Collaborative post
Homeschooling isn’t easy and finding good learning resources for both the children and yourself can be difficult. Fortunately, the wonderful world of the internet provides almost limitless things you can do and new sites or resources are always being established allowing you to do such things as watch the latest news, design personalised children’s books or send flowers to Vienna!
Most homes now have access to broadband internet, which is required to take advantage of some, but not all resources. Media heavy tools such as animated or interactive learning will usually require a fast enough connection so that you aren’t waiting around for things to load but some sites allow the download and installation of learning resources.
While there are hundreds, if not thousands of learning sites and resources, some of the best include:
- e-Learning for Kids
- Twinkl
- BrainPop
e-Learning for Kids is an internationally recognized and free interactive tool while Twinkl provides materials created by teachers, for teachers and BrainPop is one of the best educational video platforms for children.
e-Learning for Kids – Free and Fun
e-Learning for Kids provides excellent, fun and interactive learning games for children aged 5 to 12. Focusing on maths and science, this site offers over 550 free tutorials and relies on donations for its support. The curriculum covers the International Baccalaureate, an internationally established system that is relevant to education in 138 countries.
Math World and Science World are presented as video games with levels for interactive learning with different grades available for younger and older children across 336 and 213 lessons respectively. The games can also be played offline and all you need to do is register.
Twinkl – Planning and Assessment
Developed by teachers in order to help other teachers, whether traditional or home, Twinkl is more of an assessment and planning tool designed to help get the most out of the Key Stage curriculum. The site offers a vast amount of resources from ages 5 to 16 and pre-school.
The resources focus on all topics such as maths, English and science and are designed around the curriculum perfectly in a manner befitting any school and are a homeschooler’s dream when it comes to planning and subject matter.
However, this site isn’t free and offers Core, Ultimate and Extra packages at varying prices but for most homeschoolers, the Core package should be enough.
BrainPop – A Wealth of Resources
While platforms such as YouTube and TikTok can be good sources of educational videos, BrainPop has a seemingly endless supply of educational videos focused on core school subjects and are designed around children. The interface is very user-friendly and interactive while interactive games are also included.
Each subject has its own page containing not just the videos, but quizzes on the content, worksheets and related reading among others. The sheer amount of well-designed and relevant topics on BrainPop make it an essential tool for children if you really want to get the most out of online learning and group learning is also available on the platform.
This site also isn’t free but it does have some free resources available to everyone who is registered.
