Schoolchildren have been forced to stay at home in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Classes are on hold and your kid might be all excited about watching Ricky and Morty or Paw Patrol most of the day while you fret about their studies and resumption of school. If this is your predicament, worry no more, Scholastic has your back.

So, what is Scholastic?
Scholastic is an American publisher and distributor of children’s books. If you are of a certain age, you might remember getting their flyers to bring home from school, through which you could order books. Recently, the publisher put up a website with daily courses for students from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 and higher.

According to Lauren Tarshis, vice president, and editor-in-chief at Scholastic Classroom Magazines, “As more and more teachers, students, and families around the world are affected by the coronavirus, our priority is to support them in the best way we know how — by providing them with rich stories and meaningful projects that will keep kids academically active”.

The Scholastic ‘Learn at Home’ website has four sections, divided by grade level, each of which features academic subjects, as well as activities such as virtual trips, research and writing projects, and “book fests”. In a news release, Scholastic says that it is set to upload 15 days of content. Each section has content for 5 days with approximately 3 hours of learning daily including science, technology, engineering, and math.

Students are asked to select their grade level in order to access the appropriate content. Grade levels are divided into PreK and kindergarten, grades 1 and 2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-9.

Kindergarten learners have lessons about space, animal babies, the earth and plants, while sixth-graders lessons include “Locations from Star Wars Movies” and “The Science of Candy”.

Scholastic Learn at Home is versatile and can run on any device with internet capabilities including smartphones. In addition, you do not need to sign up to access the content. The website intends to remain open and accessible indefinitely.

The educational company’s actions are aimed at keeping students academically active in the midst of school closures. “We designed Scholastic Learn At Home knowing that administrators and teachers need to create extensive virtual learning plans, quickly, and that students need uplifting and engaging experiences,” Tarshis said in the announcement. “Our hope is that even though daily routines are being disrupted and students may not have valuable time in school with their educators, together we can support meaningful learning at home while it is necessary.”

Across the nation, schools have been closing as the coronavirus spreads and the number of confirmed cases passes the half-million mark in the U.S.

It is inspiring to see companies such as Scholastic going out of their way to help in maintaining some form of normalcy and continuity, especially in the education sector.

You can access Scholastic’s Learn at Home at the Scholastic Learn at Home website.