How to Homeschool Amid The Corona Virus

I know that homeschooling can feel daunting! I wrote this post to try to simplify the process for you! I promise, you will and can get the hang of this, and that it can actually be primarily hands-off for you! Yes, you read that right. A large factor will be the age of your kids, but the BIGGER factor is just helping your kids transition to a self-learning style vs. a classroom structure where their learning is all managed and overseen by a teacher. It is possible!

There are incredible resources out there and the first thing we can all do is USE THEM! Thank goodness this isn’t happening pre-wifi!

I’ve put together great resources to use! I purposefully will only be putting a few in each category, so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming! And remember, you DON’T need to have something in every category. Really, if you’re getting math and reading to happen- you’re gonna be just fine!

Here’s a SAMPLE SCHEDULE of what a day in our house might look like. But sometimes we scrap it and do something totally different! For their Daily Schedule, I would write out every one of these tasks. 🙂


SAMPLE SCHEDULE

  • Get dressed (I know you’re not going anywhere, you still need to)
  • Make your bed
  • Brush your teeth
  • Eat breakfast
  • Math
  • Take the dog for a walk
  • English/writing
  • 12:00 Lunch as a family & then board games
  • 1:00 M/W/F – Science (Mark Rover Live on YouTube) | T/TH – History with Mom
  • Personal Reading or Creative Writing
  • Elective learning (or Personal Goal Time)
    *This is where my kids get to learn about whatever they are curious about.

Math

These are my favorite math resources! I would recommend Thinkwell as your primary curriculum for 6th through high school age students with Khan Academy as the secondary. In other words, my kids use Thinkwell as their curriculum but when they get stuck and need more clarification, I have them go over to Khan.

PROGRAMFREE or PAYIDEAL GRADES
CTC MatchTrial to PayPreschool to 5th Grade
Thinkwell*Free (Covid-19)6th Grade to AP Highschool
Khan AcademyFreeAll Grades

*Free temporarily to help families through COVID-19


English/Language Arts/ Reading

For all-around Language Arts for any grade from pre-k to high school senior, try IXL.

To work on GRAMMAR try Khan Academy.

If you have an avid reader, they might enjoy getting to #writetoanauthor, learn more and get the full author list here.

Creative Writing Prompts for Elementry Ages Kids can be downloaded free here.


Success Skills

The CEO Kid – Your kids can learn business and success skills now! The CEO Kid is an online academy that teaches entrepreneurship to kids, created by yours truly!

(FREE) The CEO Kid Leadership Activities – 4 lessons with more to come. Each covers one succeeds principle such as Creativity, Generocity, Thriftiness, and Resilience with a fun activity that kids can do at home. (Lessons have even been modified so you won’t need anything that you don’t have already in your house).


SCIENCE

I’m going to keep this one incredibly easy!

Middle School & Junior High: Mark Rober is doing a science lesson Monday, Wednesday, and Friday live on YouTube at 1 pm PT. There you go, science is handled! 🙂 And how could your kids not love these? Lesson #2 answered: Does farting make you weigh less?

As of writing this blog post, he already has 4 lessons up and dozens of other really cool Science videos.

High Scool: If you have older kids who need more advanced math, Khan Academy has everything from high school biology to AP Physics II.


History


My favorite History Curriculum is not online and it’s out of stock, so that’s not helpful at all!

My favorite suggestion would be to read a historical book.
My top 3 favorites are:

Seven Miracles that Saved America by Chris Stewart & Ted Stewart
On Amazon Here
On BookShelf Plus for free with membership (they have a 30-Day free trial)

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
On Amazon Here

Another option would be to have kids study a period in history and then present a report. They could even do the presentation after you’ve finished a book.

For the Report: So that your kiddos can learn two things at once, have them create a PowerPoint or Keynote. Actually that’s three! They are learning presenting, slideshow creation, and history. Boom!

Topics could include:
– The Wright Brothers (try this book)
– Harriet Tubman (then you could watch the movie)
– The Great Depression
– WWII
– Family History – Try to create their 4 generation family tree with stories and pictures if possible! They can create a free FamilySearch account and make it completely digital.

We connected Science with our study of the Wright Brothers by studying the physics of flight. This video was our teacher!


SUPER SIMPLE OPTION: But if you need it to just be really simple right now, try CRASH COURSE. It’s a YouTube channel that makes animated videos about world history. I’d say it’s best suited for junior high and up but we used it to fill in gaps even when they were a bit younger.


ART

Easy Art Lessons – My dear friend Heidi Hope is a world-renowned photographer and painter AND her background is as an art teacher! She’s amazing!

And she’s been creating free art lessons for kids to help families stay busy while being home-bond. I think my favorite lesson is her Fractal Water Droplets Lesson!


OTHER RESOURCES

VidAngel – I love VidAngel, they are a filtering service so that you can take inappropriate words, scenes, and whatnot out of movies! They are offering their service free the entire month of April.

I hope this has helped! Please leave a comment with what resources you’ve found and are loving so we can learn from each other!

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