David Farnor | On 22, Jan 2021

With schools closed at the start of 2021, parents across the UK are once again facing the challenge of working from home while also trying to homeschool their children. Schools are providing resources, mostly via the web, but even with teachers doing their best to work from home and provide remote learning, parents have the struggle of getting their kids to focus on work amid all that’s going on – let alone keeping their kids entertained during the downtime between remote lessons.

Streaming services have already proven useful for the latter – check out our QuaranstreamFest for family and kids’ TV and film recommendations, or follow our hashtag #familystreams on Twitter – but they’re also capable of helping with the former. From BBC Bitesize providing daily lessons featuring celebrities and teachers alike to Netflix making a wave of documentaries available for free, there’s no end of educational content to watch online.

Here’s your homeschooling streaming kit to help educate and entertain, complete with subjects and their applicable key stage:

BBC Bitesize Daily – All (KS1/2/3)

Running for 14 weeks in 2020, the Beeb brought together everyone from Professor Brian Cox teaching key science topics and Danny Dyer teaching royal history to Sergio Aguero getting kids counting in Spanish for a curriculum-based line-up of videos. These ranged across all key stages from ages 5 to 14, with 6 20-minute episodes released every day.

These are split into age groups (one per age group) and are all available on BBC iPlayer on-demand. You can find the group you need here:

Age 5 to 7 – watch on BBC iPlayer
Age 7 to 9 – watch on BBC iPlayer
Age 9 to 11 – watch on BBC iPlayer
Age 11 to 12 – watch on BBC iPlayer
Age 13 to 14 – watch on BBC iPlayer

In 2021, all of this content will be broadcast on CBBC (from 9am) and BBC Two (from 1pm) in week groups – you can see the full breakdown of what’s being show on TV when here.

The BBC Bitesize website has also created Maths, English and Science lessons for each year group from 1 to 10, with resources and online content beyond the videos released above. There are also curated educational resources from other partners, plus guides for parents on teaching and homeschooling.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Celebrity Supply Teacher – (KS1/2)

In 2020, a host of famous faces delivered fun-filled lessons to children in lockdown from the comfort of their own homes, bringing a passion for their subject and an insight from their own experiences – including Geri Horner with tips on creative writing, Marcus Rashford teaching PE, Gary Lineker teaching Spanish, Tim Peake discussing the science of space rockets, Matthew Morrison on musical theatre, and Kelis sharing her cookery tips. The episodes are loosely based around the primary school curriculum and are available on BBC iPlayer here.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Here’s the full rundown of lessons.

The Body Coach TV – PE (All)

Structure and routine is important, so Joe Wicks’ free workouts for 30 minutes are the ideal way to start and organise your day, while also giving the family a PE lesson.

Timetable
9am – Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Dr Chips – Science (KS1/2)

Dr Chips, from PrimaryComputing.co.uk, is a primary school teacher and Computing Leader at Crumpsall Lane Primary School who works with schools internationally to develop computing provision. In 2020, he produced daily drops of new educational activities with video demonstrations, divided into Computational Thinking Tuesday, Wonder Wednesday and Tinker Like It’s Thursday. They are all available to catch up with online, with key stage suitability listed for each one – they broadly cover key stage 1 or 2 (ages 5 to 11).

Timetable
Available on-demand

Visit website

Operation Ouch – Science (KS1/2)

This enjoyably accessible series is educational as well as fun, as identical twins Dr.Chris and Dr. Xand van Tulleken introduce the family to facts about the human body – a good way to demystify hospitals for kids afraid of them. The show is available with Amazon Prime, Sky Kids and NOW as well as BBC iPlayer, but you can also find loads of episodes on their YouTube channel.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Planet Earth – Science (KS2/3/GCSE)

The whole family can sit down and watch David Attenborough, as he celebrates the amazing variety of the natural world in this epic documentary series, filmed over four years across 64 different countries – and both Planet Earth and Planet Earth II are on BBC iPlayer until April 2021.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Watch on BBC iPlayer

Team Umizoomi – Maths (Preschool)

Team Umizoomi, ready for action! This preschool series teaches maths, as we race around Umi City with our characters and solve problems. Also explaining how things work and dancing when they solve a problem, expect parents to be driven slowly up the wall but young viewers to be entertained – and, hopefully, pick up some things about numbers along the way.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Watch with Amazon Prime

Watch with NOW Kids

Numberjacks – Maths (Preschool)

Another entertaining show for kids ages 2 to 5 to experience solving mathematical problems. The Numberjacks are ten small superhero numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. They go about their everyday lives inside their sofa until a call comes in from a real-life child Agent, who reports a problem that needs solving. Good news: compilations of episodes are available for free from the show’s official YouTube channel.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Numberblocks – Maths (Preschool)

The animated adventures of friends who can always count on each other. Cute and fun numerical entertainment for littl ‘uns, available on BBC iPlayer.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Watch on BBC iPlayer

White Rose Maths – Maths (KS1/2/3)

White Rose Maths, which partnered with the BBC Bitesize Daily team last summer, is continuing to produce daily lesson to help children learn maths, covering years 1 to 9.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Visit website

Twinkl – Phonics (KS1)

Twinkl is an educational publishing company and it’s publishing activities to go alongside the BBC TV schedule, which are all free to download. Last year, it also hosted its own group of sessions for kids of different age groups – perhaps the most useful of which are the phonics lesson for ages 3 to 5 and ages 5 to 7, which help children learn new sounds each weekday. You can catch up with all of those on the Twinkl Kids TV YouTube channel.

Timetable
Daily

Visit website

Go Jetters – Geography (KS1)

Meet four adventure-seeking superhero Go Jetters as they explore places all around planet Earth, from the Eiffel Tower to the Sahara Desert. Three seasons of 10-minute episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Watch on BBC iPlayer

Horrible Histories – History (KS2/3)

Educational TV? Whatever. But CBBC’s historical series, based on the popular book franchise, combines hyperactive puns and visual gags with a whole heap of facts. Witty, clever – and, most of all, very funny.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Watch on BBC iPlayer
Watch on Netflix UK

Sesame Street – All (KS1)

Everyone knows and loves Sesame Street – and with good reason. These days, the Sesame Workshop has grown to become a nonprofit educational organisation designed to help young children and families develop critical skills for lifelong learning. New videos are released on its YouTube channel every week, which means there’s loads to work your way through, with episodes organised by character and a cute back to school playlist.

Timetable
Available on-demand

Watch on YouTube

Art Ninja – Art (KS2)

Some call him Ricky, but CBBC knows him as the ART NINJA. His mission is to teach kids his secrets and get them creating their own art. Packed with likeable energy and silliness.

Watch on BBC iPlayer

Abstract: The Art of Design – Design Tech (KS3/GCSE)

Abstract: The Art of Design takes you beyond blueprints into the art, science, and philosophy of design. The series goes inside the minds of the world’s greatest designers, showcasing the most inspiring visionaries from a variety of disciplines whose work shapes our culture and future. It’s a Netflix show, but one episode is now available for free on YouTube.

Watch on Netflix UK

Celebrity Substitute — KS3

Part of YouTube’s lockdown content from 2020, Celebrity Substitute is just that – famous people give high school teachers a well-deserved break to explain concepts to unsuspecting schoolchildren. The focus at first is on biology, with Ken Jeong talking about digestion and the human body – and, while there is actual terminology and a decent explanation of how the body works, it’s also genuinely very funny. Additional celebrity substitutes included Bill Nye, Camila Mendes, Janelle Monáe, and Terry Crews. You can catch up with them on its own channel.

Timetable
On-demand

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