Last updated: . This update separates the family’s homeschooling experience and earlier program research from selected BYU and edX details checked for this revision; it does not establish current homeschooling law for any jurisdiction. Date information added October 28, 2026.
A family’s homeschooling guide, first published August 6, 2020. The travel routines, children’s ages, programs used and pandemic references describe the earlier account. The personal stories and quoted contributors remain, alongside clearer limits on advice that depends on a child, provider, school or location.
Before choosing a program or changing enrollment, confirm the applicable education requirements, support your child needs, and the provider’s current terms. The older resource lists are research starting points, rather than a verified current comparison of prices, accreditation or availability. College credit and transfer depend on specific course and receiving-college requirements.
Are you considering traveling the world and wondering how you’ll educate your kids at the same time? It may seem impossible, but I’m here to prove it’s not. In this post I will give you a rundown on all things “homeschooling how-to.“
Are you sick of staying home from travel and enduring the rigid structure of traditional school? Let me introduce you to homeschooling.
When this article was first published in August 2020, many children had been forced home from traditional schooling and many parents were wondering what homeschooling options were available. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!
I spent two years homeschooling my five kids as we traveled the world as a family of seven. I may not be all-knowing, but I’ve sure learned some helpful tips along the way.
Watch the originally linked film: Paris Museum of Science With Five Kids: Homeschool Field Trip! This family field-trip film accompanies the travel-learning account; it does not establish the program, legal or college-credit claims below.
I’ve talked with dozens of homeschoolers, unschoolers, worldschoolers, and more all over the world. I’ve also spent hours scouring homeschooling Facebook Groups and forums. It is very interesting to hear the many unique approaches different families take when it comes to at home education. The decision to homeschool (voluntarily) is a deeply personal one and one that has several considerations.
As a homeschooling mom, I’ve tweaked, added, and subtracted to our at-home education many times. You can read what I started with in my worldschooling journey and how I changed things up after a few more months.
Mistakes inevitably come with the territory of homeschooling and teaching children. As long as you are willing to recognize them and make adjustments as needed, you’ll be great. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along my journey, but I’m always trying to improve and offer myself grace.
Because my husband and I both work in our various business ventures, we have had to balance homeschooling while simultaneously working. As full-time travelers, working is essential to fund our venture (You can learn more about how we afford to full-time travel here.) That being said, I can relate to all you working parents who are trying on the new hat of “teacher” at the same time.
Throughout the remainder of the article I will present you with many homeschooling options in an effort to help you find the best homeschooling program for you. Ultimately, like mentioned above, choosing to homeschool your children is intensely personal and needs to be built to suit your family.
Would I argue that everyone should homeschool their child? Nope, certainly not. From my experience, homeschooling can work for some families, but whether it is a better fit depends on the child and family.
The homeschooling vs public school debate will live on forever. Just as parenting is unique and individual, your child’s education is as well.
Besides the obvious answer of location (duh!) in the public schooling vs homeschooling differences, the types of education differ on much deeper levels as well.
In my view, public schools work with shared learning goals, while homeschooling gave our family more room to adapt our approach. Each family’s experience is different.
I wanted an approach that could respond to my children’s different needs and interests.
Do you see the same problem with this that I do?
The “failure” lies in trying to apply “sameness” to all children. Any parent with more than one child will attest to how unique and individual each child is from birth.
I valued having room to adapt lessons for my own children. That is my preference, rather than a claim that classroom teachers cannot personalize learning.
For our family, homeschooling offered more freedom to choose how and when we learned. What works best depends on the people involved.
I value room to tailor lessons to an individual child. Teachers, classrooms and resources vary, so this is a priority for my family rather than a description of every school.
If you take only one thing away from this discussion about the benefits of homeschooling, I want you to try to capture the gift it is to cater the programs to you and your child.
In our experience, flexibility gave us time to learn alongside the kids and adjust our pace. Your family’s experience may be different.
My bet is you are here looking for a quick reason why you aren’t qualified to homeschool. Fact is, none of us are homeschool teachers when we begin! This process includes a learning curve for all.
For me, homeschooling required willingness to try, adapt, recognize mistakes, and make changes while supporting my children through the process.
The disadvantages of homeschooling fall closely into the same category as their advantageous counterparts. Similar to the advantages of homeschooling, the disadvantages also center around freedom.
A parent who chooses to homeschool doesn’t get the “free babysitting” hours that public school provides! Of course, school is much more than this and teachers are doing their very best to make it successful for students. With homeschooling, there are no breaks when you are the parent and the teacher.
