Check out these ideas to help learning at home. All of them are free so you can get started right away! Number 5 and 6 have some alternative ideas for video conferencing and note taking that you might not have heard of before.
1. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a great free education resource to help your child learn all sorts of subjects, and it’s particularly good for math!
They have courses, organised by subject and by age group, to help your child master any mathematics topic, whether that be place value or understanding how division works. Khan Academy includes quizzes to help solidify any learning. The way their videos explain mathematics concepts is very understandable, and the beauty of a video is you can pause at any time and repeat sections if you need!
2. Code.org
Code.org is an awesome way to get your child into coding or to exercise a budding passion! They cover a wide variety of age groups and include fun and relevant context like Minecraft to make learning more exciting.
They have videos, guides, and full courses to help your child become more familiar with coding.
3. Duolingo
Duolingo is a language learning app and website and is a fantastic way to learn a new language, for both children and adults! The way it teaches languages is based heavily on problem-solving and memory techniques, and that makes it especially good for practicing your language skills!
Duolingo splits up languages into small, bite-sized classes that you can follow step by step to slowly build up your new language skill.
4. IXL
IXL has some great free content for and organises its curriculum in a very easy-to-access manner. IXL is great for giving you inspiration and ideas for what to focus on with your child and is also very helpful for figuring out any gaps your child may have.
5. Zoom and alternatives!
It’s so important when online learning to make sure you have easy ways to contact your school, other families, relatives, or friends. There are a variety of different video calling services:
Zoom has become widely popular since 2020 and has quickly become the go-to for this service
Meet is Google’s alternative and you can organise video calls straight from your Google Calendar!
Gather.town is a new favourite of ours as gives you an avatar which you can move around a virtual space and talk to different people. This would be fantastic for hosting a little classroom of your child’s friends as it allows great breakout spaces and is a very organic experience.
6. Notion, Evernote...
Note-taking is really important for learning. Allowing children to have a space where they can jot down their ideas and make note of what they’ve learned to return to later. This can be on pen and paper of course, but for those who struggle with handwriting, or who enjoy working on a computer, there are some great alternatives.
Notion is a fantastic tool for note-taking. You can easily insert screenshots, links, drawings, and images. It’s really easy to use and great for organising different pages of notes. Notion also includes features like to-do lists and calendars.
Evernote is also fantastic for organising pages of notes and allows you to have folders. It also has a good mobile app.
Apple Notes! If you have an Apple device, you can set up a new folder for your child’s education and allow them to take notes there. It’s easy and accessible all the time!