I get a lot of questions about what are the best online homeschooling programs. There are more to choose from now than ever, and I’m excited to bring you this list of the 10 best online homeschooling programs, because if you really want an all in one homeschooling program, you should definitely be able to pick one of these options. There’s something for everyone, including secular and Christian options, some programs you may have heard of and some that might be new to you. So I hope you’ll be able to find the right program for your family.
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Time4Learning Online Homeschooling Program
First on our list of the best online homeschooling programs is something you might have heard of called Time4Learning. This is a secular homeschooling program that you can use for your child’s entire curriculum from preschool all the way through high school. The program is done almost entirely online, and it’s completely self paced.
There is a lot of customization for parents, so you can set up this online homeschooling program however you like. You can assign different subjects on different days of the week, choose different grade levels for each subject, remove quizzes and tests if you like, and even remove individual lessons. So if there’s some material that your child already knows, you can skip over it.
The cost of Time4Learning is based on grade level. For PreK through 5th grade it’s $29.95 a month or $323.46 per year. For 6th through 12th grade, it will cost $39.95 a month or $431.46 a year. If you want to add the foreign language program, Tim4Languages, that’s an additional $59.95 for 6 months.
If you want to save $10 off the cost when you sign up, just use the link I’ve shared with you here and code “REFERME.”
With Time4Learning, your child will sign on each day to complete their lessons. If you set up a custom schedule, it will show them what they have to do for that day. But they can go in any order they want, and there’s nothing stopping them from going ahead. The lesson format usually consists of an interactive video lesson followed by a quiz or test to check for understanding. There are also occasionally offline activities, such as for science.
I think it’s a really good and complete program that definitely has everything you need to homeschool your kids. Some kids love the program, but some find the cartoonish videos a bit babyish. They also tend to repeat concepts a lot to make sure your child gets it. So if your child catches on quickly, they might find this a bit repetitive.
Excelsior Classes
Next we have a Christian online homeschooling program called Excelsior Classes. This program is unique in that it has real teachers and weekly live classes. You can sign up for just one class, or you can use this for your entire homeschooling program. So if you’re looking for one of the best online homeschooling programs where your child has an actual teacher who will be assigning and grading their work, this could be a great option for you.
Excelsior Classes runs on a traditional school year schedule and typically starts at the end of August. You’ll have several different options for class times, so you can set up your child’s schedule however you like. Other than the weekly live class that your child will attend online, most of the rest of the school work is done offline and then submitted to the teacher through their online system.
Each course has it’s own curriculum, except for math which uses an online program called Big Ideas Math. I really like that all the classes are different, so there’s some variety in your child’s education rather than just using one set curriculum for everything.
The courses on Excelsior Classes are offered for kids in 5th grade through high school. Pricing is per course, and is typically $596 per year, except for their math courses, which meet twice weekly and cost $650 per year. You’ll also pay a yearly $60 registration fee.
Excelsior classes also offers a dual credit option, where students can earn college credits while completing some of their high school course work. The courses are still taught by Excelsior Classes, but if your child also enrolls in the dual credit program through Letourneau University, they’ll earn college credits for the course as well.
And if you’re looking for a community aspect in your online homeschooling program, Excelsior Classes has that too. Kids can join their newspaper club, writing club, English club, STEM club and Spanish club, as well as several honors societies.
Study.com – One of the Best Online Homeschooling Programs
Next on our list is a complete online homeschooling program for kids in 3rd through 12th grade from Study.com. If you’re looking for something really flexible, where your child can work at their own pace, I think this is definitely one of the best online homeschooling programs.
They have a complete core homeschooling curriculum, but they also have hundreds of other courses that your child can take, in all sorts of different subject areas. And if you’re using Study.com for your high school student, I really like that they include AP courses, courses to prepare for the SAT and ACT, courses to prepare you to take CLEP exams, and even courses to earn transferable college credits while still in high school.
A basic membership to Study.com is only $29.99 a month and includes access to all the regular courses. So this is probably all you need for 3rd grade through middle school. Once your child is in High School, you might want to upgrade to the homeschool plan for $59.99 a month. This plan includes the AP and CLEP courses. If you want your student to be able to earn the transferable college credits, the college saver plan is $235 a month, and allows students to take 2 exams per month.
No matter which plan you choose, if you use my personal link you’ll save 25% off your first month.
Lessons on Study.com typically include a short video followed by a quiz to check for understanding. They also include a printable video transcript. You can set due dates and reminders for the course, and if you have any questions, you can use their instant answers feature, where you can submit a question to an expert and get a response within hours.
Students can go in any order they want, and take as little or as many courses at a time as they like. I really like how you can browse through the courses and add new courses at any time. But even if you just use the core homeschool courses, you’ll still be getting a full online homeschooling curriculum.
