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6 Best Online Home School Programs For You And Your Child

Curricula for homeschooling have benefits. One way to make sure your child satisfies age-appropriate national requirements is by following a curriculum. Additionally, with so many resources for homeschooling at your disposal, certain curricula might offer you and your child the chance to experiment with different learning methods.

It could seem like a difficult undertaking if you have never educated your child at home before. Don’t worry, though; you can just use a ton of excellent interactive homeschool applications on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

We’ve compiled a list of the top online homeschool programs available, so check it out if your high schooler needs help with the SATs, you’re looking for ways to keep your toddlers busy and learning, or you’re just hoping your elementary-aged children won’t fall behind in their studies. These choices are affordable, engaging, and user-friendly.

6 Best Online Homeschool Programs of 2024

1. Best Budget: ABCmouse.com
2. Most Customizable: K12.com
3. Best for Structure: Time4Learning
4. Best for Community: Connections Academy
5. Best Free: Khan Academy
6. Best for College Prep: edX

ABCmouse.com

BEST BUDGET

Key Specs

Benefits & Drawbacks

• Pros Levels according to grade level and age
• Children can gather “tickets” for virtual gifts through a rewards system.
• Curriculum for Art & Colors aimed at the younger users
• Utilizing a tablet or desktop

Cons

• Functions better as a companion to a curriculum
• Children must be proficient in using a computer or smartphone.
• Perhaps not difficult enough for certain children.

Why We Made That Decision

Using ABCmouse.com will not only keep kids ages 2 to 8 interested, but it will also provide them with exciting activities and an interactive learning map.

Summary

A subscription to ABCmouse.com is the most affordable educational investment you can make for your early learner, costing just $13 a month. Kids ages 2 to 8 can use the Step-By-Step Learning Path on ABCmouse.com on a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

This award-winning program, which spans 850 lessons across 10 levels, incorporates math, science, social studies, and even art (including painting and sketching) in addition to a thorough reading system that covers everything from letter recognition and phonics to reading full-length books.

The ABCmouse.com library is filled with educational games, puzzles, music, and read-aloud stories, which makes it a good option for both a complete educational system and an addition to an existing homeschool curriculum.

Your kids can play ABCmouse.com like a video game as it has been gamified, and it even has a ticket system that awards them for finishing levels.

Students will earn tickets to purchase virtual delights, such as fish for the online classroom aquarium, as they hone a specific skill set. With built-in rewards, your children may study at their own pace and have a more pleasurable and engaging experience.

K12.com

MOST CUSTOMIZABLE

Key Specs

Why We Made That Decision

ith K12.com, you may fully enroll your child in an online school curriculum or choose to homeschool just the topics you wish. This website offers a high degree of customization for parents.

Benefits & Drawbacks

Advantages

• Complete curricula for public schools are available
• Availability of certain instructors and tutors
• accessible to children in grades K–12 and covering all areas

Cons

• If you enroll in a school, you may live in a different state.
• Completing certain programs online requires a lot of time.
• Some consumers have complaints regarding website problems and customer service.

Summary

Prominent for its all-inclusive and highly adjustable methodology, K12.com serves as a one-stop shop for virtual students and their families.

Online homeschooling alternatives from K12 include tuition-free virtual public schools offered by state-certified teachers for students in grades K–12. For children with specific interests or courses they would like to review, there are three separate tuition-based private school alternatives in addition to a range of summer school, intense, and stand-alone course offerings.

If you’re not interested in a full-time homeschool program, you can help your child become a better reader by enrolling them in one of K12’s many free camps that are focused on high-interest subjects like marketing, information technology, or coding. K12 Digital Literacy Solutions is a free library of literacy tools and over 24,000 e-books.

Kids in grades K–8 can access free game-based learning through the K12 program STRIDE. Additionally, K12’s state-certified teachers offer live, online tutoring sessions in math, science, social studies, world languages, and English if there are any subject areas where you feel uneasy homeschooling your child.

Time4Learning

BEST FOR STRUCTURE

Key Specs

Why We Made That Decision

Time4Learning is a comprehensive curriculum that eliminates all the preparation and guesswork of assigning your child’s grade-level work for parents who wish to homeschool their children entirely online.

Benefits & Drawbacks

Pros

• An entirely online curriculum for homeschooling
• Grade levels that can be changed and self-paced
• many different strategies, involving both offline and online activities

Cons

• If you terminate your account, you can no longer access your records.
• You require continuous internet connectivity.
• Your child could want extra instruction on some subjects.

Summary

Time4Learning is an extensive online homeschool program that is available via membership. It’s moderately priced, with pre-K–8 children paying about $24.95 per month (plus an extra $14.95 per month for each additional child) and high school students paying about $34.95 per month.

If you want to maintain your children in a more conventional learning environment even while they are learning remotely, this is one of the greatest programs.

The curriculum for your child will consist of hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of animated lectures, exercises, tests, workbooks, and quizzes that are tailored to the grade level of each student and the state’s educational requirements.

Unlike some of the other curriculum tools on this list, Time4Learning provides printable worksheets and other hands-on activities in addition to an online and offline format.

