Over the past few weeks, our lives have been drastically changed due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and the government’s preventative measures. With the stay-at-home advisory issued by Governor Baker, the majority of us are staying home almost 24/7. Without spending time commuting and traveling to places, we suddenly found so much time on our hands. So how do we optimize the time to make the best of it? Here is a list of all the resources online organized in a day’s schedule. Whether it’s learning something new, picking up a new hobby, or just simply trying to relax, you will definitely find something to make your quarantine life a little better. Best of all? Everything mentioned in this list is free!
9 AM: Wake up and Meditate
Having mindfulness moments and meditation is an excellent way to start a day. Especially during a time like right now, our emotional wellbeing deserves a lot more attention. Here are some free meditation programs that you can utilize to pick off your day.
Smiling Mind is a nonprofit offering app-based meditation program developed by psychologists and educators. It helps bring mindfulness into your life by offering a wide variety of programs for all age groups. It also provides a program called Thrive Inside, a special COVID-19 initiative to help you proactively support your psychological wellbeing while you’re spending extended time at home.
With more than 40,000 guided meditations spanning over about 200 different topics, the Insight Timer is the world’s most extensive collection of free guided meditations. Whether you want to relieve stress, practice coping with anxiety, or just have a moment of mindfulness accompanied by some relaxing music; you can find all of those on this app.
Stop, Think & Breathe provides you with access to more than 20 free activities to guide people through meditations for mindfulness & compassion. You can download the app on your smartphone or access the content through their website. You can also upgrade to a $9.99 monthly subscription to unlock premium content.
10 AM: Take a Virtual Tour at a Famous Museum
For those of you who love arts and nature, it must be frustrating to see all the art museums closed and now even national parks. But don’t worry, you can still take a virtual visit to these beautiful destinations at the comfort of your couch.
- British Museum, London
Opened in 1795, the British Museum is the oldest operating national museum opened to the public in the whole world. Although your travel plans to Europe might be canceled, you can still enjoy the cultural enrichment journey through its collection of more than 8 million artifacts online. Through a virtual timeline that categorizes each museum experience based on region and various topics throughout history, you will absolutely find something that sparks your interest.
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
The Louvre is the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. The most visited art museum in the world, the Louvre houses approximately 38,000 pieces of art collections. It is divided into eight different curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities, Near Eastern Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities, Islamic Art, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, Paintings, and Prints and Drawings.
- Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Founded in 1910, The Pergamon Museum is the home to many Ancient Greek monumental buildings and art and archaeological treasures. Some famous pieces displayed in the museum include the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, the Market Gate of Miletus reconstructed from the ruins found in Anatolia, and the Mshatta Facade. The museum is divided into three parts: the Antiquity Collection, the Museum of Islamic Art, and the Middle East Museum.
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Always interested in learning more about the world-renowned Dutch post-impressionist painter but never had the chance? Through the official website of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, you will get to see all his famous paintings, letters, life stories, and personal anecdotes.
- MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Founded in 1929, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in midtown Manhattan was the first museum devoted to modern-era art. Through Google Arts and Culture, you can view 129 artworks in six different categories along with one online exhibit.
2 PM: Take Some Online Courses
For those of you who would love to use the extra time to learn something new, acquire a new skill, or better navigate your career and personal life, staying at home is the perfect time for you to take some online courses. Best of all? It’s free!
EdX is a nonprofit online learning platform that provides you with access to more than 2,500 free online courses from 140 Institutions worldwide. You can enroll in a science and cooking class or an ancient Egyptian art and architecture class from Harvard University in the comfort of your own home. You can get your learning outcomes verified by a certificate with an extra charge.
Open Culture is a hub for free education and cultural content, including online courses, online textbooks, ebooks, audiobooks, free movies, and video tutorials. Wanna learn a new language? The website provides free online resources to 48 different languages for you to choose from.
Cousera provides you with hundreds of free courses with on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, and community discussion forums. You can take a class about the science of well-being with Yale Professor Laurie Santos or a course that teaches you the personality types at work to help you better navigate your career.
