Resources to supplement distance learning
Hi, Our district (like many in California) is starting school year with distance learning which will likely continue for foreseeable future and then move to hybrid when possible. I'm currently working from home (due to the pandemic) and planning to take some time during the day to help with distance learning and make up hours at night. I figured my work will suffer due to work from home no matter what, so I might as well use the opportunity to invest in my kids' education. My kids (elementary school aged) are pretty independent learners so I want to use my time with them to supplement distance learning (they can do the basic DL work themselves), cover more advanced topics, do hands on learning, and help them advance since our school is not very good at differentiating and my kids could really benefit from this. Anyone knows of resources that will be good for this? I signed up for Beast Academy for math as I heard great things. Anything more for math, or any recommendations for science learning kids or curriculum I can use at home to supplement? Anything good for working on improving reading comprehension besides just reading more books? I'm good at teaching the old-style boring way, but am not very creative unfortunately so looking for resources/tools out there to make it fun and interesting for the kids while they learn. I figured some others are in similar position and hopefully have some resources to recommend. Thanks.
Parent Replies
Hi there, I've been learning a lot about a philosophy called Unschooling that I think could supplement distance learning well. It gives kids time and space to develop interests, without a curriculum. You notice what they are showing an interest in and provide resources and experiences to help them explore that interest. Elementary aged kids learn so much through play and self directed exploration. This could be a great time to carve out some Unschooling time in their schedules and see how they blossom! :)
Take a look at EduTube and YouTube channels. There is a lot of excellent material out there that's for free. And more is being added all of the time.
For more structured learning take a look at Kahn Academy. They have daily scheduled learning for ages 2-18. And it's also free. Started by a Silicon Valley billionaire about a decade ago.
https://www.khanacademy.org/