(UPDATED) Resources for home learning during the quarantine
There’s a lot of information popping up for parents and families who find themselves homeschooling their kids and teachers who are now instructing their classes virtually. It’s not easy to pick out what’s high quality and how to use it. With that in mind, we thought we’d try to help out by compiling a list of the resources that are available. To our knowledge, these items are either free or the companies are temporarily waiving their fees.
It’s important to remember that you should stay in close contact with your school and leverage the resources they already have in place. Similarly, don’t try to dive into every resource available, but find a few items that work well and use them. We’ve split our list up by the most relevant groups who will likely benefit. Clearly, there is an overlap between most of these, so be sure to check on any item that you think looks useful to your situation. This is a running list and we will be updating frequently. We’re also relying on your knowledge of your community, so be sure to comment when more information pops up that is relevant!
Nine Network will broadcast teacher-led classes for students learning at home
Beginning this week, the Nine Network will broadcast two hours of literacy and math instruction for students, pre-K through fourth grade, weekdays from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m, on PBS (Channel 9). "Teaching in Room 9" will feature grade-appropriate lessons, taught by educators from their homes across the region. The televised lessons offer students access to teaching during this academic year shutdown and into the summer, regardless of access to internet or computers. Each lesson is 30 minutes long. The schedule for April 27 to July 31 will be as follows, Monday through Thursday:
12:30-1:00 p.m.: Reading, PreK through 1st grade
1:00-1:30 p.m.: Reading, 2nd through 4th grade
1:30-2:00 p.m.: Math, PreK through 1st grade
2:00-2:30 p.m.: Math, 2nd through 4th grade
Well-being
Spectrum Internet is providing 60 days of free internet service to any household with children in grades K-12.
Public libraries across the state are offering access to their digital collections
St. Louis Boxed Lunches: St. Louis-area chef Tai Davis has started offering kits of 5 lunches for students to pick up.
Local restaurants are offering free lunches to kids, including Crazy Bowls and McCallister’s.
KCPS, SLPS, and multiple other districts throughout the state are offering meal pickup for their students. Many districts are on Spring Break through March 23, so it’s likely more districts will announce similar services over the next few days.
It’s important to stay active and you can find a whole host of useful exercise routines differentiated by age.
Resources for Parents
A hard thing for families going forward is keeping a routine and helping build a learning environment at home, especially with young kids. Be patient and follow some of the guidelines in this post from EdSurge.
Scholastic Learn at Home is offering day-by-day projects for children at different reading levels. These are cross-curricular and are built around a story/video.
Part of #SocialDistancing is not being able to go out in crowds. Staying in your home is great for public health, but it will be tough to keep everyone occupied. Luckily, you can go on virtual field trips to places like the San Diego Zoo, Mount Rushmore, and a host of U.S. National Parks.
eSpark Learning is allowing parents to sign up for free access to Math and Reading videos and games that are based on students’ learning levels
Multiple universities across the country have made thousands of courses available for free online.
Read this blog from Homeschooling researcher, Michael Q. McShane reminds us not to reinvent the wheel as we learn at home
The Circle of Excellence Network, which includes over 200 Black homeschooling families, shares resources and varied opportunities for home educators. To be added to the Circle of Excellence Network list, send an email request to Dr. Davis at djdavis@slu.edu.
Audible.com is letting kids download and listen to audiobooks for free for as long as schools are closed.
Since many people had to cancel a vacation, here’s Virtual Disney World without the lines!
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has compiled 21 ways to keep your social distancing but still have ways to stay busy
Robert Pondiscio offers some useful news outlets to help discuss current events with students
Welcome to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Home, including virtual read-alouds of all seven Harry Potter books.
BedTimeMath has math stories to help kids learn to love numbers
Create ‘Math Time’ at home
Digital Trends has some great resources for education at home
Resources for Teachers
Teachers, sign your classes up for a zoom lesson on human anatomy with the SLU School of Medicine’s Adventures in Medicine Science (AIMS) Program. Contact Amanda Barnard at aims@health.slu.edu for more information.
Teacher Vision is providing 999 free downloads of any resource on their website. They’ve also provided a blog on how to prepare for distance learning. You can join this Facebook group for shared support and resources.
Generation Genius is offering full video lessons and lesson plans on a variety of topics.
Here is a list of companies waiving their fees for educational resources.
Core Knowledge has free downloadable curricula for grades PreK-8 in language arts, history & geography, and science.
Khan Academy: An ever-growing online education resource that is now offering daily schedules for students ages 4-18 and specific directions on how to leverage Khan Academy during school closures.
Zearn Math provides checklists for setting up distance learning programs with standards-based math curricula.
ACT/SAT Prep from BWS Education Consulting
What’s better than children’s books? Having them read aloud by the authors themselves!
Google is giving teachers all the tools and information you can need to teach from home.
St. Louis-based Varsity Tutors is providing live, online resources for home-based learning.
TIME for Kids is providing free access to its digital library
The James Dyson Foundation (as in Dyson vacuums) has designed engineering projects for children.
Our list here is far from exhaustive and we’ll continue to update as more information becomes available. In the meantime, we want to help navigate these difficult times and ensure that parents, students, and teachers can provide the best learning environment possible. You can stay up-to-date with new information on our Twitter account (@SLU_PRIME) and on Facebook (@sluprimecenter).
Here’s a list of other compiled resources from other outlets
The 74 Million: 11 useful sites for parents
EducationNext: One dad’s effort to create a “school” atmosphere at home.
Fordham Institute: Michael Petrilli’s honest assessment of trying to make at least some of the time at home educational.
THE Journal: A tech-savvy, comprehensive list of resources.
PBS: The Nine Network Toolkit offers resources on a variety of platforms.
CEAM: Keeping your kids engaged at home and how to do so