The beginning of the new school year may come with a wide range of feelings, from anticipation and excitement, to fear or even dread. It can be tricky adapting to the stark adjustment in lifestyle you experience as your relaxing summer break quickly changes into applying yourself in an academic environment again.
In a previous blog post, we detailed a variety of different techniques to help manage stress as we approach the start of the upcoming school year, and we recommend giving it a read if you are feeling anxious about returning to school. The purpose of this post is to provide helpful learning resources to help ease yourself into returning to an academic environment, or to help supplement your learning during the school year.
Helpful Learning Resources
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Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a fantastic free learning resource that covers a variety of subjects, including language arts, science, math, and much more. Khan Academy uses comprehensive videos and practice questions to help explain challenging topics in a more approachable way. The subjects covered on Khan Academy can range from Pre-K all the way up to college level, so there is always something for anyone who is looking for a way to supplement their learning. Additionally, Khan Academy offers Test Prep for advanced tests such as the SAT, LSAT, and MCAT.
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CrashCourse
CrashCourse is another free learning resource that explains concepts in a variety of subjects such as organic chemistry, world history, biology, philosophy and more. CrashCourse is a channel on Youtube created by John Green and Hank Green that posts high-quality, well-researched educational videos. Their videos are around 15 minutes long and provide a detailed and entertaining explanation of complex topics.
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Amoeba Sisters
The Amoeba Sisters is another free learning resource that focuses on explaining concepts related to biochemistry, plant biology, human biology, and more. Similarly to CrashCourse, the Amoeba Sisters produce high-quality educational content that is both informative and entertaining. Their videos are useful study tools to help review concepts for STEM courses.
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Duolingo
Duolingo is a well-known and user-friendly language learning app that I personally have used for many years. Learning a new language can feel like a daunting task, but Duolingo sections languages into more approachable sizes, allowing you to start with the basics before adding more complexity. We recommend trying Duolingo in tandem with a language class in school to help improve your vocabulary and pronunciation. We also recommend listening to Duolingo Podcasts. The subject of the podcasts are often cultural topics related to the language you are studying and include both stories read in the language you are studying alongside English explanations.
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WordReference
WordReference is a website that serves as a language dictionary. It can translate English to and from French, English to and from Spanish, English to and from Italian, and a number of other languages. WordReference is especially helpful because when translating a word into another language, it provides detailed explanations on the context of the possible translations, allowing you to pick the most accurate translation. Additionally, WordReference includes verb conjugations to allow you to practice more complex conjugations. WordReference is a great resource for written projects and is a much better alternative to using Google Translate.
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Purdue Owl
Purdue Owl is a website that includes easy to navigate MLA and APA guides that stay up-to-date. Although it may be tempting to use citation generators for school assignments, often the citations produced include errors. Purdue Owl is a great resource to ensure you are correctly citing the work you are referencing.
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Grammarly
Grammarly is a virtual typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, and punctuation to help catch errors in your writing. Grammarly offers free and paid plans to help improve the quality of your writing.
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Google Sheets
Google Sheets is a free spreadsheet program that can be accessed through your Gmail account. While it can be used for a variety of purposes, Google Sheets is a useful program to organize your assignments by due date, to allow you to keep track of your upcoming assignments.
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Notion
Notion is a web application that can be used to organize your class notes and manage tasks. Notion offers organizational tools to sort your notes based on the class, create to-do lists, and keep track of projects. We recommend watching YouTube tutorials to familiarize yourself with the program to use the full potential of the resource.