04/20

How To: Homeschooling

It’s been tough, to say the least. For all you mommas out there, I wanted to give some insightful tips & great educational programs to make your transition into a homeschool momma as easy as possible. I’ve enlisted in the help from educational consultant and expert Jamie Bakal. Jamie is a mom of two young girls here in Los Angeles and is going through her own journey with this new and hopefully temporary, “normal.”

Below are so some online options that ranges from your child watching a Broadway musical to an amazing online class option that allows interaction with a teacher. Jamie will be consistently posting new information on her Instagram @JamieBakalConsulting.

There are a bunch of Broadway musicals that have made themselves available online.
There are a bunch of museums that are offering virtual tours right now.
Here are some other educational websites for the kiddos:
- Math: Khan Academy + Prodigy Game
- Science: Mystery Doug + National Geographic
- Reading: Reading: Squiggle Park + Story Line Online
- Writing: Typing Club + Typesy
- Social Studies : History for kids

Code.org is a great site for teaching kids computer science at home.
Outschool.com is a great online resource for K-12 classes (they create zoom classrooms so all of the kids can interact with the teachers). In addition to classes that cover core curriculum (reading, writing, math, etc.), they offer a variety of science, social studies, art, music, and P.E. classes. My girls are signed up for classes like Solving a Rubik’s Cube, Creating a Digital Escape Room: adding and subtracting fractions, Character Creation, Calligraphy and Self Discovery Art Journaling.
BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. site for self-guided academic lessons.

Create a crossword puzzle and email it to your friends using sites.

Create a scavenger hunt outside for your kids. This has the benefits of your children being outside, getting exercise and fresh air, while getting to use their brain.

Cook/bake with your kids. Great family friendly recipes on Weelicious. Or better yet, have them take an online kids’ cooking class on Raddish Kids.

Coach Rio from Saken Sports Camp is putting out multiple weekly fitness videos on YouTube.

Were you supposed to spend spring break at Disneyland or Disney World? No worries…now you can experience the rides virtually on this YouTube channel.

The California Science Center has created “Stuck at Home Science.” Every weekday at 10am, they post a new activity for kids to enjoy.

Time Magazine is providing a free digital library for Time for Kids.

Common Sense Media has always been an amazing resource for age appropriate content. But now more than ever, I am using them for things well beyond movie, tv, and apps. They’re a great resource for kid appropriate podcasts and audiobooks. They also are dedicated to supporting educators and family in this time of great uncertainty.