120 Digital Resources for Home-Schooling: Special Education, Social and Emotional Learning, and More
The Digital Age is upon us, and so is the need for more resources than we ever thought possible to assist us with home-schooling our loved ones. Whether you are new to home-schooling or have been at this for some time, these resources will help you provide a well-rounded curriculum while also allowing your child to learn without constant supervision, giving you a much-needed chance to rest, prepare or work.
This comprehensive list of resources covers everything from adaptive technology to the basics of reading and math. It even includes suggestions for field trips and physical education. We hope you find this list useful and encourage you to share it with your networks!
Table of Contents
All-in-One Curriculum and Multi-Subject Digital Resources
Online Social and Emotional Learning Resources
Online Special Education, Home-Schooling and Advocacy Resources
Age-Appropriate News and Current Events Sites
No-Workbook K-12 Online Math Resources
All-in-One Curriculum and Multi-Subject Digital Resources
Wide Open School – This home-schooling site uses online learning to make education fun for students. It also includes links to other helpful sites.
Outschool – Led by qualified teachers, Outschool offers online classes for students 3 to 18 years old and allows parents to customize their child’s learning toward their level and interests.
IXL – IXL Learning offers academic lessons in five subjects to K-12 students using personalized learning, analytics and real-time diagnostics.
Time4Learning – Time 4 Learning is a trusted home-schooling site that teaches math, science, social studies and language to students in preschool through high school.
Mr. Nussbaum – Mr. Nussbaum offers interactive games to help teachers and parents transition from the classroom to home-schooling for students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
Education.com – Education.com offers games, lesson plans and worksheets that help to create customized learning plans based on students’ needs and learning levels.
Leapfrog – Leapfrog Academy is an interactive learning site that works in conjunction with the popular Leapfrog game and offers worksheets, games and activities that make learning fun.
Freckle – Freckle is a differentiation learning platform used across the globe for students of all ages and operates on the basis that every student is different.
Online Social and Emotional Learning Resources
CASEL – CASEL is a curriculum used in many school districts, with webinars and other resources for parents to help support social and emotional learning while at home.
No Barriers – No Barriers provides learning opportunities to people with disabilities. It includes a free curriculum with six 30-minute sessions to introduce students to the concept of creating their own personal vision.
EVERFI – EVERFI offers free social and emotional learning resources in the form of digital lessons that can be easier for children to understand.
Centervention – Centervention helps K-8 students improve their emotional and social skills through the use of videos, games and supplemental lessons.
Random Acts of Kindness – Random Acts of Kindness uses stories, videos and lesson plans to provide a social and emotional learning curriculum for students K-8.
ACSD – ASCD offers free reading materials to help teachers and parents provide students with a social and emotional learning environment.
Headspace – Headspace is a meditation app that has meditation challenges and daily meditations to help with anxiety, depression and other issues.
Pathway 2 Success – Pathway 2 Success offers parents resources to teach elementary and middle school children about social, emotional and mindful learning skills.
TEACH – This 2U-powered website provides guidance on how to teach mindfulness and emotional regulation to children.
Online Special Education, Home-Schooling and Advocacy Resources
LD Online – LD Online has advice and information on working with children with ADHD and similar learning disabilities.
Do2Learn – Do2Learn offers songs, games, activities and communication cards to help teachers working with students with disabilities.
National Center for Learning Disabilities – The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) is an advocate for parents, teachers and educational institutes working with students of all ages and at all academic levels.
Goalbook Toolkit App – Goalbook uses resource-based practices and different packages to help teachers working with specialized student populations.
Premier Literacy – Premier Literacy helps students, teachers and schools using laptops, Chromebooks and desktop computers by helping students keep up with new technology.
Adaptive Worksheets – Adaptive Worksheets offers parents and teachers help designing customized worksheets and lesson plans.
Outside the Box – TRIPOD has many teaching resources for working with students with ADHD, including articles, curriculum, newsletters and information on current issues in teaching.
Age-Appropriate News and Current Events Sites
News-O-Matic – News-O-Matic provides children with downloadable daily newspapers covering various topics and also allows them to communicate with others.
TIME for Kids – TIME for Kids is a digital library that offers grade-appropriate articles and homework assignments in compliance with school standards.
CNN 10 – CNN 10 is an online news site with on-demand news broadcasts to keep children up to date on world events.
Newsela – Newsela is a distance-learning site that offers technology-based educational content of various subject matter for K-12 students.
NBC News Learn – NBC News Learn, the education division of NBC News, provides archival news stories and videos for classroom use.
Smithsonian Tween Tribune – Tween Tribune, run by more than 200,000 teachers, has weekly videos, lesson plans, questions and news articles for all grades.
DOGO News – DOGO News gives kids the latest news, videos and projects related to a variety of topics, including social studies, the environment, science and the world.
Scholastic News Online – Scholastic News, available through the mail or online, is a weekly magazine for younger students with videos, games and interesting articles.
