I don’t write a lot about homeschooling here. Not because it’s not a big part of my life (it is!), but mostly because I know it tends to be a bit of a hot-button subject and I don’t feel like it’s my place or calling to tell you how you should choose to educate your kids. Every family and every child and every situation is different.
For our family so far, homeschooling has been a great fit. It requires a lot of effort and work, but it’s something that my husband and are very committed to and have rearranged a lot of how we do life in order to make it a priority. Our children love it (well, most days they do!) and they are currently really thriving in this environment.
Many of you have written in time and time again and asked (even begged!) for me to write more about homeschooling. While I don’t plan to make that a regular part of the post line-up here, I do want to occasionally touch on the topic when I’m inspired to do so. And today is one such day!
After attending the homeschool conference last week and sitting in on Jamerrill’s session on creative ways to homeschool on a budget, I was inspired to write a post on my top 10 favorite sites to find free homeschool resources.
Even if you don’t homeschool, if you have kids, teach kids, or care for kids, I think you’ll find some helpful resources and freebies on these sites:
1. Free Homeschool Deals
Jamerrill’s site is the queen of all free homeschool resources, in my opinion. She curates the best freebies and deals every day — including printables, resources, free ebooks, and more! — and shares them on her blog. If you only visit one site regularly for free homeschool resources, I’d recommend making it Free Homeschool Deals.
2. Homeschool Share
This site is sort of the Google of Free Homeschool Resources and it’s been around for years. It’s a great site to visit if you’re studying a certain subject and looking for online resources or printables to go along with it. You just search for any topic in the search box and it will pull up all resources they have that are applicable to that topic. This works especially when if you’re doing unit studies or themed studies.
3. Homeschool Creations
This site, run by my friend, Jolanthe, is a goldmine of free homeschool printables for a variety of ages. Jolanthe is very organized, so how she structures her days and runs her home always inspires me. If you need ideas for how to organize your homeschool day or plan lessons or set up your homeschool area, I highly recommend checking out HomeschoolCreations!
4. Confessions of a Homeschooler
Confessions of a Homeschooler has a fantastic Letter of the Week Curriculum that has lots of printable worksheets that we used to supplement the letter we were studying each week when I did My Father’s World Kindergarten with Kathrynne. The curriculum is only $10 and an exceptional buy for all the amazing downloads and helpful resources which come with it. If you can’t afford to buy the curriculum or would like to check out some of the printables before purchasing, there is a huge list of incredible free printables available here.
5. 1Plus1Plus1Equals1.net
I’ve known Carissa for a number of years and been so blessed by her. Her site has a mother lode of free printable Tot School Packs that I loved using when my kids were little. If you have little ones, you’ll want to not only check out her free printable packs, but also her completely free homeschool curriculum, too!
6. Read Aloud Revival Podcast
I have been so blessed, encouraged, and inspired to invest more time into reading good books aloud to my kids from this podcast. Not only that, but Sarah Mackenzie has just plain given me the extra shot in my arm I needed as a homeschool mom this past year. Her enthusiasm for mothering, learning, reading, investing in herself so she can pour into her family, and finding ways to flourish as a wife and mom has given fresh wind to my sails.
7. StarFall
Starfall is an educational website has lots of free interactive games and teaching tools for preschoolers and kindergartners. Our girls used this site when they were little and learned a lot of their letter sounds by playing the games and doing the activities on it.
8. The Library
No list of free homeschool resources would be complete without a hearty shout-out to your local library. Here are 7 ways to save by using the library that are beyond just checking out free books.
9. Homeschool Freebie of the Day
This site has been around for a long time and offers one select homeschool or educational freebie every day. Some are ones that require a newsletter sign-up and are one-day only. Others don’t require a newsletter sign-up and are available for more than 24 hours. I’ve downloaded some cool freebies from this site over the years.
10. The Complete Chronicles of Narnia Audio Dramas
This is different than the rest of the sites I posted, but it’s one that our family has enjoyed so much that I just had to include it on this list. You can listen online to the complete Chronicles of Narnia Audiobooks for free from Ancient Faith Radio. We’ve listened through this entire series and loved it.
Other Sites to Check Out:
- Homeschool Giveaways
- Bible Based Homeschooling
- Homegrown Learners
- 123 Homeschool 4 Me
- Mama’s Learning Corner
- This Reading Mama
Also, check out my post on our 15 Favorite Preschool and Kindergarten Resources. You can also find many free homeschool printables available here.
What are YOUR favorite sites to find free educational resources? I’d love to hear!
Lisa says
Amblesideonline.org, but read it first. Outstanding and we’ll worth the prep work.
Jennifer says
I like Fivejs.com as well. I couldn’t begin to keep track of everything without her free grade book and record keeping spreadsheet. My daughter also had problems with small b’s and d’s and she had a printable to help her with that.
Jolanthe says
Thanks for sharing, Crystal! Another one of my favorite sites (because I love her humor) is Kris from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. 🙂
Cara Thompson says
I love going to http://www.simplehomeschool.net for encouragement that’s free – not necessarily going to find curricula there, but the inspiration to keep going. I’ve also used so many of the sites listed here. It’s so worth all the effort to keep growing as homeschool parents.
