With school back in session and many students doing virtual learning at home, you may be wondering what resources are out there in cyberspace to help your child with homework. Maybe your 4th grader needs help with a “new math” problem, or your middle schooler needs to find good, reliable information for a social studies research project. There are many wonderful, free resources available online, but it can feel overwhelming to wade through the many options to find the best websites for your child’s needs.
The good news is that the Pima County Public Library staff has researched and compiled some of the most useful online resources for helping your children with their learning. It’s always a great idea to start with the Library's Learn at Home page, which provides access to both free live online tutoring with BrainFuse and other great resources like Britannica Encyclopedia’s Library Edition and TumbleMath, a free collection of math picture books.
Other great resources available online include the following:
Duane Habecker’s YouTube Channel
- Best for parents, guardians, and teachers who want to learn about “new math” or Common Core math
- Excellent teacher-created videos cover every module and lesson (Grades 1-6) in the Eureka Math/Engage NY curriculum used by many elementary schools in Tucson.
- Best for upper elementary grades and beyond
- Clear definitions of math vocabulary terms and colorful visuals to accompany explanations and example problems
- Best for parents and guardians
- Provides information about how to help struggling readers, like the signs to look for, how to ask for help, and how to be your child’s advocate
- Best for parents and guardians
- Provides lists of books divided into age groups
- Best for elementary, middle, and high schoolers
- Clear definitions of vocabulary words and good example sentences
- Keeps a search history of the words looked up
- Has a “puzzle solver” that helps with crosswords or anagrams
- Best for middle school, high school, college students, and adults who want to proofread their own writing
- Free grammar, spelling, and overall writing mechanics checker
- Blog answers grammar-related questions
- Best for elementary and middle school students
- Science-related short videos on a big range of topics
- Many videos answer common questions about the way humans and other creatures experience the world (Examples: Why do we sweat? How do animals find their homes?)
- Best for elementary students
- Games, quizzes, videos, picture galleries and more.
- Easy to use and colorful!
- Best for middle schoolers and beyond
- Videos on a range of higher-level science topics and interesting questions like “Can silence actually drive you crazy?”
- Might help students looking for a science project topic or topic for a research paper.
- Many videos available in Spanish as well as English (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXtxgWwk55kVJo9lCCZRdmg).
- Best for middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults.
- Short but thorough (10-15 minute) videos on history and other topics created by John Green (author of The Fault in our Stars) and his brother Hank.
- Best for elementary and middle school students
- Created by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
- Offers an interactive map where kids can click on and learn about a piece of art and short videos made by kids on art-inspired topics
Visit Learn at Home for even more great resources, including:
- Free online tutoring
- Online tools available 24x7x365
- Recommended items from our collection that you can pick up curbside
