Resources for Schooling at Home During COVID-19 School Closures (Part 2)

As we started the second week of March, we knew a big shift was coming- I had several close friends who’s kids attend traditional school models message me for school-at-home tips, “just in case” the schools closed. By mid week, our family made the decision to pull our kids to full time homeschool (they attend an on-campus program 2 days a week) and technically began our self-quarantine on the 11th. That night I wrote THIS POST with some of my personal favorite tips and resources from our homeschool experience.

Since March 10th, WHOLE LOT has changed, and for the most part, teachers from traditional school environments are doing SO MUCH to stay connected and provide resources for their students in some way or another. I’ve seen loads of content from parents who are keeping schedules and schooling at home, and an even amount from parents who say NO WAY, and I’m not here to judge ya either way. Every family has to do what’s right for them, as long as mental health, staying physically healthy and honoring all the feels that come with this experience remain our collective top priority.

Feel free to scope the original post HERE on any days you need some extra inspo, and enjoy this “Part 2” with more resources gathered since the school closures started and have been extended into May or longer. If you are schooling at home or not, these are some helpful resources to keep your kids engaged and entertained while we all stay safer at home.

*as always some of the links I share may be affiliate links, if you click on and purchase from these links there is a possibility we will earn a small commission- if you do, THANK YOU!

***UPDATE April 16th 2020***NEW STUFF ADDED***

The iNaturalist App- Since a stroll around the neighborhood is a pretty big outing these days- I highly recommend the iNaturalist app! As Mashable puts it, “it’s like the Shazam for plants, animals and insects” - you can download the app to your phone and start discovering all kinds of nature, right in your own back - or front- yard! I also like seeing what are the most (and least) common things people are discovering- loads of potential for discussion and math and goodness knows what else there! Take a look HERE .

**Orignal Post**

Draw, Dance, Get CREATIVE! Doodle with Mo Williams and Dance with Debbie Allen, listen to Shakespeare’’s sonnets with Patrick Stewart! These are just 3 of many awesome offerings that fab famous friends are stepping up and gifting us with during this time! You and the kids can doodle daily with author/illustrator Mo Willems HERE, jump into fun weekly dance classes on Instagram with the legendary Debbie Allen HERE, and catch Patrick Stewart working his way through the sonnets HERE (this last one has become part of my morning routine). My son was EXTRA excited to hear that his favorite author/illustrator Dav Pilkey joined the fun as well! He is collaborating with the Library of Congress and will be releasing read-alongs, drawing and other fun stuff starting April 1st and every Friday morning at 8am (find the info HERE).

Art lovers unite! Mo Willems has been super fun, we have also been doing lots of other art as well. Crafting, creating, coloring, all forms of art are great for the mind and for the soul- art is a great way for kids (and for us adults too!) to express what we can’t put into words. I’ve re-upped our supply of colored pencils, construction paper, and loads of other art supplies (pipe cleaners, glitter, you name it- nothing is off limits at the moment). My son is super into making his own comic books with THIS fun blank comic book from Amazon! You can also find a fab round up of 12 Art Lessons on YouTube your kids will love from the Homeschool Hideout HERE !

Pokemon fans? My kids definitely are! My husband downloaded the Pokemon GO app and takes them, and the dogs, for a walk every evening to…you know what, I don’t even know what they do but there’s Pokemon and they go for like 30 minutes so I can meditate and journal and have some solo time, so I’m not really asking questions. I’ve also been loving this facebook page for coloring pages and origami other fun stuff for the kids to do.

Take OR TEACH Online Classes! I know I included Outschool in my original post but this time, I’m recommending it to both teachers and students! Yes, your kids can take classes which is awesome- and we LOVE it…. OR if you’re a teacher (aka have a skill set to share- musicians, artists, etc) you can TEACH! Get a class going and make some extra money during the quarantine and in the future a fun side hustle during summer or extended breaks!

Get worksheets and let the kids play some educational games! Another resource I use often for games and worksheets is Education.com-I would suggest not sweating the need to teach your kids stuff they’ve never covered before, but for sure it’s not going to hurt to review what they already know. This site is an awesome resource that’s super organized- they offer limited content free and full access if you have a membership.

Resource site- Common Sense Media just launched Wide Open School that rounds up resources from Kahn Academy, Scholastic, NatGeo, and MORE!!

