Did you know you can homeschool for FREE? Yep! You can do it and here is how!
Making the decision to homeschool is tough enough - you are taking the road less traveled plus it requires more time and commitment from the teaching parent. Now add to that the expense of homeschooling and it can be a little daunting to families.
What if I told said you can homeschool for FREE! Yep! You can homeschool for FREE and I'm going to tell you how!!
How to Homeschool for FREE
- read lots of books from the library (aloud and to kids to themselves)
- use lots of free worksheets
- play lots of free educational games (printable & hands on)
- use lots of free unit studies
- use hands on science experiments to make science come alive
- give kids lots of practice writing to gain fluency & competency
- homeschool for free in your community
There you have it at a glance, now let's break it down!
What ages can you Homeschool for FREE
First of all let me say that it is easier to homeschool for free the younger your child is. So homeschooling a preschooler or Kindergarten for free is super easy. Homeschooling a first grade and 2nd grader is easy. If you want to homeschool a 3rd and 4th grader it is doable. By the time you get to 5th and 6th grade students, it starts to get tricky to do it for free. I would not advise trying to homeschool a Jr. High or High School for free. You want to carefully pick a curriculum with a good scope and sequence to adequately prepare them for higher education.
Homeschool for FREE at the Public Library
You will make good use of your tax dollars by checking out a slew of books from your local library.
What books to check out:
- science books - weather, planets, animals, rocks, inventions, how things work, famous inventors, etc.
- history books - state books, how holidays came to be, different country books, historical fiction, historical choose your own adventures, biographies of famous people
- great literature - see our recommended book lists by grade
- art books - learn about famous artists, look through books of beautiful paintings form different time periods, learn about architecture from around the world
- learn another language - many have DVD's or video games to help kids learn another language
- early readers - use the book levels at the beginning of the book to start at the beginning and work up to harder books. Some have also used Teach your Child to Read in 100 lessons which is found at most libraries.
What your kids will learn:
- lots of reading will make them stronger, better readers
- they will build impressive vocabulary
- learn about sentence structure & word context (by exmaple)
- reading aloud will help ensure your kid have good reading comprehension (a valuable life skill)
- deeper knowledge and interest in a huge variety of subjects like science and history
- spelling - not only will they learn how word are suppose to be spelled by seeing them correctly, but you can pull out tricky spelling words or vocabulary from books you read and have them practice those during the week.
Homeschool for FREE with Worksheets & Games
You can teach everything you need using free printable worksheets and educationa games! I would check out (or buy as you will reference it a lot) Home Learning Year by Year to know what your child should learn each grade.
FREE Worksheets and Games will be the primary way you teach your child math - counting, number words, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, money, telling time, order of operations, etc.
Search our site's over 100,000 pages of free worksheets for the skill you are teaching.
If you are looking for a resource we don't have (although I doubt it ;) here are some other of my favorite places to check:
- FREE Worksheets for Kids Pinterest Board
- Pinterest in general (just make sure to search FREE or you will get a lot of TPT paid resources)
- Free Homeschool Deals
- The Measured Mom
- This Reading Mama
- Playdough to Plato
- Letters of Literacy
- A Dab of Glue will Do
- Fairy Poppins
Homeschool for FREE with Unit Studies
Your children will love diving deep into fun, immersive, hands on, and FUN education units! These are great because they can be used with several students at different levels! This is how I taught elementary history, a lot of science, and basic seasonal topics:
- Themes - week long lessons for valentines day, winter, dinosaurs, farm, thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, insects, etc.
- History - dive into 4-6 week long history units covering early explorers, middle ages, colonial america, revolutionary war, westward expansion, US States, geography, and so much more!
- Science - While experiments are great for teaching concepts and getting kids excited about how things work & science in everyday life - science units dive deeper! Come explore the solar system, rocks, simple machines, weather, earth science, biology, 5 senses, and more in 4-6 week units filled with tons of creative educational activities, printables, games, great books, and more!
Homeschool for FREE with Science Projects
Science experiments are great for teaching concepts (like gravity, why it rains, etc.) and giving the kids the WOW effect! Kids will get excited to learn plus learn the scientific method as they complete a variety of fun science experiments.
- Start off by seeing our science experiments for kids. Scroll down to see a thumbnail of each activity we've done and then click on the picture to learn more about the science experiment.
- Check out science experiments books from your library. Personally, we love the Janice Van Cleave books. There are a slew of them and they are arranged by type of science and age!
- Find experiments to explore what interests your children by searching Science Experiments for Kids on Pinterest
Homeschool for FREE with Writing
While your kids can learn about parts of speech & rules with worksheets and vocabulary & sentence structure reading, the best way to improve in writing is to write!
Kids need lots of practice writing to get comfortable not only expressing themselves cohesively, but writing well (sentences, spelling correctly, etc.). Give kids a spiral bound notebook and have them write something every day. It could be a journal, what they did that day, a topic you assign, a short story, or anything else you like. Just make them write.
You may want to read over them to get an idea of what spelling words need some practice or sentence structure you should emphasize, but don't' criticize their writing. You want them to enjoy writing and to do it willingly!
Homeschool for FREE within your Community
Last, but certainly not least don't forget about your local community resources! Many libraries, community centers, churches, museums, and homeschool groups are a great sources of FREE homeschooling!
- parks to get exercise (PE) and explore nature
- historic farms to learn about science and history
- zoos to learn about animals, classifications, geography
- museums to learn about history, science, art, etc.
- coops to dive into a particular are of study and gym time for PE
- local fieldtrips to learn about community helpers like fire fighters, hospitals, movie theaters, bakeries, restaurants, etc.
- concerts in the park or for community to expose your kids to classic music, orchestra instruments, etc.
- libraries for puppet, juggling, musical performances plus summer reading program for free tickets to sporting events
- playgroups are a great way to help your kids learn social skills while have fun
- Some states will let you check out and use the text books your child would be using at public school! (Minnesota will even give you a computer to use when homeschooling!)
NOTE: Look at websites in advance as many offer free days or free entrance to educators / field trips!
