Every week I receive a handful of emails from parents who want to give homeschooling a try, but do not have the financial resources to purchase a curriculum to “test the water”. The majority of emails are from parents of pre-kindergarten to early elementary aged students, but there are a few asking about the middle school to high school levels.
Thankfully, there are a number of free online resources dedicated to the education of young minds, but unfortunately, the sites are often difficult to navigate, poorly organized, ill-maintained, and overridden with advertising.
At the start of this school year, I began collecting links for free online resources. While I realize website design aesthetics are subjective, I wanted to build a strong resource of quality websites that offered free material and curriculum. My criteria for inclusion required the following:
» Current, high quality, primarily FREE content » Design does not have to be stellar, but cannot get in the way of the content delivery » Well-organized and easily navigable » Site should load quickly (reduced lag time) with optimized/limited graphics and focused, limited advertising. » Off-site links appear to be both relevant and current – someone regularly checks/deletes dead links
While I always appreciate recommendations like, “Hey, check out this website, they offer a slew of different resources!”, I prefer a focused subject or topic reference. For instance, “I am so thankful for the available for download at DadsWorksheets.com. We printed them on card stock and it saved me a few dollars and a trip to the store!” I am more enticed to click through a link when someone gives more specific, experience-oriented references. If I like what I see, I typically peruse the website as a whole. However, when I receive a universal website recommendation, I bookmark it and admittedly, I tend to forget about it.
With that in mind, I would certainly love your help building an outstanding resource of subject or topic related, specific, FREE online resources. Then, when I receive emails asking for help, I can point parents to a community’s worth of valuable, online information. I’ll start by listing a few of my bookmarked links below, and for those who would like to participate, please post your favorites in the comments. Because I chose to organize the links by subject and age level, there is some repetition in the listings.
PRESCHOOL/EARLY ELEMENTARY MATH
» – These are very basic number recognition worksheets. Children see an object(s) to match the number they are learning. Then, students can trace or practice writing the number themselves. There are 3 number/printable themes – Farm, Spring and Ocean.
ELEMENTARY MATH
» – Arcademic Skill Builders are online educational video games that offer a powerful approach to learning basic math, language arts, vocabulary, and thinking skills.
» – The games of Calculation Nation are organized around content from the upper elementary and middle grades math curriculum. By becoming a citizen of Calculation Nation, your child or student will play online math strategy games that allow them to learn about fractions, factors, multiples, symmetry and more, as well as practice important skills like basic multiplication and calculating area — all while having fun.
» – Practice Basic Math. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – Practice basic multiplication facts. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – Resources for teaching Math. Funded through a grant sponsored by Verizon this site offers more than 600 online resources (lessons, activities and games) for free!
» – Practice math at your own pace with Khan Academy’s adaptive assessment exercises. Each problem is randomly generated, so you never run out of practice material. If you need a hint, every single problem can be broken down, step-by-step, with one click. If you need more help, you can always watch a related video.
» – A free iPhone, iTouch or iPad app that allows a single student to learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Explore solutions to problems using number lines, wooden blocks, facts and hints. Solve nine-times problems using your fingers!
» – Includes over 11,000 free high-quality printable math worksheets with answer keys.
» – Free math worksheets for elementary school and home use. This includes generators for math drills, flashcards, time, money, and more!
» – This is a collection of over 100 printable kids math worksheets designed to help preschoolers and above learn everything from early math skills (like numbers and patterns) to their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills.
» – Sumdog’s math games are always free to play. They cover 100 numeracy skills, split into 10 levels. Most are multiplayer, so you can play against thousands of students worldwide. Because the games are so engaging, students can finally enjoy developing their mental math skills.
» – A free web-based math fact fluency program that is designed to help students master addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
INTERMEDIATE MATH
» – The games of Calculation Nation are organized around content from the upper elementary and middle grades math curriculum. By becoming a citizen of Calculation Nation, your child or student will play online math strategy games that allow them to learn about fractions, factors, multiples, symmetry and more, as well as practice important skills like basic multiplication and calculating area — all while having fun.
» – Resources for teaching Math. Funded through a grant sponsored by Verizon this site offers more than 600 online resources (lessons, activities and games) for free!
