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With all of the recent current events, many people have chosen to homeschool their children but have not been budgeting for such a large expense. Today, I have put together reviews of six free homeschool curricula. A few of these are secular based. While many are found online, some require student computer time and others do not. A few of the programs will require the parent to print materials which may make the program more costly.
Design Your Own Free-ish Curriculum
One option for inexpensive homeschooling is to design your own curriculum. One way to do this is to pick up books from used bookstores, Facebook, yard sales, etc. You could then add in a few online resources and library books until you had a complete set of materials for the year.
While this might seem daunting, many homeschoolers use this method. Simply write down what subjects and topics you would like for your child study and look for books and resources that cover those objectives.
Ambleside Online
Ambleside is a nearly complete K-12 homeschool curriculum using Charlotte Mason’s methodologies. This is a literature rich curriculum plan that will provide you with booklists and an online homeschool community. Like most Charlotte Mason programs, Ambleside is a Christian curriculum; however, many secular homeschoolers find that they can make occasional book substitutions. Ambleside Online also offers an online community for parents.
Ambleside does not provide a phonics, math, or foreign language resources. However, there are many free resources for those subjects available elsewhere. Ambleside teaches that reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary programs are unnecessary, since children will pick up these skills through being introduced to well written books.
A majority of the books and materials are available for free online, as a lot of the selections are older works that are a part of the public domain. Parents may choose to check out additional resources from the library or purchase them. If a book is hard to find or expensive, the parent may choose to substitute it with another.
To get started the parent should choose a year to start in (there are options from K-12, but children close in ages may be combined). Remember that the years are based on ability, not grade level! Then you should choose a math program and gather any books from the booklist that you do not have. While Ambleside does provide a weekly summary of assignments, parents will be tasked with deciding how and when to schedule each task.
Get started at Ambleside Online.
Connections Academy and K-12
I was hesitant about putting these options on my list of free homeschool curricula because there seems to be a lot of confusion about these programs. While many people think of them as such, Connections Academy and K12 are NOT homeschool programs. They are tuition-free online public schools for grades K-12. Because they are not homeschool programs, the parent has no choice in the curriculum used and all programs offered must be secular based. Schools associated with Connections Academy and K12 are available in each state and work from each state’s set of academic standards. Also, students must log 6 hours in the program daily, regardless of homeschool requirements because you are meeting state school requirements not homeschool standards.
Connections Academy has weekly one phone contact with students. Virtual classes are pre-recorded and can be watched at any time. Assignments are determined by the individual teacher. There is not much flexibility because students may not move ahead grade levels in subjects or work ahead of the class. Many have said that this felt the most like public school at home, where the teacher made most of the decisions. Just like in public school, if you get an organized teacher that is engaging and clear in their instruction, you will have a good year.
K12 has a higher enrollment than Connections Academy and many believe it is more academically advanced. K12 has less teacher interaction and less use of technology. Students in the lower grades will spend 6 hours per week on the computer, and the rest of their time will be using workbooks and paper assignments. Middle school students will spend 12 hours per week on the computer and high school students will spend 18 hours per week on the computer. Many lessons and activities are scheduled, so multiple children would each need a computer.
You can find a Connections Academy and a K12 school in your state at their websites.
Good and the Beautiful
The Good and the Beautiful offers free downloads of Levels 1-5 of their Language Arts program. The author recommends that the books be printed in full color and placed in a 3 ring binder, which could get costly as they include a lot of pages. These programs are available for purchase in printed form as well. The author of the series is LDS and while she claims that materials are completely nondenominational, there are many quotes from well-known members of the LDS faith.
The Good and the Beautiful is a very academically challenging program. The levels may not necessarily correspond with your child’s grade. The program covers traditional language arts subjects such as phonics and reading, spelling, grammar and composition, vocabulary, and poetry and literature. They also include Picture Study and Geography.
The programs are open and go, but they are parent led and the parent will need to work directly with the student. These courses use a mix of Charlotte Mason and traditional methods. You will encounter a lot of worksheets.
You may download Levels 1-5 of the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts at their website. In addition, The Good and the Beautiful offers a free Marine Biology science unit and a free 250 page Book List. They have offerings in other subjects for a fee.
Easy Peasy
Easy Peasy is a complete homeschool curriculum for grades PreK-8. There is an extension of Easy Peasy for high school as well that operates in a similar fashion. Each grade level contains 180 days of easy to use homeschool assignments using only free materials found on the internet. You will need access to a computer, internet, and a good printer. You may choose to use this as an all-in-one curriculum or only use it for specific courses.
The creator of Easy Peasy is a Christian although there are not many references to a Biblical worldview. Some materials may mention millions of years.
Lessons are parent led in the younger grades. Once children can read, students may work independently by clicking through their assignments. Easy Peasy has also started a program called My EP Assignments that will create a custom course for your child, allow them to move at different paces in different subject areas, and keep track of all of their assignments.
You may access Easy Peasy K-8 Homeschool, Highschool, or EP Assignments at their three unique websites.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers free practice exercises and instructional videos to students from preK through college. All learning is done through Khan’s online platform and students learn at their own pace. They offer programs in Math, Science, Computing, History, Reading and Language Arts, Economics, and Life Skills. Programs are also being offered in multiple languages, so this would be a good resource for ESL students. Kahn Academy is a secular program.
You may sign up at the Khan Academy website.