Best FREE Resources for Parents of Elementary School Kids During Coronavirus Shutdown

Just like you, we have gone from sending our children to school everyday to keeping them home ALL the time.  This has been a shock to many families.  Home schooling is extremely intimidating when you try it for the first time.  I homeschooled my oldest two years ago, so I am blessed in the fact that I have some experience with teaching my kids at home.  I also am very, very fortunate to be a stay-at-home (struggling artist) mom so this transition hasn't been as jarring for me.  I cannot fathom, however, how stressful this shutdown has been for most in the U.S.  How are you all coping with trying to keep hourly jobs and educate your kids??  Or working from home and accomplishing anything while keeping your kids from going insane with boredom?!? 

I truly cannot imagine what it is like trying to work and teach your kids during this time (you all are rockstar parents!!).  However, I can relate to the struggle of keeping our children's very active minds from becoming bored.  I'm a parent of a physically active gifted learner and a highly creative child with ADHD not on medication, so keeping kids mentally stimulated is something I do understand! 

I wanted to take a few minutes to share some links that I've found helpful during the coronavirus shutdown that might be useful to you as well.  Baring one exception (Minecraft), every single one of these resources are FREE!

General Education & Math:
1.  Khan Academy.  Just about every academic course imaginable with free online video lesson and practices for PreK - 12th Grade.

History:
1.  Core Knowledge.  Most of their curriculum is available to download for free.  My oldest daughter's school uses Core Knowledge Curriculum.  I have to say that it is really wonderful!  **As a side note, if you are up for spending a little money, I would recommend purchasing the all in one books for your child's grade.  Here is a link to What Your Preschooler Needs to Know as an example (this particular book is a fabulous resource that has all of the popular nursery rhymes and children's stories in one place).

Reading:
1.  Scholastic.  Scholastic has provided Daily activities (quite wonderful ones) that cover a variety of subjects for PreK - 9th Grade.
2.  BookFlix.  My daughter's school's librarian uses this website.  Tons of digital books that can be read in English or Spanish.

Science:
1.  National Geographic Kids.  You can't really go wrong with NatGeo.

Spanish:
My youngest daughter is in a dual-language program.  We have no Spanish speaking experience, so we are having to rely completely on the internet during the lock-down for Spanish learning.
1.  Duolingo.  This truly is an amazing program!  I'm having my kids practice their Spanish 15 minutes a day.  
2.  The Spanish Experiment.  To be honest, there is not very much content here.  However, what is available is pretty stellar.  Check out the books that can be read in both English and Spanish.
3.  Wilbooks (Spanish Books).  Wilbooks (English Books).  TONS of free online books in both Spanish and English for Pre-K - 3rd Grade.

Computer:
1.  Typing Club.  Best typing program I've ever come across.  My youngest actually requests to do this.
2.  Hour of Code.  Lots of fun free coding activities.
3.  Minecraft.  This is not free, but well worth it!  The cost is a one time purchase of $26.95 for the Java Edition (this is what I have linked to).  You CAN buy Minecraft for various consoles, such as XBox, Playstation and/or an app.  However, there are SO many more educational benefits to the Java edition.  Your child will naturally end up typing and becoming interested in programming once they learn that they can type in cheats to manipulate the game or install mods to completely change the game. Be prepared for them to spend a lot of time researching how-to videos on YouTube.  I've gone from saying, "I'm confused... Why on Earth is a game with bad graphics so popular?!?"  to being a Minecrafter myself.  :)

Educational Games:
1.  Abcya. Fun games for grades Pre-K - 5.

Music:
1.  Fender.  Have you or your child wanted to learn acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass or ukulele?  Well Fender is provided 3 months of free music lessons to everyone.  We signed up for Ukulele for my youngest and they didn't even ask for a credit-card or try to persuade into a re-occurring commitment.  Fender, you guys rock!!! 

I don't want to overwhelm you all with links, but I hope these will be as helpful to you as they have been to my family.  If you have any education website suggestions, please share; and I'll add to this list as I come across new ones that we are enjoying.

In This Together,

Amy