Schooling at Home? Laurel Springs Has Resources for Families

With the current COVID-19 crisis afflicting the world and causing countless schools to close for the foreseeable future, many parents are now responsible for teaching their children at home. Also, some older students now must continue their studies without the structure and curriculum of a traditional school. Going from live, in-classroom instruction with a regular schedule to at-home instruction with a flexible agenda can be very challenging, so we have put together a list of online learning resources for a wide range of age groups.

Below are some exceptional online educational resources to help make the most of a student’s time at home—whether you’re a student doing full-fledged lessons or a parent keeping your child from regressing while out of the traditional school setting. We’ve grouped them by various grade levels, and many are now being offered free through the end of the school year! Please remember that this is not an exhaustive list—there are many other online resources as well.
Alternatively, our teachers put together a guide of the best tips and resources for teaching online. You may find some of these useful as you continue online learning at home.

K-5 Resources

Zearn
Over 400 hours of digital math lessons that use interactive games, on-screen teachers, and supportive remediation.
Raz-Kids
Comprehensive reading resources for students. Hundreds of eBooks offered at 29 levels of reading difficulty.
Epic
Digital library for kids 12 and under.
Time for Kids
Weekly magazine for elementary students with age-appropriate stories, articles that explain the world around them, journalism that teaches kids news literacy, and instructional materials.
Scholastic Learn at Home (up to grade 9)
Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Publishes educational books and materials based on the Core Knowledge sequence.

Middle School Resources

Newsela
Instructional content platform that offers engaging articles that are aligned with educational standards. Focuses on social studies, science, and English/language arts.
OKGO Sandbox
A fun site that uses OKGo’s music videos as starting points for integrated, guided inquiry challenges allowing students to explore various STEAM concepts.
CS First
Site that offers a free computer science program that makes learning to code easy and fun.
Prodigy
1500+ curriculum-aligned math skills from grades 1 to 8.
StoriumEdu
Collaborative writing game for students of all ages.

High School Resources

Project Gutenberg
Site with over 60,000 free eBooks—mostly older books that have been digitized and proofread.
Cue Think
An application created to improve critical thinking skills and math communication in students grades 2 through 12, using mathematician George Polya’s four phases of Understand, Plan, Solve, and Review.
Duolingo
Site/app dedicated to learning foreign languages.
NanoWriMo Young Writers Program
National Novel Writing Month is in November, and this site offers the challenge to younger writers. Throughout the year, it features smaller writing challenges.
Google Arts and Culture
Online platform with access to high-resolution artwork housed in partner museums.
Big History Project
Online social studies course that emphasizes skill development as students draw mind-blowing connections between past, present, and future.
Phet Interactive Simulations
Massive collection of science and math simulations.