Free Homeschool Resources & Insider Tips From a Successful Dad

Homeschool has become a necessity right now for all students but finding resources can be a chore. We scoured the internet and found free homeschool resources to help make things a little easier for you and your student.

Studies show that students who do not read and study while they are out on summer vacation lose a solid months worth of school year learning upon their return. (i) The scary thing about the Covid 19 closings is that students will be out of school much longer than usual this year, adding a lot more potential for learning loss.

Fortunately, as parents, we aren’t running completely blind. Teachers are stepping up to provide home curriculum, although it may not always be as in depth as they would have taught in the class room.

To skip down to your desired list of resources:
Math/Science ~ NASA ~ History ~ Health & Food Safety ~ Music

Tips From Home School Dad:

Before I give ya the tips provide from a very dear friend, I have to brag a bit. A stay at home father with a 7 year old and 18 year old in the home, he amazes me with his love for those babies. His 18 year old daughter just made Salutatorian of her High School! She excelled, under his guidance, in her home school curriculum and we are so very proud of her!

Okay, I’ll get to those tips now.

1. Have a consistent, reserved area for students to do their work in every time.
2. Patience is a virtue so be super virtuous with your child. Children take more to heart what they may perceive as criticism from a parent than a teacher
3. Try to lead to an answer and not just give it. Encouragement and reassurance are the tools which seem to best sculpt young minds.
4. Teaching a love of learning, as that is a lifelong skill, is just as important as the lesson being taught.
5. Taking breaks are essential, for both the student and the teacher!

Now on to our Free Homeschool Resources:

Math/Science

• Free Tutoring Program: OneClass is currently offering free live streaming tutoring for students of high school, college, and university math and science courses. You can check them out here.
• Free Math Games & Calculators: If your student needs a calculator for a particular subject, this site has you covered. They have free online calculators for various math courses including (but not limited to) algebra, calculus, trig, and so forth. There is no download required. They also have math games for all grade levels to keep students up on their skill.
• Science Explorer: This site covers biology, ecosystems, land resources, aerial photography, data managements, imagery, energy, environmental health, geology, mapping, planetary science and so much more that I just ran out of steam. Definitely a worthy resource!

NASA

NASA provides a few different sites to help children learn about the universe.

• Star Child is a learning center for young astronomers ages 5-13 to learn about the solar system, Milky Way and the universe beyond.
• Imagine the Universe which teaches the same as Star Child but for children ages 14 and up.
• NASA Kids Club in which children can play games, learn about NASA and earn their very own certificate.

History

• National Archives provide activities for specific historically significant events, free ebooks, iTunes downloads and so forth. You can also view a historical recreations in Google Street View. I’m pretty stoked to explore this one myself!
• The Constitution Center provides resources for studies of history, constitution, English, Civics, government, politics, and even court cases for all ages, even college. I love that they even have an overview of contributions made by powerful women throughout history!

Health & Food Safety

• The Paper Adventure: This free, interactive game is targeted for children 8-14 and teaches children about clinical studies. Players will go on an adventure through various terrains and make new friends as they help their brother find his medicine. This game does require a download but it is free.
• Health & Food Safety: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a website, FightBac.org which provides free lesson plans, games, coloring sheets and curriculum for all grade levels K-12.
• We Can: This website provides resources to teach children ages 2-5 about eating healthy and staying active.

Music

The list is too extensive for me to provide, so I’m skipping through and providing this link. There are resources for children from kindergarten on up to learn all sorts of music, they even have free online music lessons for more advanced students.

In Conclusion:

To be totally honest, I had fun finding so many great resources and it has sparked my own love for learning. I am pretty excited about some of the sites I’ve found and am planning on exploring them for my own learning purposes.

Obviously, there are so many more resources that I didn’t list but I hope this gives you a good start. You can also find a really good list at HomeEducator.com with even more links!

Do you have any tips or free homeschool resources you’d like to share?

i. Brookings Institution: A nonprofit in Washington, D.C., https://www.brookings.edu/research/summer-learning-loss-what-is-it-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/