Where to Find Online Classes for Kids Home From School

Maybe your kids or grandkids are already home from school due to coronavirus, or maybe your school's closing is imminent. Some schools have already developed online learning plans while the world bounces back from COVID-19, but not all, and the plans that are in place might not be all that well thought out or comprehensive (this is, after all, entirely new ground for most of us). Whether you're worried about keeping your children on track academically or just making sure they're busy enough, here's a list of resources and sites for all grade levels that will help keep their brains accustomed to learning. Who knows? They might even discover an interest in their future life's work amid all this chaos.

Khan Academy
For: Grades K-12
Khan Academy is a popular destination for online learning with an emphasis on math, with a separate Khan Kids app. It also offers parents tips for online learning during closures.

IXL
For: All ages, including pre-K
IXL is a well-organized site with a math emphasis. There is free content, but membership — $10 to $20 a month — lets you access more. 

Woot Math
For: Grades K-12
This site has made it clear that parents can set up a free account for as little as one student. 

QuickMath
For: Middle- and high-school algebra students
This site claims to help provide automatic math solutions to any algebra equation. 

KiwiCo
For: All ages
KiwiCo is a subscription box service that offers enriching STEAM-based activities for toddlers through teens. The company has also launched a parent-resource page with printables, activities, and other helpful home-learning resources.

STEMWorks
For: Older elementary schoolers and middle schoolers
This site offers limited free content in subjects like extreme weather, robotics, space, the animal kingdom, and more. 

Make Me Genius
For: Ages 5-14
Make Me Genius offers educational content about science via videos, facts, PowerPoint presentations, and more. Though it was created by an Indian woman, there is a good amount of English-language content here.

Science4Us
For: Ages 5-8
Science4Us offers thousands of activities designed for younger students. There is a 30-day free trial; after that, pricing is "based on a number of factors."

Khan Academy and IXL
Although Khan Academy and IXL have a math emphasis, it's worth noting that both offer science, language arts, and more.

Outschool
On March 13, Outschool.org launched this offshoot site which offers live video classes for kids ages 3 to 18. Financial assistance is available for families who have been affected by COVID-19 school closures.

K12
K12 has committed to offering "options for your student to attend public and private schools from the safety of your home" during the virus outbreak. K12 works with local schools to offer virtual schooling. 

Kahoot
Kahoot uses a timed, quiz-show-type format for learning, and the site is offering its premium level for free to schools closed due to COVID-19. 

Wikibooks and Wikijunior
Wikibooks and its offshoot, Wikijunior, are open-content sites that offer textbooks and non-fiction children's books, respectively, for free.

Wonderopolis
This site poses a daily "Wonder of the Day." Students can search for topics or just find a question that piques their interest.

LearnZillion
LearnZillion offers free, short videos that help explain how to perform certain math functions, as well as instruction in language arts topics. 

Scholastic Learn at Home
For: Ages 4-14
Launched in the wake of coronavirus school closings, this site offers free daily projects across various subjects "to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing."

ABCmouse
For: Ages 2-8
ABCmouse offers instruction in reading, math, science, art, and colors through more than 9,000 activities. The first month is free.

Help My Kid Learn
For: Ages 2-12
Help My Kid Learn offers material broken down into five age-appropriate sections.

Starfall
For: Ages 4-9
Starfall is a partially free site with game-focused tools for topics like math, language arts, and music. Much of the content is accessible only through a membership, which costs $35 for a single log-in.

ABCYa
For: Ages 6-13
ABCYa offers more than 400 games categorized by grade and subject. Content is generally free, but a membership ($6 to $10 per month) lets you do things like play games in full-screen mode and remove ads.

Adapted Mind
For: Ages 6-14
Offering math lessons for grades 1-8 and reading exercises for grades 1-6, Adapted Mind is free for one month and $9.95 a month after that for up to five kids.

Funbrain
For: Ages 6-14
Funbrain is a free, colorful, well-organized site that offers hundreds of games, videos, and books and a "math zone" for at-home learners.

Adventure Academy
For: Ages 8-13
Adventure Academy, from the people who started ABCmouse, features educational content for older kids. Its first month is free.

BrainPop
For: Ages 9-14
An animated educational site for kids, BrainPop offers families 30 days of free access to nearly two dozen subjects across its curriculum. In the event your school is closed, you can request free access via this page. There's a BrainPop Jr. for grades K-3.

ReadWriteThink
For: Grades K-12
ReadWriteThink offers free lesson plans, printables, games, and other resources with a focus on reading and language arts instruction. 

Google Arts & Culture
For: Ages 12 and up
Google Arts and Culture has lots of topics that should be of interest to kids, and the "Explore with Street View" section lets them visit Ipanema Beach, the Paris Opera, Yellowstone National Park, and more.

Google Lit Trips
For: Grades K-12
The essence of Google Lit Trips is "immersive 3D literary field trips." The site is basic but intuitive, with content divided by elementary, middle, and high school levels.

Spelling City
For: Ages 6-12
Spelling City can keep spelling and vocab-building abilities sharp. An annual family membership is $35.

Discover by Teachable
For: High schoolers
Discover by Teachable offers paid courses in business and marketing, tech and programming, and health and fitness. Your teen can learn everything from web design and development to podcasting to how to write a novel.

Udemy
For: High schoolers
Udemy offers more than 100,000 video courses starting at $12 in subjects such as business, design, photography, development, marketing, IT & software, personal development, and more.

Coursera
For: High schoolers
Coursera offers free and paid courses in many different topics from leading universities and companies like Google, IBM, and Stanford University. 

DIY.org
For: Ages 6-14
DIY.org offers courses in subjects like cooking, drawing, rocketry, gaming, mechanical engineering, and more. The site offers a 14-day trial; after that subscriptions are $15 to $25 a month.

Kanopy and Kanopy Kids
For: Grades K-12
If you have a card for a Kanopy-affiliate library, this is a free content-streaming resource. Kanopy has documentaries and films on a variety of educational topics. You can check out up to 10 titles at a time.

TED-Ed
For: Ages 8 and up
TED-Ed has pages of free educational animated videos on a vast array of topics. Search by subject or explore videos organized by theme. 

Code with Google
For: Ages 9 and up
Programs at Code with Google help build knowledge in computer science, machine learning, tech development, and more.

GoNoodle
For: Ages 12 and under
GoNoodle is a free video service your kids may already know (it's used in 4 out of 5 elementary schools) and it is chock-full of games, songs, and videos specifically designed to get kids jumping and moving.

Smarter Every Day 
These mostly STEM-based videos are produced by an engineer who is also a dad of four. 

Smart Girls 
This channel has series like "Making Math Fun," as well as a STEM series covering influential women. 

SciShow 
These videos teach kids "about the world around us and beyond," with content like "These Trees Eat Salmon!" as well as quite a few COVID-19-focused titles. 

Smithsonian 
This channel bills itself as the place "where curiosity lives, inspiration strikes and wonders never cease." It has lots of content focused on wildlife and history.

The Brain Scoop 
This content comes from Chicago's Field Museum, with more recent videos covering topics like "The Joy of Cooking (with Bugs!)" and "Venoms vs. Poisons." 

Sesame Street 
Since the longtime PBS classic can't be on TV 24/7, this YouTube channel has content grouped into categories like "Old School," "Songs," "Shorts," and more. 

It's OK to Be Smart 
Hosted by biologist and science writer Joe Hanson as part of PBS Digital Studios, videos include titles like "Why Don't Birds Lay Square Eggs?" and "Do Trees Talk?"

Homeschool Pop 
Kids can learn about about famous historical figures, science, art, math, and more on this channel founded by a homeschooling dad.