Free educational resources for V Team parents.

Parenting under normal circumstances requires families to be master jugglers to keep up with schoolwork, extracurricular activities and other enrichment opportunities. Some days, you are lucky to find time for a lukewarm (or near frigid) cup of coffee or tea. With the unprecedented school closures in response to COVID-19, parents are now balancing the roles of educator, caregiver, as well as employee. And, if you have multiple kids at home, you are likely playing referee to keep peace in an endless sea of defiance and sibling warfare.

V Team parents, we hear you, see you, and salute your herculean efforts to tackle it all while social distancing and staying safe. That’s why, we want to flag a few resources to offer a little help. The programs below are available publicly, so feel free to alert your friends and neighbors who need an extra dose of ideas during these challenging times.

1) Free access to awesome resources for kids of all ages

Later this month, Verizon wireless and Fios customers will be able to experience up to 60 days of free access to valued educational resources, tools and games. Visit the More at Home...on Us page to discover more about these learning tools, including:

• Quizlet: Students and teachers can get a Quizlet Plus account to study languages, science, math, history and more with engaging learning tools and flashcards.
• Bookful: Children can bring books to life with hundreds of augmented reality and 3D interactive education books and games to improve comprehension.
• Chegg: Students will have access to the new Chegg Study Pack with step-by-step textbook solutions, expert Q&A, practice tests, grammar and plagiarism checkers, and a step-by-step math solver.
• Epic!: Parents and children will get access to Epic’s 40,000-book digital library, trusted by more than one million teachers, and built for safety, discoverability and fun.

2) Top educational sites for enriching content

The education landscape is saturated with programs and pathways to help kids adjust to this new way of learning. While there are so many great tools out there, it can get overwhelming to figure out what fits your kids best. To help get you started, Verizon’s Corporate Social Responsibility team created a list of highly-recommended free resources:

• Digital Promise: To help educators adjust to a new way of teaching, Digital Promise curated a collection of online learning pathways for students pre K-12th grade. This is also a helpful resource for parents. Digital Promise is the design and implementation partner for the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program, which helps bridge the digital divide for some of the country’s most under-resourced students.
• Discovery Education: From digital interactives to virtual field trips, our friends at Discovery launched The Daily DE to offer grade-band appropriate learning activities for every day of the week.
• ST Math: ST Math’s patented approach teaches foundational math concepts visually to help students tackle unfamiliar problems, recognize patterns, and build conceptual understanding.
• PBS Learning Media: PBS producers and educators launched a special collection of resources organized by grade and subject area. Find videos, lesson plans, and activities that support learning at home.
• Scholastic Learn at Home: A household name for many, Scholastic created a repository of daily projects to keep kids reading, growing, and learning. Fun fact: Your kids will have a blast with activities featuring their favorite characters from Dog Man and Captain Underpants.
• Nepris: An award-winning STEAM program, Nepris enables students to gain exposure to tech professionals and related job skills by connecting their schoolwork with real people and careers.
• BrainPOP: With BrainPOP, kids can enjoy a rich array of resources and tools that develop critical, computational, and creative thinking skills.
• ASU for You: Designed for people of all ages, this new offering from Arizona State University provides a set of digital educational assets to meet the needs of a rapidly changing, tech-driven world.
• Code.org: Keeping coding fun and relatable for students is a hallmark of Code.org with engaging virtual resources to help students learn computer science at home.

3) Tools and support from the Child Mind Institute

The Child Mind Institute, a national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders, launched a suite of digital tools to provide extra support to parents whose children need specialized care. Here’s a quick overview of what they are offering to help families navigate COVID-19:

• Daily parenting tips
• Facebook Live events (daily at 10 AM ET and 4:30 PM ET)
• Spanish resources and Facebook Live events every week

4) The Times for high school students

As we shared earlier in the week, Verizon and The New York Times are giving students and teachers in every high school in America free digital access to Times journalism as well as resources from The Times’s Learning Network for three months -- from April 6 to July 6 -- to support remote learning. Make sure to alert your schools to this offer as high school administrators will need to create an account and then invite students and teachers. During these unprecedented and ever-changing circumstances, there is an even greater need for our future leaders to access independent journalism and stay abreast of current events.

Calling all V Team parents: Comment below and share your tips and tools to help families tackle digital learning. Please note, this is a no-judgment zone as we support whatever works to keep kids safe, happy and healthy. If it takes a village to raise a child, let’s all lean on each other and trade best practices or least laugh our way through the chaos.

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