Learning time varies by child, task and support. Homeschooling also changes how much time parents spend with their children during the day; plan for that responsibility alongside work and other commitments.
As a mother of five, I completely resonate with this. Since the birth of my first child I daydreamed about the day when all my kids would be in school for hours every day. What freedom I’d have!
When this article was first published in 2020, COVID disruptions had changed that routine for many families. This paragraph describes that time, not current school conditions.
I’ll also be honest and upfront: homeschooling your child is work. I found that the time and energy it required varied with our family and the programs we used. Even when a program provides a dedicated “teacher”, families should check what support and responsibilities it includes.
We’ve all heard it said before, “homeschooled kids are weird.” There is a stigma surrounding homeschooling that just isn’t true.
The pandemic raised questions about learning and social connection. Children’s experiences varied; time at home alone does not tell us how any individual child is doing.
Plan social opportunities that suit your child, and keep checking how they are doing rather than assuming every child will adjust in the same way.
Do you have neighbor kids? Siblings? Go to church? Play with kids at the park?
Our kids had social opportunities outside a classroom while we traveled. After our family spent much of that time together, I valued being able to choose activities and social settings that suited us. This is our experience, not a comparison of every homeschool or public-school child.
At this point in the process, you may be wondering how to homeschool. Your kiddos might be wondering how to be homeschooled. Don’t worry, we felt totally overwhelmed in the beginning too.
Overcoming the hurdle to homeschool was a major issue for me when facing down our full-time travels. I never wanted to homeschool! Frankly, I never considered myself patient, qualified, or creative enough to take on that role.
I’m here to say you can do it!
A simple answer is this: you decide what is important to you for your child to learn, do, see, and experience. You find the resources to match your goals and get started.
The long answer involves lots of research, soul searching, and talking with those important in you and your child’s lives.
It sometimes means starting something that you think is important, only to find that you don’t have the time for it, your child hates it, or it isn’t that important afterall.
How homeschool works totally depends on you and your goals! In fact, there are so many styles of homeschool it’d make your head spin.
Let’s visit some styles of homeschooling.
Unschooling is a curriculum for homeschooling, centered on inquiry-based learning (and I’m using curriculum loosely). Unschoolers are quickly growing in popularity. I’ve met several throughout our travels and see more and more online everyday.
From the way I understand it, unschoolers don’t want to force a child to learn something they are not interested in. If your child prefers to do math today, great. If they want to go on a walk and learn about birds instead, that’s also great.
The goal is to capitalize on the natural curiosity of your child and let them learn as and what they wish. You might delve deep into engineering or biology instead of forcing all the basic subjects on your child.
In one of the many homeschooling forums I belong to in Facebook, I found this account in a discussion about unschooling:
Lona: I have six kids. Two have graduated from college. One is currently in college and three are being homeschooled. I homeschooled all of them from the beginning.
I’ve read ALL the books! With my first three I unschooled almost exclusively. One child was motivated, two were not.
The unmotivated ones were not prepared for college math classes. Science classes were hard but doable, and they all placed in honors writing. But, the math is not something you can catch up on quickly!
My 17yo is a sophomore in college but he still hasn’t completed college algebra. He was pretty far behind when he started. I encouraged, but never forced. I even took college math classes “for fun” to inspire him! He had no desire.
Now he wishes I would’ve made him do it! It was the exact same with my 19yo. So, now my younger children do some formal schooling every day. I do homeschool three grade levels now: 6th, 4th, & 2nd.
When we travel the only formal school is math and writing. Everything else is experiential. My older kids say I should do formal science, too. But… I’m still working on that!
Unschooling comes with its own risks and benefits, as do different approaches to learning. It is not my personal favorite. I worry about whether a less structured approach would prepare a student for their own higher-education goals, but each family has to decide what matters for its child.
If I had to categorize myself, I’d pin myself as this kind of homeschooler. I homeschooled to travel the world and used the world as part of our “lesson plan.” For our family, travel brought experiences with different cultures and people into our learning.
We learned about the history of Rome on our tour of the colosseum. Sea life was encountered and taught about on the seal colony shores of New Zealand. Chinese culture and tradition are burned into memory as we walked a morning market in Chengdu, China.
Many travel families choose this style of learning with varying levels of focus on other “basics.”
I personally still work hard to teach reading, writing, and math while we travel. However, some families use reading road signs, converting currency, and more as their teachers.
Travel is usually a driving factor for this style of learning, but doesn’t have to be. There are dozens of ideas for educating about the world from your own home.
For example: You could do a learning unit on China and use online resources to see and experience much of China right at home! You could cook a meal, learn calligraphy, watch documentaries on China, etc.
