Do you want to know what is the BEST online homeschooling program? How about the worst one? Today we’re going to review the 9 most popular online homeschooling programs and decide which is the best and which is the worst!
Whether you’re already homeschooling and looking for a new online homeschooling program or curriculum to try, or just thinking about homeschooling and looking for more information, I’ll let you know what my favorites are, what my KIDS’ favorites are, which ones we didn’t like, and all the details you need to know about each of these programs. So let’s jump right in.
May contain affiliate links.
Online Homeschooling Programs – Time4Learning
The first program we’re going to talk about is Time 4 Learning. This is a very popular and affordable online homeschooling program that offers a full online curriculum for PreK through 12th grade. It offers courses in math, language arts, science and social studies, with additional courses available for high school students. You can also add a foreign language for an additional fee.
The curriculum is fully customizable by the parent, so you can choose the grade level (which can be different for each subject), which lessons to include, and even whether or not you want to include quizzes and tests. The program can all be done completely online, or you can take advantage of the additional printable resources – and there are a LOT of those included in the price as well.
It costs $29.95 a month for PreK though 8th grade, and $39.95 per month for high school. They offer a 14 day money back guarantee, and you can pause or cancel at any time. Since it’s billed monthly, you have the flexibility to try it out, take a break, and come back again later.
Personally this is one of my favorites on the list of online homeschooling programs because of how customizable it is for parents. Kids can go at their own pace, and you can create a whole custom schedule for them down to the smallest detail of creating daily lesson plans.
We have had a good experience with the Time 4 Learning program, and I have a full video on YouTube if you want to check it out. I think it’s a really great program, maybe even the best one out there. However, I have to admit my daughter, who is 8, isn’t a big fan. She finds the pace a little slow and the content a little “babyish.” It does get a bit repetitive. But overall the value you get is very good.
Related – https://eschooled.com/study-com-homeschool-program-complete-review-2024/
Study.com Online Homeschooling Program
Okay, if I could make a bet with you, I’d really be willing to bet that you have not heard of the Study.com homeschool program. And that’s why I’m sharing it with you here, because it’s a really great program that you really should consider. They offer a complete homeschool curriculum for kids in 3rd through 12th grade. They have a lot of different course offerings, including test prep, AP, and even courses to earn college credits, something that is really important for high school age kids.
Related – https://eschooled.com/study-com-homeschool-program-complete-review-2023/
Study.com is for more than just homeschooling which is why I am betting you might not have heard about their homeschooling program. While they do offer a ton of different courses that are not necessarily marketed to homeschoolers, they do have an actual designated homeschooling program. I do have a full video on my YouTube channel that explains this in much more detail, so be sure to check it out.
Study.com has several different pricing options, depending on what your needs are. The basic edition is only $29.99 a month. The homeschool edition, which includes access to the AP and CLEP courses as well as automatic grading is $59.99 a month. Their college accelerator program is a bit pricier, at $199.99 a month.
You can save 30% off for the first three months of Study.com by using my personal link.
Study.com is very easy to set up, and you can customize the courses to meet your child’s individual needs. All the pricing levels include a free parent account where you can track your child’s progress. And one thing that really sets Study.com apart is their expert answers feature, where your child can send a message to an expert and receive an answer to their question within hours.
Schoolhouseteachers.com Homeschool Program
Okay, so have you ever heard of Schoolhouseteachers.com? Me neither until recently. But it’s another online homeschooling program that you can use for your child’s entire curriculum from preschool through 12th grade. They have several different pricing options, but the most affordable is just $22.97 a month for prek-8th grade courses. If you want access to the high school courses, you can get that for $29.97 a month. You can also save a little bit of money by choosing the quarterly or full year options.
Schoolhouseteachers.com offers over 400 course options in language arts, math, music, science, foreign language and more in a self paced curriculum with no additional textbooks needed. It’s one price for your entire family which is a pretty nice benefit. They have a schedule builder so you can make a separate schedule for each of your children, and you can download and print lesson plans for each course.