Homeschool+ – Best Online Homeschooling Program for Younger Kids
Next we have an online homeschooling program for younger kids called Homeschool+. This program was created by the same company who created ABC Mouse and Adventure Academy, so it’s going to look very similar to those programs. But this program is designed specifically for homeschool students ages 4 to 8, and it’s primary focus is teaching reading as well as the basics of math. In addition to those core courses, there are also grammar and writing courses, science, reading comprehension, maps and landmarks, piano, Spanish and more. So there’s definitely a full curriculum here.
Just like with most of the other online homeschooling programs out there, you can customize your child’s schedule on Homeschool+ however you want. You can set which days of the week they do which subjects, and even set a daily math and reading goal for how long you want your child to work on the lessons. The parent planning tools are really good with a lot of customization available if you like that sort of thing.
The cost of this program is a little more expensive than some of the other programs. You’ll pay $39.99 a month or $299.99 a year. You can get a 10 day free trial of the program to see if you like it before you commit.
If you’re looking for an online homeschooling program for younger kids, this may be your best option. The math and reading lessons are really fun and engaging, and they can be completed in a short amount of time per day, so you don’t have your little one spending too much time on the computer. It really seems like they put a lot of work into this program, and if you’ve used ABC Mouse before, you know they have a really great quality program. If you want to see the Homeschool+ program more in depth, I have a full review here that you can check out.
Easy Peasy All in One – Best Free Online Homeschooling Program
Next is a completely free online homeschooling program called Easy Peasy All in One. An you might be surprised at the quality of the curriculum and just the whole website in general, just because it’s free. But if you’re looking for a complete online homeschooling program that also happens to be Christian, this is a great option to consider.
Easy Peasy All in One has two websites, depending on grade level. For kids in preschool through middle school, everything is on the Easy Peasy All in One website. For high school students, you’ll be using their sister site, All in One High School. Both programs are easy to set up, and include placement guides and all the materials you need for a complete homeschooling curriculum.
Getting everything set up can be a little complicated, but they do have all sorts of helpful guides to get you started. Basically, you’ll want to use the placement guides to help you decide which level to start at for each subject. Then you’ll set up your students and assign their courses. Once you’re all set up, students will log on each day and complete the course work for the day. Once they’ve completed everything, you’ll review it and mark it complete, which will move them on to the next day.
Funcation Academy
Another complete online homeschooling program you may not have heard of is Funcation Academy. And this one is a little bit different so I don’t blame you if you’ve been to their website and been a little confused. I definitely was at first. It’s basically an online community that licensed an online curriculum that is normally used in schools. So you sign up to be part of the community and that gives you access to use the curriculum, as well as various community features, assessments and planning tools.
When I did a review of the Funcation Academy program back in fall of last year, it was a little bit different than how it looks today. So if you read that article, you might not get the whole picture. I’ll have to do an update soon, because it’s definitely changed. Now you’re basically choosing between elementary, middle and high school curriculum packages.
When I did my initial review, the were using Istation for their online program for elementary school, and Courseware for the higher grade levels. But now it look like they’re using something called My Path by imagine learning. And it’s interesting because when I look at the video lessons on there, I’ve seen these exact same lessons on Time4Learning. So I’m wondering if this is the same curriculum.
You can get a 7 day free trial of Funcation Academy, and after that the price depends on the grade level. Their elementary program is only $9.99 a month, which is a bargain in my opinion. Middle school is $24.99 a month, and high school is $40 a month. You can also save if you purchase an annual plan. And if you want to sign up just for the community features and tutoring services, you can do that for $8.99 a month. You can also add on teacher monitoring for $10 a month, and their writing for everyone teacher guided program for $10.99 a month.
Monarch Online Homeschool Program
If you’re looking for an all in one online homeschooling program that’s self paced and flexible but also Christian, you might want to try Monarch. This is a complete online homeschooling program from Alpha Omega Publications, the Christian curriculum company behind Horizons and Lifepac. The Monarch online program can be used by kids in 3rd through 12th grade, and includes 5 main subjects for $39.95 a month. They also offer an extensive list of elective courses which can be added for an additional $9.95 a month each.
What I really like about Monarch is their generous free trial offer. You can get a 30 day free trial of this program with no credit card required, so you don’t have to worry if you don’t end up liking it and forget to cancel. And 30 days should be plenty of time to set things up and test it out to see if this is the right curriculum for your child.
Just like some of the other online homeschooling programs on this list, Monarch offers a lot of customization for parents, right down to the little details of removing specific lessons that you want your child to skip. I also like that the lessons don’t rely as heavily on videos as some of the other programs. The lessons will be a mix of text on screen, interactive exercises and videos, which keeps things interesting. Parents will have to grade some of the written assignments on Monarch, however, which might be a drawback for parents looking for more of a hands off program.
