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RedditBe it you purchased a homeschool curriculum or you are using an online program, chances are high that you will still need a few extra resources for your kids’ home education. Today I’m going to list out all the Free Homeschooling Resources that every homeschooling parent needs to know about.
While I’ve mentioned in posts that it is capable of homeschooling for free, it does take a bit of research in order to find good things your child can use. Also, I do recommend purchasing a curriculum and supplementing it with free resources. This takes some of the pressure off you and allows you to know exactly what you are looking for in additional resources through the school year.
Before we get started though if you are planning on Homeschooling for Free you will want to check out your state’s learning standards. It’s a simple Google search of your state, the grade your child is in, and curriculum or standards. This search should lead you to a .gov site for your state.
Here you should be able to find the standards of what your kid should be learning in your state. You can use this information to help you write up an overview of the education you plan on giving your child that the state may require. I used it to help figure out what I was looking for in a curriculum as well. For a free homeschooler you will use it to plan out your school year and your very own curriculum.
Please be careful to look through everything you are using to make sure that what you are teaching your child is correct. You’ll want to double check lesson plans, worksheets, reading materials, and videos that you are using.
Finding Free Homeschooling Resources Through Groups
While I am going to list out some of my favorite free homeschool resources below I wanted to give you a couple of tips to finding these resources yourself. Right now I have a child in early education, so a lot of my resources are best for elementary school aged children. If your child is older you will need to know how to find more age appropriate resources.
I recommend checking out groups on Facebook. I am personally in a lot of secular homeschooling groups so below is a list of my favorites. If you prefer a religion based curriculum or homeschool experience I know there are plenty of groups that are available that meet those needs for you.
Secular Homeschool Groups on Facebook
- Secular & Decolonizing Homeschooling Resources and Connections
- Secular, Eclectic, Academic (SEA) Homeschoolers
- Secular Homeschooling with Netflix & Other Media
Even just lurking in these groups can offer a whole slew of free resources that you can add to your homeschooling bookmarks. I tend to keep a spreadsheet of recommended resources, books, documentaries, or videos in my Google Drive that will help me in the upcoming years.
Types of Free Homeschooling Resources
There is everything from videos, websites, apps, books, worksheets, and more that can help you with your homeschooling journey.
Free YouTube Channels
Below is my list of top YouTube Channels to incorporate into your child’s homeschool education.
Turtle Diary is an online website that has fun educational games. The YouTube channel features some of these games. Side Note: They have a fantastic series of phonics that are great for kids with communication or speech delays and since adding these videos to our daily watching my son’s speech has improved greatly.
Homeschool Pop is a great YouTube channel with loads of different videos in many different subjects. They have great short videos in math, science, history, geography, and social studies for kids Kindergarten through the 3rd grade.
SciShow Kids is a great channel for all things science based. I like using this channel as an introduction to new topics that my kid might take interest in that I can use in everything from Reading to Art Studies.
Crash Course Kids is all about grade school science. While it focuses on 5th grade science studies like Earth Science, Physical Science, Biology, Geography, Engineering, and Astronomy I’ve been known to add a video here or there in our 1st grade science studies and my kid still takes an interest in it.
Free School videos are meant to expose children to art, classical music, literature, and natural science in a fun and engaging way. My son loves the Free School videos, especially the art and music videos.
Ted-Ed is a great resource on loads of different subjects. If you’re a fan of Ted Talks this is a great way to start your kid on that same journey. The animations keep your kid interested while they are learning from educators on subjects that interest them.
Cosmic Kids Yoga is a great way to get your kids active while participating in mindfulness practices. These videos feature favorite movies, books, and media that will keep your child interested. I use these videos on day when we aren’t going for walks or getting active in other ways.
Streaming Services
All the major streaming services have great documentaries that may interest your kid and can be used in conjunction or as extra topics you want your kid to learn. While not completely free you can take advantage of the ones you already have and use them.
My personal favorite streaming service is Disney+ because of the amount of helpful documentaries through National Geographic. While most have to deal with animals or earth science there are a few about famous people that may also interest your child.
Netflix and Paramount+ both have amazing documentaries and educational shows.
On Netflix my son likes Story Bots, The Magic School Bus, and Ada Twist Scientist.
On Paramount+ we watch a lot of the Smithsonian Channel shows on different animals and areas of the earth. We also watch Yoga Friends and a few other Nickelodeon shows.
Hulu has more entertainment than educational but every now and then you can find a real winner to add to approved videos for your kids to learn from.
Finally, I still recommend the PBS Kids App for kids even in the first grade but I use these as reinforcement of what they already know and as they are expanding their knowledge base.
Free Printables and Worksheets For Homeschool
Below are some of the free homeschooling resources I use to find free worksheets to print and use in addition to our curriculum. I mainly use worksheets as proof my child has learned a subject or topic when I’m putting together a portfolio of my child’s work.
Great Schools have worksheets from PreK all the way to 5th grade. It’s a great place to find worksheets on many subject areas. Be aware that when you print them the answer key also prints. If you know the subject matter just tell your printer to only print the first page to save on ink and paper.