» – Just Math Tutorials; PatrickJMT offers FREE, useful math videos. If your child learns better through video demonstrations this guy is really helpful.
ALGEBRA, GEOMETRY, ALGEBRA II
» – a template to print out and make your own Algebra Tiles – make one set red and one set another color.
» – This link reviews how to use Algebra Tiles to solve equations.
» – Another link to play with Algebra Tiles.
» – The games of Calculation Nation are organized around content from the upper elementary and middle grades math curriculum. By becoming a citizen of Calculation Nation, your child or student will play online math strategy games that allow them to learn about fractions, factors, multiples, symmetry and more, as well as practice important skills like basic multiplication and calculating area — all while having fun.
» – Resources for teaching Math. Funded through a grant sponsored by Verizon this site offers more than 600 online resources (lessons, activities and games) for free!
» – Algebra practice and games.
» – A computer-based mathematical manipulatives and interactive learning tool for elementary and middle school levels. This link will allow you to play with the Algebra Tiles online to help you solve your problems. Scroll down and click on the Algebra Tiles link. You might want to play with several of the online manipulatives at this link to help you solve several problems.
» – Just Math Tutorials; PatrickJMT offers FREE, useful math videos. If your child learns better through video demonstrations this guy is really helpful. His tutorials in Algebra alone are abundant, but he also hits several other upper level maths.
PRESCHOOL/KINDERGARTEN LANGUAGE ARTS
» – The Alphabet Soup’s Alphabet Coloring Book has a page of images to color for every letter of the alphabet! Just click on the picture, print it out and color away! Combine this with below to make a complete Alphabet Book with cover pages for each letter/sound.
» – Come and have fun with the alphabet for older toddlers, preschool, kindergarten and adaptable for first grade (ages 18+ months to 6). Visit a letter in the to find activities that include easy instructions and a list of materials needed. The lesson plans and activities may feature crafts, printable activities, worksheets, suggested children’s literature and related early childhood resources for each letter.
» – Alphabet printable materials is an extension of . You will find free coloring pages, color posters, flash cards, mini books and activity worksheets to present the alphabet, reinforce letter recognition and writing skills. These are suitable for older toddlers, preschool, kindergarten and first grade. Many of the printable materials feature school compatible Standard Block Print or D’Nealian Modern Block Print handwriting guidelines, links to related lesson plans, crafts and related resources.
» – Familiarize your children with Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes while they color. Here you can choose from 48 different rhymes; each page includes the rhyme itself as well as an illustration for your child to color.
» – This is the starting point for an entire Alphabet Coloring Book, complete with letter recognition and letter recognition assigned to an object, like A = Apple (the 2nd page). Students start with this cover page and color the picture, adding the following pages and then binding them together to make a book.
» – excellent worksheets for preschool and kindergarten kids to learn to recognize and print the letters of the alphabet. The alphabet printables and worksheets currently available on this site are alphabet letters dot-to-dot printables, alphabet coloring pages, and preschool letter tracing worksheets. Most of the worksheets have the uppercase and lowercase versions of each letter available in order to help improve letter recognition.
» – Starfall.com teaches children to read with phonics using a systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice. Perfect for Preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL).
» – Preschool printables, including tracing worksheets, for children to learn to trace and print letters, numbers, shapes, and their name. Use the shape tracing printables as a precursor to printing letters and numbers. The number and alphabet letter printables are both preschool printables but are also appropriate for kindergarten kids to practice printing skills by tracing letters, tracing numbers, tracing the alphabet and tracing their own name.
» – Handwriting Worksheets, Paper, Tips, & Fonts. This handwriting section of the website has several small handwriting sets and one large handwriting set printables. This section also contains notebook filler and handwriting paper in several sizes, types and letter animations.
ELEMENTARY LANGUAGE ARTS
» – Arcademic Skill Builders are online educational video games that offer a powerful approach to learning basic math, language arts, vocabulary, and thinking skills.
» – Practice English Grammar. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can find a book, take quizzes on what they’ve read, and earn prizes for their reading success.
» – Make full-page custom handwriting worksheets in seconds! Make stunning PRINT, D’Nealian and Cursive Style handwriting practice worksheets using basic Print Style Letters. Type your content and change letter size, color and line color.
