This is a new parent resources page that we will continue to add and build upon. Check back weekly for updatees. With students home from school for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus pandemic, families are trying to make sense of a new normal. While it can be challenging to create or maintain schedules during this anxiety-ridden time, putting in place a consistent routine of home learning makes the transition easier for everyone. Here we’ll offer some practical tips for keeping your children focused, providing unstructured and creative breaks, and encouraging effective learning at home.
Webinar Replay – March 21, 2020
Click here to watch the replay available for a limited time only. Below are the resources that were discussed to help kids stay on top of other academic work.
Khan ACADEMY
Below is the direct message I received from Khan Academy – word for word. I was especially excited about the BETA reading comprehension questions. My students will be testing these questions out this Sunday.
“As a mission-focused non-profit, it is Khan Academy’s duty to do our part to ensure students keep learning amidst the school closures. We also want to support teachers and parents to the best of our ability as we navigate this crisis together.
These schedules are meant to be templates that you could adopt as is or copy and modify to better suit the needs of your children, classroom or district. As you see in the schedules below, Khan Academy does have self-paced, interactive content–exercises, videos and articles–for students in every grade and in most major subject areas. It is all free and non-commercial and is made possible by philanthropic support from people like you. Teachers and parents can also use our teacher tools to monitor progress and assign specific work. This could be made even more powerful if it is complemented with Google Hangout, Zoom or Skype video conference sessions with teachers and classmates. For example, teachers can hold video conference “office hours” during the day where students can go to get questions answers and teachers can monitor student progress on goals. The video conference office hours could also be done by parent volunteers or older students (different parents can choose to “cover” different parts of the day or different subjects based on their expertise). We are also having daily (weekdays) 9am PST/12 EST live streams on Facebook and YouTube for students, parents and teachers navigating school closures.
Go here if you have general questions about how to use Khan Academy as a teacher or parent.
Student schedules:
And here’s a little inspiration.”
The Gifted Guru Free secondary English class! 📚
I’ve tried to get GiftedGuru to come to Chicago and speak along side me and Chicago School GPS to the parents of selective enrollment and RGC. Good to hear that she is teaching online and my students are able to learn a lot about short stories during school closures. Great job Lisa.
Check the direct message, again word for word on what I received from Lisa 👇
“Hi Everyone!
I hope you got toilet paper before the great toilet paper caper of 2020.
I spent all day Friday putting together a list of resources for remote learning that people may not know about. You can see it here if you didn’t see the article.
I woke up this morning wondering what more I could do to help, and I came up with this idea: Lisa, go back to school.
So, I’m going back to class!
Starting Monday, I’ll be offering a free secondary English class that will I will live stream on my YouTube channel. If you subscribe, you’ll get a notification, but that’s not necessary. All that anyone has to do to participate is to tune in at 12pm Central time Monday – Friday for the next two weeks (March 16 – March 27).
This class will be appropriate for 7th – 12th graders. I can’t advertise it for younger (or gear it to them) because of laws protecting children on the internet, but I will not be checking ages.
There will be a full lesson and a writing prompt for each story. In the flyer (attached) there are links to each story. All are available for free. This whole thing is free.
I’m trying to make it so that it replaces a full English class, so a teacher could just say, “Go do this” and not have to do anything else.
Can’t watch the livestream, but interested?
The videos will be available on the channel afterwards, almost immediately.
I’ve been working to get the tech side straightened out (tricky & I’ve never done it), so if YouTube goes sideways, I’ll move it to Facebook live immediately on my Facebook page.
People who normally homeschool are welcome as well.
The flyer is below, or you can get it as a pdf here. ”
Learning with Jean Miller
The Waldorf Approach
“Waldorf education is a heart-centered, developmental approach to learning that incorporates rhythm and the arts into all lessons, “ a description from Jean Miller at Waldorf-Inspired Learning. Here are a few other unique aspects of the Waldorf approach: children create their own lesson books to record their learning rather than using textbooks or workbooks, and the lessons are very hands-on and engaging with lots of stories and experiential activities.
Jean’s advice for all parents during this crazy time of the pandemic is to start by designing a daily rhythm for you and your family. Jean shares her top three suggestions for being at home with children in her new video, Homeschooling from Home + the Unexpected Homeschooler. You can find the video at www.waldorfinspiredlearning.com/fromhome
CTC LEARNING SUPPORT 
PreK – 2nd
For the month of March, our self-paced parent training course: “How to Nurture Your Child’s Gifted Potential,” (This course is great for parents, grandparents and caregivers with learners Prek-2nd and outlines my entire teaching blueprint along with resources and sample funsheets) has a price drop from $499 to $49.
Click here for Prek-2nd Grade
3rd to High School
The Critical Thinking Child is proud to partner with MyT Training and Mathnasium of Evergreen Park to create the 5:30 Scholars Virtual Academic Coaching (VAC). A personalized e-learning and academic coaching system for struggling and high achieving learners. We do a deep dive assessment and afterwards students receive daily assignments and weekly 1:1 video conference with an academic coach.
Introductory membership price ranges from $149 to $199 depending on the grade level.
👉 Click here to grab this special offer