Unlike some other online homeschooling programs, you will be a little more actively involved in this one. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing! You will be teaching some of the lessons and doing the grading yourself, but the materials are all available online, including many streaming videos. They have a facebook community group that can be really helpful if you’re just getting started with this program. They also have a live chat available Monday through Friday.
Like many of the other online homeschooling programs, this is another Christian one. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? That’s up to you to decide.
Homeschool+ Online Homeschooling Program for Younger Kids
Next on our list is a brand new online homeschooling program! This one is from the creators of ABC Mouse and Adventure Academy called Homeschool Plus! This is a very new program that is specifically designed for homeschooled kids from prek though 2nd grade. It’s main focus is teaching math and reading in a fun and interactive way, but they also offer some additional courses in science, art and social studies.
The program costs $39.99 a month with the option to cancel at any time, or $375 for a full year which will save you 20%. Right now they are offering a 10 day free trial so you can check it out before you commit.
What I like about this program is that it is very similar to ABC Mouse, but without so much of the playing around that ABC Mouse allows. But if you have a child who is already familiar with and loves ABC Mouse, then this would be the logical next step if you’re planning on homeschooling and using an online homeschooling program.
This program is really nice and high quality, and very engaging for the younger kids. They make it really easy for parents to set it up and track progress. You can decide which days of the week your child works on which subjects, and how much time they should spend on math and reading. If you want an online homeschooling program that really knows how to make learning simple and fun, this is definitely for you. I do have a full video of this program on my YouTube channel if you want to check it out and get more info.
Khan Academy Online Homeschooling Programs
The next of the online homeschooling programs on the list is Khan Academy. This is a completely free online homeschooling program for students from Kindergarten through high school and beyond, run by a non profit organization. It really is completely free, although they certainly welcome donations. They offer courses in math, reading, language arts, science, art, test prep and more. Students can learn at their own pace, and parents can view their child’s progress from the parent dashboard.
This program works on a mastery point system, where students earn points as they move along and master a subject. There’s a mix of videos and interactive learning, similar to other online homeschooling programs.
However, there are some drawbacks. Khan Academy is set up in a way that is for teachers. You can tell it’s not really designed for homeschool students, although homeschool families can certainly get a lot of value out of it. You can still set up a teacher account as a parent, where you are considered a coach. You can create a class, then add your child to the class, and from there you can assign them specific courses and activities. So it can be done in a similar way to the paid online homeschooling programs, but it’s definitely a bit more complicated.
Still, the fact that it’s completely free is a huge benefit, and worth taking the time to learn how it all works and get used to using the teacher dashboard. All in all the course offerings are great, and I really like the way that it tracks your child’s progress through the courses. It’s definitely a must try for any homeschool family, since you have nothing to lose other than the time it takes to learn how to get set up.
Adventure Academy
I have Adventure Academy on the list, which is from the creators of ABC mouse, but I just want to start off by saying this is not really a homeschooling program. It can definitely be used to supplement and give your kids a really fun learning experience, especially if your kids enjoy role playing type video games. But if you’re looking for a complete curriculum, this may not be for you. There’s a lot of fun and playing mixed in with the learning, and even though it’s really nice and very fun for the kids, I’m not exactly sure how much real learning is actually happening.
I have a video of my daughter and I trying it out for the first time here. We had a lot of fun!
Basically, it’s an online virtual school where your child will create a character who then can explore the academy and learn math, reading and science along the way. They do have a 30 day free trial offer which is nice, and it’s only $12.99 a month after that, which is not bad at all. Just trust me that this is not going to be your only curriculum. It’s really fun, and I love the idea that my child can play a video game that’s really about learning. But it’s essentially a video game and my daughter spent a lot of time just making different characters and wandering around with the character rather than trying to learn much of anything.
If your kids play roblox, think that but with better graphics and learning mixed in. That’s what it reminds me of. Especially because there are actually other kids online that can interact with your kids if you choose to allow them to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really neat idea and definitely a fun experience. But it’s just not an actual homeschool curriculum like the other online homeschooling programs on this list.
