Take College-Level Courses for Free at Home

I recently saw that Sophia, an online learning platform, is offering free access to more than 30 of its college-level courses through July 31, 2020.

These classes are mostly entry-level things like English Composition, American History and Introduction to Psychology, but you’ll also find College Algebra, Human Biology, Art History and more.

It looks like you choose a class and then you have 60 days from enrollment to complete the course. You can just take them for fun or when you pass the class you can have it transferred to your college for credit (they have 27 partner network institutions for which credit transfer is guaranteed, and credits have been successfully transferred to more than 300 other institutions).

This is a great way to knock out some of those core requirements for free or just keep learning while you are home. I’m a little tempted by the art history classes even though I have no plans to go back to school.

[Photo: Sophia.org.]

Leif Erikson Day is celebrated on Oct. 9, and it’s a great time to learn more about the Vikings and why we still remember Erikson all these years later.

If you don’t know about Leif Erikson (sometimes spelled Eriksson), he’s believed to have been born in Iceland, and is considered the first European to set foot on continental America, more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

123 Homeschool 4 Me has a printable mini book about Leif Erikson and the Vikings for kids to read and color. It talks about who the Vikings were, what kind of ships they used, how they got to America and more. It’s a good overview for younger kids to use.

A good unit study is available from Simple Living Creative Learning, which includes a page where kids can write what they know, what they want to learn and what they learned through the unit, as well as information on the Vikings, longships, helmets, clothing and more.

Get a printable Viking unit study with reading passages, comprehension questions and other activities aimed at grades 4-8 from Creative Classroom Core at Teachers Pay Teachers. (And see more Vikings content from TPT here.)

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus has some great unit study ideas, too, including suggested books and videos. The post includes information about the Viking voyages, society, mythology and ships, as well as some vocabulary and a list of famous Vikings. While you’re over there also check out her free printable lapbook, which includes mini books on ships, a timeline, a Viking women coloring page, draw your own Vikings, geography, ancient runes and more.

Piqolo Kids has a lesson on Viking women with (available for purchase) worksheets about a day in the life of Viking women. Even if you don’t grab the printables there’s some good resources on that page and a link to a video on Viking women.

Learn how to draw a Viking ship with instructions from Drawing How to Draw, or grab Vikings coloring and labeling worksheets from Kids Puzzles and Games.

There’s a Leif Erikson Festival annually in Norway, Michigan, which you can learn more about here.

Comments

Have you read?

Leave a Reply