Khan Academy covers content ranging from First-grade math to career development. You can take a class to learn how to improve your grammar, how to manage your personal finance better, or how to navigate through capital markets.
Alison offers more than 1,000 free online courses across nine distinct categories. All classes are free to enroll, study, and complete. You can also choose to opt-in for certification upon completion of your course when you achieve an 80% or above in all your course assessment. You can learn how to use Microsoft Excel, Google Analytics, AdSense, and so much more.
4 PM: Exercise A Little Following A Fitness Tutorial
With the temporary closing of all gyms and potentially sitting all day at home, our bodies need exercise more than ever. Here are some free resources for if you want to get moving to decompress and become healthier.
- 305 Fitness (Youtube)
305 Fitness is a cardio dance studio located in Boston, New York City, and DC. While it might be closed now, its youtube channel uploads two cardio dance workout videos ranging from 30 minutes to an hour, so you never have to worry about running out of videos to dance to! A 40-minute dance cardio workout is the perfect way to reduce your stress and burn some calories after a day full of stressful work.
- Fit On (App)
If you want to make a plan with a more specific goal in mind, whether it be toning your body or losing weight, you can turn to the Fit On App. The app offers various types of exercise, including HIIT, Strength exercise, yoga, and so on. The workout activities instructed by celebrity trainers are all free to use and easy to do at home.
The Fitness Blender offers hundreds of free, full-length workout videos, meal plans, and helpful health, nutrition, and fitness information. Whether you’re a beginner trying to exercise more or a gym rat who would love the comfort of working out at home, you will find the right content that is suitable for you.
- Active by POPSUGAR (App, Youtube)
This is a mobile app that gives you access to more than 500 workout videos instructed by celebrity trainers and fitness experts. You can also find those videos on their Youtube channel.
- HASfit (App, Youtube)
HASfit strives to bring the personal trainer experience to everyone by offering free full-length workout videos for people of all fitness levels. You can simply go to their Youtube channel to watch and follow a 30-minute workout, or download their app for a more comprehensive workout plan.
6 PM: Cook Something Following a Good Cooking Tutorial
We know that sometimes cooking can seem intimidating. We’re definitely guilty of burning something while cooking or messing up the ingredients. But stress no more! These cooking recipes and tutorials will make cooking so much easier. Whether you’re just a beginner home cook trying to cook up something edible or a home chef who is looking to perfect your skills, you can rest assured knowing that you will find something right just for you.
For beginners who want the step-by-step breakdown of basic cooking skills, these are the perfect video tutorials. There are in total 20 videos that teach you anything from sauteing to baking. After you master each skill, you will also receive related recipe recommendations.
Learn everything about cooking from the best knife skills to how to use your spices properly. All online cooking classes are free to enroll through April 30, 2020.
You can browse recipes based on your preferred cuisine or the ingredients left in your fridge. Mediterranean or Chinese? You pick!
You can stream your favorite episode of Chopped or Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network website. You can even get recipe inspirations by browsing what’s popular under the recipe section.
8 PM: Read a Book or Watch a Film
A little bedtime reading or film watching is the perfect way to let your brain rest before sleep. While Netflix and Audible might not be free, there are still a lot of resources online that provide free films, documentaries, opera plays, ebooks, and audiobooks. Here is a list of them.
The Metropolitan Opera streams encore presentations from its past 14 years of award-winning performances for the duration of the closure. Each performance stream begins at 7:30 PM every night on the Met’s homepage and will remain available for the next 20 hours. The performance will also be available on the Met Opera’s On-Demand apps. You can find the upcoming opera schedule of encore performances on this calendar.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world’s largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. You can watch 340 free documentary films on its official website.
Films For Action is a community-powered digital library for people who want to change the world. From animal rights to climate change, you can browse movies of any topic that sparks your interest. Most of the films or documentaries offered on its website are free to watch.
Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library of millions of free books, movies, music, and so much more. You can listen to an audiobook of a classic Jane Austen fiction or choose a book to read from its over 4 million selections.
What method have you been using to help you get through this time of social distancing? Share this article with a friend or leave us a comment to let us know how you have been spending your quarantine time!
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