Free Online Courses, Classes And Resources To Help Kids With Home-based Learning

With schools shut and families cooped-up in homes, home schools are becoming a reality. Parents will need all the help digitally possible to make the best of this home-based learning for kids. Read on for free online classes for moms to facilitate this. 

This is a never-before situation for all kids and parents. And mums especially might feel a sense of worry and uncertainty during the trying time of COVID-19. Not only do they have to look after their kids in addition to working from home, they are also required to facilitate their child’s learning in order for them to not fall back on the school curriculum. If you are one of those mums who had never considered home-schooling for your child and are clueless on how to about it, read on.

We have listed various free online classes for moms and their little ones to pick up from.

Prerequisite of Home-Schooling

The idea here is to keep the working or learning atmosphere intact despite the lockdown. This will help children stay on track with their studies while waiting for the school to formally take over. It will also give parents the time to concentrate on their work commitments at home until things return to normal.

You would need to prepare the house for stay-indoors learning. Here are some suggestions.

• You will need stable access to the internet at home. If you have yet to arrange for that, do it at the earliest.
• Set up a schedule for the home-school. You may want to keep it close to the usual school schedule or make new plans with family time and activities in mind. You may even collaborate with your child’s teacher to set up a curriculum.
• Let the learning area be away from beds and couches. Arrange for a work desk to be placed in a bright space, and keep learning tools handy.
• Go through the free online classes for moms and do research on materials available online. There are many learning resources that you can rely on to facilitate your child’s learning.

Free Online Classes for Moms and Their Children to Learn From

While not all of these sites are based on the Singapore’s academic curriculum, they are great resources to expose your child to various learning materials that you might not be able to find in the classroom: quizzes, videos, experiments and more.

Note: They are not meant to replace the curriculum, but an add-on to holistic learning.

Reading and Literature

• Scholastic Learn at Home: This is a great site for reading, related craft and lessons from pre-K to beyond 6^th. They have contemporary lesson ideas which makes them very interesting.
• ReadingIQ: Here is a site to promote reading for kids up to 12 years of age through read-aloud books and assessments. The advantage is that you can include three kids in one account.
• ABC Mouse: Aimed at ages 2 to 8, there are about 850 lessons covering 10 subjects, including reading. Check with your school if they are offering codes for parents to log in at home.
• Storyline: If your child is star-struck, take advantage now. This site invites celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria and Chris Pine to read stories aloud. Parents can take learning further from here with the corresponding curriculum.
• Hoopla: This free app lets you rent an audiobook or e-book against a library card. Now, you may encourage quiet reading or read together.
• Typing Club and Typing.com: Both the sites are very helpful. Typing club does not need an account to do the exercises. Many schools have registered account with Typing.com. Check with your kid if they already use this.
• Khan Academy: For structured learning and grade-wise lessons, this is a great option. They have an app for multiple kids and devices.
• Squiggle Park and ABCya: Both these sites have activities and games to assist reading for really young ones. There are also colourful activities to encourage comprehension.

More is on offer through sites such as ‘Duolingo’, ‘Crash Course’ and ‘Open Culture website’. You may subscribe to Time magazine’s ‘Time for Kids’. PBS KIDS and PBS Learning media have tools to support home-learning.

Math and Science

• Girls4Tech: In partnership with Scholastic, Girls4Tech offers resources based on Mastercard’s signature STEM curriculum. It provides downloadable lessons for teachers and parents to help students—aged 8 to 12—to learn about STEM topics including encryption, fraud detection, data analysis and digital convergence.
• Khan Academy: They offer all subjects for all grades. For older kids, there are also test prep options. Lessons wise, they are well-planned and structured. You will need to filter according to grade and topic.
• Dreambox: This is an app which provides mathematics programmes that are ‘intelligent’ and ‘adaptive’. There are games and activities to promote mathematical concepts. The games keep coming until your child masters a specific concept.
• Prodigy: It is a site with mathematical games designed by teachers. This is aimed at students up to grade 8.
• Math playground: This is a collection of math games for younger children. Your child can get access to these resources for free.
• Online textbooks: This is aimed at older kids and all textbooks are available in an online format. 
• Adventure Academy: Here, your child has the feeling they are playing video games while in reality, they are learning. For free login, you have to use ‘SCHOOL7771’ as the code.
• Mystery Doug: Science lessons for kids up to grade 5 are here online. There are fun videos with genuine questions and informative answers.
• Science Fridays: Interesting stories and podcasts will help teach scientific concepts to children. This covers the complete age groups from very young to high schoolers.
• National Geographic for Kids: True to its repute, you will get engaging reliable information for all kids. There are quizzes, videos, experiments, etc. to catch their interest.

More interesting sites to visit could be:

• Stuck at Home Science by California Science centre
• Frost Science@Home by Miami Frost Science Museum
• Nova Labs at PBS
• Teachable Moments by NASA
• Space Racers by Stardust Space Academy
• Ranger Rick by National Wildlife Federation

Arts and Culture

• Virtual tours in Museums: At this time, bringing culture home is a better idea. Many famous museums such as MoMA and Louvre have come up with free virtual tours for kids and their parents.

• Virtual Zoo and National park tours: Yellowstone National Park, Cincinnati Zoo and Monterey Bay aquarium are some of the outdoor places offering virtual tours to families.
• Smart Music: Lessons, tests and tools to build reading competence and grade-sheet are some of the facilities from Smart Music. Free access to their site will surely help your kid continue with their music practice.
• Mo Willems: This incredible illustrator-writer is reaching out to his fans through YouTube kids. Here you will get educational drawing videos.
• Jerry’s Artarama and other sources: 2000 hours of free instructions for kids is the offer from this art supply store. Live art lessons from various teachers is another option.
• Doodle Academy: An ideal activity for kids of all ages, this is step-by-step instructions for drawing.

Other virtual trips to take are:

• Ology science website by AMNH
• Hayden Planetarium
• Air and Space Anywhere webpage
• Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

History Lessons

• Big History Project: Here is a social studies course that is free online. According to the site, they help students understand connections between past, present and future.
• History for Kids: Quizzes, fun games, videos and worksheets help children know the history. It is totally free.

Staying at home for days on end need not be boring and unproductive. There are lots to do and learn. You as a parent can be big support for your confused little one. This is why free online classes for moms are a profitable decision. Introduce them to new ways and fun ideas of learning. Help them get creative, physically fit and mentally alert. This is a once in a lifetime experience so utilise it to your child’s advantage.

Also read: MOE Gives Tips, Debunks Myths On Home-based Learning