Modern technology provides amazing online homeschooling options. We live in such a blessed age in this regard.
Later in this post, I will compare various online programs from free online homeschooling to paid tuition programs. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of online homeschool programs.
Choosing an online homeschool program takes research. Programs differ in curriculum, grade or age ranges, schedule, and how they relate to any enrolled school. Check the current provider details and your local requirements before choosing.
Time commitment in these online homeschooling programs varies widely. For some programs, you implement everything yourself with activities, printouts, online games and more.
In other programs, you’ll be given video lessons to progress through or even virtual meetings with teachers. You can select a program that fits your level of involvement, time commitment, and the resources you want to use.
Homeschooling with books might feel more familiar to some of us “older” parents that didn’t grow up learning in school online. This teaching style might involve books, blackboards and other printed material.
You can find many programs in printed books that follow lesson plans and allow you to teach it all.
Out of necessity, we took as little printed material on our travels as we could. We did bring about half a suitcase worth of handwriting books and math workbooks, but all of our lessons are online.
In our family, learning before kindergarten was informal. What is required before or at kindergarten depends on where a family lives, so check the current local attendance and education rules. Letter recognition, reading and early math were part of what we practiced.
I got serious about homeschool starting in first grade for my third child. We did homeschool kindergarten, but it was pretty light an relaxed with online programs. For my older two, they simply followed the programs they’d left at their previous elementary school.
When we returned to the US to spend some time with family, my mother was shocked that my 3-year-old didn’t recognize her colors, couldn’t count to 10, and didn’t know the alphabet. I just laughed.
I feel like the minds of toddlers are sponges and she will learn in no time! I’m certainly not worried about her progress before she would even be in preschool. However, I’m a bit relaxed about it, I guess?
Homeschooling a preschooler is totally doable and you can spend as much money as you’d like on the resources to do so! Or you can use some of the free resources I’ll present below to do so. Homeschooling benefits apply to all ages: time with you, growth and learning
You might be wondering if your child can get too old for homeschool? Can you homeschooling in high school?
The planning involved changes as children grow. If you are considering homeschooling through high school, look into the coursework, records and next steps your own child will need.
I absolutely LOVE this blog from a past worldschool student, who is now a successful adult. I secretly hope my Lucy (now age 12) can follow a similar path and be blogging about it in the future.
Homeschooling may remain an option through high school. Planning, support and requirements vary by student and location. I will share more below, so keep reading.
We’ve already covered many facets of homeschooling, but a lot goes into this decision! Despite the many incredible homeschooling resources available, this is a family choice and one that might change your life paths forever.
You may want homeschool to speak so deep to your soul as a parents or have it be the only way you want your child to learn. I don’t mean to scare you, but I want you to realize the gravity of this decision! It’s a time commitment, but it’s also a lifestyle commitment.
There are amazing benefits to homeschooling. There are differences to homeschooling as well, which can be seen by some as cons. We’ve discussed a few of the pros and cons to homeschooling, but just to highlight a few more:
Don’t let these pros and cons for homeschooling scare you. I promise you can do this!
Do you have goals in mind when it comes to homeschooling? Some of them might include:
These goals will change how you homeschool. It’s important to define your “why” before you pick a program and begin.
What else do you have going on in your life? Stay-at-home parent, working parent, part-time working parent… whatever your situation, you’ve got other things to do besides homeschool.
Homeschooling while working from home is tricky! I’m not going to lie, it will stretch you. I’ve been homeschooling while working full time for the last few months and I feel a little like my head will spin off at any moment.
My advice for working parents who also want to homeschool:
When selecting your homeschool program, you’ll need to be realistic about your schedule and how much time you can dedicate each day.
Remember life goes on! You’ll still need to cook, shop, clean, do laundry, doctors appointments, etc. Don’t overextend yourself or try to do too much. If you do, you’ll burn out of the role very quickly.
Don’t worry if your house get a bit messier as you homeschool, that’s normal and O.K!
Homeschooling costs vary by family and program. Some resources are free, while others charge tuition or materials fees; check current provider prices and what each fee includes.
At the time I wrote this, our family spent about $300–$400 per year on homeschooling. That was our own past budget, not a current cost estimate for other families.
Decide what you can spend, and check current prices before choosing a program. The resources below are retained from an earlier edition of this guide, not a current verified comparison.
Some programs may offer financial assistance, but eligibility and availability vary. Check the current provider’s official terms.
A friend of mine told me that a local charter school covered tuition for their family. That was their experience; check with local schools to learn whether any current options apply to you.
