If you’re looking for one of the best online homeschool curriculum packages, you’re in the right place. We’re going to look at several of the best programs around, including some free online homeschool curriculum packages.
Congratulations! You’ve already decided that using an online homeschool curriculum is the way to go for you and your kids.
Now it’s time to decide which online homeschool curriculum you want to use. With all the options out there, it can be tough to decide which one to go with.
Should you choose a paid program? Free? What’s the difference? And what about accreditation??
It’s a lot to figure out and can easily be overwhelming, even if you’ve been homeschooling for a while. In this article, I’m going to share the top online homeschool curriculums, go over how to pick the right curriculum for you, and give you all the details you need to make a good decision.
Let’s get to it!
Affiliate links are included in this article.
How to Choose the Best Online Homeschool Curriculum
Plenty of people can tell you their favorite curriculum, but that doesn’t always answer the most important question: “Is this right for my homeschool?”
When it comes to choosing the best online homeschool curriculum for you and your child, you need to understand the different types of online homeschool curricula and your own homeschooling priorities
Types of online homeschool curriculum
First, let’s discuss the different types of online homeschool curricula. For the most part, they’ll fit into a few main categories:
- paid
- free
- accredited
They might vary in structure, teaching styles, and homeschooling method, but these are the main differences you want to understand upfront.
You might be wondering what’s the difference between a free curriculum and a paid one. The content is often much better quality, and families have help on call if they need it.
With a paid program you know for sure you’ll get support and help to make sure you can get as much out of the curriculum as possible.
The major upside of free programs, however, is that they’re free! You never have to worry about wasting money on a curriculum that doesn’t pan out later down the line.
Free online homeschool curriculum programs do tend to have large Facebook pages, which can be helpful if you’re a lost homeschool parent. You might have to work a little bit harder to get help, but it’s not impossible.
Accredited programs are paid programs that also come with some type of accreditation, meaning you can get college credit for the courses your student completes.
Not all online homeschool curriculum programs are accredited, but more and more are offering this as an option (or are in the process of getting accredited).
Finding the right fit for your family
Once you’ve decided whether you want to go the route of free, paid, or accredited, you have a few more decisions to make when choosing an online homeschool curriculum. The more clear you are about your homeschooling priorities, the easier it will be to pick one that your family will be happy with.
Here are some things to consider:
- Your child’s learning style. Your child’s day (and yours!) is going to be a lot tougher if the curriculum you choose doesn’t line up well with the way your child learns best.
- Your homeschool philosophy. Do you prefer Charlotte Mason, Classical Education, or Unit Studies? There’s no wrong answer, but you don’t want to spend your time using a curriculum that isn’t in line with how you want to teach.
- Budget. Budget plays a big role in choosing a curriculum, so it helps to have an idea ahead of time of how much you’re comfortable spending.
- Religious preferences. Would you prefer your child to learn about your faith alongside their schoolwork, or would you prefer to teach it separately?
- If you’ll be homeschooling long-term or not. Not all homeschool curricula follow the same academic standards for each grade. If you plan for your child to return to public school at some point, it’s important to pay attention to what information is taught and whether or not it meets the same standards for grade level as the public schools in your state.
You don’t need to have exact answers for all of this information. And it’s even ok to change your mind later down the line. (That’s one of the best parts of homeschooling!)
But deciding this stuff ahead of time can help weed out curricula that aren’t a good fit and narrow down your choices.
If endlessly researching through different curricula is giving you a headache, I can help!
In my How to Homeschool Course, I walk you through everything you need to know to find the perfect curriculum for you AND your child.
I also share veteran homeschooling tips like how to:
- keep your kids motivated and on track with their learning.
- juggle homeschool distractions like work, chores, or younger siblings.
- homeschool while traveling.
Learn everything you need to know to set your homeschool up for success!
Our Top Picks for the Best Online Homeschool Curriculum
Now that we’ve covered how to pick a homeschool curriculum that you’ll love, let’s talk about the best ones to choose from.
Best Overall: Schoolhouse Teachers
Best Free: Easy Peasy All-in-One
Best for Elementary School: BJU Press
Best for Middle School: Monarch
Best for High School: Veritas Press
Best Accredited: Veritas Press
Schoolhouse Teachers
Schoolhouse Teachers produces some of the best Christian homeschooling curriculum programs available today. This is because they offer hundreds of different courses for the same affordable subscription.
Students can study whatever they like, so long as they have a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse.
