Free and Inexpensive Homeschooling Resources

It’s already August, and the beginning of school is a huge question mark for most families. Some schools are opening with safety precautions in place. Some are moving to a hybrid schedule, and others will kick off the year with distance learning. In the ensuing Covid chaos, homeschooling has never had such wide appeal.

I’m a licensed teacher who left my career to foster and homeschool my bios. My oldest is 6 so I haven’t been homeschooling long, but here are some of the resources I’ve found to help newbies get started and save money on curriculum costs. At my core, I’m a penny pincher. I’m allergic to paying full price, and in these strange and uncertain times, I’m sure there are others out there who could use a little help in cutting costs.

Step One: Homeschooling Law

If you’re considering homeschooling, your first step is to research homeschooling requirements in your state. You can view each state’s homeschooling law here. Most states have low to moderate regulations with just a few northeastern states that have more hoops to jump through. If you’re struggling to understand your state requirements, I would reach out to your local school district for guidance.

Step Two: State Standards

Check out your state’s standards of education. State standards are the holy grail when it comes to knowing what to teach. Canned curriculum should put you on the right path, but state standards are specific to your area and will provide the most comprehensive list of what needs to be covered each year. Click here for the standards in your state.

Step Three: Choose Curriculum

I love curriculum and could spend hours researching different programs. There is so, so much out there, and it can be really overwhelming. A site I have spent way too much time on is Cathy Duffy Reviews. It’s the most comprehensive homeschool curriculum review site I’ve ever seen. You can search by subject, grade, methodology, or point of view, and links are provided with pricing. It’s definitely a site to bookmark!

Free Curriculum

Here are a few notable free curriculums (in this list, I am only including curriculum that covers ALL core subjects):

1. The Good and the Beautiful– The Good and the Beautiful is a no-prep program with a vintage feel. It places an emphasis on high character, nature, and wholesome literature. You’ll find it’s one of the most inexpensive curriculums out there, and they have several freebies. Their entire language arts program for grades 1-5 is always free for download, as well as their Marine Biology Science Unit. Right now, they are also providing free downloads on any out-of-stock language arts, math, history, and handwriting items. These downloads cover the first 4 weeks until they’re able to catch up with demand. A free month of material is hard to pass up!
2. Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool– Easy Peasy is one homeschool parent’s gift to you. It’s everything you need to homeschool your kids online for free. They also have an offline program for purchase that’s very reasonable. This could be your entire curriculum, or you could use it for lesson ideas or for supplemental purposes. Online isn’t really my style, but I use it for art ideas and lazy days when I need something on the fly.
3. Ambleside Online– If you like the Charlotte Mason approach, Ambleside Online (based on Ambleside, England where Mason first established the House of Education in 1891) is for you. In a nutshell, Charlotte Mason does away with dry textbooks and replaces it with rich literature. The emphasis is on concepts, rather than facts, liberal arts, and child-centered education. Ambleside Online structures the year for you with detailed weekly schedules and provides links to all necessary materials.
   1. An Old-Fashioned Education is very similar to Ambleside Online. It is also based on the Charlotte Mason approach and uses Ambleside as inspiration. It has a less polished site, there are a couple of broken links, but it may be easier to navigate because of its simplistic layout.
   2. Mater Amabilis– If you happen to be Catholic, Mater Amabilis provides free lessons and schedules for Catholic students.
   3. Under the Home– Under the Home is an ad-free, child-friendly Charlotte Mason curriculum for grades K-5. It uses teaching methodologies such as Ray’s Arithmetic and McGuffey’s Readers. It is refreshingly easy to use, but a downfall is that not all the content contains “time-proven texts” like they claim. For example, some of the history lessons portray Native Americans in a negative light.
4. Little House Kindergarten– Little House Kindergarten provides free resources for early elementary students. Most resources are links to online games, free printables, and YouTube videos on related topics. The site layout is kinda a nightmare, but if you spend enough time digging, you can find free units to retired curriculum (where they have 7 free 30-day color units that tie in all the core subjects), or newer curriculum units with a suggested daily schedule for each subject. The site asks you to pay what you can for some of the larger PDF downloads (whether that’s $0 or full price is up to you).
5. Khan Academy– Khan Academy is a very popular free resource for teachers, parents, and students. There are thousands of lessons for grades 1-9 with engaging video tutorials, and a huge plus for parents is that it tracks student progress on assignments. Not all homeschooling curriculum excels in the assessment category. Research seems to indicate higher achievement for students using Khan Academy, and it’s easy to see why.
6. Freedom Homeschooling– This last site is a bit of a cheat since it provides links to other resources and isn’t a true all-in-one curriculum. Freedom Homeschooling provides an easy layout with many resources for grades K-8.

Step Four: Curriculum Assistance

If you need assistance with curriculum or supplies, here are a few websites to check out:

1. There are usually district funds available for homeschoolers. In my area, we get 80-some dollars a year. It’s not a lot, but it covers the cost of my state’s required annual testing and maybe a book or two. Some districts will also give homeschoolers access to books, laptops, and other tech equipment. Contact your local school district for more information and how to apply.
2. HSLDA Compassion Grant and Disaster Relief Grant– These grants are on an as-needed basis. The Compassion Grant is for low-income families to help with curriculum and supply costs of homeschooling. You need to provide proof of income, proof that you’re homeschooling, provide tax information and references, and submit an application. It’s a lengthy process, but it may be worth the work if the cost of homeschooling has you reeling.
3. Don’t Pay Full– This is a great site to peruse and find awesome money-saving tips. The link will take you to a long list of grants and other financial assistance for children with special needs.
4. The Homeschool House “Book Shack”– The Book Shack is a pretty awesome curriculum sharing program. People donate materials, and current homeschoolers can request curriculum for just the price of shipping. All they ask is that when you are done with the materials, you pay it forward and do not try to make a profit off the donated items that were given to you.
5. Ivy Panda Video Contest– This is an annual video contest with a $1,500 scholarship for the winner. This would be great for high schoolers interested in presenting academic information in a creative way.

Stay tuned for more homeschooling resources, and keep safe!