15 Homeschooling Resources for Parents
reviewed by Jo-ann Caballes
Updated on September 20, 2024
Parents choose to homeschool for different reasons — flexibility, customized learning, access to high-quality education regardless of the location, or children with special needs. No matter the reason why you’re homeschooling, you have a common need with all the other parents teaching at home — high-quality homeschooling resources for parents.
In this article, we’ll outline 15 of them, which fit into these categories:
- 7 best homeschooling resources online: These range from tutoring websites to blogs packed with valuable advice.
- 5 online curriculums for homeschooling: There are many online curriculums you can purchase, both as a full package and as individual courses.
- 3 homeschooling tools that can help: To make your experience easier, we also listed 3 tools to make video calls, store lessons, and find fellow homeschoolers.
7 best homeschooling resources online
Here are 7 online homeschool resources you should know about for tutoring, advice, worksheets, printables, and more:
1. Homeschooling resource #1. Brighterly
Brighterly’s math tutoring services help children understand and love math. Since the lessons are 1:1, your child gets the tutor’s full attention, and each session is tailored to their needs.
You’ll start by completing a free demo. The Brighterly team then has a clearer idea of your child’s needs so that they can match you with the right tutor. Tutors cover Grade 1 to 8 math, and have experience working with different types of learners, including homeschooled students.
Besides tutoring, Brighterly provides useful home education resources such as free math worksheets and a knowledge base. You can download these worksheets whether you’re a Brighterly customer or not.
As for Brighterly’s knowledge base, it’s a great platform for easy-to-read math explanations. If you’re the one teaching your child math at home, checking the knowledge base articles will help you understand the topic and teach it in a simple way. Alternatively, if you have an older child, they can read the articles themselves before tackling math homework. All knowledge base articles are organized by category and cover a wide range of topics from algebra to shapes.
Brighterly pricing:
Paid plans start at $105/month
2. Homeschooling resource #2. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is one of the best free homeschooling resources. Once you sign up, you’ll get to access self-paced courses on English, math, science, languages, and other subjects. It covers pre-K to college-level topics, aligned with the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Unfortunately, there are no live instructors at Khan Academy, so it works best as homework help alongside your homeschool curriculum or online tutoring sessions.
Khan Academy pricing:
Free
3. Homeschooling resource #3. Time4Learning
Time4Learning lets parents design a comprehensive homeschool curriculum for their children. It supports various learning styles and lifestyles, adapting to military families, student-athletes, traveling families, and more.
It’s important to understand that Time4Learning is not an online school with tutors. Instead, it’s designed for parents who are acting as their children’s teachers. With a membership, you’ll get to assign your child activities and access progress reports generated by Time4Learning.
Time4Learning pricing:
- $29.95 per month per student for pre-K to Grade 5
- $39.95 per month per student for Grades 6 to 12
4. Homeschooling resource #4. Duolingo
Duolingo offers free, bite-sized lessons for language learning, math, and music. It works best as a supplementary resource to other homeschool materials. For example, if your child is learning Spanish, you can have them take Spanish classes with a tutor, and practice with Duolingo in their own time.
For younger learners, Duolingo has a product called Duolingo ABC, aiming to help children read and write. Duolingo ABC’s lessons are short and interactive, featuring fun characters to keep young children engaged.
Duolingo pricing:
Free or $12.99 per month for Duolingo Super with additional benefits
5. Homeschooling resource #5. Real Life at Home
Real Life at Home was founded by a former homeschooling mom. In addition to her knowledge and advice, she generously shares homeschooling resources like activities, extracurricular projects, and recipes.
A highlight of Real Life at Home’s resources is its vast database of 1,000 printables, covering all sorts of subjects from children’s coloring books to English language worksheets.
Real Life at Home pricing:
Free
6. Homeschooling resource #6. Simple Homeschool
Simple Homeschool offers first-hand advice from a homeschooling mom. Besides blog articles on homeschooling tips, family activities, and education, it also has podcasts and books as resources for homeschooling families.
Simple Homeschool pricing:
Free
7. Homeschooling resource #7. Special Needs Homeschooling
Special Needs Homeschooling is a free website created by a family with 5 children. 4 of their 5 children were diagnosed with autism, which meant regular doctor’s appointments and therapy sessions. They chose to homeschool and share their experience with others, growing their audience to over 20,000 families.
Their blog has tons of free homeschooling resources and advice for families with special needs. There are also additional paid resources, both in the form of physical products or digital downloads.
Special Needs Homeschooling pricing:
Free
5 online curriculums for homeschooling
Need help figuring out what to teach as homeschooling parents?
