Free Online Summer School Options to Keep Your Mind Sharp

This school year has been a weird one that isn't like anything we've experienced before. Due to the worldwide pandemic, so many kids and college students have been out of regular classrooms for over three months. 

Many aren't going back until at least September, but there are several free online summer school options available. Not only will kids and teens be able to keep their momentum up, but there are also opportunities to increase knowledge too. 

The UC Scout program is now offering 65 different online classes for high school students across the country. The school received a $4 million grant for this program that helps students fulfill the credits needed to get admission to California State University and the University of California, including 26 Advanced Placement classes. 

Learn more about what they're offering here.  

Coursera is offering free classes that may not be what we typically see in high school, but there are a lot of different opportunities to pique interest. From calculus to fashion design to guitar lessons and understanding architecture, each course is free and fully online. 

Learn more about what they're offering here. 

Harvard Law, which is one of the most prestigious schools, is offering its pre-term Zero-L course for free for all law schools this summer in the United States. "This year, the course will also cover material typically included in law school orientation, providing supplemental materials for schools that are currently making the shift to virtual orientations due to the pandemic."

Learn more about what they're offering here. 

If you're looking for courses with more advanced thinking needed, MIT has you covered. They're offering an advanced course on banking and money. Its described as learning "how banks can use capital as a tool to promote social and environmental wellbeing."

Learn more about what they're offering here. 

Duke University is offering several university-based courses and they're varied from statistics to programming, to behavioral finance, and learning about dog emotion and cognition. 

Learn more about what they're offering here. 

One of the world's biggest academic and research institutions, Chicago University, is offering several courses for people looking to increase their education during the summer. They're offering courses on global warming, critical issues in urban education, and learning about law and economics of media platforms, among others. 

Learn more about what they're offering here.  

If you're looking to learn more job skills, Northwestern University is offering free online summer school courses in several topics including Social Media Marketing Specialization, learning about future in a job in medicine and healthcare, and a whole lot more. 

Learn more about what they're offering here. 

If you're on the hunt for some free courses for younger kids who are still in grade school or high school there are several available as well. According to K12.com, programs are available to learn coding, and high-demand career fields to help kids and teens learn during the break. 

If you're also looking for summer camp options for your children to attend virtually, there are a lot of programs available to sign up for, though many are not free.