A full year under $150 per child (elementary)
| Subject | What | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Phonics and reading | The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading ($30, used cheaper) + library books + free decodables | $30 |
| Math | Math Mammoth PDF ($40 per grade, whole-family licence) or Khan Academy (free) + a $5 notebook | $0–$40 |
| Spelling and grammar | Spelling patterns from the phonics book; First Language Lessons used ($10) or free grammar from Khan Academy | $0–$10 |
| Writing | Copywork and narration from your read-alouds; Brave Writer's free resources; Kuraplan worksheets | $0 |
| History | Story of the World used ($10–$15 per volume) or Khan Academy/library; a wall timeline from a roll of paper | $15 |
| Science | Mystery Science free tier, CK-12 (free), library nonfiction, a household science box ($30) | $30 |
| Geography | A $12 wall map, a $20 globe (used), Seterra (free) | $20–$30 |
| Art and music | Art for Kids Hub (free), Hoffman Academy (free), museum websites, a $15 watercolour set | $15 |
| Planning and records | Kuraplan free templates (planner, attendance, report card); Kuraplan family plan optional ($49) | $0–$49 |
| Total | $110–$220 |
The second child costs less: Math Mammoth's licence covers the family, the phonics book is reused, the map is on the wall, and the library card has no per-child fee.
The free options that are actually good
- Khan Academy (math K–calculus, science, history, economics; Khan Academy Kids for ages 2–8): the best free curriculum in existence for math.
- Easy Peasy All-in-One: a complete Christian pre-K–12 curriculum planned day by day from free resources.
- The Good and the Beautiful PDFs: free downloads of most language arts levels; Christian.
- Ambleside Online: a full Charlotte Mason curriculum with booklists, free; Christian, with public-domain books.
- Mystery Science (free tier), CK-12, The Physics Classroom: science from K to AP.
- Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize (UK): thousands of full lessons mapped to the National Curriculum.
- Project Gutenberg, Librivox, Libby: the classics and audiobooks for nothing.
- Hoffman Academy (piano), Art for Kids Hub, Seterra, iCivics, Duolingo: the electives.
- Kuraplan's free worksheets and templates: printables by subject and grade, and the planners and records.
Buying used
- Co-op and homeschool group curriculum sales, usually in late spring and August: the best prices and no shipping.
- The buy/sell/trade Facebook group for each major program (there is one for Sonlight, Math-U-See, All About Reading, TGTB and most others).
- Homeschool Classifieds, eBay, ThriftBooks and AbeBooks for books and older editions; editions of Story of the World, Saxon and Singapore change little.
- Buy consumable workbooks new only if you must; many programs sell the student pages separately for the second child.
- Sell on when you finish. A well-kept curriculum recovers half its price, which makes the next year cheaper still.
What not to skimp on
- A phonics program that works for your child. If reading is not clicking with the $30 book, All About Reading is worth every dollar; it resells well.
- A microscope in middle school ($100–$150): the best science purchase you will make, and needed for biology later.
- Art supplies of student grade: real watercolours and brushes cost a few dollars more than the toy set and make art possible.
- A library card and the petrol to use it: the highest-return spend in homeschooling.
- Your own time. Planning tools that save hours a week are cheap at the price; printing 800 PDF pages on an inkjet is not.
Free printables and templates that replace paid ones
Planners, attendance sheets, report cards, transcripts, a diploma, lesson-plan and reading-log templates are all free on the templates page. Free worksheets by subject and grade are on the worksheets hub, with placement checks on the placement test page. Between those and the library, the paid parts of a homeschool year shrink to math, phonics and the things your child is obsessed with, which is where the money should go anyway.