FREE Websites for Home Learning

There are so many FREE educational websites out there for children. But sometimes it can be difficult to find ones that provide good content, and that are free with no strings or trials attached. Or ones that are free for parents, not just teachers. Today I'm sharing a list of my favorite, gimmick free, parent friendly websites that you can trust. They are all available for home use. No trials, no limitations on use, and they're all FREE! Click on each laptop to visit each one. 

I love Xtramath. This is a math fact fluency website that allows students to practice their math facts each day. You can set it up for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or mixed. It's very easy to use and I love how it progresses with my students, repeating the math facts that they get wrong until they master them.

99 Math is a new fave! It's a fun, engaging, and competitive math fluency game for students in grades 1st - 8th grade. What makes 99 Math so fun for students is that they play against other students and can even play against students across the globe in online tournaments. There are now 23 countries on the site. Students love competition and it encourages faster advancement! 

This is a great site that my students love! It is an online library with popular book titles that are read to the students by popular role-models.

Freckle, formally known as Front Row is a K-12 standards-based site that targets Math, ELA, Science, and Social Studies. This site offers so much that I cannot believe it is free! Don't be confused when you go to sign up. It looks like it's for teachers only, but you can also sign up as a parent too. Choose teacher and then parent from the "role" drop down menu and then in the bottom right hand corner select "I don't have a class."

Khan Academy is another wonderful standards-based site for K-8 where students can learn at their own pace and parents and teachers can personalize assignments. Reports are also available for free to monitor student progress. 

Sheppard Software is another site my students enjoy and is very appealing for children. They have hundreds of educational games and activities for every subject area.  

Starfall is a fun site and a great tool for children working at a KG to 3rd grade level. It features lots of basic skill activities, phonics, holiday themed activities, and lots of songs. Some activities do require a paid version, but there's an abundance of activities for free! 

Another favorite is ABCYa! ABCYa is geared for K-6 and provides a wealth of educational games in ELA and Math, as well as holiday games and strategy games that are very engaging for students.

A collection of free, easy to read books on a variety of topics. Books can be speech enabled and set up to use on touch screens, Intellikeys with overlays, or switch devices.

Learning Games for Kids is a very enticing, kid-friendly website loaded with educational games and activities for reading, phonics, spelling, math, typing, and more! 

Reading Bear is a fun and engaging site for students just learning basic phonics sounds and learning how to read. It is easy to navigate and very student-friendly. 

This is a cute site that offers games, videos, books, and songs that primarily focus on teaching children life lessons, and how to feel good about themselves. It is a great site for building character and classroom community.

Math Playground is a great and easy to navigate site for providing children in grades 1-6 math skills practice in a fun way. It is very inviting and engaging for students and another one that my students love!

This site is a lot like Sheppard Software. Kids love it! It offers tons of games, activities, coloring pages, puzzles, and themed activities for every holiday!

Fun Brain is a popular site and is geared for students in PK-8. This site offers educational videos and games in reading and math, digital books to read, and a playground students can just have fun in. You might also like Fun Brain Jr for younger children. 

This is a fabulous site and allows young adventurers to explore the world and learn how it works. They can watch videos and read all about the earth, planets, plants, animals, and more.

I hope these websites will ease your home learning. Don't forget you can click on each laptop above to be taken directly to each site. 

Save this image for easy reference.

Want a PDF with clickable links? Find it here.  

PIN IT so you don't forget it!!! 

Increase Play & Interaction in the Home

Here is one of the projects I was working on during the end of my Spring Break that I promised to share with you! 

I have a student with Autism that I am teaching play skills to. She is currently obsessed with technology. But she doesn't use it appropriately and stims to the extreme when she is on it. So we, the parents and I, have removed iPad and computer privileges from her school day and at home. In an effort to replace the technology and behavior, we are introducing her to many new age appropriate toys and teaching her appropriate play skills. 

Apparently at home, her interaction with her toys consists of lining her barbies and dolls up against a wall. So, we decided to set up a home program and a checkout system to where she could check out a classroom toy each day (that she has been introduced to and practiced using appropriately) to take home each day, every couple days, or each week....however long appropriate. 

In setting this up, I knew I needed not only a checkout system to keep track, but also something to guide the parents and hold them accountable for carrying out appropriate play opportunities at home. The parents also need a little push as they don't realize her capabilities and don't interact with her as much as they should due to her limited expressive communication skills. Well this is what I came up with and so far it is working out well. 

This will go home each Monday and be returned the following Monday. It is my hopes that this will initiate interaction between her and the parents, increase play opportunities, and decrease her self-stimulatory behaviors in the home. The parents will log the activity, who she played with, start/end time, and engagement. 

 Here is the checklist I made for checking out the toys/activities. 

This one is for an individual student and below is one for multiple students.

Click on any of the images to download for free. 

If you are working on play skills and/or interaction in the home, I hope these forms will be helpful for you! 

Also, if you haven't seen, my "Photo Classifying Cards" are free for the entire month of April in honor of National Autism Month!!! Regular $3.50 value! 

Homework OR No Homework?

School is back in full swing and the homework excuses have already begun!!! With a multi-grade level classroom of students in grades 1st - 5th, my students all have different homework assignments differentiated for each of their levels. So you can imagine my assistants and I spend quite a bit of time putting homework together each week. And the fact that only 2-3 out of my 10 students return it each day has got me thinking! 

I've always had mixed feelings on homework. I've spent many nights myself fighting with my ADHD child to get him through his homework resulting in many evenings of chaos and nothing more than a burdensome task for the whole household. Most of the time it was what I called "busy work," rather than beneficial practice for him. What I found helped him the most and provided the most positive learning experiences were the learning experiences I created for him each evening like reviewing flashcards, playing multiplication war with a deck of cards, challenging him in a spelling bee, or having him tell me the time on the analog clock several times throughout the evening. On the other hand, my daughter was quite the opposite and always whipped her homework right out every evening hardly ever needing any assistance or reminders. 

Homework can also be a burden when students are involved in after school sports or other activities. I think it is important for children to be involved in these activities and have seen children lose these privileges because they couldn't keep up on their homework.

Another issue in my community is that I live in a casino gaming community where the casinos employ a large majority of the parents. Many of the parents work the night shift and are not home in the evenings to assist their child with homework.   

While many feel that homework should be independent and not require parent assistance, many feel that it should be a time of bonding where parents can be involved with their child's education, see what their child is learning at school and talk about their child's school day! Many also feel that it teaches children responsibility.

Let's face it. Homework is a very controversial topic and has many different views in our society. Just as instruction should be differentiated, I feel homework should be differentiated as well and should not look the same for every learner. Most importantly, it should never become burdensome!!  

My friend Susan from "An Exceptional Education" was having the same homework struggles and decided that she was going to offer a No Homework Option this year for parents! I loved the idea and after getting such a poor homework return already in the first 3 weeks of school, I decided to try it! This is the letter I sent home on Thursday! Surprisingly, they are all coming back with YES checked, and yes even the ones that never turn in homework are checking yes!!

While my district recommends 10 minutes of homework each evening equal to the number of their grade level (e.g. 2nd grade-20 minutes, 3rd grade-30 minutes) they do not allow homework to count as a grade.

What is your point of view on homework? Does your district require it?