Miacademy – Best Online Homeschooling Program for Community Features
One of the best and most popular online homeschooling programs on the market is Miacademy. If you’ve heard of Always Ice Cream or Clever Dragons, this is the same program, only the community is co ed. So where Always Ice Cream was for girls and Clever Dragons was for boys, this is basically just those two programs combined. So if you’re looking for an online homeschooling program with community features, this is probably your best option.
The Miacademy online homeschooling program is designed for kids in kindergarten through 8th grade. For high school, they have a very similar program called Mia Prep. The K through 8th grade program offers a discount of $1.99 for your first month, so it’s kind of like a free trial that isn’t actually free. After that it’s $36 a month, or $298 a year.
For high school, you can check out Mia Prep for $9.95 for your first month. After that, you’ll pay $40 a month, or $320 for a year.
Just like the other programs we’ve covered, Miacademy and Mia Prep will give you a complete online homeschool curriculum that you can customize to meet your child’s individual needs. You can set up the schedule however you want, and kids will work at their own pace, completing assignments in any order they want, and working ahead if they choose to.
The real difference here is definitely the community features. Kids can create their own videos to upload and comment on other kids videos, play online games, and be part of a student community, which is something that most of these other programs don’t offer.
The lessons on here follow a typical video/quiz format. So students will watch a video lesson and then answer some questions to check for understanding. I find the videos on here to be a bit more interesting than some of the other programs on the list, and it’s definitely a popular choice for kids. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in this program if you decide to try it out.
Power Homeschool
Power Homeschool is another well known online homeschooling program, but unfortunately it does not offer the same customization options that some of the other programs offer. You will be able to choose the courses and grade level for your child, but you’re not going to be able to remove skip over any lessons like you can with some of the other programs. So if your child’s level is somewhere between 2 grades, you’re not going to be able to start in the middle of a grade level the way you can with the other programs.
Still, there are some reasons why you might choose Power Homeschool for your child. For one, it’s affordable. The program is $25 a month per student no matter the grade level, which is definitely a good price. And the video lessons are comprehensive. It’s a good curriculum. But I think you might find the videos to be a little dated. I’m not sure when they were filmed, but if I had to guess I’d say they’re at least 20 years old.
Power Homeschool uses the same curriculum as Acellus Academy, the online school. The difference is, Power Homeschool is not a school, so they won’t be issuing a diploma or transcript the way Acellus Academy would. But you still get to use a curriculum from an accredited school, which is something that might appeal to you.
Power Homeschool does offer some good analytic and reporting features for parents, so you can keep track of how well your child is doing with the program. It’s very straightforward and easy to follow, so if you don’t mind not being able to skip over things and jump around, this could be a good choice for you.
Ron Paul Curriculum
I have to admit, I wasn’t sure which program to include for the last online homeschooling program on the list. I didn’t want to include anything that wasn’t a complete program that covers every subject, so I didn’t include Khan Academy or some other popular choices for homeschoolers, because it doesn’t cover every subject in detail, such as language arts. I also know there’s another free online homeschooling program that does cover everything, but I honestly just don’t like it, so I didn’t want to include it.
So I decided to share with you an online homeschool curriculum that you may not have heard of called the Ron Paul Curriculum. And you can get this program entirely free for Kindergarten phonics and the first 40 lessons of first grade math and reading, so you might want to try it out just for that.
The Ron Paul Curriculum offers a complete online homeschool curriculum for elementary, middle and high school, and the program is designed for students to be able to do on their own. Prices are per course, and most of the courses are a flat fee of $50 for the whole course. However, you need to have a membership first in order to purchase a course, which will cost $350 a year, or $250 if you sign up for automatic renewal.
Unlike some of the other programs on this list, with this homeschool program there’s nothing to set up or customize. You just purchase the courses, and then your child will progress through the course from start to finish at their own pace.
If you want to check out any of the courses on this website, you can just click on a course and then go to course outline, and you’ll be able to view the first 5 lessons or so. The lessons include videos, printable worksheets and quizzes, and you can view the whole course outline before you make a purchase so you can see exactly what’s going to be covered in each course.
This is an interesting program that might be a good fit for families who need a curriculum that their kids can access at any time and run with, that requires minimal parent involvement. If you check out the sample lessons and think this would be a good fit, you can still try it risk free for 60 days and get a full refund if you don’t end up liking it.
So that’s my list of the 10 best online homeschooling programs. I hope this list helped narrow down your choice and maybe even helped you make a decision on which program to go with. If not, I’m always here to answer any questions you may have to help make your decision easier, so feel free to leave a question in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer to the best of my ability!
