The current situation that our world is in has left many parents with the new challenge of teaching their kids from home.
While this is new territory for many, plenty of parents do an amazing job of homeschooling all year around.
Whether you’re new to homeschooling or have been doing it for years, these tips and tools should help you support your child’s educational journey.
Top Tools For Homeschooling
- HomeSchooler Helper
Homeschooler Helper is a top homeschooling app; using this application, you can organize your child’s learning, store the curriculum, and set goals.
With the calendar feature, you can track your child’s schedule and access report cards.
You can also uphold photos of your child’s work, and input the curriculum.
Not many lesson planning apps are designed for homeschoolers specifically, which is what makes this application so special!
- K12 Timed Reading Practice & Comprehension
The K12 timed reading practice app includes over 250 stories for young readers.
Here you’ll find a wide variety of both nonfiction and fiction.
Whether you need to track one reader, a group, or class, it’s simple with the K12 reading app.
The K12 app includes a fluency timer; the timer calculates the wpm for every reading attempt.
You’ll also receive autosuggestions so you’ll know when your child is ready for the next level of difficulty.
With a variety of comprehension questions, it’s simple to check your child’s understanding.
You’ll also find audio support, which is perfect for younger readers.
To improve your child’s reading ability, this app is ideal.
- Studentreasures Publishing
Studentreasures Publishing offers some excellent resources for third grade writing.
First, your child can use the third-grade writing prompt sheets.
These worksheets are designed to help children build interesting stories, using brainstorming, adjective lists, and writing starters.
Once your child has developed some creative ideas, they can use a Studentreasures Publishing kit to create their class book.
A professionally bound book is a fantastic memento of your child’s writing ability.
It’s also a great motivational tool.
- Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a free platform offering resources for all age groups, including K12.
These resources are mostly maths and science-focused, and you can choose whichever content by subject or by grade.
As well as the content on the website, there’s also the ‘Khan Academy’ kids app.
The application has plenty of great features, including printables, advice for parents, Camp Khan Kids, and circle time activities.
The kid’s program focuses on language, writing, and maths, encouraging plenty of creativity along the way.
- Brain Pop
BrainPop uses quizzes, games, and video content to make learning super fun.
Here you’ll find plenty of engaging content, including maths, English, and Science.
There are many exciting activities to keep your kids engaged, whether making a movie or creative coding.
It can be tricky to keep children motivated when working from home, but BrainPop has got everything you need to keep your kids on track.
- The Artful Parent
Sometimes, your kids will need a break from the screen (and from all that math)!
The Artful Parent website has plenty of engaging craft projects to help your children make some beautiful things.
Many of these are best suited to young kids, though there are several for older children too.
There are many great projects on offer, whether it’s rainbow cardboard sculptures, watercolor doodles, embroidery, or printmaking.
- ABCMouse Early Learning Academy
ABCMouse is a great learning website where your child can play games and puzzles.
All of the content is mapped around the curriculum of science, music, art, math, and reading.
The site offers over 10,000 different activities!
The content is carefully designed to provide your child the right level, and then the difficulty increases when they are ready.
Content examples include phonics, rhyming words, parts of speech, and sentence structure.
With plenty of fun-filled stories to read, your child will be having fun in no time.
- GoNoodle
The GoNoodle app provides plenty of fantastic mindfulness and movement activities.
When your child is feeling stressed or needs to release some energy, these activities are absolutely perfect.
A few of the movement games on the app include:
Om Petalhead’s Flower Power:
In this super fun game, your child gets to get rid of the weeds in Om’s garden, (expect plenty of jumping and sweeping arm actions)!
The game is followed by a chill-out yoga session.
Zapp Von Doubler’s Space Race:
Here, your child gets to use their jetpack to collect stars, travel space, and clean up the space junk!
- Create the right learning space
When you’re approaching homeschooling, it’s important to create the right learning space.
Purchase a colorful desk and chair, hang artwork close by, and neatly organize books and resources.
Creating an inviting space will help your child settle into a routine and feel comfortable while learning.
Remember to use plenty of natural light and indoor plants.
Doing so will help to enhance the learning space and keep energy levels high.
Top Tips For Homeschooling
- Have a non-family member help
It can be useful to have a non-family member help out when marking your child’s work.
When you’re marking your own child’s work (especially writing), you may accidentally be a little biased!
Having someone else mark the work can also prevent any tension between you and your child.
It’s not uncommon for kids to get upset if you don’t give them the grade they wanted.
When a separate person has marked their work, they may be less likely to take the grade so personally.
- Create a structured schedule
Children need structure to settle into a routine.
Create a clear schedule outlining when you will practice each subject and for how long.
Ensure that you factor in enough breaks and playtimes.
Let your child know what the schedule is, so they know what to expect.
To help you plan your child’s schedule, it can be useful to use a digital bullet journal.
The GoodNotes app is the perfect digital notebook to use.
All of your index pages, trackers, and modules have their own place.
With the GoodNotes app, you can import paper templates or covers, and use them multiple times.
It’s simple to create bookmarks so that you can always find the pages that you need.
- Learning should be fun
Above all, the learning process must be as fun as possible.
Kids might not enjoy being homeschooled at first, and so it’s your job to help them enjoy themselves.
Use games and a variety of activities, incorporate role-play, drama, or dance.
Give them enough breaks for physical activity and even ask for their feedback.
If you know which learning activities your child is enjoying the most, you can use this info to enhance their schedule.
- Get out of the house
Ensure that your child gets at least one break outside the house per day.
You could take them to the park or for a bike ride?
You could even conduct some of their classes in the park, (if you think they will still be able to concentrate)!
If your child is getting bored, why not invite one of their friends over for a home-schooling play-date?
Some activities work better in a group, and your child might enjoy the company of a friend.
Homeschooling isn’t the easiest practice in the world; inevitably, there will be good days and bad days.
Don’t be too critical of yourself or your child, simply use those mistakes to learn and grow.
For further help, check out The Natural Homeschool’s free homeschool printables.
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