» – Practice English Vocabulary. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – These Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme pages are great for coloring and include a multiple choice option to identify the main character on each page. The words to the rhyme have been removed and only the primary character remains. Hint: The answers are on other pages of this site where the words to each rhyme are printed along with the character drawing, and each makes a great coloring and learning activity !
» – Spelling & Vocabulary Website with over 42,000 spelling words with customizable sentences and definitions. A REAL person says each word and sentence. There are free home pages for teachers and parents to save lists (must register to save lists, but registration is free), teacher training videos, free printable handwriting worksheets, free teaching resources with lists and lesson plans, 25 games to practice spelling online or to print and use for learning alphabetical order, unscramble, parts of speech, hangmouse (like hangman, but with a mouse), crossword puzzles, word search, and vocabulary tests. There is also a free forum to gather more information and a newsletter that comes directly to your inbox. Read a review of the spelling portion of this website, .
» – Starfall.com teaches children to read with phonics using a systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice. Perfect for Preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL).
» – Several completely free worksheet generators to use to make your own worksheets quickly and easily. There are also pre made lists available to use if needed. Customize your own subject matter to make completely unique puzzles, from crossword puzzles, word search makers, cloze sentence, money worksheets, brain teasers and even sudoku puzzles.
JUNIOR HIGH LANGUAGE ARTS
» – Practice English Grammar. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – Practice English Vocabulary. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – Several completely free worksheet generators to use to make your own worksheets quickly and easily. There are also pre made lists available to use if needed. Customize your own subject matter to make completely unique puzzles, from crossword puzzles, word search makers, cloze sentence, money worksheets, brain teasers and even sudoku puzzles. These worksheet generators are great to use for Homeschool Coop classes as a source of review. In our local co-op, the 2012-2013 Texas History teacher used them as a way for students to review Vocabulary Words for the next week’s quiz. One different puzzle/worksheet a day makes for a very quick and efficient way to retain their TX History words.
HIGH SCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTS
» – This is a free, automatic bibliography and citation maker. Save time by creating a Works Cited instantly in MLA, APA, or Chicago!
» – Practice English Grammar. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
» – Practice English Vocabulary. For each answer you get right FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
ELEMENTARY SCIENCE
» – Covers 585 species of birds, gives quick run-downs of four keys (Size & Shape, Color Pattern, Behavior, Habitat) for bird identification, offers a large collection of beautiful photos of birds in different places/poses, and offers a video to correspond with each bird – you can even listen to their call/song.
» – An absolutely free astronomy resource designed to teach children about the exciting world of outer space.
» – This mega 40 page weather unit is free and covers various topics like water cycles, seasons, temperature differences, weather graphing, hot/cold, hibernation, clouds, wind, disaster preparedness, etc…
ELEMENTARY COMPUTER SCIENCE
» – Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web. Young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL COMPUTER CODING/PROGRAMMING:
» – According to Code Year, anyone can learn the basics of computer programming in just one year. Code Year encourages people to make a New Year’s resolution to learn enough code to build their own apps and websites. Code Year lessons are presented in an interactive format that doesn’t necessarily feel like you’re learning code. It’s certainly the opposite of listening to lectures and reading dry books on programming. Budding programmers start off with JavaScript and move quickly through the subsequent lessons.
» – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers 2000 undergraduate and graduate level courses online for free, covering subjects such as architecture and planning, engineering, humanities, arts, social studies, science, and many other academic courses. View their to see what people like the most.
» – Learn anything with your peers. At P2PU (Peer to Peer University) people work together to learn a particular topic by completing tasks, assessing individual and group work, and providing constructive feedback. A “grassroots open education project that organizes learning outside of institutional walls and gives learners recognition for their achievements, P2PU creates a model for lifelong learning alongside traditional formal higher education. Read a bit more about them .
» – The largest site on the Internet for Web developers, W3Schools will teach you how to make a website with free tutorials in all web development technologies.
About the Author: Heather Sanders is a mom who homeschools her three children. If you’d like to learn if it’s possible for you to pursue your passions and earn an income while staying home with your kids, .