A resource linked when this guide was written reported: “In Alberta, home education provides each child $850.00 per year to offset the cost of resources.” Treat that as a historical statement from the linked source, not current funding guidance; verify current eligibility and amounts with the relevant education authority.
Because every state and country is different, you’ll need to do your own research on the options available to you in your area.
Homeschooling requirements depend on where a family lives and can change. Check the current official education authority for the relevant country, state, or province before making decisions.
U.S. homeschool requirements differ by state. For current rules, check the education department for the state that applies to your family.
Because we left for our world travels from Utah, that is where I registered as a homeschooler. This simply meant I went into my local school district office and signed a document in front of a notary. I haven’t heard a single peep about it since then!
This is my past filing experience, not current Utah filing guidance.
Again, do your research on your country and/or state around homeschooling regulations.
Do you already know how your child learns best? Probably not. You haven’t been their teacher yet!
If you already know, good for you! You can tailor your curriculum to them.
Does your child like to read? Do they enjoy learning hands-on? These may be things you learn along the way as you homeschool.
You can even consider asking their past teachers for their input. However, unless they were a problem student or excelled, their past teachers may now know them all that well.
I found my kids’ past teachers to not be very helpful on this front, personally.
What schedule are you looking for in your homeschooling? Are mornings best? Do you want to go somewhere in the afternoon? Does your family sleep in?
In our travels, we decided to homeschool for several hours, three days a week. The other two weekdays we did light homeschool (like the programs they wanted to do) or no official homeschool, as we ventured around the world.
This schedule fit our work schedule, mostly. We usually started homeschool after breakfast. I’d encourage the kids to get started even before breakfast if they wanted, but this was rare.
If we had a fun event planned for the day, I warned them the day before that school had to be done by a certain time.
Occasionally, we tried to homeschool after a fun day out, but it rarely worked. We tend to stay out as long as possible and only return for bedtime.
The quoted time estimates and classroom study below come from sources included in an earlier pandemic-era guide. They are not verified learning-time requirements or a current comparison of school outcomes.
How many hours a day should you homeschool? Great question!
According to this article, most parents are homeschooling TOO much. I’m certain I’d fall into this category! Check out these snippets:
“For pre-Kindergarten, there should only be about 20-60 minutes a day of distance learning, it recommends. And though that amount increases with each grade, it’s only about two hours max for elementary school students and four hours for high school kids. This should all be accompanied by additional optional work, engagement opportunities, and enrichment opportunities, which range from reading to building a fort.”
“We recommend that true homeschoolers, spend about an hour to two hours a day for those elementary years, two to three hours a day for middle school, and three to four hours a day for high school,” Jessica Parnell, the CEO of Edovate Learning Corp and homeschooling program Bridgeway Academy, told SheKnows.
The thing is, though your kids might be in school for six or more hours a day, they’re not spending all that time listening to academic instruction.
“We did a study back in 2010 with a research group of a little over 1200 teachers who tracked for three months the time they spend in the classroom teaching new material, and the average was seven minutes in a class period,” Parnell said. “There’s a lot of time when teachers are settling the class down, collecting homework, reviewing homework, dealing with disruptions. So a lot of time at school is not necessarily wasted time, but certainly not teaching time.”
While volunteering in my kid’s classes before we left, I noticed how little “teaching” time there was and how much time was spent getting the kids to focus!
During our travels, I spent between 3-6 hours per day homeschooling. However, a lot of this is my kids goofing off!
When I focused on one child, the others sometimes got distracted. Planning for that was part of homeschooling several children in our family.
Another important question is how many days per year you want to homeschool? Do you want to go year-round. Do you want summers off to match other kids and/or family?
We chose to do year-round school since we would be traveling and working year-round. We took 1-2 weeks off at Christmas, 1-2 weeks in the summer, and then 1-2 additional weeks off when we all burnt out, hit a great hotel with a kids club, or went on a cruise or tour.
Personally, this factor doesn’t weigh heavily for me, but some parents might want to do testing for their homeschoolers. Some states or countries might even require it.
At the time, I was not focused on testing and felt my kids were keeping up with their grade-level studies. That was my own assessment, rather than current Utah testing guidance.
Before changing schooling arrangements, check the education requirements and enrollment process that apply where your family lives and travels.
Some homeschooling parents told me their children adjusted quickly when returning to school. That is anecdotal, rather than a guarantee of readmission, placement or catching up within a set time. Discuss learning gaps and support with the receiving school before making a plan.
However, if testing is important to you, here are some great resources for testing.
I had heard concerns about testing from other homeschoolers, but that does not establish how any individual child will do. Consider the assessments your child needs and any applicable testing requirements.
