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Writer's pictureraisethemreading
Apr 4, 20209 min read

A Librarian's List of Free Online Resources

Updated: Apr 5, 2020

Albert Einstein said “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” With libraries across the country closed on account of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, where do we turn? Lucky for us, we have the world at our fingertips, something Einstein could only have dreamed of. Over the past few weeks, as quarantine bans rolled out across the nation and schools closed, numerous companies and non-profits stepped up meet the needs of children, from providing food to students who rely on schools for meals to offering free or discounted resources to keep children learning online. At first, I was amazed and gratified by the response, and then a little overwhelmed. I would see these offers in my feed one minute and they'd be gone when I went to act on them. And because our family limits screen time, I wanted to choose wisely.


And then, even with the library closed, my local librarian came to the rescue.


Librarians are pretty high up there on my list of heroes. Sure, they may not fight fires or stop bad guys, but they are knowledgeable, helpful and full of enthusiasm for helping readers find the next book to love, which is pretty awesome in my book. Through our weekly visits to the library, my toddler and I have gotten to know a few of our librarians and we've exchanged book recommendations. On one of our last visits, one of the librarians agreed to let me interview her for a future blog post, and we exchanged email addresses.


A week later, the Cornonavirus stuff had hit the fan, the library closed and I forgot all about it until out of the blue, my librarian emailed me a few days ago. Since the last time we spoke, she had been busy compiling a list of free online learning resources. With her permission, I am posting this amazing list. You'll definitely want to bookmark and it and come back to it, because there are so many!


I am personally familiar with some from my teaching days like Kahoot and Scholastic and a few others we use for limited screen time like PBSKids and Vooks. I've been hearing a lot about GoNoodle so I'm excited to try it out. My advice would always be to vet these sites before allowing your children to use them to make sure the content is appropriate for your child's age and align with your family values. Be sure to check out the section: "Virtual Field Trips" to help make staying home a little more bearable!


Without further delay, here is this EPIC List of FREE Online Learning Resources


A Note From The Author


Here is a list of the different freemium, trial period and premium offers available during the Coronavirus situation. I did mainly focus on sites to help students with distance learning (since now most kids are learning at home) and ones that I thought were helpful and easy to access. Note that the website may require you to register for a free account to access the free content. A small minority of sites requires you to sign up for a free trial period that you can cancel at any time. I put these sites into 6 different categories for your convenience:  1) Home Schooling, Distance Learning and Parent Access

2) Teacher and Students Access 3) Educational Sites for Students with Special Needs 4) Virtual Field Trips

5) General Public Access and General Education

6) Work From Home Also included is a list of sources I used to compile this list. Enjoy!

 

Home Schooling, Distance Learning and Parent Access


 

Teachers and Students Access

(To access most of the offers here, a school email is required. For parents and students without a school email, ask your child’s teacher or school to assist you with attaining access.)


 

Education Sites for Students with Special Needs


 

Virtual Tours (Virtual Field Trips)



 

General Public Access and General Education

 

Work From Home

 

Sources:

 

A huge thank you to Marisol Galindo-Wright @ashortloudgirl for allowing me to share this valuable resource on my blog and the Dothan Houston County Library System for helping children and parents during this unprecedented time!

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