Most schools have been closed for several weeks now. Kids are missing their classmates, teachers, routine and extracurricular activities. Many parents are also working from home while trying to teach and entertain their quarantined kids. Kids are more likely to work independently if they’re interested in the subject. This is a great time to work on hobbies or discover new interests. Here’s a list of homeschool elective courses to enrich at-home learning and keep kids independently engaged so parents can get their own work done – or just have a bit of peach and quiet. 

Finances and life skills

1. Izzit offers financial literacy education for teens.

2. BizKids will show you the ins and outs of being a young entrepreneur, from brainstorming new ideas, to marketing a product, to selling to customers. Get inspired by stories of social entrepreneurs, green businesses, and kid millionaires, who all share their secrets on how to become a ‘Biz Kid’.

3. Elearning has interactive lessons and games on health and life skill topics, such as choosing a career, depression and nutrition. 

Photography and videos 

4. Teentography is a two-week virtual photography class for teens. 

5. Lifelapse is offering their course in telling stories through video for free. 

6. Stylist Laurie Brucker is posting daily fashion challenges on Instagram, great for budding photographers and/or fashionistas. 

Coding

7. Code.org offers coding lessons for grades K-12.

8. Khan Academy offers step-by-step video tutorials where you can learn how to program drawings, animations, and games.

9. Crunchzilla has fun coding games.

10. Code Academy is a great resource to learn about careers in coding and the skills required. 

Computer science and other STEM

12. Carnegie Mellon University has a computer science program for high schoolers. 

13. MIT offers free online access to computer science course materials. 

14. Stanford University allows free access to their intro to computer science course. 

15. Adobe Summit will be held virtually this year starting March 31 and is free for the first time! This is a great opportunity for those interested in digital design. 

16. Curriki offers courses in computer science, robotics and other STEM topics. 

17. Everfi has videos, info and activities to introduce kids to a wide variety of STEM careers. 

18. BrainPop has fun STEM games, activities and videos on topics including robots, computer science, coding and more.

Writing

19. A free creative writing course is offered by the Crafty Writer. 

20. StoryJumper helps kids to write, illustrate, publish, and record audio for hardcover and digital books.

21. Story Bird helps kids create stories they can share online or print. 

Sewing

22. Swoodson Says has 20 easy projects so kids can learn to sew. 

23. The Craft Train teaches kids finger kniting.

24. Sew She Can offer free sewing activities for kids.  

Cursive and Caligraphy

25. Many schools have stopped teaching cursive, but this is a good time to introduce it to interested kids at home. The Suburban Mom has free printable cursive worksheets. 

26. Kidzone has printable cursive practice sheets. 

27. Scholastic has traceable cursive letters to print.

28. Learn calligraphy with Hoopla Letters.

29. Tinkerlab has videos, info and demos about calligraphy. 

Typing 

30. Typing Club guides kids as they learn to type.

31. KidzType provides fun games that improve typing speed and accuracy. 

32. Type Kids has a fun typing course that feels like games.

Foreign Language

33. Conjuguemos teaches languages through games and fun activities. 

34. Common Lit has reading passages in Spanish with comprehension questions. 

35. Duolingo offers free courses in dozens of languages.

36. Daria teaches American Sign Language to popular children’s songs from around the world. 

Arts and music

37. We’ve put together an extensive list of 50 online art and music resources.  Check it out here. 

Gardening

38. Kids Gardening offers information on getting a garden started, plus dozens of activity ideas.

39. PBS Kids has gardening games with popular characters including Curious George and Sid the Science Kid.

40. Urban Farm has free online gardening classes. 

41. Plant Natural has videos, resources and activities to teach kids about gardening.

Cooking

42. Raddish has a free guide to help you run a cooking camp at home. The site also features free recipes and cooking instructional videos for kids. 

43. Antoni from Netflix’s Queer Eye is posting a daily cooking tutorial on IGTV called “Quar Eye: Cooking in Quarantine.”

44. Cakeflix offers free cake decorating tutorials. 

45. Food Network is filled with videos, demonstrations, tutorials and recipes. 

46. Delish has easy beginner recipes designed for kids. 

47. Tasty has colorful images and fun videos to inspire kids to cook (and eat!) new foods. 

48. Cooking with Kids offers an intro to multicultural cuisines, such as Morrocan lentil stew and tamales. 

49. PBS has a large database of recipes and videos. 

Movement and exercise

50. Kids can take an online dance, yoga, boxing or other workout class. We’ve put together an extensive list of online exercise classes and PE resources. Check it out here. 

Being stuck at home can be boring – for kids AND parents. Learning about new topics, trying new things and discovering hobbies helps the time pass by much quicker. This reduces arguing, meltdowns and whines of “I’m bored!” And it just might result in a new passion, career path or yummy meal.

Also check out:

50+ Websites With Hands-on Enrichment Activities for Kids at Home