Resources for Homeschooling

As I alluded to in my previous post, this era of social distancing has led to me (and most parents in the world) to try our hand on serious homeschooling. In the past, I have accessed several resources to teach the girls but this was a supplement to the primary learning they were receiving from their schools and teachers.

With all the unknowns of the initial lockdown, I had to revise my role to that of primary educator. In that role, I struggled with finding decent, reputable resources for teaching older elementary kids (grade 4). Sure a quick Google search will yield some results but I found some of the resources to be too commercial, flaky or poorly designed for my use. Some were also good. In keeping with the objective of this blog to "Learn and Share", I'm going to highlight all the homeschooling resources that I think are worth accessing.

This post quickly grew to be a loooooooooooooooooog list so I'm going to break it down into sections which I'll keep updated as I find new goodies.

Learning Styles.

Before attempting to educate your kids formally, it's worth it to have a decent idea of how they learn best.

• Article on Understanding the 7 types of learning
• Another article on the 7 learning styles
• Learning styles quiz

Teaching Styles.

Let's be honest here, not all personalities and/or family dynamics are well-suited for home education. Sometimes kids need a teacher outside of the home. One resource that I have appreciated having access to is the Outschool website (affiliate link).  With this website I've been able to access instructor-led classes for my girls on a variety of topics including creative writing, Roblox programing, African American history, Debating and Etiquette. This is definitely a tried and recommended resource 

Complete Curriculum Resources

This is a list of resources that cover the full elementary school curriculum of mathematics, science and social studies.

CK-12 
Type: Website
Contains: K-12 resources sorted by grade level and subject
Subjects covered: Maths, Science, Social Studies

Khan Academy
What started as a little family project has become one of the most extensive collections of FREE educational resources in the world.
Type: Website with lessons in video format
Contains: K-12 resources sorted by grade level and subject
Subjects covered: Maths

All in One Homeschool
Type: Website with some online worksheets as well as printables
Contains: K-12 resources sorted by grade level and subject
Subjects covered: Maths, Science, Reading, Art, Music, Bible

Lower Elementary Resources

These are resources that are specially geared towards kindergarten to grade 3s and focus on the acquisition of basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills.

Starfall Education

Platform: Web-based

Cost: Paid

Grades: Pre-K to Grade 3

Format: Online games

ABC Mouse
Their ads are everywhere! And it's a $9.95 monthly subscription

Leapfrog Videos
I used these successfully with my girls so I can vouch for them 100%. I'm currently using them again for Baby Boy and he does enjoy the movies. One sore point is 7 years ago, I could access some episodes via the Apple Store and Netflix. That's no longer the case. I've had to buy the DVDs off Amazon because I really couldn't find any option for streaming.

ABCYa
A K-6 resource for learning through games

ICT Games
Free maths and english educational games

Seasame Street

General Learning

These resources can't be fitted into any rigid subject box as they span several subjects and can best be described as general learning resources for elementary learners

Scholastic Learn at Home
The content of this section of Scholastic's popular platform was developed in response to the educational needs that families faced during the COVID 19 crisis.

Ted Education 
The TedEd channel on Youtube contains a variety of educational videos. You'll need to do a bit of digging and filtering to find gems like this one.