Education.com has loads of free worksheets, printables, and free lesson plans in many different subjects from PreK all the way through 8th grade. Be aware that you only get so many to download each day. To get unlimited access the pricing is extremely affordable though so it may be worth it to get the membership if you plan on using a lot of their worksheets or lesson plans.
Worksheet Fun is my absolute favorite of the worksheet sites I use. Mainly because they break down all their worksheets by topic which makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for. However, I believe they only go up to about 4th grade. Some of these worksheets may be used as a refresher for older kids if needed though.
Super Teacher Worksheets have some free worksheets available to use for many different grade levels. Their membership is affordable but if you are using the worksheets as more of a proof that your child learned a topic like I do you may not need the membership.
Amazon Kindle Unlimited Books
I have the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program which gives me loads of books to read for $10 a month. This isn’t completely necessary but it’s worth a mention because it’s perfect if you need to find Kids books on particular subjects but don’t want to purchase a lot of books.
If you already have this service I highly recommend utilizing it in combination with your local library.
This link here will take you to the Kindle Unlimited included Children’s Books. Simply scroll down the page to the Age Range section and pick your kids’ age range to find age appropriate books you can download to your Amazon Fire or Kindle Tablets and now your kids have countless books on subjects they are interested in learning more about.
Free Local Resources
There are likely loads of local free homeschooling resources that you can use in your homeschool education program. Your local library is the first one that comes to mind for me. Teaching your kid about how the library works is a great skill set to teach about community and sharing.
Likewise local museums, art centers, zoos, and more may offer free homeschool days in your area. This helps to get people to the location to donate, buy gift shop items, or spend money on food and drink so a lot of locations like this will offer free homeschool days.
If you have an HSLDA membership you will get an educators card that can be used to get discounts on admission to a lot of these places as well.
While going to some of these more local places may still cost some money it’s worth a mention and to plan out trips in order to expand on your child’s educational experience.
Free Apps and Websites
There are loads of different free apps and websites that you should add to your arsenal of free homeschooling resources.
Khan Academy Kids is a fantastic App that can help kids K-12th grade. Additionally each topic has lectures that are delivered via YouTube videos. We use it for independent learning with our child however they have the ability to set up parent and student accounts so you can track what your child is learning.
Scholastic Learn At Home is a great website for resources and activities you can use to help nurture learning in your home. They have book lists, articles, and activities that will help your child learn to read and take an interest in STEAM.
Smithsonian Learning Lab gives you millions of digital resources that you can use as a free homeschool resource. Images, recordings, texts, and videos in many different subjects that can help your child explore history, social science, science, language arts and art.
Code.org is an amazing resource for teaching your child computer sciences. The online courses and activities are completely free. In a world where computers are consistently improving, giving your child a head start on computer science and coding is going to help them long into their future.
Starfall is a great online website for early childhood education up through the 3rd grade. Their games provide a fun and educational experience to help your child succeed in all their studies to come. I use Starfall on the days when my child is just not interested in sitting down to learn or watch anything else.
National Geographic Kids has games, videos and loads to explore on many different topics. If you are an unschooler this is a great way to find different topics that may interest your kid for further study.
Free Homeschool Curriculums
I understand that there is an appeal to using a full on free homeschool curriculum in order to save money. I’m going to caution you in using any of the free homeschool curriculums that you find online.
First, this homeschool curriculum may not be up to your state’s standards. Second, using a free curriculum likely will have a bias or a lean on what is being taught.
I personally do not have any recommendations for any free homeschool curriculums. Instead what I’m going to do is give you a list of things you should look into before you go with a free curriculum.
- Check out the person that created the free curriculum. Who are they? Are they qualified? Can you find information regarding this person’s qualifications?
- Review the curriculum before you dive into teaching your child from it. Fact check what is being taught and make sure it’s correct.
- Have a teacher friend or an educator look through the curriculum for you to get their thoughts on if it’s a good curriculum.
- Find reviews on the free curriculum by searching Google for either the curriculum name or the website itself with the term review.
These tips will help you make a decision on if a free homeschool curriculum is the right choice for your family. For tips on finding the right homeschooling curriculum for your family, check out my post here.
How To Find Additional Free Educational Resources
Your best way to find additional free homeschooling resources is to find homeschooling bloggers who fit your style of homeschooling.
I am a guided unschooler which means we use a curriculum to keep our kid in line with what others in his age group are learning and as a guide while leaving enough freedom for him to learn and explore on his own. If you have an independent kid with ADHD this might be the right type of homeschooling method for you.
While I’ve given you loads of beginner facts about homeschooling from this point on I plan on sharing our own methods and experiences in homeschooling. If this is the same method you wish to use in your own homeschooling I recommend you bookmark my site and stick around.
Ask your Facebook groups, search Google, or even scroll through Pinterest to find bloggers with a homeschooling style that matches your own and you will likely find a whole slew of new resources to use.
Do you have any resources you’d like to add to the list? Leave a comment below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite homeschooling boards.
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