Reading, Resources & Covid 19

There’s a lot of information being shared from various sources with amazing support and resources during this pandemic. From people reading out loud to websites giving free trials, there has been so much kindness demonstrated by companies, it gives me hope that maybe the human condition isn’t totally selfish.

As a parent and a bookworm, here are some of the best I have found over the course of the last week to help you and your little ones during this time.

Khan Academy is a US home schooling site that focuses largely on maths. They have helpfully created a suggested work schedule for various age groups, and have maths activities ranging from kindergarten to college. The grades are naturally in US, but are easy to ‘translate’ to wherever you are in the world with a quick google. They also have links on their timetable to suggested other activities, such as beginners computer coding, which has been keeping my ten year old occupied for hours. Something similar to school, but different enough to not feel too much like work. Also, if you have never homeschooled before, the timetable is a useful base to work with, even if you don’t follow it entirely.

Usborne have made all their ebooks 99p. These range from early readers all the way up to young adult, and are compatible with a range of devices. However old your children are, new books is a sure fire way of grabbing their attention and keeping it.

Similarly to above but maybe even better, Audible have launched Audible Stories, a selection of entirely free audio books, from young child to classics. You don’t even have to have an Audible membership to use them, which is a fantastic move from the big company. You can also choose whether to download or just listen, meaning you don’t need to take up any memory on devices. With short stories perfect for story time, and longer, more advanced stories ideal for occupying inquiring minds during this strange time, this gets a huge thumbs up from me.

The teacher and homeschooling resource site Twinkl is another site, this time UK based, that has opened up a subscription option for free, specifically to help support children now learning at home. This site covers a whole curriculum of education, from playschool years to the end of Primary school. There are endless fantastic worksheets to print off for free, or use for inspiration to create your own at home. All of this is naturally dependent on how much time you have, so the fact you can just print off is of huge benefit.

A bit different, but nevertheless important arts wise, here are twelve museums you can visit online for free. From London to Seoul, you can travel the world in your pyjamas, which is fantastic as an adult, and also useful as a parent. Similarly, Cincinnati Zoo on Facebook are hosting a daily online safari where you can ‘meet’ one of the animals, and even follow a quiz on them afterwards.

Finally, on a completely different note, The Body Coach on YouTube is offering a daily P.E. lesson at 9am GMT every school day until the schools reopen. This can be done live or caught up on at any time after it airs, or even rewatched on repeat if your small people need to work off some energy! We tuned in this morning for the first one, and there were a huge number of people from countries all over the world.

I hope this post is useful. We’re in strange times, and have to just make the best of what we’ve been given. Life isn’t the same at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it has to be dull.

Wishing you all well.