Here are 5 online curriculums for homeschooling:
1. Online curriculum for homeschooling #1. K12
K12 provides support to students across the US, including homeschooled ones.
You can purchase a full school curriculum from K12 or go with individual courses, depending on your needs. As a parent, you’ll act as your child’s Learning Coach, which means you’ll help them follow the online curriculum set by K12. Younger children will require daily guidance from Learning Coaches, while high schoolers will be able to follow the curriculum by themselves
K12 also provides homeschool materials, support, and tutoring services.
K12 pricing:
Prices depend if you’re interested in a full curriculum or individual courses. You may need to contact K12 to get a quote.
2. Online curriculum for homeschooling #2. Oak Meadow
Oak Meadow offers book-based, flexible curriculums for purchase.
You can opt for the independent homeschooling option or for the school enrolment option. In independent homeschooling, you’re responsible for registering yourself as a homeschooler in your state. You can then use Oak Meadow’s Homeschool Support package to get help from certified teachers. In the school enrolment program, your child will be enrolled at a distance learning school with Oak Meadow. These include a homeschooling curriculum with books, hands-on projects, and other resources.
Each curriculum has 36 weekly lesson plans, with assignments and activities for children. Parents get checklists and planners to support their child’s learning. For pre-K to Grade 8, you’ll get full curriculums, and for highschool, you’ll choose your own subjects based on your child’s career goals.
Oak Meadow pricing:
Prices depend on the course.
3. Online curriculum for homeschooling #3. Classical Conversations
Classical Conversations is a Christian homeschool program, suitable for students between K-4 and college.
Besides curriculums for students of different ages, Classical Conversations also helps connect families with nearby homeschoolers and organizes US-based events. You’ll also find free homeschooling resources, such as podcasts, blogs, and ebooks.
Classical Conversations pricing:
Contact for prices.
4. Online curriculum for homeschooling #4. KONOS
KONOS provides homeschooling materials and curriculums to Christian families. It’s suitable for both elementary and high school students.
The platform describes its teaching style as activity-based. On a typical day following the KONOS curriculum, students learn about the topics in the morning, and do hands-on activities in the afternoon to practice.
KONOS pricing:
Contact for prices.
5. Online curriculum for homeschooling #5. Sonlight
Sonlight is another Christian homeschool curriculum for preschool to Grade 12 students. To provide homeschool help for parents, all Sonlight curriculums come with instructor’s guides. As the parent, you’re the instructor, who will implement the 36-week lesson plans into your child’s schedule.
The curriculums are flexible, allowing you to choose from a 4-day or a 5-day school week program, or take extra time off during the holidays.
Sonlight pricing:
It’s possible to buy full curriculum packages or individual courses, so the prices vary greatly
Top 3 homeschooling tools that can help
Pen, paper, notebooks, arts and crafts — these are musts for hands-on activities when you’re homeschooling.
What about digital tools that make your life easier? Try these 3 homeschooling tools for conducting meetings, storing documents, and connecting with fellow homeschoolers:
1. Homeschooling tool #1. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a great free homeschooling resource — you can use its Google Drive cloud to store your child’s assignments, lesson plans, and progress reports in one place.
Besides Drive, Google Workspace comes with other productivity tools, including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, Recorder, and Jamboard. They’ll all support your child’s learning in various ways. For example, you can create engaging presentations with Google Slides, or share your child’s homework with their tutors on Google Docs.
Google Workspace pricing:
Free
2. Homeschooling tool #2. Zoom
While there are many video conferencing tools, Zoom is one of the most popular ones for virtual learning.
As a parent, it’s likely that you use it to arrange sessions with your child’s online tutoring sessions, group lessons, or online activities. For online classes, Zoom has a lot of useful features like screen sharing, whiteboard, and messaging.
Zoom pricing:
Free for meetings up to 40 minutes or $14.99 per month for Zoom Pro
3. Homeschooling tool #3. Facebook
How come Facebook is on this list, you may wonder. Let us explain with two words: Facebook groups.
Use Facebook to join homeschooling groups and connect with other parents. These groups are great places to share free homeschooling resources with others, give tips, and find local events. Type “homeschool groups near me” in the search bar to find out if there are any groups you can join.
Facebook pricing:
Free
Conclusion
Homeschooling resources make your life easier as a parent. They provide you with lesson plans, tutoring support, or a community of like-minded families, so children receive a high-quality education and you get the support you need.
At Brighterly, we’ve worked with many homeschooling families, providing 1:1 math help to their children. Learn more about our homeschool math courses or take a look at our free math worksheets.