Coming from a solid Christian perspective, Schoolhouse Teachers offers a completely online homeschooling curriculum with the choice of PreK to 8th Grade or PreK to 12th Grade. This makes it one of the top homeschooling curriculum choices for large families.
A subscription also gives families access to preschool resources and courses which you can check out here.
- Price: Starting at $22.97/month
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Traditional/Textbook Learning
- Teaching Style: Text, video, or eBook with self-paced learning.
- Religious viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about Schoolhouse Teachers here!
Monarch (Online homeschool curriculum by Alpha Omega Publications)
The Monarch curriculum is a program by Alpha Omega Publications (like Horizons, Life Pac, and Switched-on-Schoolhouse). It is a copy of the material in Switched-on-Schoolhouse.
However, the syllabus is delivered via an online subscription basis in contrast to SOS which delivers its material over USB/offline. To find out more about this traditional homeschooling curriculum, check out Switched-on-Schoolhouse here.
- Price: $39.95/month
- Grades: 3rd-12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Traditional Learning
- Teaching Style: Video, audio files, games, and interactive exercises for self-paced learning.
- Religious Viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about Monarch here!
Veritas Press
Veritas Press is an online homeschooling curriculum that also offers mailable textbooks. It is a Christian program modeled on the Classical method. They supply grammar and secondary stage materials.
In addition, they offer live online courses for the above stages. If you don’t like the live version, there are also self-paced options.
Similar classical home education programs like this one include Memoria Press and Classical Conversations. You can see more details of this program on our Veritas Press review (overview) page.
- Price: Live online grammar courses start at $649. Live online secondary courses start at $749. Self-paced courses start at $199.
- Grades: Grammar: K-6th grade, Secondary: 7th-12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Classical Education
- Teaching Style: Live online classes with a few self-paced courses.
- Religious Viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: Yes
Learn more about Veritas Press here!
BJU Press
For students in Grade Pre-K and upwards, BJU Press offers an excellent online homeschool curriculum. I love BJU Press and use this curriculum in my own homeschool. It’s also extremely popular among Christian homeschooling families.
The program has a strong biblical worldview, so parents can rest assured their children will come out with a good understanding of the gospel and the Bible.
BJU Press realizes learning can get quite boring, so they try to incorporate hands-on learning where they can. Online teachers are also very engaging and I’ve been tempted to sit down and learn alongside my child!
- Price: $969 for a full grade kit. $339 for individual courses.
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Traditional/Textbook Learning
- Teaching Style: Video, eBooks, and textbooks.
- Religious Viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: Yes, offered through The Academy of Home Education
Learn more about BJU Press here!
Time 4 Learning
Time4Learning is a popular secular online homeschooling curriculum for PreK to Year 12 students. It engages children by switching to different teaching methods to increase interest in subjects.
Because the creators also focus on short lessons, they don’t make students sit through long-winded discussions.
This is what makes Time4Learning particularly suited to students who have a short attention span. It’s also a great homeschool curriculum for Autism or Asperger’s.
Similar programs to this one are Acellus Academy (that is, it is also secular).
- Price: PreK – 8th grade: $24.95/month, 9th-12th grade: $34.95/month
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Traditional Learning
- Teaching Style: Video lessons, printable worksheets, quizzes, and tests. Self-paced.
- Religious Viewpoint: Secular
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about Time4learning here!
Easy Peasy All-in-One
Easy Peasy is an online free Christian curriculum. The material is available online and also through printable workbooks.
It directs parents to many online resources to complete lessons. Facebook groups are available so parents can ask questions and get help when they need it.
It’s the most popular free homeschooling program available today. You can look at my overview/review of Easy Peasy All-in-One here.
- Price: Free
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Eclectic
- Teaching Style: Eclectic – a mixture of books, games, activities, and videos.
- Religious Viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about Easy Peasy here!
Power Homeschool (Acellus)
Power Homeschool is the homeschooling version of Acellus. The program provides Acellus courses to students with the homeschooling parent as the teacher.
These courses are taught online by teachers using prism diagnostics. These diagnostics work to identify a student’s educational weak points and target these for work.
This means children aren’t doing busy work, but they’re actively working on concepts they’re struggling with. This helps students fill in holes in their knowledge.
Please note that this program is a secular homeschooling curriculum. Another secular curriculum is Time4Learning.