Hopefully at this point you’ve got a good idea of what is going to fit your family best when homeschooling! Let’s get to the nitty gritty of some options for you.
Online curriculum is one option; access and setup vary. The older listings below came from homeschool forums, friends and word of mouth, and include different types of programs and materials to research.
When picking your programs, realize you can choose more than one! One of my favorite programs, and the one we’ve used for that last two years, is Kids Online Academy. It is like picking “credits” for college. From their site:
“Kids On Line Academy is a great option for this coming school year. Take out the uncertainty and decide which courses to use at home or anywhere in the world. Just like at a college or university, you pick the courses you want to enroll in and pay for the credits for each. This means that you can take just one course or many. You are able to pick and choose what will work best for you and your current educational situation. KOLA can be used to complement another program or provide a complete/full load of courses.
Kids On Line Academy is a private online school so you can be enrolled in KOLA along with any other public or private school all at the same time or it can be used as part of your homeschool curriculum.”
After my initial hours of research, I loved this option. There are several options for each subject. However, I used a totally different program for math and cherry-picked workbooks from different recommendations.
When I wrote this guide, code “Leslie123” was offered to waive the application fee. Check with the provider whether that older offer is still available. *I don’t get any commissions for sharing this, but Cara, the owner, and I both want to empower parents in this difficult time!*
If hand-picking curriculum is too overwhelming, you can also get an all-in-one solution that covers all the basics.
Do you want your homeschooling to be accredited? What does this even mean?
This article gives a great background on what this means. Basically, unless you are very interested in a future sports scholarship or a certain college that doesn’t accept homeschooling readily, I don’t think it’s something to worry about.
Historical quotation: The following third-party claims about accreditation are retained as originally quoted. They do not verify current requirements for your jurisdiction, receiving school, sports eligibility or college.
The same article states, “No state requires that a homeschool program, curriculum, or diploma be accredited (in fact, curriculum can’t be accredited!) Most institutions of higher learning do not require this either, although there may be exceptions by individual institutions or programs; and of course schools may change their requirements at any time.”
From one of my homeschooling forums, one mom wrote this: “curriculum can never be accredited. Only a school can be. If you are doing an accredited homeschool program, it means your child is a member of a school, and you just so happen to do the work at home. Accreditation is not required- even for college entry- and in fact some schools are not accredited.”
There are several organization that provide accreditation. For more information, you can research these two sites and start down the rabbit-hole:
Yet another option for homeschooling parents is to pool resources within small groups and have your children taught together. I’ve known several homeschooling parents who have formed groups and hired a tutor or a college student to teach a certain subject.
My friend Valerie, a mom to six and long time “homeschooler”, shares this,
“Homeschool suggests everything takes place within the home, and in my experience, a “home education“ takes place all over the community, and even the world. A “custom” education focuses the education on the child, not on the method. Throughout the years, my children have had classes within the home, with co-ops, commonwealth schools, private schools, tutors, and public schools.”
Valerie also helps to run a commonwealth school. She says, “We all will attend a commonwealth school once a week. There are commonwealth schools in the western United States, not just my state (there’s even one in Tanzania). A commonwealth school based on the Leadership Education Mentoring Institute (LEMI) and A Thomas Jefferson Education book, is limited to 30 families who all contribute to the teaching and work of the school.”
Valerie shares a ton more info and advice in a separate post, found here.
Take some time to consider how much “community” you want in your homeschool experience. You don’t have to do it alone!
I don’t have much knowledge on this type of learning, but have heard it around some of my forums and want to present it as an option
From this site, “Game-based learning describes an approach to teaching, where students explore the relevant aspects of games in a learning context designed by teachers. Teachers and students collaborate in order to add depth and perspective to the experience of playing the game.
Good game-based learning applications can draw us into virtual environments that look and feel familiar and relevant.”
Perhaps this type of learning is something to check out for your child.
What subjects are important to you for your child’s education? Take a moment to consider each of the basics:
Filling each of these subjects can vary widely. For example, for writing (which tends to be a weak point for many students in general and one of our hardest subjects), you can consider notebooks back and forth.
We did travel journals during our world travels. I made my older kids write once per week about something we’d seen recently. We would include little mementos like tickets, postcards, or stickers from that event.
In case you have a serious case of wanderlust like us and plan to travel while you homeschool, let’s touch on homeschooling on the road.
You’d be shocked to learn how many families do this. I know of dozens of full-time RV families around the USA and I’ve connected with dozens more full-time travel families that are homeschooling while traveling.
