Just because you are not a teacher by profession or tutor does not mean that you cannot arm yourself with some effective tools to help your child do some essential learning at home. In general we can help young people learn with a myriad of hands-on-experiences, but more technical literacy and numeracy skills do require a little more direction and specificity. Here are some great websites that are not only Parent-Friendly but curriculum driven too.
ABC Learning Time
A brilliant and bright website designed to draw kids into the very early stages of learning vocabulary and numbers. There are a number of programs that are both flexible and interactive to help very young children get their appetites whet for their first year at school. The best part is it’s free.
Mouse Club
This is another early learner’s focussed site that has colourful and engaging tactics right at its heart. It is driven to accommodate both learners and parent’s needs as there are easy-to-use games for children, but also parental resources and a community chat forum to touch base with other parents. If you are a teacher you can also print lessons and order additional resources from their online shop.
Education.com
It is a vibrant website that acts like a teaching resource for students, parents and teachers alike. You can search for printable or to-be-purchased resources on literacy, numeracy, science and art for children attending Kindergarten to Year 5. It is an American site, but the skill levels are appropriate for Australian year levels. The site itself is an invaluable way to print fun and engaging activities for children to do with you at home.
Read Write Think Parent Resources
This is a brilliant language arts resource to encourage your child with reading. It has fantastic book suggestions for the age and sex of your child as well as convenient printable at-home activities. Read Write Think also runs the full age stretch catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 12.
XP Maths
To find brilliant numeracy helpers for children of all ages this website really delivers. It has a plethora of resources including math games, videos, worksheets and e-books. Children can practice their skills in arithmetic, algebra, geometry and probability and if they choose to sign up their accounts will also keep track of their scores and progress.
Queensland Museum Learning Resources
For help with Science and science-related topics this website is a wealth of information. It is collaboration between the museum and Education Queensland teachers to deliver innovative and interactive resources on everything from dinosaurs to biodiversity.
The internet offers a multitude of resources and learning opportunities that can both assist and develop a child’s learning. Many website are free to use and are easy to navigate making them a real time-saver for busy parents. If you would like further suggestions for useful and reputable websites to visit you can find a comprehensive list from the Education Queensland Government website.