- Price: $25/month
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Traditional Learning
- Teaching Style: Traditional Learning
- Religious viewpoint: Secular
- Accreditation: They offer accreditation through their other program Acellus.
Learn more about Power Homeschool here!
Mater Amabilis (Catholic Online Homeschool Curriculum)
Mater Amabilis is a Charlotte Mason style syllabus for Catholics. It is a free online homeschooling curriculum covering K to 12th Grade.
Mater Amabilis uses a structured approach as it aims to ‘follow the methodology set out in CM’s own writings as closely as possible. Children follow a set, formal course of study, using a highly efficient method which allows children to cover a broad range of subjects in the course of a short school day.’
This program has some free links to suggested resources, however, the majority of the links refer parents to buy books from Amazon as is the case with many CM curricula. Other Charlotte Mason curriculum packages like Mater Amabilis include Simply Charlotte Mason, Ambleside Online, and A Gentle Feast.
- Price: Free
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Charlotte Mason
- Teaching Style: Reading, copy work, and time spent outdoors.
- Religious Viewpoint: Catholic
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about MaterAmibilis here!
A Gentle Feast
A Gentle Feast is a Charlotte Mason homeschooling curriculum written by the Christian author, Julie Ross (you can check out her Christian convictions regarding education here). It offers lifetime access for home educators.
The curriculum is a structured approach where parents choose a 4-year history cycle (i.e. it repeats at the end of 4 years). Parents can then choose whether they want:
- an online bundle,
- an online plus printed teachers resource manual or
- option (2) plus additional printed resources.
You have the option to add on history, language arts, and the morning-time bundle. Having different options makes the program more affordable for families on a single income.
As an Australian, the program seemed very Americanized (note that there is also a Canadian supplement). Given most homeschooling families are from America, this will suit them admirably.
- Price: Starts at $85
- Grades: 1st – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Charlotte Mason
- Teaching Style: Reading, copy work, and time spent outdoors.
- Religious Viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about A Gentle Feast here!
Apologia Curriculum
The Apologia Curriculum is a Christian homeschooling program that presents award-winning Science and Biblical Worldview courses. The creators of Apologia aim to provide students with the confidence to present their scientific worldview in a biblically accurate way.
Apologia textbooks are written in a conversational style, making them easy to read. This also means students can easily navigate the curriculum themselves.
- Price: Self-paced courses: $199 per course, live online classes: $588 per course, video-on-demand courses: $159 per course
- Grades: 7th-12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Traditional Learning
- Teaching Style: Self-paced courses, live online classes, or video-on-demand courses.
- Religious Viewpoint: Christian
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about Apologia Curriculum here!
Outschool
Outschool lets children explore their interests using online classes and camps. Students between 3 and 18 years old join classes with passionate teachers and learn about things that have piqued their interest.
Outschool teaches children the basics but also seems to specialize in teaching things that are usually extra-curricular interests, such as coding or music. Therefore, if your curriculum doesn’t offer these things, you can see if Outschool has them.
Some classes Outschool teaches are:
- statistics – in Math
- sewing – in Life Skills
- cooking – in Life Skills
- financial skills – in Life Skills
- zoology – in Science and Nature
- emotions – in Health and Wellness
- marine biology – in Science and Nature
- robotics and coding – in Coding and Tech
- American sign language – in World Languages
And that’s just a small fraction of the 140,000+ courses they have available.
This could be a great program that might encourage your children to think about what they want to be when they grow up, or what type of entrepreneur they want to be.
- Price: Prices vary from $6-$40 depending on the class
- Grades: PreK – 12th grade
- Homeschool Philosophy: Eclectic
- Teaching Style: Live video classes with additional work done outside of class.
- Religious Viewpoint: Secular
- Accreditation: No
Learn more about Outschool here!
Conclusion to the Best Online Homeschool Curriculum Packages
I hope this list of the best online homeschool curriculum programs has helped you narrow down your choices and find one that works well for your family. Finding a curriculum that fits your unique homeschool is well worth the effort.
If you’re new to homeschooling and want a little bit more help finding a curriculum that will work best for your family, check out the How to Homeschool Course!
It has short engaging videos to help you pick the right curriculum that matches your child’s learning style. It also has tons of advice and resources from a veteran homeschool mom.
Get more details about the How to Homeschool Course here!
What online homeschool curriculum do you use? Let us know in the comments below!
The post The 10+ Best Online Homeschool Curriculum Packages appeared first on How Do I Homeschool?.