You can choose from all the same options below to work for you as you travel. There is no one-size-fits-all for homeschooling for traveling families, just as there isn’t for homeschooling families learning at home.
Typically, travel families are going to use the curriculum from their home country. It’s what is familiar and works best if they return “home.” American families tend to do American homeschooling overseas.
I’ve already stated many of the benefits of “worldschooling” above, but let’s touch on a few more.
The benefits of schooling around the world can include:
If worldschooling is your goal, which I hope to inspire everyone to do at least once, keep these things in mind when picking the program for you.
From a worldschooling forum I am in, one mom shared: “I am going to give you my best piece of advice from a decade of worldschooling. Do not pressure yourself or your children to replicate school at home by getting stuck on curriculum, workload, and time frames. Kids are built to learn from the world around them. They absorb more than you think from everyday interactions.”
Finally! We are to the point of picking out a program that is right for you. Whether you are looking for free online homeschool, kindergarten homeschool curriculum, or homeschooling high school, I hope these tables can offer something to you!
I spent hours researching these for an earlier edition. This guide was first published August 6, 2020; the resource lists below are historical material retained from an earlier edition, not a current verified comparison of prices, age ranges, accreditation, enrollment or availability. Check each provider’s current terms before relying on a listing. There is no best homeschool curriculum for everyone, so use these as starting points for your own research.
Kahn Academy
Price: Free
Time commitment: self-guided, low to high.
A free and incredible resource for learning! We’ve used Kahn off and on for a few years. You can find videos on nearly any subject from math to history to science. You can even learn another language! This resource requires you to be completely self-guided and driven.
Easy Peasy Homeschool
Price: Free
Time commitment: daily lessons, low-high.
Easy Peasy all in one homeschool is Christian based, homemade program that has gained loads of popularity among homeschoolers.
k12 Homeschool
An accredited option that connects you with a school local to you. I believe they work with your local school to get the tuition paid for, but I don’t completely understand it. I have seen several reviews of other homeschool parents that do not like this program, but it’s worth more research if it sounds like your thing.
Connections Academy
Price: Free for K-12th
Time commitment: guided, mid to high.
Similar to K12.com. Works with a local school that might be accredited.
CK-12.
Price: Free for K-12th
Time Commitment: self-guided.
STEM based learning (math and science focus). Feels like a Kahn Academy, but with written textbooks online. It seems that schools also work with this site to replace their textbooks.
Bridgeway Academy
Price: $$$$, K-12th
Offers both secular and Christian options. Works with various educational options to create a customized plan for you. They will do an assessment and create a plan for each child. Fully accredited.
Abeka Homeschool Price: $$$, PreK-12th
Christian based. Offers a free week trial to their video lessons. You have the option to buy materials and teach yourself or also access their video lessons. Accredited or independent study options (compare here). Options for dual-enrollment for high school juniors and seniors to earn college credit.
Forest Trail Academy
Price: $$$$, K-12th
Private school registered in Florida. Online learning or correspondence courses. Secular and Christian programs available. Homeschooling program is K-8th and is a traditional book program (think paper and pencil). Online courses are offered as well with dual-enrollment and NCAA courses available.
Laurel Springs
Price: $$$$$, K-12th
Begin classes anytime of the year (rolling enrollment). Flexible schedule. Option to enroll in one course to give it a try.
K12.com
Price: Free, K-12th
From what I can gather, this program works with local schools in your area to get you an online school that is accredited. I’ve heard several reviews of parents that do not enjoy this program, but it is free, which is a big deal!
Williamsburg Online Academy
Price: $$$$, Grade 6-12th
Focus on college prep and higher test scores for college entrance exams. I have a homeschooling friend that really likes this program for her son, but it is a lot of course work and there is the potential to fall behind if life gets busy. Classical education focused on leadership and other areas.
GlobalVillageSchool.org
Price: $$$ K-12th
TIme commitment: self-guided or directed, low to high.
Focused on sustainability, this online school is accredited according to their website. Offers various options to “unschoolers” and more traditional homeschoolers.
International Virtual Learning Academy
Price: $$$ K-12th
One christian option available as well as five traditional school programs. Expect about 1 hours per day per course. Live homeroom sessions to interact with other students.
Connections Academy
Price: Free, K-12th
Time commitment: guided, mid to high.
Similar to K12.com. Works with a local school that might be accredited.
BYU High School
Price: $$$, 9-12th
Enrollment into a scheduled program or home study available. Diploma option available. Standard and advanced tracks available.
