Best free homeschool curriculum 2026
The strongest free homeschool curriculum in 2026 is a small set of tools, one per subject: Khan Academy for math, CK-12 and OpenStax for science and high school textbooks, Project Gutenberg, LibriVox, and your public library for reading, and primary-source collections from the Library of Congress and the National Archives for history. Easy Peasy All-in-One is the main free option that lays out a whole school day for you, from a Christian perspective.
Free resources can teach the content. What they do not give you is a year-long plan, feedback on writing, or records your state will accept, so those jobs fall to you.
Free curriculum by subject and grade band
Every resource below is free to use without a paid plan. Each one is linked in the subject sections that follow. Pick one main resource per subject and grade; adding a second one for the same subject usually doubles your planning and halves your follow-through.
| Subject | K to 2 | 3 to 5 | 6 to 8 | 9 to 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Khan Academy Kids, counting real objects | Khan Academy grade-level courses | Khan Academy, CK-12 | Khan Academy, OpenStax, Desmos |
| Reading and literature | Library picture books, read-alouds, Khan Academy Kids | Library chapter books, Libby, LibriVox | Project Gutenberg classics, library | Project Gutenberg, LibriVox, library |
| Writing and grammar | Parent-led copywork and dictation | Khan Academy grammar, daily paragraphs | Khan Academy grammar, essays with a human reader | Research papers with a human reader |
| Science | Library nonfiction, NASA activities, nature study | CK-12, NASA | CK-12 FlexBooks | OpenStax biology, chemistry, physics |
| History and civics | Library books, maps | Library of Congress images and maps | DocsTeach primary sources, Khan Academy | Khan Academy, OpenStax U.S. History, DocsTeach |
| Computer science | ScratchJr | Scratch, Code.org | Scratch, Code.org | Code.org, Khan Academy computing |
Math
Khan Academy is the best free math spine available to homeschoolers. Its courses run from early elementary through calculus in grade order, each with videos, practice sets, unit tests, and mastery tracking. Use the grade-level course as your sequence rather than jumping around by topic. For preschool and early elementary children, Khan Academy Kids is a free app covering early math and reading.
CK-12 adds free textbooks (called FlexBooks) and practice for middle and high school math, which helps when a child needs a second explanation of the same idea. In high school, the free Desmos graphing calculator replaces a paid graphing calculator for most coursework.
The weak spot is explanation in the child's own words. Once a week, ask your child to solve one problem aloud and tell you why each step works. If they cannot, the practice score is overstating what they know. A free math level check helps you find the right starting course.
Reading and literature
Your public library is the largest free curriculum resource you have. Beyond the shelves, many libraries lend ebooks and audiobooks through the free Libby app with a library card, run summer reading programs, and offer homework help or tutoring. Ask a children's librarian for a grade-level reading list; that is part of their job.
Project Gutenberg offers tens of thousands of free public-domain ebooks, which covers most classic literature assigned in middle and high school. LibriVox has free volunteer-read audiobooks of public-domain texts, useful for read-alouds and for struggling readers who can follow along in the Gutenberg text.
For early reading, free tools are thinner. Phonics needs a patient adult more than an app. If your child is not blending sounds by the end of kindergarten, a structured phonics program is worth paying for; see the best homeschool phonics programs.
Science, history, and computer science
For high school science, OpenStax publishes free, peer-reviewed textbooks, including titles written for high school and AP courses, with online and PDF versions. Pair a textbook chapter with a hands-on lab you can do at home, and keep a written lab notebook as evidence of work. NASA's learning resources add free activities for younger grades.
History is where free primary sources shine. The Library of Congress holds digitized photographs, maps, and documents, and the National Archives' DocsTeach turns primary sources into ready-made activities. Khan Academy covers U.S. and world history for older students.
For computer science, Scratch and ScratchJr teach block coding, and Code.org has free courses from elementary through high school.
Free all-in-one options
Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool is the best-known free program that lays out daily assignments for every grade, K to 12. It is donation-supported and written from a Christian perspective. It links out to many external websites, so some lessons break as those sites change, and you track progress yourself with printables. Our Easy Peasy comparison covers the tradeoffs.
Schoolhouse.world offers free live tutoring and peer-led sessions. It helps when a child is stuck, but it is a supplement, not a plan. Check its age requirements before signing up a younger child.
What free curriculum misses and how to fill the gaps
Free curriculum rarely fails on content. It fails on the four jobs that paid programs quietly do for you. Plan for each one before you start.
Sequencing. A pile of good resources is not a year. Choose one resource per subject that has its own order, such as a Khan Academy grade course or an OpenStax textbook, and divide it across your school year. A textbook with 18 chapters over a 36-week year is one chapter every two weeks. Start at your child's tested level: a free placement test tells you whether to begin at the 4th grade course or back at 3rd.