Let them listen to a story! I love THIS LIST of available read-aloud videos from WeAreTeachers.com - this is great for parents who are juggling kiddos and working from home, honestly great for everyone- I love reading to my kids, but I’m having some hard days here and there and knowing I’ve got a zillion options for them to be read to in a given day is so awesome.

Puzzles! When ever we travel & stay at a VRBO or Air Bnb (remember that!?) we love doing a puzzle over the duration of the trip- my awesome friend Jenni ordered some Galison puzzles and told me they have FREE SHIPPING (until 3/31/2020 so get up on it!!)! I ordered a 300 piece and a 500 piece to work on as a family (or individually when someone needs a little solo time!) over the next few….days? weeks? Either way….

Makers Space RULES! Back in the day, you know, February, when my kids were still on campus 2 days a week- they had this glorious Xanadu called The Makers Space, where could get creative and have fun! They got to use glue guns and all kinds of cool stuff! I started “Makers Space Fridays” here during our first week of Safer at Home and it was a HUGE hit. Keeps them busy for an hour or two at least!! I would highly recommend a low temp glue gun and keeping & cleaning out food containers for crafting with (I don’t think I’ve thrown away a paper towel roll or egg carton in like 6 years, but we are goin through the craft supply back stash pretty quickly these days! You can also rock out this awesome “3 Weeks of Makers Space Stations” by Brooke Brown.

Math with cards and Dominoes. Here’s a great list from We Are Teachers: 16 Card Games That Will Turn Your Students into Math Aces! We love using cards and dominoes for math, even if you aren’t “teaching” these are awesome ways to connect with your kids and keep em thinking! We also love the game Tiny Dot for fun (and math skill strengthening!) You can check out some ideas for using dominoes for math from The Teacher Next Door HERE

For the LEGO fans in the house… (you should see how many LEGO bricks we have here, it’s nuts) I recommend setting your DVR to record LEGO MASTERS ASAP- we love watching it as a family and then trying different challenges! My son’s love for “master building” has been re-ignited and it’s so fun to watch them dive in and get creative! You can also find some super rad Lego Challenge Cards from The Canadian Homeschooler HERE.

For the SPACE fanatics- this is a super fun resource for all ages! We were lucky enough to go on a super fun adventure day to the JPL last spring and I really hope we get to do it again in 2021! JPL is a friend to educators, parent educators and science, robotics and astronomy lovers everywhere. We love their resources and highly recommend checking them out HERE.

Get COOKING with RADDISH KIDS (a cooking club and curriculum for all ages)!!! This one is near and dear to my heart for several reasons. This blog isn’t my first rodeo with blogging, in 2005 I had a super fun food blog and cooked and baked along in some fun clubs like The Daring Bakers and Tuesday’s with Dorie, I had a cake pop business for a brief sliver of time and recently have had some kitchen fun making videos with my daughter cooking & baking. I adore spending time in the kitchen, I’m Italian and food is family, food is love, food is LIFE! Raddish stepped up as soon as they heard schools were closing and has been an AMAZING resource for having some fun, making some yummy food and learning along the way! Our friend and neighbor Samantha Barnes is the amazing founder of Raddish- she is a former middle school teacher, and mom of two (her kids attend the same 2 day hybrid homeschool campus that we do!)

Science fun! If your kids love science (or if you love science) check out THIS LIST from Bored Teachers!

GAMES! Last but not least a favorite from pre-quarentine times: Periodic Table Battleship and Multiplication Table Battleship! I have a laminator and these are both games my son LOVES to play and if you send the sheets to a friend your kiddos can do this on a zoom playdate! Here’s a great list from a fellow blogger Malina’s Travels.

As I said (what feels like years ago) in my original post on 3/10- reading and playing games go a LONG way. Let your child lead and chose topics they are intersted in when possible. Downtime and processing time is essential for all members of the family, and there’s nothing wrong with some Educational Netflix’ing (list from Homeschool Hideout)

Stay tuned, I’m sure I’ll have a part 3 of the resource roundup coming up soon!!

You can still find PART 1 of this post HERE

Extra resources:

Massive Google Doc of additional resources can be found HERE.

Extensive list of stuff to do while being safer at home can be found HERE.