Homeschooling can seem like a daunting task. However, there is a wide variety of resources, both free and paid for, out there to help parent-teachers and learners of all levels. In this article, we aim to direct you to the top online resources for learners of all levels.
The National Curriculum
Price: free
One of the most difficult things to get to grips with is understanding what your child should already know and what they need to be working on next. Your child’s school may have provided an overview of the curriculum. If not, this is something you should ask them to provide. Additionally, the National Curriculum can be a useful resource for understanding your child’s education more broadly. You can search for programmes of study by subject and key stage.
White Rose Maths
Price: £19.99 for a full year’s subscription.
Many schools use the White Rose Maths programme as the core of their maths teaching and learning. The website provides a vast array of resources for all key stages. For £19.99 you can access a whole year group’s programme of study, including term by term objectives, video lessons and related worksheets, as well as end of unit and end of term assessments. It really breaks down each topic into fundamental and manageable chunks of learning. Resources are visually pleasing and provide plenty of structured practice.
Twinkl
Price: free/Monthly subscriptions starting at £4.49.
Twinkl is a popular website, frequently used by teachers. Their resources are made by teachers and therefore directly address a wide variety of learning needs. They have a vast array of resources for all subjects for both primary and secondary. You can access lots of resources free of charge. Additionally, monthly memberships start at just £4.49 and give you access to thousands of excellent resources including worksheets, PowerPoint presentations assessment tests, schemes of work, arts and crafts ideas, and much more!
BBC Bitesize
Price: Free
BBC Bitesize has been around for a long time and is a go-to resource for many parents, teachers and students. It offers free resources for learning and revision at all key stages, including videos, quizzes and much more. They have also launched a series of lockdown lessons to specifically help parents and children with homeschooling up to Year 9.
CGP
Price: starting from £3.50
CGP is an educational publisher who creates books for learning and revision at all levels. There are many similar products out there, but CGP books are well laid out, visually appealing and cover all subjects at all levels. They are also reasonably priced, with books starting at £3.50 and next day delivery available. Many of their books also come with a free online version which can be handy for children who prefer to do their learning on a computer. CGP is offering a range of free lockdown resources which can be downloaded directly from their website.
Phonics Play
Price: free/subscriptions starting at £6/year.
Phonics Play is a website with a wealth of interactive games and activities designed to help young children master phonics and reading. They offer many resources for free and subscriptions cost just 50p a month. For most parents, phonics can be an alien concept; Phonics Play can help you understand the different phases with clear breakdowns of the stages of acquiring phonics. Join in the games with your child to help develop your own understanding and support their learning.
Times Table Rock Stars
Price: £7.20/year
As the name might suggest, this website helps specifically with times table practice and children LOVE it! The concept is slightly unusual, combing rock music and times tables, but it really helps to motivate children to practise their times tables. They can compete with other subscribers for leader board rankings. There is also an app version, so easy to set up on a phone or tablet. Little and often is the best approach to learning times tables, so even 10-15 minutes each day is great practice.
Top Marks
Price: free
Top Marks provides links to a range of interactive games to support learning in maths and English for learners aged 3-14. They can be a welcome relief from worksheets or more formal styles of learning; great if you have 10 minutes to fill or are just struggling to motivate your child.
SATs Papers
Price: free
For parents thinking ahead to a time when Year 2 and Year 6 SATs will be reinstated, this website provides free downloads of all past papers for maths, English and science. Even if you’re not thinking about SATs, they can still be a great additional resource to see where your child is currently at with their learning.
Revision World
Price: free
Revision World is a great, free resource for those studying for GCSEs and A-Levels. Here you can access a wealth of past papers for all subjects from a range of different exam boards. You can also view revision videos for each subject.