Articles and blog posts about “homeschooling” during Covid-19
Living Joyfully Podcast – Anna Brown and Pam Laricchia dive into the value of using this time to embrace and strengthen our relationships with our children, tips for navigating sibling conflicts, and some ideas to get your brainstorming juices flowing for fun things to do at home!
Coronavirus Turned Us Into Homeschoolers! Now What? – A post from Sue Patterson of UnschoolingMom2Mom.
How much time should schoolwork take at home? – Chart from the Illinois State Board of Education.
Unintentional Homeschoolers – An open letter from a homeschooling mom in Ireland to accidental or unintentional homeschoolers.
Homeschooling is not the same as Crisis Schooling Blog post by a long time public school teacher and homeschooling mom.
Colorado Public Radio – Article about lowering your expectations during the pandemic.
Today – Advice from a teacher.
New York Times – Opinion piece by a parent.
PDX Free Play – How to encourage free play in a pandemic
Oregonian article Tips and websites for education your homebound child.
Just Do the Math – This is a pre-Covid-19 excerpt from a 2006 book by David Albert called Have Fun, Learn Stuff, Grow. Homeschooling and the Curriculum of Love. It talks about how quickly most kids can learn math.
This article is about “deschooling” written by a former teacher who began homeschooling before Covid-19.
Free Online Resources & Ideas
Alder Commons – A Portland hub for self-directed work and play.
Audible – Free to stream stories from Amazon.
ChatterPack – Includes resources for children with special needs.
Class Central – Online Ivy League courses.
Explore.org – Live webcams that champion the selfless acts of others, create a portal into the soul of humanity and inspire lifelong learning.
Films for Action – The largest learning library for social change online.
Five Oaks Museum – Online exhibition about the Tualatin Valley’s first people.
Games to Play Over Facetime – Level up your Facetime and Zoom calls with one of these fun and simple games.
Gardening – Eighteen of the fastest growing veggies you can harvest in no time.
The Kid Should See This – Smart videos for curious minds of all ages.
Kid World Citizen – Sharing ideas to teach kids about world cultures and our planet through travel, food, music, celebrations, service, maps, art, and projects.
A Magical Childhood – Crafts, poems, and articles.
MoMA – Museum of Modern Art’s free online classes.
Natural Math: 100+ Activities and Resources – Laura Grace Weldon: free-range learning, creative living, gentle encouragement, big questions, poetry, occasional drollery.
OMSI – Science experiments to do at home.
Open Culture – Courses, lectures, eBooks, and more.
Origami – Step by Step diagrams to show how to fold things out of paper.
Photomath – Free app that assists parents who want to help their children but who struggle with recalling concepts or are unfamiliar with new instructional approaches used in classrooms.
Portland State University Student Legal Services – Free webinars about issues relating to the Coronavirus.
Paper Airplane Designs – A database of paper airplanes with easy to follow folding instructions, video tutorials and printable folding plans. Find the best paper airplanes that fly the furthest and stay aloft the longest.
P.E. with Joe – Daily live workouts for kids on Youtube.
Rotten Tomatoes – Top 100 kid & family movies.
Rick Steves Classroom Europe – European art, history, and culture.
Storyline Online – Celebrities reading picture books.
We are Teachers – Ideas, inspiration, and giveaways for teachers.
Zinn Education Project – Introducing students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula.
Overwhelmed by all the ideas? These folks put all of them in one place, organized by subject – Google sheet for kids aged 1-12 (Full disclosure, I don’t know if all of these are free, but it has some great things listed!)
A long list on Facebook of favorites, compiled by homeschooling parents.
Online Tuition Based Classes
Village Home – Traditionally, Village Home offers in-person classes for three 10 week sessions a year; they have switched to an online format for spring 2020.
Outschool – Live online classes for kids aged 3-18.
The Bug Chicks – Two local Portland scientists/educators who love all things related to bugs.
Portland Area Public Art/Art Supply Stores Offering Pick Up
Portland Street Art – Plan your daily walk or run around some public art.
Forest for the Trees – Photogallery of many of Portland’s public murals.
Georgies – Ceramic and clay.
Collage – Alberta and Division stores.
Facebook Groups
Homeschooling in Portland – A group for homeschoolers in the Portland, OR metro area. Ask questions, share resources, plan events, make friends! All types of homeschoolers welcome.
Homeschoolers of Portland – A group for homeschoolers in Portland, Oregon to share information and support.
Oregon Home Education Network (OHEN) – Questions about homeschooling in Oregon? Ask them here! Want to share some homeschooling wins? Post them here! Looking for other homeschoolers to hook up with? Find them here!
Portland Unschoolers – This is a group for families in the Portland, Oregon area who are Unschooling. Everyone is welcome, from those who are just curious about unschooling to longtime and/or radical unschoolers.
Secular Homeschoolers of Portland – Secular homeschoolers living in Portland, OR, who homeschool without a belief in supreme beings. Share curriculum ideas, create events, discuss issues (this can include subjects NOT pertaining to homeschooling), and make friends!
Parents Helping Parents – A space for public/private school families, homeschool families, and teachers to ask questions, share experiences and resources, and lift one another up.
Hidden Portland for the Curious – Members share stories and ideas about art, history, public spaces, museums, happen-upons, amusements, the odd and curious, playful and fun in the Portland Metro area.
Want to learn more about homeschooling?
Oregon Home Education Network
What Kind of Homeschooler Are You? (Quiz)
Unschooling Mom 2 Mom
I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write. (Blog)
Class Dismissed film
The Best Unschooling Books That Aren’t Actually About Unschooling (an Amazon list) – A list I created based on a talk I gave at the Life is Good Unschooling conference in 2019
If you have questions about homeschooling or unschooling, feel free to contact me directly: Facebook, email, or call/text me at 503-381-9785.
