At-Home Enrichment for Students and Families During COVID-19

At-home enrichment for students and families
At-home enrichment for students and families

At-home enrichment for students and families becomes even more important as working remotely continues. Distance learning and working from home now continues into a fifth week and beyond. Moreover, the closure of schools and non-essential businesses has been extended to May 20 in Connecticut. And, perhaps this extension will occur in other states as well.  As a result, our worlds have narrowed in breadth and depth as families stay at home. Further, the cancellation of school field trips, family weekend excursions and vacations during spring break add to this limiting experience.

School trips and family excursions have been observed to improve children’s academic performance. First, these trips provide students with observation experiences beyond the classroom. And, they broaden the students’ horizon of knowledge.  In addition, family excursions and vacations strengthen family bonding and connections through these shared experiences.  Consequently, I researched online enrichment that will add to children’s experiences during COVID-19. In addition, these virtual programs can be shared by the entire family for fun, positive experiences.

In conclusion, these online opportunities will add at-home enrichment for students. And, the suggestions will help to continue your child’s educational growth, curiosity, and support his/her academic development. Last, the virtual enrichment programs can create shared experiences for the whole family.

Educational trips and family excursions

An abundance of free virtual excursions to museums, parks, zoos, aquariums, and farms are available.  These excursions invite the viewer to explore and have fun while learning. So, let’s leave our local neighborhoods for new adventures. First, these adventures could be museum tours of the world’s finest arts. Or, they may be exciting tours that explore the sciences and history. And, field trips to zoos, aquariums, or farms offer other experiences. Last, another new experience may be attending the opera with special selections for the younger audience.

Museums
  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York: The works of Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Jeff Koons, and Franz Marc are some of the 625 artists at Collection Online.
  • Getty Museum: Los Angeles’s famous gallery has two virtual tours. One is “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry” which takes a closer look at food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
  • The Vatican Museum: The Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Raphael’s Room and more can be seen on the Vatican’s virtual tour.
  • Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid: This museum offers available online various works of the continent’s most celebrated artists such as Rembrandt and Dali.
  • Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe: Six virtual exhibits are available at this museum which is known as the “Mother of American modernism”.
  • High Museum of Art, Atlanta: Popular online exhibits include “Civil Rights Photography” . This exhibit captures moments of social protest like the Freedom Rides and Rosa Park’s arrest.
  • Detroit Institute of Arts: Mexican art icon, Frida Kahlo, is the focal point of two of the four available online exhibits.
  • Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Golden Age of Dutch art is highlighted which includes the work of Vermeer and Rembrandt.
  • MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), NYC: MoMA offers a wonderful collection at view online.
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: The unique 21st Century Designer Fashion exhibit is one of  16 virtual exhibits .
  • The Louvre, Paris: This famous museum offers amazing works of art at https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne.
  • The Boston Children’s Museum: This virtual tour is “just for kids” and explores 3 floors of fun. https://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/museum-virtual-tour
Opera
  • The New York Metropolitan Opera presents free nightly opera streams through April 19. The operas include Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette as well as Stamford’s Renee Fleming performing in Madame Butterfly. In addition are operas composed by Pucci, Mozart and many others. https://www.metopera.org/ Also, the Met offers free student streams. In particular, these selections were chosen for young audiences in mind. Finally, there are opportunities to learn more about the productions. And, last are interesting interviews with some of the artists. https://www.metopera.org/discover/education/free-student-streams/home/
Science and History
Zoos, Aquariums, Farms
Academic development
  • Wide Open School was created during the COVID-19 crisis to help make learning from home an inspirational experience for kids and to help relieve families from organizing and planning the learning day. Field trips are also included.  It is available online and offline for pre-k through grade 12 students. Additionally, it offers resources for special needs and bilingual students and English language learners. https://wideopenschool.org/programs/family/
  • Scholastic offers at-home programs for pre-k through grade 9 to support student learning.  This resource provides children with articles, stories, videos, and virtual field trips. Moreover, children can complete them on their own or do them together as a family. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
  • The New York Times is free to high school students for 3 months. Digital access will be available from April 6-July 6. The free digital paper will help students stay connected to the world as they learn remotely.  Therefore, ask your teacher/school to request the NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/initiative/highschoolaccess
  • Test Prep for Success offers a free 10-day Algebra skill-building program for enrichment. Therefore, it is for students in Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1. https://tp4s.com/algebra-games
Technology
  • Technology and the internet support at-home learning and working remotely. For that reason, the appropriate devices and internet access are necessary. Comcast Internet Essentials offer new customers 2 free months of internet service. This offer is made available to families who do not have internet access. Finally, all arrangements must be made by May 13, 2020. So, please share this information with anyone who is under financial duress due to COVID-19. https://www.internetessentials.com/covid19 
Summary

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