Thanks for the list Crystal!
kymo says
we like xtra math for math facts! it quizzes them on what they need to work on and there are no ads
Carisa says
Thank you for including our site on this list, you rock! 😉
stacey says
I would like to give another shout out to Ambleside Online! Awesome free curriculum!
trixie says
From someone that’s not a mama, thank you SO much for sharing this! The homeschooling movement inspire me to be a life long learner. Homeschooling is not just for children and their parents.
Theresa L says
What a great list! Thank you!
http://www.allinonehomeschool.com is a complete curriculum that is completely free! I’ve been using it this year with my son and mostly I like it. I wasn’t happy with the way the math worked, so I went and bought a math curriculum. The history and science are great and the Bible is good, too.
Vicki Bentley says
Well, I guess I could have listed the site. 🙂 http://www.hslda.org – The general getting started info with general homeschool how-to’s would be at http://www.hslda.org/toddlerstotweens.
Vicki Bentley says
HSLDA has a wealth of free information. There are also four “websites within a website” specifically for toddlers to tweens / preschoolers; high school, special needs & struggling learners; and group leaders. Loads of info, articles, and links to resources. 🙂
Jessica @ The Abundant Wife says
Thanks for all the great advice! I’m just finishing up my first year of homeschooling. My kids are 5, 4, and 2. I need all the help I can get! :).
kariane says
I’ve started writing about homeschooling on my blog. It’s not a list of resources, but my articles talk about the various ways that you can teach your children through fun everyday activities (for example, music, origami, examining romanesco, and so on). You can find my blog at EverydayMindfulLiving.com
Melissa says
For those interested in the Charlotte Mason approach, I highly recommend Ambleside Online (amblesideonline.org) You do have to do some reading yourself in order to understand and implement Mason’s philosophy, but in my opinion that is well worth the time spent.
Ambleside Online is an entire curriculum posted for free that follows the Mason philosophy, as well as guidelines and tips for implementing it. You would need to obtain the books, but most of them are available at the library or as free etexts if you don’t want to buy them. It’s a great resource.
brittney says
We’ve been using ambleside this past year, my daughter is almost 7, and I love the variety of readings we do. Most of the books have been downloaded for free or .99 on my kindle. We supplement with many other things but I like the reading list from ambleside better than any others I’ve seen.
Amanda Peterson says
This post is so timely for our family…we have just decided to pull our 3rd grader from public school and finish the year at home. With only 2 months left in the school year, we are not looking to buy a curriculum but rather to piece it together with whatever resources I can get my hands on. So, Crystal, please know that this post is a direct answer to this mama’s prayers!
Crystal Paine says
I’m so, so grateful to hear that! Yay!
Ronni @ The Screenwriter's Wife says
Ooh, Homeschool Buyers Co-Op (http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/) should be on this list. Well, ok, so it’s not FREE, I guess it doesn’t technically belong. 🙂 But still, it’s a site worth noting for homeschoolers looking to save money.
Homeschool Buyers is able to bulk purchase all kind of school materials, website subscriptions, and curriculum and pass on the discounts to homeschool families.
(I swear I don’t work for them and my kids aren’t even old enough to homeschool yet…I’ve just worked in online/home school education for several years now and have gotten to know a lot of what’s out there. :))
Davonne Parks says
This is a great list! I LOVE LoyalBooks.com for free audio books.
I wrote an article about how to homeschool for free and it includes some internet resources plus a few other ideas: http://www.mamagoesfrugal.com/homeschool-free/
I also enjoy using Pinterest to organize homeschool ideas, activities, and articles. I wrote about how I do that here: http://www.davonneparks.com/pinterest-organization/
Angel says
Currclick.com
Ashley says
Thank you tons and bunches for compiling this list! I am hoping and praying that we can homeschool our son (and future children) when he is school aged. At 20 months, he’s still a bit too young
Ashley says
Thank you tons and bunches for compiling this list! I am hoping and praying that we can homeschool our son (and future children) when he is school aged. At 20 months, he’s still a bit too young
L says
I use a lot of the same blogs you mentioned to supplement what I do with my girls, as well as lots of ideas from The Measured Mom!
Johanna says
Thanks Crystal for sharing about your homeschooling life, I think most of us enjoy seeing it, I know I do since we also homeschool our 3 kiddos.
I love your list! I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Karen from Bible Based Homeschooling
http://biblebasedhomeschooling.com/
Blessings!
Davonne Parks says
I agree! I love Karen’s site http://www.simplylivingforhim.com/ just for the encouragement.
Pat says
Easypeasyhomeschool is great all in one free curriculum for families with no money but access to a computer. All you need to buy is paper, pens, crayons, etc.
Pat says
There is also easy peasy all in one high school available for free.
