Time For Home School

Although life seems chaotic at the moment, the one thing NOT to panic about is school. Granted, statewide school closures can be problematic and stressful for parents, but know when it comes to curriculum and learning, you got this.

As much as the unknown can be scary, I challenge all the parents and caregivers to embrace this new normal and enjoy the time with your children.

To help you get started, I am sharing some of my favorite resources, which I use both as a classroom teacher and home school parent. Even better, most of these resources are FREE!

Read Works This site allows you to search by subject and grade level finding articles, paired texts (one of my favorites) and reading passages. It will ask you to sign up as an educator, but you can simply create an account with a personal email.

Scholastic The old reliable…I have linked specifically to the free classroom lesson plans page but spend some time searching the site. Scholastic has great content for kids. If you want to spend money, purchase a Scholastic Magazine. For more information on the magazines, check out my previous blog POST

Khan Academy offers “exercises, quizzes, and tests so students can practice and master skills, as well as instructional videos to help students learn or review material.” I have linked to the parent quick start guide 🙂

Duolingo For the language immersion kids and also any other child interested in learning a foreign language.

Read Write Think provides “educators, parents, and after school professionals with access to the highest quality practices in reading and language arts instruction by offering the very best in free materials.”

K12 Reader has free printable worksheets and activities.

NY Times offers an array of unique activities such as daily writing prompts, lesson of the day and an interactive film club.

PBS Learning Media has “curated FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers like you.” I have already found a handful of materials and lessons I would like to use with my oldest daughter, like this lesson about the Civil War.

Ereading Worksheets contains great supplementary material to reinforce or teach new concepts. Especially if your child is required to complete work provided by their school, Ereading can work as a teaching aid and assist with direct instruction at home.

If you are wondering where to start, I suggest reading a book. Here is my BLOG where I discuss book talks and connecting to text. Both my upper and lower elementary graphic organizers are free for downloading 🙂

Lastly, don’t forget about non fiction….kids love it and I bet you have a lot of these books at home (think dinosaurs, space, plants etc). Check out my previous POST and download my free non fiction graphic organizer.

Remember, home learning is flexible, rewarding and can easily adapt into your family’s lifestyle. With the world slowing down, now is the time to home educate.

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