Free and Frugal Homeschooling

When I started homeschooling in the early 1990’s there weren’t many homeschool curriculum choices. I didn’t have access to stacks of catalogs or online resources. There was The Big Book of Home Learning by Mary Pride, my library, a drawer full of art supplies, and that was about it! In those early years I made a lot of my own “curriculum,” if you could call it that. It’s kind of funny because that’s what I resorted to in my later homeschooling years, as well, albeit with much more experience under my belt.

Homeschooling for free is something I’m well acquainted with. In the beginning it was something I needed to do because there wasn’t much out there to purchase. In later years it was something I did because of budget constraints, out of the necessity to custom-tailor things for my kids, and just because there are a lot of homeschool resources out there that are FREE and just as good as things you could pay hundreds of dollars for!

In this post I’m going to share tons of resources and ideas to get you started down the path of homeschooling for FREE or at least on the cheap. These resources can help preserve some of your homeschool budget for that expensive math curriculum you have your eye on, or it can help those of you who are struggling to make ends meet and just don’t know how you will be able to give your children a quality education without breaking the bank.

Before proceeding with any of the following, please make sure you check with your local authorities about the homeschool requirements in your state and that you research college admissions requirements. The following resources are things I’ve come across over the years, and they may or may not be a fit for your particular situation! It’s your responsibility to make sure you are in compliance with your local laws, etc. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s jump into the FREEBIES! I’ve included some of my own personal thoughts/opinions about some of them. Feel free to ignore if they don’t match your own preferences! Make sure to scroll down past the complete homeschool curricula for MORE high-quality freebies and ideas.

I will add to this post when I come across new resources!

Free Homeschool Curricula

ABC Jesus Loves Me Grades: Preschool from ages 1-5

If you are looking for a free preschool curriculum that is Christian, this site has free lesson plans for ages 1 through 5. The 5th year can also be used as Kindergarten.

AmbelsideOnline  Grades: K-12        MY TOP PICK for a complete free curriculum

“AmblesideOnline is a free Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum with high literary standards. The curriculum is free and uses as many free online books as possible. Most of the other recommended books can be borrowed from a local library. I like the inclusion of art, music, poetry, nature study, and the academic rigor.

“The Charlotte Mason method uses living books with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity, narration instead of comprehension exercises or composition, copywork for handwriting, spelling and grammar modeling, nature observation as the primary means of early science, and literature, poetry, art and music to give children’s minds beautiful ideas to feed on.”

I love Charlotte Mason curricula and used some of Ambelside’s recommendations in my own homeschool.

The Classical Curriculum Grades: K-12

“The following is a high-brow, high-IQ classical curriculum, which has been adopted by homeschoolers and classical schools. The creators of this free online curriculum have sought to address the lack of any sound online classical curriculum. Based upon the 19th-century German-Latin method and following the great-books model, this curriculum often attempts to be highbrow, emphasizing the best of occidental traditions while avoiding the anti-Western political correctness one finds in public schools.”

Each grade has a book and materials list to work from. Many of the books can be obtained for free or from your local library. Other subjects that cost (math, etc.) can be replaced with freebies. There is an emphasis on learning Latin, German, and reading many classics like Livy’s Rome and Plato (which I find dreadfully boring). I like some of the earlier grade’s book recommendations. If I were looking for a free curriculum, I wouldn’t love this one, but some of you may!

Core Knowledge  Grades: K-12

Core Knowledge has free downloads for language arts, history & geography, and science. The downloads come with teacher guides, student books, and other resources depending on the course, like timeline cards, etc. These are quality materials that are highly illustrated and professional looking. The best part is that they are FREE with a Creative Commons License, so you can adapt them however you’d like.

Discovery K12 Grades: K-12

We offer a Non-Common Core, traditional, secular curriculum using today’s cutting-edge technologies from pre-k through 12th grade.

There are over 16,000 lessons that include reading, literature, language arts, math, history & social studies, science, visual and performing arts, P.E., Spanish, HTML coding, healthy living, and personal finance with a library of over 100 classic e-books like Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island. A student account is free. A parent account is currently $50 at the time of this writing and gives you access to detailed reports including attendance tracking, transcript creation, diplomas, and more. This curriculum is ONLINE, so you will need access to a computer and the internet.

This is NOT my favorite type of curriculum. I don’t like computer-based curricula at all. I used the computer as a tool, but I preferred my kids to hold and read real books when possible. However, some of you are looking for something that’s more self-contained and hands-off parent-wise. Discovery K12 might fit the bill.

Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool Grades: K-12

Easy Peasy is one of the few free curricula in which every single subject is totally free, other than a few art and activity supplies. There are even complete PDF packets to download for math and language arts. All of the literature is free and everything is linked to. Easy Peasy may be a good choice for those of you on a very strict budget. Every day is laid out and easy to follow. The curriculum is also designed for a child to work through independently.