Abcmouse.com
Price: $
A fun learning platform that builds as you progress. We’ve been using this long before we left to travel and all my kids have enjoyed it through about age 6. I’m pretty sure Harrison has learned all of the nursery rhythms from the cute videos on this program.
Time4Learning
Price: $ PreK-12th
This program is customizable to you. You can select different grade levels for different subjects (which is fairly common when homeschooling to have your child move at a different pace in each subject). I’ve seen dozens of great reviews for this program and it would probably the one I try next!
Kids Online Academy
Price: $$ PreK-12th
Time commitment: self-guided, low to high
This is the program I’ve been using for the past two years. I really enjoy customizing to each of my kids. This basically gives you access to the same programs kids are using in traditional schools. In fact, we used many of these programs in the schools my kids attended before we left.
adventureacademy.com
Price: $
An “older kid” version of abcmouse.com from the same creators, this platform is for ages 8-13.
Time4Learning
Price: $ PreK-12th
This program is customizable to you. You can select different grade levels for different subjects (which is fairly common when homeschooling to have your child move at a different pace in each subject). I’ve seen dozens of great reviews for this program and it would probably the one I would try next!
Kids Online Academy
Price: $$ PreK-12th
Time commitment: self-guided, low to high
This is the program I’ve been using for the past two years. I really enjoy customizing to each of my kids. This basically gives you access to the same programs kids are using in traditional schools. In fact, we used many of these programs in the schools my kids attended before we left.
Leadership Education Academy
Price: $$ K-12th
TIme commitment: paced, mid to high.
An interesting blend of a customized program with virtual mentor classes. Virtual classroom sessions are scheduled on Pacific time and recorded for later viewing. Perhaps not complete enough to serve as your only education, but I’m not familiar with it enough to say for sure. It seems to be somewhat accredited for high school courses through Williamsburg Academy.
Galileo
Price: $$$$ Age 8-18
Time Commitment: self-guided, take breaks when you want
A great option for worldschoolers, unschoolers, and homeschoolers. This program allows flexibility to students for what interests them and prepares them for the future by exposing them to entrepreneurship, technology, and global citizenship. They do offer sibling discounts and scholarships.
evan-moor.com
Price: $$ PreK-6th
Books to use for self-guided teaching. Homeschooling bundles available with a discount.
carsondellosa.com
Price: $ Pre-K- 12th
Affordable supplements or grade workbooks by subjects.
hookedonphonics.com
Price: $$
Learn to read program. Digital access for up to 3 children on 3 devices with supplemental paper books. You can also buy supplemental readers by level.
littlelearninglovies.com
Price: $
Printables to use for supplements to your homeschool or regular schooling. This site has darling resources! Spelling tests, US geography, etc.
WriteShop
Price: $ K-11th
Writing supplement books. Writing can be a difficult part of homeschool and these come recommended! Read reviews here
Easy Peasy Homeschool
Price: Free
Time commitment: self-guided, low.
Christian based, homemade program that has gained loads of popularity among homeschoolers.
Monarch
Price: $
Time commitment: Guided, mid to high.
Interactive, Christian-based, completely internet-based curriculum. No need to install software and compatible with most operating systems. Grades 3-12. For more programs that cover K-12 from the same company, see here.
The Good and The Beautiful
Price: $$ PreK-8th
Time commitment: self-guided, high.
Christian based, book-based curriculum. These are printed courses that you buy from their virtual storefront or actual warehouse in Lehi, Utah. A good friend of mine who is a teacher and long-time homeschooler LOVES this program. It didn’t work for me to carry this many books in our travels, but I’ve heard several good reviews.
Bridgeway Academy
Price: $$$$, K-12th
Offers both secular and Christian options. Works with various educational options to create a customized plan for you. They will do an assessment and create a plan for each child. Fully accredited.
Abeka Homeschool
Price: $$$, PreK-12th
Christian based. Offers a free week trial to their video lessons. You have the option to buy materials and teach yourself or also access their video lessons. Accredited or independent study options (compare here). Options for dual-enrollment for high school juniors and seniors to earn college credit.
Forest Trail Academy
Price: $$$$, K-12th
Private school registered in Florida. Online learning or correspondence courses. Secular and Christian programs available. Homeschooling program is K-8th and is a traditional book program (think paper and pencil). Online courses are offered as well with dual-enrollment and NCAA courses available.
International Virtual Learning Academy
Price: $$$, K-12th
One christian option available as well as five traditional school programs. Expect about 1 hours per day per course. Live homeroom sessions to interact with other students.
Hopefully now you’ve got some options for homeschooling! Your next question might be: what about college?
Assuming you want to homeschool for high school, which is totally doable, you’ll need to do some prep for the next step.