Records. Free tools track clicks, not a homeschool record. Your state may want more. Florida requires a portfolio with a log of activities and samples of work plus an annual evaluation. North Carolina requires attendance records and an annual nationally standardized test. Check yours in homeschool laws by state, then keep a simple weekly log and one work sample per subject from the first week. Our portfolio guide shows what to save.
Feedback. Software can grade math. It cannot tell your child why an essay does not hold together. Read one piece of writing a week with your child and mark one strength and one fix. For a second reader, trade essays with another family in a co-op, or ask your library about tutoring.
Parent time. Free curriculum moves cost from your wallet to your calendar. You are the planner, the teacher when the video is not enough, and the record keeper. Block a fixed weekly planning hour, and be honest about whether you have it. If you do not, a low-cost paid spine for one subject may cost less than the time you would spend assembling it.
A sample free-curriculum week for 4th grade
Here is one realistic week for a 4th grader using only free resources. Our 4th grade guide puts focused work at about 3.5 to 4 hours a day; this plan runs about 3 hours 15 minutes, which leaves room for independent reading. The two skills to watch this year are fractions and writing a paragraph that makes a claim and supports it.
| Day | Math (45 min) | Reading and writing (75 min) | Science or history (45 min) | Extra (30 min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Khan Academy 4th grade lesson and practice | Library chapter book; write 3 sentences on the chapter | Science: library book on the water cycle | Read-aloud from a LibriVox classic |
| Tuesday | Next lesson; redo missed problems | Keep reading; Khan Academy grammar lesson | History: a Library of Congress map of your state | Scratch project |
| Wednesday | Next lesson; explain one problem aloud | Draft a paragraph: best choice a character made, with evidence | Science: NASA activity or kitchen experiment | Outdoor nature notebook |
| Thursday | Next lesson and practice | Revise the paragraph after parent feedback | History: compare two primary-source images | Library visit; choose next book |
| Friday | Unit quiz or review of the week's misses | Read the final paragraph aloud; log books read | Write 5 sentences on what you learned in science | Parent files work samples and the weekly log |
Friday's last row is the one families skip, and it is the one that makes the year defensible. Five minutes of filing each week beats rebuilding a portfolio in May. For more on this grade, see 4th grade homeschool curriculum.
The same pattern scales. A 1st grader's week swaps most screen time for phonics with a parent and read-alouds. A 10th grader's week trades the library book for an OpenStax chapter and a lab write-up, and starts tracking credits with a transcript template.
When paying for one piece makes sense
If you pay for anything, put the money where free resources are weakest: usually early reading, writing feedback, or a high school lab science. Paying for one subject and keeping the rest free is a sound plan, not a retreat. Before you pay, check whether your state offers funding through an education savings account or reimbursement; the homeschool benefits finder searches by location. To compare paid programs, see the best homeschool curriculum for 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can you homeschool completely for free?
You can cover the core subjects for free with Khan Academy, your public library, Project Gutenberg, OpenStax, and primary-source collections. Real costs still appear: internet, a device, printing, and lab supplies. The larger cost is your time, since you do the planning, feedback, and record-keeping that paid programs handle. Many families start free and pay only for the one subject where free options are weakest.
Is Khan Academy a full homeschool curriculum?
Khan Academy is a complete, sequenced math curriculum from early elementary through calculus, and it covers science, grammar, history, economics, and computing. It is not a full homeschool on its own. It gives little feedback on writing, has few long projects, and does not keep attendance or portfolio records. Most families use it as their math spine and pair it with library reading and parent-led writing.
What is the best free homeschool curriculum for kindergarten?
For kindergarten, the best free tools are your library, daily read-alouds, counting with real objects, and Khan Academy Kids for short practice. The hard part is phonics, which needs an adult listening to your child blend sounds. Keep lessons short, about fifteen minutes each. If blending is not clicking by midyear, a structured phonics program is usually worth paying for.
Are there free homeschool programs for high school?
Yes. OpenStax has free peer-reviewed textbooks for high school and introductory college science, math, and U.S. history, and Khan Academy covers math through calculus plus AP-level material. Project Gutenberg supplies most classic literature. For the SAT, the College Board's Bluebook app offers full-length practice tests free. The gap is credit records: you need to write course descriptions and keep a transcript from 9th grade on.
Where can I get free printed homeschool materials?
Start with downloads you can print. OpenStax offers free PDF versions of its textbooks, Project Gutenberg books can be printed a chapter at a time, and the Library of Congress lets you download many primary-source images. For bound books, check your library's book sale, local homeschool curriculum swaps, and families whose children have outgrown a level. Print only the pages you will use each week, because printing a full textbook can cost more than buying it used.
Which free homeschool resources are secular?
Most of the tools in this guide. Khan Academy, CK-12, OpenStax, Desmos, Code.org, and Scratch present their content without religious framing, and the Khan Academy and OpenStax biology materials teach evolution. Project Gutenberg and your library hold every kind of book, so you choose the titles. Easy Peasy All-in-One is the main exception, since it is written from a Christian perspective.