No-Workbook K-12 Online Math Resources
Khan Academy – The highly regarded Khan Academy is best-known for helping teach math via videos, assessments and progression activities.
Dreambox – Dreambox is software used by many school districts with free options for parents to assist with progressive learning through games, exercises and videos.
Discovering Geometry – This site by teacher and author Michael Serra helps students and adults become better at math and master geometry.
RightStart™ Mathematics – RightStart™ Mathematics uses games and strategies to teach elementary and middle school students about counting, quantities and general math with the Al Abacus.
Prodigy – Prodigy is a free site used by many teachers to teach math to students from all social and economic backgrounds.
MathUSee – MathUSee uses a math-you-see curriculum to help parents learn math and teach it to their children, including students with special needs.
CueThink – CueThink is a virtual learning site aimed at helping students develop critical thinking skills and master general mathematics.
Illuminations – Illuminations, used by students and teachers, offers interactive tools for learning and teaching math.
AdaptedMind – AdaptedMind helps K-6 students learn reading and math using comprehensive and common core-aligned problems and illustrations.
Scaffolded Math and Science – Scaffolded Math and Science has home-schooling tips for teaching students math and science using interactive math and science activities that can be also found in the Google library.
MathTV – MathTV has thousands of videos to instruct students of all grades basic math to trigonometry and helps students build good study skills.
PBS Math Club – PBS Learning Media teaches K-12 students mathematics using episodes, quizzes and videos. This site syncs with the Google classroom.
Get the Math – Get the Math helps students develop algebraic skills for dealing with real-life problems using web interactivity and videos. They learn how algebra is used in life.
Math is Fun – Math is Fun teaches all types of math to ages 5-15 using puzzles, story problems, videos, charts and numerous activities.
Online Reading and Literacy for Auditory Learners
Bookshare – Bookshare is a site for those who cannot read traditional print material. It’s free to people and organizations that meet the criteria.
Storyline Online – Storyline Online is an award-winning 24/7 reading site that offers thousands of books to children of all ages.
Audible – An Amazon company, Audible is an online library of audio books as part of a subscription service. Some members get discounted prices.
Into the Book – Into the Book is a multimedia package that offers both a student and teacher website of activities to improve reading and comprehension.
Learning Ally – Learning Ally includes books, exhibits and tutorials to help students, including at-risk and disabled students, enjoy and improve their reading experience.
Scholastic – Designed for elementary and middle school students, Scholastic offers daily activities and projects to help students read, learn and grow academically.
Starfall – Starfall started as a free public service to help students improve their reading skills. It has added math and language to its curriculum for younger students.
Raz-Kids – Raz-Kids is a 24/7 online reading library where elementary school students can practice reading, record their reading and take tests to determine their comprehension level.
Tumble Book Library – Tumble Book Library, used in many schools, has thousands of books for students.
Learning Without Tears – Learning Without Tears uses many strategies, curriculums and projects to help students learn to write and use cursive in everyday writing.
Pete the Cat – Here, students can improve their reading with videos, songs, books, newsletters and printable activities.
Interactive Science Online Resources and Videos
Mystery Science – This website has lessons, videos and interactive learning created by an experienced science teacher to help kids learn about science.
FossWeb – Curriculum used in many school districts is available online for home use, including videos, text, audio and lesson plans.
Exploratorium – Exploratorium offers thousands of projects for adults and students, including development programs, interactive exhibits, reading content and film screenings.
Biology Online – Biology Online has biology articles and tutorials and a biology dictionary.
Science Game Center – Science Game Center offers teachers, parents and scientists a place to participate in science and math games and demonstrate how to improve science and math education.
Virtual Frog Dissection – The Virtual Frog Dissection Kit offers students a simple kit on how to dissect a frog.
ChemCollective – ChemCollective has interactive, interesting online activities for students and teachers to improve chemistry education.
NASA – NASA Space Place teaches students how their states and NASA work together, while helping students learn more about Earth and space with activities, crafts, videos and games.
Social Studies Online Resources, Videos and Courses
Crash Course World History – Crash Course has YouTube videos about almost every time period of history.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History – Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers videos, programs and events to help students learn about American history.
Rozzy Learning Company – Rozzy Learning Company includes virtual and remote lessons and worksheets to help students get by during school closures.
Studies Weekly Online – Studies Weekly offers student publications and teacher pamphlets for home-schooling.
Teaching Tolerance – Teaching Tolerance has free resources to help teachers work with students in diverse communities and teach them about biases and injustices.
American Panorama – American Panorama is a historical atlas of the United States.
Voices of Democracy – Voices of Democracy teaches students about the most popular debates and speeches in American history.
Stanford History Education Group – Stanford History Education Group is a free member site about history and how to keep students interested in the subject.
50States – 50 States.com has information about each state.
Ben’s Guide – Ben’s Guide and the Government Printing Office (GPO) educates students about history and the importance of the GPO.
Computer Science Online Programs for Kids
Scratch – Scratch allows students to make their own games, animations and interactive stories and share them with others online.
