have to take breaks in your work day to help them out, especially if they are younger, and that’s just the reality.
Depending on the age and independence of the kid, working in 25 minute focused increments with 5 minute “body breaks” has been pretty successful. (Our older child is more likely to get fully immersed in something, but we still ask that he take a 5-minute break every hour.) Basically, it’s the pomodoro technique.
- Common Sense Media -- a great list where you can pick and choose based on your kids’ age and interests
- Khan Academy – particularly great for math (any level) and science
- PBS Learning Media – great website with a range of materials, searchable by age and discipline. (Our boys LOVE the Crash Course History series with John Green, but there is just ton available here.)
- Typing Club – well, that’s good for typing!
- KidNuz – a kid-friendly news website that is a great way to start off the day
- Scholastic -recently announced “learn at home” program for all grades in response to the pandemic.
- DuoLingo – world languages, plus some from out of this world
- Chatterbug -- learn a foreign language with a live instructor over live video
- Outschool – you would not believe the range of classes they have across subjects and levels and interests. The classes cost money, but they are extremely reasonable. Look for the highly rated teachers for your best bet, though we have yet to find a total clunker. You might consider searching by age for “one-time classes” or “short-courses” depending on how long your kids are going to be out of school.
- The Humongous Book of … -- A series of books on math at many different levels.
- Thomas Edison | Leonardo da Vinci | Galileo for Kids. Fun science books.
- The Core Knowledge Series -- What Your [Xth] Grader Needs to Know E.D. Hirsch, Jr. Covers all the basic subjects in a very digestible and fun way, a good read.
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To the extent possible under law, Andrew Odewahn has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.
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