The Corona virus crisis hasn’t been easy and it’s even worse for those who are quarantined or who are dealing with school closures.
But, in good-old American style, many companies and organizations are stepping up to offer free resources to help alleviate the stresses we are all facing.
So here is a list of free stuff that I’ve been able to compile. It is by no means complete, so if you know of a freebie that I’ve missed, please let us know in the comments.


Schooling
I’ve long been an advocate of online schooling and graduating from college debt-free. Now it looks like many are going to be able to test out that theory.
College
The EdX system has thousands of courses in over 140 universities, including Harvard, MIT, Cornell and Berkley.
The Coursera.org network collaborates with universities from around the world: University of London, University of Tokyo, as well as CalTech, Stanford, Princeton and our very own University of Minnesota.
Pre-K-3rd grade
- Starfall has lots of learning resources for Pre-K-3
- Scholastic has daily lessons for kids stuck at home during school closures
Full K-12
- Ambleside offers a Charlotte Mason-style curriculum (Charlotte Mason is my favorite style of homeschooling.)
- Mater Amabilis is a Charlotte Mason curriculum for Catholics.
- The Family School will offer a full LDS-based K-12 curriculum, free through the end of June.
- Easy Peasy is a full Christian-based K-12 curriculum.
- Knowledge on the Go has daily plans and curriculum in math, science and language arts. Free for the duration of the current pandemic.
Specific topics
- Math: Most people already know about Kahn Acadamy. If you don’t, you’ll want to check them out. They are best known for math, but also cover science and history as well.
Links to several sources for free math worksheets
Great Minds is offering three weeks of free math lessons. - Language: A workbook with three week plan for language arts: reading, writing, vocabulary, the works. There are three levels: Basic covers grade 1-2, Intermediate is for grads 3-4 and Advanced covers goes from 5th to 8th grades.
- Art: Drawing with Mo Willems
Coloring books from 133 museums - Science: The Cincinnati Zoo will stream several animals and exhibits every day at 3:00 EST
Three weeks of free STEM-related projects from Maker Station. Lot’s of fun and learning for K-5 grades.
Starnet Libraries has a Stem Clearinghouse: science videos, experiments to try at home and a host of STEM-related resources for all grades.
This video helps explain the Corona Virus to kids. - Foreign languages: Duo Lingo is a well-known online foreign language program. My son studied Japanese and German using DuoLingo and loved it.
Our local library offers foreign language courses from Mango and they’re free when we sign up with our library card. Ask your library if they have something similar. - Phonics/reading: Links to several free phonics programs:
Everything else
- This website has dozens of links to education companies that are offering free online subscriptions, from art and science to math and music.
- HippoCampus has over 7000 educational videos in 13 subject areas.
Master List
Here is a list of hundreds of teaching resources, some available for a limited time, some are always free. Some of the things I’ve listed here are on this list and it’s constantly being updated, so check it out.
Just for fun
- Operation Story Time: your kids’ favorite authors read books online.
- Visit the zoo: Take a virtual tour of the San Diego Zoo, the Georgia Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
And for the adults
- The Metropolitan Opera is offering Free streaming of their opera performances.
- Over 2500 museums around the world offer free virtual tours of their library, including the Louvre in Paris.
- These five National Parks offer virtual tours.
- NASA gives you a virtual tour of Mars.
- Take a virtual tour of the Taj Majal.
- Google Earth takes you on a virtual tour of Hawaii (Or just about anywhere!)
- Take a tour of the Great Wall of China.
- Watch these 15 Broadway plays for free.
- Michelin-Star chef Massimo Bottura is teaching free cooking classes on Instagram.
Just sit tight
If we all pull together and act out of generosity instead of fear, we are going to get through this crisis just fine. The generosity of these organizations and businesses is evidence that we we have what it takes to weather this storm.