Some homeschool students may be able to earn college credit through approved independent-study or dual-enrollment courses. Eligibility, credit and transfer terms vary by provider and college.
For example, BYU Independent Study generally sets a minimum age of 14 for high-school and university courses and 12 for seventh- and eighth-grade courses; exceptions may be considered. See its current age policy for details. Other colleges and providers set their own eligibility rules.
Going back to one of my favorite blogs, the The Edventure Girl was done with “high school” by 15. Read how she got into university.
Another site, Edx, also offers a platform for college-level courses. From their site:
“If you’re looking to help with your teen’s college prep, consider enrolling them in one of the many classes at edX, a platform that partners with high-ranking institutions like NYU, Harvard, and MIT (as well as international universities, like Oxford and Australian National University) to offer over 2,500 college-level courses. Some are self-paced and available for college transfer credit, while others are taught by qualified instructors—most of whom have doctorates in their fields. “
The quotation above was included in an earlier edition and describes that source’s course catalog at the time; it is not a current course count or credit guarantee. edX says most courses do not directly offer academic credit. Check current edX credit terms and your intended college’s transfer policy.
You and your teen can review the current edX course catalog across subjects. Course prices, certificates, availability and credit eligibility vary; check the provider’s current details before enrolling.
edX currently lists some MicroBachelors programs at about $166 per credit, but program offerings, price and credit terms vary. Only specified programs or courses award credit, and transfer depends on the receiving institution. See edX’s current credit guidance. The Global Freshman Academy page currently describes ASU/edX courses and credit; use that page for its current course list and conditions.
From my research, the most important step towards college after homeschool is to make a short list of the colleges and universities your student might want to apply to.
Then, take some time to research what each requires for entry.
This article has fantastic information about this process. From their site:
“Almost every college/university has an online catalog these days. And inside that online catalog, usually at the beginning, is a section on admissions — specifically on admissions requirements. And there is where it will say how many credits of high school English the college requires, how many credits of math, of history, etc. It will even sometimes list specific courses that the admissions department would like to see the applicant to have taken in high school, like American History or British Literature.”
“Another interesting thing to notice, too, is that many colleges do not require a minimum number of credits even close to what the states require for high school graduation. This can also be very relieving. Frankly, I don’t know why we even care about state requirements for high school graduation. I mean, they’re fine to use as a reference or starting point, but it seems to me that when planning high school we tend to forget one of the great perks of homeschooling — the fact that we are in charge. We can decide how many credits our child needs to graduate and what courses he is required to take.”
I love this information from the Time4Learning site:
“Yes! Be sure to do research on the homeschool-friendly colleges and universities your child is interested in attending. Depending on the school, you may need high school transcripts and/or a high school diploma.
All 50 states in the U.S. allow parents to issue a homeschool diploma to a child they feel has met or exceeded the guidelines for high school graduation. There are plenty of templates online; check out the ones at LetsHomeschoolHighschool.com. Some colleges and universities also require scores from tests like the SAT and/or ACT. Colleges and universities have admissions counselors that are available to help you understand and plan for their admission requirements.”
The quoted passage above is preserved from the linked third-party source and is not verified current legal guidance. Homeschool completion rules depend on location, and admissions requirements depend on each college. Check current official education guidance and the admissions policy of each school you are considering. U.S. readers should check their relevant state education department.
Frankly, all this research has empowered me to feel like homeschooling is an option for many years to come! I used to feel stuck in the mentality that we could homeschool until high school, but I no longer feel that.
Each child is different and this is a decision to be made with each of them individually, but traditional high school does NOT have to be your only option.
Every homeschooler will have their own advice for you. Here is mine!
Let’s be real for a minute: it’s going to happen. Unless you possess super-human patience or your kids are perfect, you’re going to lose your temper.
Kids are going to cry. A lot.
Kids don’t want to do school. At least none of mine do! School is still a chore. They enjoy the learning and they have gotten to the point of enjoying learning to some degree, but I get lots of groans about doing school.
How can we avoid these bad situations as much as possible?
I haven’t read any of these books personally, but they come from recommendations form homeschooling forums or followers. Read them or have another one you love? Leave them in the comments below!
A Well Trained Mind- A Guide to Classical Education at Home
Cure the Fear of Homeschooling High School
How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons
Here are more of my posts on Homeschooling:
Digital Resources for Keeping Your Kids Educated
Worldschooling: Homeschooling While We Travel
Good luck in all your homeschooling decisions! I hope this helps you in your journeys, school or otherwise!
Xoxo,
Leslie
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