Jodi Prindle says
we also use easy peasy, I like it a lot don’t get me wrong but sometimes it moves a little too quickly and I find some of the tests and quizzes to have questions on them that weren’t covered. It is obvious though that someone took an awful lot of time to organize all of that.I am out here on my own as I have been doing this myself since November and do not belong to any homeschooling groups, so I very much appreciate the guide it gives me. i could not do this totally on my own that is for sure. I am going to use the information given here to expand on some subjects and find other resources and topics so thank you for putting this together. I find it most difficult to find materials on other Countries on the web, why that is I am not sure but studying a state or country i haven’t been able to find a site i really like for that. a site that lets you know what a day in the life there would be like, sure they all have the capital and basic info, but that isn’t studying the place, when I was in 6th grade we studied India and China and that alone took half a year but I learned a lot about those places. Heck I almost spoke the language (just kidding). It is my firm belief that History either American or World can not be taught if you do not know the background and locations of these other countries.
MEALWAYSCOACHING says
I love this. Seriously.
Mel says
All In One Homeschool is AMAZING. It’s a site run by a certified-teacher-turned-homeschooling-mama. As her older children go through each grade, she puts all of her (free) materials online so she can use them again for the younger children. It is truly a complete homeschool curriculum, and FREE. Her materials are done mostly online, so there are very few materials or books to purchase; mostly paper, crayons, and the standard supplies.
I love that you don’t have to gather materials from all over the web if you don’t want to.
This site is for grades pre-K through eighth: http://allinonehomeschool.com/
Her site for high school: http://allinonehighschool.com/
I’m not a huge fan of the way she introduces reading during the pre-K/kindergarten ages, but I really like everything else.
For teaching reading, I’m loving a video/workbook/book program from PreSchoolPrepco.com called Meet the Letters, Meet the Sightwords, Meet the Letter Sounds, etc. … but that one isn’t free. 🙂
jen keith says
we love duolingo for learning foreign languages. it’s a popular FREE app for smartphones and my son and i are learning spanish.
Davonne Parks says
I’m installing this on my phone right now – thank you for the tip!
jen keith says
yay! you’re welcome!
Leah says
Thanks so much for sharing. I can’t wait to check out some of those sites. I also would love to see a blog post about what curriculum you guys are going with for next year:)
Crystal Paine says
For the girls, we’re using Sonlight Core for History/Bible/Geography/Handwriting/Reading & AOP Monarch for Science, Math, and Language Arts. Silas will be sitting in on Sonlight Core with us, doing AOP for Math, and doing Hooked on Phonics for Writing/Reading/Language Arts.
{Jesse’s teaching/overseeing AOP and extracurricular activities and I’m teaching Sonlight and Hooked on Phonics. We had so much fun divvying teaching responsibilities and curriculum up and figuring out what we feel like will be a great fit for our kids and family this next year. We’ll see!}
JOYce says
Library ~ check. Church friends that had “been there and done that” often shared. Great memories.
One resource we used was “for fee” yet invaluable: http://store.precept.org/By-Audience/for-childrenkids/How-To-Study-Your-Bible-For-Kids.html Rather than listing it as “Bible, extracurricular to state requirements” with school districts, we incorporated it as “grammar” ~ scroll down the item description to the “look inside” or go directly to the sample here: http://store.precept.org/user_uploaded/documents/D4Y%20How%20to%20StudyKids%20L1.pdf Many studies for students have been added over the years ~ adults can take this route as a kinder, gentler stepping stone prior to delving into the adult studies. Age-appropriate freebie resources(NOT Precept Ministries International): http://preceptaustin.org/inductive_bible_study.htm
Lisa says
I would recommend the teachers pay teachers site. You can search for homeschooling specifically and there are both freebies and products for purchase available.
Rebekah B says
These look like some really good website. I am going to have to check them out!
annie says
Our state park system has free geocaching. Not only did we get outdoors but the kids learned map skills, compass skills and the like.
Becky {Milo & Oats} says
We love a lot of these resources!
I too, have been inspired by Sarah Mackenzie this year. I was really impacted by her article, How to Simplify the Curriculum.
http://amongstlovelythings.com/simplify-the-curriculum/
becky says
My kids are older than yours but khanacademy.org is a free resource we use for math and computer programming (https://scratch.mit.edu is another free programming site for kids). Also free apps such as “Stack the States” and “DK 10 Minutes a Day Times Tables” to name a couple.
The library definitely–our library participates in the Hoopla app/site which has many, many audiobooks free to stream. Overdrive is another app/site which lets you access your library’s ebooks/audiobooks. And Spotify is another free source of audiobooks.
Davonne Parks says
We use Khan Academy too! I just downloaded the Stack the States App ($0.99 cents now) but couldn’t find the multiplication one on my phone. Thank you for these great suggestions!
Becky says
Hmmm, sorry, I thought stack the states was free 🙂
Stack the countries is another one we use–it’s not free but worth the cost I think.
DK is for Dorling Kindersley if that helps you find it. We’ve been using it with my 3rd grader–He likes it because it is like a race car game 🙂
Kadee says
Khan Academy has helped me help my kids countless times!
Lana says
I do not know what we would have done without our great library over 23 years of homeschooling. It is probably the best resource there is for a homeschooling family.