Time4Learning is distinguished by its numerous lesson-planning tools and learning style guides, which are useful for monitoring your children’s development.

Connections Academy

BEST FOR COMMUNITY

Key Specs

Why We Made That Decision

Parents give this tuition-free homeschool program good marks, and it places a strong emphasis on socialization through a range of peer activities and online organizations.

Benefits & Drawbacks

• Advantages Free tuition, public online school
• provides clubs and one-on-one therapy.
• Curriculum created with virtual instruction in mind

Cons:

• Available in just thirty-one states
• usually calls for in-person presence in classes

Summary

For elementary, middle, and high school students, Connections Academy is an excellent choice if you’d prefer to put your child in a comprehensive online learning environment rather than teach them personally.

Your children will be educated by certified teachers by your state’s educational standards at this free online public school. Free textbooks and other educational resources are also offered.

As promised, Connections Academy may be among the greatest online homeschooling options for your family if you’re looking to create a supportive network of parents, students, and teachers.

The virtual school promotes your active involvement in your children’s education as a “Learning Coach.” In addition to extracurricular activities like online clubs and activities, kids can develop meaningful relationships with peers through online live sessions with teachers and classmates.

Additionally, your children won’t have to forgo numerous benefits associated with attending a traditional classroom, such as career counseling, individual counseling sessions with a guidance counselor, preparation for standardized tests, and college preparatory advice. All of these materials are available at Connections Academy.

Khan Academy

BEST FREE

Key Specs

Why We Made That Decision

One notable feature of Khan Academy is its extensive library of free video lessons, tests, and quizzes covering a wide range of disciplines from kindergarten to the 12th grade (and beyond).

Benefits & Drawbacks

• Advantages Regular or advanced placement (AP) classes offered
• Specialized courses in coding, growth mindset, and narrative
• Parents and children can both study at their own pace.

Cons

• Not a single or group conversation
• Some pupils find it difficult to learn from videos.
• Not all ages can participate in interactive instruction.

Summary

First gaining international acclaim for its excellent, totally free SAT prep materials, Khan Academy is an award-winning nonprofit that provides free educational tools for students, parents, teachers, and homeschoolers. These products are an appealing substitute for their considerably more expensive counterparts. However, Khan Academy has subsequently grown to offer educational materials for kids and teenagers of all ages.

To earn “mastery points” as your child advances, just select their grade level, subject, advanced placement (AP), or standardized test they are preparing for, or the particular abilities they need to improve. Practice tests and unit assessments are accompanied by simple-to-follow video tutorials that let you monitor your child’s progress.

This resource is noteworthy for the vast array of content it offers in addition to the fact that it is free. Many specialized topics that aren’t given by many other online learning programs are included in the resources provided by Khan Academy for both adult learners and high school pupils.

One of the best online homeschool programs is the virtual academy because of its unique disciplines, which include art history, computer programming and animation, personal finance and business, and English as a second language.

edX

BEST FOR COLLEGE PREP

Key Specs

Why We Made That Decision

At edX, a website that offers college-level courses for teenagers offered by prestigious colleges like Harvard and MIT, there is a wide variety of themes to go deeply into.

Benefits & Drawbacks

• Advantages Prestigious international colleges offer
• A lot of courses are inexpensive or free.
• There’s a chance some credits translate to college.

Cons:

• Exclusive to adults and teens
• Not the best option for those who wish to study multiple disciplines at once.

Summary

You might as well receive an education from Harvard if you’re going to do it at home, right?

Consider enrolling your teen in one of the many classes at edX, a platform that offers over 3,600 college-level courses in partnership with prestigious universities like NYU, Harvard, and MIT as well as international universities like Oxford and Australian National University, if you’re looking to help your teen get ready for college.

While some courses are self-paced and eligible for college credit transfer, others are taught by certified teachers, the majority of whom hold doctorates in their respective disciplines.

Numerous stand-alone courses in the humanities and arts, STEM subjects, music, computer science, education, and other areas are available for you and your adolescent. The majority of courses—including those that qualify for credit—are free, and the cost of the completion certificates varies widely, from $50 to $300.

For about $166 per credit, proactive high school students can enroll in an edX MicroBachelors program in popular majors like computer science to gain a jump start on their college career while still at home. Alternatively, they can enroll in the Global Freshman Academy and begin accumulating college credits.

Because edX collaborates with Arizona State University, it provides standard, core first-year courses including pre-calculus, college algebra, and problem-solving.

Compare the Best Online Homeschooling Programs

Online Homeschool Program	Price	Grades	Subjects
K12.com Most Customizable	Variable; tuition-free public schools, fee-based private schools, and individual-cost courses all offered	K-12	Standard
ABCmouse.com Best Budget	$13 per month	Preschool-2nd	Reading, math, science, art & colors
Time4Learning Best for Structure	$20 per month for K-8; $30 for high school	K-12	Language arts, science, math, social studies
Connections Academy Best for Community	Free	K-12	Standard
Khan Academy Best Free	Free	K-12	Standard, plus test prep, computing, economics, and life skills
edX Best for College Prep	Varies across subject tracks	9-12 and above	Standard, plus specialized topics like ethics, food and nutrition, and philanthropy