Code.org – Code is a site with information and training in computer science to K-12 students.
CodeCombat – Designed for students and teachers, CodeCombat teaches computer science and coding.
Codecademy – Codecademy helps students learn coding using methods that meet the educational needs of the student.
Code Monster – Code Monster is an interactive tool from Crunchzilla that teaches programming concepts to students of all ages.
Blockly – Blockly Games offers interactive games to help students enhance their programming skills.
Tynker – Tynker helps students ages 5 and up learn programming through tutorials, models and programming “camps”; they’re free during the school closures.
CodeMoji – Codemoji is a computer science curriculum for elementary and middle school students to learn code by their unique method. Students can create their own websites and animations.
Flatiron School – For the more advanced student, Flatiron School offers free courses in Hacking 101, Introduction to Javascript and Introduction to Ruby.
Digipen – Digipen Academy has workshops, master classes, summer sessions and a K-12 home-school in all subject areas.
Physical Education Online Resources and Brain Breaks
GoNoodle – GoNoodle has mindfulness and exercise videos to help students develop good learning habits and improve their social, physical and emotional health.
The Learning Station – The award-winning Learning Station uses music and videos to make learning fun.
WatchKnowLearn.org – WatchKnowLearn.org offers thousands of educational videos for students, teachers and parents. They cover not just the basic subjects, but also subjects such as physical and health education.
TeachTrainLove – TeachTrainLove gives teachers and parents ways to inject brain breaks into the school day to make learning fun and keep students motivated.
The OT Toolbox – OT Toolbox helps students stay refreshed and eager to learn with fun YouTube videos.
Carone Learning – Carone Learning, used by parents, teachers and students of all ages, has online courses in fitness, health and physical education.
Family Time Fitness – Family Time Fitness uses articles and videos to help parents and teachers implement physical education into a learning environment.
American Council on Exercise – American Council on Exercise (ACE) provides videos and educational material demonstrating the importance of a healthy body for a healthy mind.
Online Music Education Through Creation and Listening
SFSKids – This San Francisco Symphony lets kids compose and play music.
New York Philharmonic Kidzone – The New York Philharmonic has a virtual instrument storage room, a lab, videos and interactive models for kids who love music.
SmartMusic External link – SmartMusic offers students educational tools to help them learn music.
Prodigies Music Lessons – Prodigies gives students in elementary, middle and high school online music lessons in singing, playing instruments and hand-signing.
Chrome Music Lab – Chrome Music Lab gives children hands-on training to learn music.
Classics for Kids – Classics for Kids is a home-schooling site for children to listen, play and learn music.
Mixxx Free DJ Software – Mixx helps students learn music, how to DJ, and join a community of music developers through Google Summer of Code 2020.
Incredibox – Incredibox provides students with a visual and audio music experience with the help of virtual musicians.
Online Art Resources and Visual Aids
The Museum of Modern Art – Enjoy online art-making activities for the whole family, along with virtual exhibition tours and more at MoMA New York.
National Gallery of Art External link – Over 50,000 images from the National Gallery of Art.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Five decades of art history books are available for users to search, download and read.
Artsy – Sign up to receive information about all types of art around the world.
LUNCHDOODLES with Mo Willems – Mo Willems, the artist-in-residence from The Kennedy Center, is offering 15 lunchtime video art sessions for students.
The Center for Puppetry Arts – The Center for Puppetry Arts has puppet shows and interactive workshops.
Crayola – Crayola provides colorful activities to do with kids at home, with easy-to-follow videos for crafting with things around the house or simple kits for purchase.
KinderArt – KinderArt offers lesson libraries, downloads and an assortment of videos, with work for kids from preschool through middle school.
Color with Leo – Best for younger kids, this website provides tutorials, games, coloring pages and more for comprehensive at-home art lessons.
Online Museum Tours and Field Trips
San Diego Zoo – San Diego Zoo Global offers many educational activities for kids and parents, including guided tours and special programs and events.
Monterey Bay Aquarium – The Monterey Bay Aquarium features teacher and student online programs, science examples and a full curriculum of games and activities.
Zoo Atlanta – Zoo Atlanta offers many educational projects students can do at home, geared toward specific age groups.
British Museum, London – View masterpieces and learn new fun facts about the art at this Google Arts & Culture British Museum.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris – Google Arts & Culture Musée d’Orsay provides virtual tours of the museum.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam – 360 Stories in an online community site that offers travel stories from thousands of users and viewers, including a story about the Van Gogh Museum.
Pergamon Museum, Berlin – Using the Google Arts & Culture app, students and teachers can virtually tour the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.
The Louvre – Louvre offers people of all ages the opportunity to participate in a virtual tour of the galleries and exhibition rooms.
The White House External link – Take a virtual tour of the White House through the Google Arts & Culture app.
Smithsonian Magazine -The Smithsonian Institution provides a variety of virtual offerings from its museums, galleries and gardens.