Schools Closed? Temporally homeschooling? Here’s how to have fun while schooling kids at home.
Schools Closed? How to Have Fun While Schooling Kids at Home
Most of our local public and private schools have closed for a couple of weeks. We have had some requests on how to make temporary homeschooling work.
What we are hearing is that lots of folks are going to have to balance working from home and educating their kids AND not have anyone go nuts while they have to live a VERY low key life for a few weeks. So here are some ideas to get you started on how to have fun while schooling kids at home.
In this post we will discuss:
- How do I find curriculum for K-8 (check out this post for high school)
- Free Resources
- Fun Things to do while at home
- A Suggested Schedule
- Dealing with Anxiety Related to the Virus
How do I find curriculum?
Many schools have been sending home packets of work for kids in k-8 to finish so they do not fall far behind. Some schools are even doing some work daily online.
The families we have heard from have found that these material simply are not enough to keep their young people engaged, learning and not bored. They would like to use this period of temporary homeschooling to:
- Have some fun with education
- Fill in some educational gaps
- Experience some richness in learning that normal schooling does not have time for
Let’s look at all three:
Have some fun with education
If you ask a young person in grades k-8, they would probably say that the goal of having two weeks off school should be to have some fun. Parents, on the other hand, need some time to work AND do not want to totally waste these couple of weeks.
Here are some ways to have fun schooling kids at home:
Technology
- Online class on the introduction to game programming (grades 4-12). FREE, no optin required. At Funda Funda Academy online.
- Learn typing skills for free at Typing Club.
Reading Resources
- Free, stories read to your children at Storyline Online.
- More free stories read to your kids from Audible.com!
English/Language Arts
- Activity Guides for Young Readers. Delightful, hands-on activities for building reading and comprehension skills in 7Sisters’ downloadable activity guides for favorite classic books like:
- Download this free Middle School Literature Guide for Misty of Chincoteague, then check out 7SistersHomeschool.com’s other middle school lit guides.
- Create a short fairy-tale unit for middle schoolers with this post and 7Sisters’ Fairy Tale Writing Guide.
- Poetry. Ezra Paul Tillman’s YouTube channel with fascinating illustrations of twelve famous poems put to music, including:
- The Wind by Robert Louis Stephenson
- The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
- If by Rudyard Kipling
- No Man is an Island by John Donne
- Here’s a big list of famous people reading stories.
- Josh Gad (Olaf) reading stories to kids on Twitter.
Math
History
- History.com has a wealth of videos on just about every history topic you can imagine.
- Horrible Histories are worth the investment. Purchase here.
- George Washington’s Mt. Vernon is live streaming interesting history events.
Fill in some educational gaps
General
- American Dairy Association has virtual farm tours.
- ck12.org online courses in core subjects for various ages. Free.
- Easy Peasy has free, online courses in core subjects for all ages.
- FreedomHomeschool.com has SO much free homeschool material in all core areas in various grades!
- Incuentro.com has 3 free social skills classes.
- Indoor activities for kids at Hello Wonderful.
- LearnInColor.com has lots of worksheets and posts on great movies and videos that will fill out your homeschool day.
- LifeandHomeschooling.com has free worksheets in various core subjects pre-K through grade 1.
- PBS Learning Media has odds and ends of interesting subjects for various ages.
- Scholastic’s Learn at Home series is offering twenty days of learning, reading and inspiration for free.
- Study.com has donated free courses to schools. Contact your school for information about this.
- TeachersPayTeachers.com has lessons and activities for just about every subject. Some free.
History
- HistoryForKids.com has articles, worksheets and quizzed. Free.
- Kids National Geographic has free games and learning activities in social studies and science.
- Canadian virtual field trips. Log some geography hours and learn about our neighbors.
- Memorize historic documents at Ezra Paul Tillman’s YouTube channel with these illustrated, musical versions of famous American documents (download this freebie from 7Sisters with the links) or click:
Math
- Thinkwell.com has a math curriculum that offers a free fourteen-day trial for grades 6 and up.
- XtraMath.com has free math activities for young people.
- IXL.com has interactive learning activities in core subject areas. Free trial.
- Zearn.com has free math lessons for all ages.
Science
- Mystery Science has provided some free lessons to help students during this coronavirus crisis.
- Two weeks worth of fun, simple science experiments from Milwakee with Kids.
- Free science lessons on FB from marine biologist, Sherri Seligson.
- NASA’s digital library is now free.
- Cincinnati Zoo is streaming daily.
Physical Education
Experience some richness in learning that normal schooling does not have time for
Busy schools with limited time and resources often must short some of the enrichment that comes from exposing children to the arts. During this coronavirus crisis, many organizations are making the arts available to your family for free!
Music
- Music in Our Homeschool has so many great online courses about music history and music appreciation. Some are free.
- Berliner Philharmonie: free digital concerts for your family
- Metropolitan Opera: Beginning March 16, will stream a title from its Live in HD series each week, free on the week of each title’s streaming
- Seattle Symphony: free video broadcasts and livestreams
Art
- Virtual Museum Tours: This Travel and Leisure post has links to twelve free virtual-museum tours to places like:
- National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC
- Van Gough Museum in Amsterdam
- McHarperManor.com is providing free video art lessons for the next couple of weeks. Subscribe to email for details.
- Virtual Museum Tours: This Travel and Leisure post has links to twelve free virtual-museum tours to places like:
Nature
What about subjects that I don’t feel qualified to teach?
Sometimes a good curriculum is sometimes all that is needed. Some can be used by the student with little or no input from the parent. Online instruction is available in most subjects, try checking YouTube for videos on just about everything.
Check out this episode of Homeschool Highschool Podcast for a helpful discussion on teaching what you don’t know.
How should I schedule my day?
While each homeschool is unique, a child being pulled from school is often more successful beginning with a fairly set schedule. It is easier to begin with a more rigid schedule, then becoming more flexible as you and your student adjust to the new routine.
How long should it take each day?
This will depend on factors such as your student’s grade level and motivation. For example, a kindergartner may finish formal academics in less than an hour. A middle school student may take several hours.
Dealing with Anxiety about Coronavirus
Children in the k-8 age range might experience anxiety about the coronavirus and not know what to do about it. When helping young people deal with this anxiety, you can help in these ways:
- Give accurate, age-appropriate information
- Create and keep a gentle schedule
- Create special moments
- Practice and teach mindfulness to your children
Let’s look at all of these:
Give accurate, age-appropriate information
- How do you explain coronavirus to an elementary-aged child? Brainpop is providing a series of free videos and lessons.
- This cute comic from NPR is good for middle school or older elementary students.
- This post will help parents understand how children of different ages deal with crisis.
Create and keep a gentle schedule
Routines help calm children’s anxieties. Here’s a sample schedule you can download:
Create special moments
- Research shows that predictable schedules accentuated with special moments can help children deal with anxieties. Daily choose one or more of the enrichment activities from the resources above to experience together.
- Check out this post with 43 special things to do for homeschooling during Covid-19.
Practice and teach mindfulness to your children
- Practice deep breathing (it will lower your stress hormones). Download this freebie from Vicki Tillman Coaching to learn some easy breathing exercises for you and your children.
- Choose some mindfulness practices from this post for folks who are not naturally mindful. Practice them daily, if possible.
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