“We exist to help families homeschool. We enable families to homeschool who thought they couldn’t because of a lack of finances, a lack of time, or a lack of know-how. Others join EP just because it’s easy and fun and they’re confident of the quality of education. EP seeks to free families from the burden of pursuing the “perfect” and encourages them to let it be “enough.” Each family and each child is different and we seek to provide the resources to enable your family to be who you were meant to be.”

edX – Grades: High school – adult

Anyone can take FREE courses from edX via teachers from MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, and other universities. You can also take some of the same courses, pay for a certificate, and earn college credits. Check out the free, self-paced math courses. There are tons of other courses for science, design, computer science, foreign languages, writing & grammar, literature, and more. These classes are the real deal. There are even online master’s degrees available (but those are definitely NOT free). A motivated high schooler could really benefit from these courses!

Higher Up and Further In Curriculum Grades: Preschool – 6

Here’s another Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum. Some of the books scheduled in are free classics. You will need to purchase others. There is a forum for curriculum users.

Homeschool Curriculum Free for Shipping  Grades: Varies

Receive curricula for the price of shipping, or donate things you’re no longer using to help other homeschoolers in need!

“Homeschool Curriculum Free for Shipping (est. July 1st, 2014), a pay-it-forward homeschool community, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that exists as a means of providing brand new and used curriculum for only the cost of shipping or even completely free to homeschool families in need.  Recipients are encouraged to “pay-it-forward” after using the donations.  The organization and Facebook group work together as a community with a twofold purpose.  First, to serve as a resource for donors who are seeking to donate curriculum.  Second, to support and encourage ALL homeschooling families, especially those who homeschool with financial constraints.”

Letter of the Week Grades: Preschool

Mater Amabilis Grades: K-8 (with suggestions for high school)

Mater Amabilis is a Charlotte Mason style curriculum for Catholics. Some of the books needed for this curriculum must be purchased or borrowed from the library. Other resources and books are available for free online. 36 week lesson plan charts are provided. Non-Catholics can still use this curriculum by leaving out the Catholic related studies.

NWT Literacy Council  Grades: Various grades

Get free PDF workbooks for English, Math, career planning, etc. The math workbooks are probably the best offering.

Old-Fashioned Education Grades: K-12
This is the ORIGINAL Old-Fashioned Education site. The site below uses some suggestions from this original site.

Old Fashioned Education Grades: K-12

This is the new version of the Old-Fashioned Education, which is run by a completely different person and adds some different resources and schedules. The original curriculum is also available on this site. This site’s description of the materials: This is a free Charlotte Mason inspired family together curriculum ordered around 2 cycles of history with the Bible as the foundation.

PASS workbooks Grades: High School

PASS is no longer available on the original website, but you can access their materials thanks to the Internet Archive. PASS offers a variety of free workbooks for high school language arts, math, science, social studies, Spanish, and more. The workbooks are self-teaching, so a student can work through them on his own for the most part. Note that not ALL of the linked PDF’s are available via the Internet Archive, but many of them are. Try a different capture date via the top bar if one of the PDF’s you need is missing. Here’s another way to access the PASS workbooks and teacher’s guides: Click here.

Other Terrific Resources

In this section I’m sharing resources that are free, but not complete curriculums! These are the resources you want to check out for specific subjects or ideas on how to cut down your homeschooling costs.

The library

First and foremost, use your local library!! I can’t emphasize this enough. If your student can read, s/he can learn just about anything just by reading books. You should visit the library on a frequent basis. Reading should be something that is fun and stress-free. You can also find just about any subject your student needs to study at the library whether it’s history, grammar, math, science, or even a foreign language. I even checked out math textbooks. If your library doesn’t have a book, request it a year in advance of when you’ll need it. Get multiple cards (one for each member of the family) if your library has a book loan limit.

OpenLibrary. org 

If you don’t have access to a library, or you’d like easy, instant FREE access to millions of books, check out OpenLibrary. You can check out books in e-book, PDF, or online formats. I’ve found complete textbooks and workbooks, along with many of my children’s favorite titles.

If a book isn’t available, you can get on the waitlist and check it out when it’s “returned” by the current patron. You can also make and share lists. Check out my lists: https://openlibrary.org/people/guesthollow/lists where you can find educational books, lots of terrific picture books, and children’s literature. If you live in another country and need books in English, this is the perfect resource for you!

We’ve linked to hundreds of FREE books you can check out online and view on a computer, device, or cast to a TV. Many of these books also come with free audio (via a built-in screen reader). We look for a free (and legal) version of a book every time we list one. You have the potential to save hundreds of dollars, but that’s not all…

We’ve scoured OpenLibrary.org and other resources for out-of-print and hard to find books that are FREE to read (and/or listen to), making a multitude of these difficult to track down books instantly available. Old and wholesome favorites like the Landmark Book series are just a click away.

Public Domain Books for Homeschooling Group

Free books? YESSSSSSSS! If you are on Facebook, you’ll want to join this group for links to some terrific books.

