Coronavirus Resources: Education & Training

Apr 17, 2020

Resources, tips, and other information in Massachusetts related to the current crisis, categorized by the five pillars of our Bridge to Self-Sufficiency®. This post covers the Education & Training pillar.

We’re providing resources, tips, and other information related to COVID-19 in Massachusetts, categorized by the five pillars of our Bridge to Self-Sufficiency®.

We covered Housing and Family under the Family Stability pillar, Physical and Mental Health under the Well-Being pillar, and the Financial Management pillar. This week covers Education & Training resources.

Click here to see all resource categories.

MA School Closures

  • K-12: All public and private K-12 schools in Massachusetts are closed (except residential and day schools that serve students with disabilities) until at least May 4. Click here for more information.
  • Laptops: Boston Public Schools is providing Chromebooks to students who do not have consistent access to a computer at home. If your child needs a laptop, click here.
  • Boston-area colleges: Click here for info.
  • For information on child care centers, see the “Child Care” section on this page.

At-Home Learning & Activities for Kids

Avoid this being a time where kids zone out on movies and TV for the whole day.

Online Educational Resources

  • ABCmouse: Educational activities for children ages 2-8 (use code: AOFLUNICEF).
  • Academic support and mentorship: A group of college students formed CovEd to offer free support to K-12 students. They provide tutoring services for all school subjects from K-12 (including some AP and Honors classes), mentorship, and college preparation (including help with college essays or preparing for the SAT/ACT/Subject Test exams).
  • Adventure Academy: For older kids (use code: SCHOOL7771).
  • Amazon: Amazon has dropped the paywall for all their child-related videos and is offering children’s programming for free.
  • Children’s Museum: Boston Children’s Museum has free online learning resources.
  • Codecademy: Offering scholarships to Codecademy Pro for free to high school and college students across the world for the rest of the school year.
  • Khan Academy: Free learning resources for parents (as well as teachers and school districts).
  • Libraries: Massachusetts libraries have many e-books, audiobooks, and other resources available online. Boston Public Library has online resources on many topics for all ages.
  • MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Free online educational resources for parents and students.
  • ReadingIQ: Thousands of books for children 12 and under (use code: AOFLUNICEF).
  • Stories: Audible is offering free stories for kids to stream.
  • WGBH: WGBH’s Distance Learning Center has lots of resources for students, educators, families and more. WGBH’s public TV station will also be televising educational content between noon and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For Children with Special Needs

Aquariums, zoos, museums & other activities:

  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is providing online performances, as well as dance lessons for those seeking to enhance their own skills at home.
  • Free virtual galleries from museums across the world.
  • Joshua Smith, Student Wholeness Specialist at Baltimore Public Schools, is live-streaming social-emotional learning puppet shows on his Facebook page to help kids cope with the COVID-19 crisis, every weekday morning from 10-10:30am.
  • Michelle Obama is reading aloud from a different classic children’s book every Monday at noon Eastern Time, starting April 20 and running through May 11. Streaming live on PBS KIDS’ YouTube.
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA has live streams of their aquariums.
  • New England Aquarium is posting educational animal videos online.
  • San Diego Zoo has live cams of animals.
  • The U.S. National Parks have set up free virtual ranger guided tours.
  • Virtual playgroup hosted by Mattapan Family Engagement, every Monday and Friday at 10:30 a.m.
  • Virtual story time events from Boston Public Library

Additional Resources