Stay Home and Stay Safe – Sanity Saving Remote Learning Resources

Free online education and enrichment resources for remote learning and entertaining your children during the COVID-19 outbreak.

When our nation first asked Americans to stay home and stay safe during the COVID-19 outbreak, many of our children were excited for an extra long spring break. As the reality of the situation becomes clearer for all of us, including our kids, we crave the normalcy that our schedules bring. Kids want to go back to school. They miss their teachers, their friends, the learning, and the social interaction. We as parents are looking for ways to help our children adjust to the new normal of remote learning and keep our sanity along the way.

Give yourself and your kids some grace, we will all have our moments.

First, let me encourage you to give yourself grace in this process. What works for someone else may not work for you. Try not to compare yourself to the Facebook post of perfection. You. Do. You. Give yourself and your kids some grace, we will all have our moments. Use this time to reconnect as a family. There will be plenty of opportunities through meals, games, chores, and quiet moments of reflection that are bound to happen.

Next, have you ever appreciated your child’s teacher more?!? Seriously, they are amazing. We’ve all seen the funny memes about homeschooling and most of them ring true. Our teachers, in less then a month, have changed the entire way they teach and interact with our children. Whether through YouTube, Zoom, at-home packets, emails, educational sites, or just calling our kids to check on them. I am in awe of all they have been able to accomplish and they are adjusting on a day-by-day basis.

So, as all of us adjust to meeting each other’s needs in new and creative ways we wanted to help you out with a list of online resources. Use these to enrich the activities your child’s teachers have sent out or simply as a way to break up the day. Who knows, they may even spark a new interest or passion in your child!

Educational Sites

• ABC Mouse is an online curriculum subscription service that is offering the first 30 days free. It is geared toward children ages 2-8.
• ABCya! has a free subscription for educational games based on your child’s grade level.
• Scholastic has developed a Learn at Home program for grades pre-k – 9th grade.
• If you are looking for personalized math and spelling enrichment, Sumdog has free sign-up for families.
• Prodigy is a math learning platform for grades 1 – 8.
• MobyMax is available for free during the COVID-19 crisis. Set-up an account under homeschool if your child’s school has not provided login information.
• There are some free printables on edHelper.com for all grade levels.
• Wide Open School has a variety of resources available for all grades.
• For high school and above The Great Courses Plus is offering a free 30 day trial.
• Kahn Academy is an excellent free instructional resource for teachers, parents and students during remote learning or any time of the year.
• Michigan State University has 84 easy science lessons you can do with your child at home.

Read To Me

• Audible is offering free audio books for children.
• Dolly Parton will be reading stories on Goodnight with Dolly on Facebook, Thurday Evenings at 7pm.
• Time for Kids is offering a free digital library for the remainder of the school year.
• We Are Teachers has an excellent list of authors doing read-alongs and online activities for elementary, middle school, and high school students.
• Find a list of free online magazines at Love to Know.
• Checkout RB Digital for online magazines through your local library. Just set up an account.
• Read digital books for free through your local library on OverDrive.
• Another resource through your local library is Hoopla. Access books, magazines, and movies.
• How fun would it be to have an astronaut read your child a story? Then, Story Time From Space is your place to go.
• Your favorite children’s authors are offering story time online read by them or other famous people. Search #OperationStorytime on social media or go to Romper for more information.
• Chip & Company has links to actor Josh Gad, aka Olaf reading children’s stories.
• Storyline Online is a free resource for remote learning during COVID-19.

Virtual Field Trips

• Google Arts & Culture has several virtual views and categories to explore.
• Mental Floss has links to 12 museums from around the world to explore online.
• Take a virtual field trip to Yellowstone National Park.
• Check out Georgia Aquarium’s webcams.
• The Detroit Zoo has several webcams and educational lessons available.
• Virtual farm tours are available through the American Dairy Association.
• Take a trip to outer space from the comfort of your home with the Kennedy Space Center.
• Go exploring through Google Earth. Type in your destination and explore, or check out Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons for National Parks’ links to Google Earth.
• If you are still looking for more virtual field trips check out the lists on Virtual School Activities, Freedom Homeschooling, and Adventures in Familyhood.

The Great Outdoors

• Explore the great outdoors with one of the live feeds of different animals in the wild on Forbes.
• Here is a list of birds to watch and how they sound.
• Starry Night has a free online astronomy curriculum.
• Join the Kratt Brothers and become a Creature Hero. There are fun activities to help creatures in your own backyard.

Learn A New Hobby

• Cooking lessons with 5 Dollar Dinners.
• What do you get when you combine simple pantry products and science? Find out at The Kitchen Pantry Scientist.
• Learn to draw with some great YouTube videos by Art for Kids Hub.
• Break up your day with this fun activity…Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems.
• Coloring is one of the most relaxing hobbies and the people at The Disney Nerds Podcast have some great Disney printables to color.
• Has your child ever wanted to learn an instrument? Making Music Fun has some free online music lessons.
• Piano Nanny has free online piano lessons.
• Fender is giving 3 months of free guitar, bass, or ukulele lessons.
• Cosmic Kids Yoga Adventure has great yoga lessons for your child, here is a link to the Frozen lesson.
• Join Ms. Sam for a free Frozen dance lesson.

Boredom Busters

• If you have an Amazon Prime membership then checkout We Are Teachers list of the 30 best educational shows.
• Romper has a list of Disney virtual rides for your family.
• Adventures in Odyssey is offering a free 4 week trial.
• If you are looking for some classics to entertain and educate then checkout…Schoolhouse Rock!
• Do you have a Harry Potter fan in the house? Try this Hogwarts Digital Escape Room or bring Hogwarts to you at Wizarding World.
• Do you have a gamer in the house? Then, Minecraft has new free educational games.
• Dadventures has a list of 12 YouTube channels to get your child moving.

We hope this list helps make your life easier as you navigate this new way of learning for your child. We plan on updating the list as more remote learning resources become available so check back often. Feel free to comment below with any free educational tools you are using.

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