Homeschooling with excellence does not have to cost a lot of money. In fact, homeschooling for free is quite achievable with today’s technology and the abundant resources, if you know where to find them.
Here at the Coop, we understand that while homeschooling can cost a pretty penny, it doesn’t have to! We aim for quality over quantity and recommend resources that will help simplify your home education experience, not overwhelm you. Most of the sites or apps we share are FREE because educating your children does not need to break the bank. Occasionally we will recommend a resource if we find it to be worthwhile and indicate that with ‘$’.
Create Your Own Curriculum
Unit Studies – Homeschoolshare has them sorted by level and multi age; Digital Chickens Unit Studies
Lapbooks – Homeschoolshare has 350 created lapbooks and templates to create your own FREE
Memory Work – 100 Things for kids to Memorize – create your own Classical style Memory Work
Worksheets – free by topic, subject, and common core standard at Education.com
Handwriting Worksheets – create your own handwriting worksheets for cursive or printing at handwritingworksheets.com, worksheetworks.com, or lwtears.com
Vocabulary – Vocab lists for Middle School/High School by subject, for test prep etc at Vocabulary.com; K-12 lists by theme at Enchanted Learning
Flashcards – create your own digital “flashcards” at Quizlet
Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op -free membership, TONS of resources and curriculum at a discounted group rate.
Teachers Pay Teachers – support and share with other teachers. Endless number of free and for purchase resources and worksheets.
Full Curriculum/All Subjects
Ambleside Online-Charlotte Mason style, full year curriculum by grade (K-12), and great book list/resource ideas whether or not you follow the curriculum
Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool – EP grade levels and individual courses include 180 days of homeschool lessons and assignments. It covers reading, writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, math, history/social studies/geography, science, Spanish, Bible, computer, music, art, PE/health, and logic. It uses only free materials found on the internet.
IXL – Comprehensive, and well awarded site. Helpful for skills checklist or to “fill gaps” you think your child may need. Could be a good fit if you have just pulled your child from public school and not sure where to start, or if only temporarily homeschooling, this would be a smooth transition in and out of the public system. Does have a subscription option $.
Khan Academy Kids – All free, for the younger set ages (2-8), they have an app and you can set up profiles for each of your kids. Additional resources like printables are available on their site.
Khan Academy – Great for Middle and High School Students. All free and TONS of classes in Math, Reading, Science and Technology, Arts & Humanities, Test Prep, Computing, Economic & Finance, college, careers and more.
$ Starfall – Parts of this site/app are free and great to use, but the full paid version is totally worth the $. It is designed for preschool-3rd grade (a 2 year old can do it with some help, and my kids started to lose interest and move on around age 7 or 8).
Varsity Tutors A wealth of paid and free content for all ages, including paid tutoring/extra help for specific subjects, SAT prep, full courses, and numerous FREE enrichment classes in all subject areas. Most free classes are 1 to 6 class sessions at an hour each.
Reading and Language Arts
Read Aloud Revival-I can not say enough about Sarah MacKenzie and her site. She has written a couple of amazing books (which I also highly recommend The Read Aloud Family, and Teaching from Rest), a homeschooling specific website Simple Homeschool, and also has premium content you can subscribe to, but there is a ton of free stuff to keep your family reading. I love her site for book lists, book recommendations (especially as my kids get older!), and her podcasts where she interviews different authors, illustrators etc. If you are needing to build your library, read more as a family, or get book suggestions to check out at the library, her site is invaluable!
Project Gutenberg – Most of these books are older and available because their US copyrite has expired (1924 and earlier), so there are a ton of the classics, they are digital copies, and completely free. If you want to build your digital library with some great classics for your older students or books for your own reading list, there are over 60,000 titles available at your finger tips. Need some help narrowing it down? Here are the Top 100.
The Good and the Beautiful Free Books: Story Time narrated audio books
Free Kids Books – read online or PDF format
Storyline – actors reading children’s books (video format), for those times when you want to read to your kids but just aren’t feeling up to it.
Grammaropolis – Free for a year
Math
Xtra Math – free math facts practice (Note: not all students do well with the pressure of being timed, if that is the case then pass on this one, but for those that would have fun “racing the teacher”, this can be a great tool to get in additional math facts practice. Also keep in mind, if your child is not quick with typing they may get frustrated if they know the math but can’t type it in time, you may want to do that part for them since speed matters.)
Dad’s Worksheets – a wealth of quality math worksheets as well as great tips, tricks, tools, charts, and puzzles.
Bedtime Math – one app for PreK, and one for ages 3-9. They also have a Daily Math section, Crazy 8S club, Fun Factor, Books, and Game Ideas for at home. I have not personally used their site or apps, but have heard a number of good things about them. If you are looking for making math more fun and engaging, check this one out!
Math is Fun – resources and games, content for all ages.
Science
National Geographic for Kids – not only is their magazine great (see if your library carries it to read for free!) but their site is fun too.
National Geographic – definitely for older kids, also has current events and history, and don’t forget the magazine and TV shows as well.
NASA kids club – because space is cool
Neo K12– how stuff works, videos, games, quizzes and vocabulary.
Exploratorium – Short simple lessons on all kinds of topics
Coding and Computers
Code.org – free classes that gradually teach kids the concept of coding and creating games
Scratch – Design your own computer game and play games others have created.
$ Tynker.com – coding curriculum and games and it’s the #1 coding platform for kids.
Dance Mat Typing – Teaches correct hand position and the three levels teach each row. Awesome free typing games.
Art and Music
Art for kids hub – For kids and with kids, how to draw, engaging pop culture content, and easy to follow along videos.
Thrive Art School – Has beginner and intermediate level classes as well as tips for parents.
Met Museum – videos for kids from the Met, including art, music, and books.
HodgePodge – 100 Free Art lessons for all ages
Geography/History
Magic Treehouse – Kids Club and Mission Game, if your kids love the books, check out their site for interaction and more information based on the books.
Worksheets and Content Creation
Education.com – This site is amazing and full of tons of Free content.
Teachers Pay Teachers again, not a fan of too many worksheets, but another great resource when you need them. Lots cost $$ but many are free.
Homeschool Share – Enjoy Notebooking, Unit Studies, and Lapbooking? This is the site for you!
Notebooking Pages – Speaking of notebooking, free resources and paid membership available, tons of content if your family loves notebooking.
Donna Young – Tons of printables and resources for homeschooling including Math, Science, History, English, Art, and Handwriting, as well as calendars and planners galore to keep you organized.
Logic and Debate
EdTed – High School -I would not let my student loose on here but appears you can create a lesson plan. Interesting content for sure that could spur discussion and debate at home or in a classroom, and get students thinking and applying logic and debate skills.
KidChess – chess is an excellent game for developing logic skills and critical thinking. Start a club, join one online, or just practice your skills with lessons and tools provided.
Math is Fun – online games for logic
Critical Thinking Co – Their resources and puzzle books are phenomenal, but did you know you can sign up for a FREE puzzle everyday?! PreK-12
Reviews
Cathy Duffy Reviews – Extensive and comprehensive Curriculum Reviews for all styles of learning. Great for reading a reviews on curriculum or resources you come across on the net or from friends. Also great to help narrow down curriculum by using her advanced search features and “Top picks.”
