At Christiana, we love books. We treasure the feeling of pages being flipped between our fingers. Great books, good books, text books- we love it all! And hopefully our children are learning to love books too. But they are also growing up in a world that loves to swipe and the feel of a screen underneath their fingertips.
As parents, we must help them to navigate it all. There are a lot of articles on the detrimental effects of social media, dangerous websites, and mindless scrolling. This is not one of them, although we will preface with a caution against the overuse of technology. But the truth is, we do use it, so this is an article on our favorite apps and websites as homeschoolers, collected by a few of our Department Coordinators.
Emotional ABCs- Monthly membership. Interactive online curriculum, developed with psychologists and educators, teaches your child how to manage emotions and make good choices even during emotionally challenging situations.
https://www.emotionalabcs.com/
ABC Mouse- Monthly membership. Ages 2-8. Educational games and learning activities. Reading, math, science, art & colors.
https://www.abcmouse.com/abc/
Reading Eggs- A $10 a month subscription gives you math seeds, reading eggs, fast phonics and reading express.
https://readingeggs.com/
Download in the App Store or Google Play.
Prodigies- Ages 2-12. Monthly or annual membership. Music literacy, music theory, pitch training, plus ukelele, desk bells, and recorder lessons.
https://prodigies.com
Spelling City- Free and Premium activities. Grade-level spelling lists and vocabulary practice.
https://www.spellingcity.com/
Khan Academy- Free, all ages. You can look things up by topic. There are Math and Science teaching videos, practice problems, SAT practice, and even Life Skills, such as Internet Safety.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/
Xtramath- Free, ages 5-10+. This is a great site for fact fluency practice. You can set up your own account and it will track your progress in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Tutors may have sent out set up instructions if the tutor is monitoring student progress for class.
https://home.xtramath.org/
IXL.com- You can try it for free or sign up for a subscription, individualized practice, progress, review for a variety of classes.
https://www.ixl.com/
Beast Academy- Subscription. Fantastic math-based puzzles.
https://beastacademy.com/
Dreambox- Subscription. Great for families whose kids might be struggling with Singapore math; it does most of the same things that Singapore does and has excellent virtual manipulatives, but places the child automatically according to their current level of competence, which can free up quite a bit of time and headspace for parents.
https://www.dreambox.com/resources/videos/welcome-to-dreambox-math
Dragonbox- This is great to introduce algebraic thinking even to very young children, while feeling like a game with fun graphics instead of letters for variables.
https://dragonbox.com/
Ducksters- History, Geography, Science, Biographies, Arts and Crafts, and Games.
https://www.ducksters.com/
Seterra Geography Games- More than 400 free map quiz games.
https://www.seterra.com/
Also available as an app on the App Store or Google Play.
Magistrula- Free. Latin forms, charts, & games. Great for verb synopsis practice or NLE review.
https://www.magistrula.com/
YouTube- Free, all ages. I would normally roll my eyes at this suggestion, but you can literally type in the search bar the name of your book and lesson, ex. "Saxon 5/4 Lesson 11" or “Latin Alive Book,1 Chapter 10” and there are videos posted on this. If you were absent or just need a review, this is a great free resource.
https://www.youtube.com/
Skip counting songs:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLLKChkS0jNwSZHjpra9AHDqawkmL2wX
“Numberblocks” introduces number concepts for younger students in a concrete way.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPlwvN0w4qFSP1FllALB92w
Hi Paws (original Latin instructional videos)
https://www.youtube.com/@HIPAWS
Latin Tutorial (good quality Latin grammar videos)
https://www.youtube.com/@latintutorial
A Kid Explains History
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3v0yBPHPPrpl35QMNvFTrQ
Amoeba Sisters (High School Biology)
https://www.youtube.com/user/AmoebaSisters
Gateway to the Classics- One of the best online collections of classic literature.
https://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/home.php
Project Gutenberg- Library of over 70,000 free eBooks. May not be the proper editions used in our Great Books classrooms, but these eBooks can be used in a pinch if a student has temporarily displaced their book.
https://www.gutenberg.org/
Lost Tools of Writing-
Facebook group where parents can view tips and ask questions at any time.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LTWMentor
Videos for each level of LTW:
Level I: https://vimeo.com/album/3199449 password: PEVENSIES (all caps)
Level II: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9630047 password: RADLEY (all caps)
MLA Citations-
https://www.easybib.com/mla/source
-or-
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
Typing.com- Learn to type!
https://www.typing.com/
FOR PARENTS AND TUTORS
Teachers Pay Teachers- Online marketplace for lesson plans and course materials. All classes. Sort by “Price Ascending” to find free resources first!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/
Beautiful Teaching- Supporting parents and educators in the liberal arts tradition.
https://www.beautifulteaching.com/
Podcast: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/podcast
Book list: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/classical-books-list
Hillsdale College- Free online courses in Politics, History, Literature, Philosophy & Religion, Economics, Mathematics & Natural Sciences. Check out “A Proper Understanding of K-12 Education: Theory and Practice” for a great starting point.
https://online.hillsdale.edu/course-list
This is part of the Board Bits: Tips, Tricks, and Hacks series. Is there a question about CHA or homeschool that you would like answered? Submit inquiries to Tracey at [email protected]
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