“This is a non-discussion group. It is a repository for links to public domain books that will prove useful to homeschoolers. Links to books or series of books are listed as comments in posts listing specific subjects.”

Khan Academy

I used Khan Academy for some high school math in our homeschool, as well as other subjects like computer science. You can learn just about anything at Khan Academy and there are resources for almost every age. A learner gets a dashboard and has the opportunity to earn badges. There are not only instructional videos, but some subjects have interactive exercises. This is a MUST-SEE website, especially if you have older students. Even younger students can progress at their own pace with a solid (in my opinion) math progression.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We’ve also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.

MEP Math 

MEP is a treasure trove for those of you looking for a totally free math program for Kindergarten (Year 1) through high school. I used some of their resources over the years. You can download complete practice books (workbooks), teacher’s manuals, review material, and more.

CK-12

CK-12 offers a boat-load of free lessons and even full textbooks, along with interactive activities and videos. There is math for grades 1 through high school, science for all grades, and other topics like writing, spelling, engineering, technology, history, and more. Choose the teacher view if you want to see the textbooks that are available. Textbooks are editable, so Christian parents can edit out evolution in science books or you can add in materials and videos as desired. Textbooks can be viewed online (where they are interactive), or you can download them in a variety of formats for offline use.

Guest Hollow

Yeah, I’m going to toot my own horn. We have lots of homeschool freebies such as:

• Guest Hollow’s Homeschool Biology Curriculum
• Guest Hollow’s Online Biology Textbook
• Guest Hollow’s Geography & Cultures Online Textbook
• Guest Hollow’s Whirlwind World History Online Textbook
• Guest Hollow’s Science of Seasons Curriculum
• Free Printables and Worksheets

Check out our free homeschool items page as we’ll continue to add freebies over time!

Homeschool Share

Homeschool Share has free unit studies, printables, and lapbooks. You’ll find tons of free units with both lapbook and notebook printables.

DIY Homeschooler

There are lots of free goodies here, including some really great FREE books (some from the public domain) like Alpha-Phonics. Check out the free book studies and units, too!

The Good and the Beautiful

This site offers both free and paid curriculum. I’m including it for the free language arts and literature program (Levels 1-5) that is completely FREE.

LibriVox

Check out LibriVox for FREE audiobooks. You can listen to them with your computer or on a variety of devices. You can even burn them onto a CD. Browse the catalog, click on genre/subject, and then take a look at the children’s books.

Local Homeschool Co-ops and Support Groups

Many homeschool groups have co-ops and support groups. If you are in a pinch financially, your local fellow homeschoolers may be willing to loan you curricula or materials from their own homeschool libraries. I shared a ton of books and materials over the years with other homeschoolers. Most of us are a frugal and helpful bunch.

Google Is Your Friend

You would be surprised by what all is out there in internet-land. I’ve stumbled across all sorts of treasures, including free printable workbooks, posters, high-quality printables, free science kits via mail complete with supplies, detailed lists of freebies that cover every subject under the sun, and more. Here are a few things I’ve found over the years just to give a sampling of what’s out there if you have the time to search.

• Free McGraw-Hill language arts workbooks for grades K-6
• Public domain books from Google Books – You won’t believe some of the terrific readers and such you can find like:
  • Hamilton’s Arthmetics (1st-4th grade math)
  • First Reader
  • Everyday Number Stories
  • Primary Language Lessons
• National Treasure Workbooks (reading, spelling, and grammar)
• Glencoe grammar and language arts workbooks (grades 6-12)
• Free math practice books
• EPS practicing homophones lesson pack

Don’t buy new – buy USED!

This is a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many forget this simple suggestion. You can save tons of money buying used books and supplies. Some suggestions:

• Check Amazon. Most books are available used, some for just pennies and shipping.
• Well Trained Mind Sale and Swap Boards
• Vegsource Homeschool Talk and Swap Boards
• Homeschool Classifieds
• Ebay
• Abe Books
• Book Finder
• Thrift Books
• PaperBackSwap – Trade books with this online book swapping club!
• Book Mooch – Give books away. Get books you want.
• Title Trader – Swap books, DVDs, CDs, and video games

Over the years I’ve earned free Amazon gift certificates and such to spend on books and school supplies. You can do so from some of the following sites:

Swagbucks: You can earn points doing surveys, using the Swagbucks search bar (instead of Google), playing games, shopping, watching videos, etc. I spent my Swagbuck earnings on Amazon gift cards.

Use Bing as your search engine to earn points you can spend for Amazon gift cards and other similar goodies. I’ve earned quite a few $10 Amazon gift cards this way just for doing what I’d do anyway! 😉

I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s available to help you homeschool for free (or to cut your homeschool expenses). If you have a tight budget and wonder if that’s compatible with homeschooling, be assured -it CAN be done. Homeschooling for free does take a bit of extra work and planning, but there are a LOT of free resources out there!