IXL Online Homeschooling Program
Next on the list of online homeschooling programs is a website called IXL. This is a company that provides lessons from pre-K through high school in math, language arts, science and social studies. And you get access to all those subject for $19.95 a month or you can choose just math or language arts for $9.95 a month, so it’s definitely a good price. You can also add Spanish which is great.
This website has a LOT of course offerings and can be a little intimidating at first, but it’s a really nice homeschool curriculum if you’re willing to take some time to learn how to set it up. Like with Khan Academy, this program isn’t just for homeschool families – teachers use it too, and I think that is what makes it seem intimidating for a homeschool parent.
What sets it apart from other homeschool programs is their real time diagnostics tool that can determine your child’s proficiency in math and language arts, so that you can get lesson recommendations specific to your child and their level of understanding. This is a great tool if you aren’t sure where to start when picking your child’s grade level for each subject. I think this is my favorite feature that I wish all the other programs had, because as a homeschool parent who is not exactly in touch with what’s happening in schools, it’s nice to be able to see where your child is at compared to their grade level, and really understand the progress they’re making. IXL is honestly becoming one of my favorite online homeschooling programs. We only recently signed up for it, but so far, I’m thinking it might be the best on the list.
Normally IXL does not offer a free trial, but if you use my link, you can get a 7 day free trial of this program!
Miacademy
Miacademy is an online homeschooling program for kids in kindergarten though 8th grade, although they do have a separate program for high school kids called Mia Prep. They offer a trial of $1.99 for the first month. After that, it’s $29.95 per month, although it drops down to $24 a month if you pay for a full year up front.
Miacademy is geared towards homeschool families, and offers a full online curriculum in math, science, language arts and social studies, with additional offerings available in music, art, foreign language and life skills.
What makes this online homeschooling program a little bit different is that they have a social feature, where students can interact with each other. There are games where they can compete against other kids, they can write for the weekly newspaper, and they can even upload their own educational videos. Of course, as the parent, you can choose whether or not your child interacts with others online and disable these features if you don’t want them.
Related – https://eschooled.com/eight-homeschooling-myths-for-new-homeschoolers/
Like other online homeschooling programs, the curriculum is fully customizable by the parent. You can choose different grade levels for different subjects and assign which days of the week your child should work on which subjects. You can also set the passing grade for the quizzes and tests, so your child won’t be able to move on unless they have attained a certain score. If you happen to live in a state with requirements for attendance and record keeping, this online homeschooling program makes it pretty easy to save and print out these records.
I think the social and game aspect makes it a little bit unique and probably more appealing to kids than some of the other programs. And as homeschool parents, we know that a big factor in choosing a curriculum is whether or not our kids are going to enjoy it and get some value out of it. So for $1.99 for the first month, it’s definitely worth a try!
Online Homeschooling Programs – Power Homeschool
And finally, last on the list is Power Homeschool. This is another online homeschooling program for kids from pre-k through 12th grade. Unlike some of the other online homeschooling programs I mentioned, this one is specifically geared toward homeschool kids. They offer the same courses as their Acellus accredited online academy, but in a more flexible, less expensive option designed for homeschoolers. They offer courses in math, language arts, reading, science, social studies and more. Their pricing is similar to other online homeschooling programs at $25 a month.
Similar to IXL, they have a live monitoring tool that can alert the parent on areas where their kids are having a little trouble. It will show the parent exactly where the problem is, so the parent can offer extra help in that area. There’s a lot of great customization and reporting that will appeal to parents who like to keep organized records, and they have an app so you can check out all these reports from your phone and not just a computer.
I think the main draw of this program is that it uses an accredited curriculum. And its set up is very school like, with reviews and tests at the end of each unit. I think this is a great option for homeschool families who want an experience that more closely resembles traditional school. I am not sure if this would be the kids top pick though!
Which is the Best Online Homeschooling Program?
Ok so I told you we were going to decide which is the best and which is the worst. So here goes. In my opinion, while all of these are good options and have their own merits, personally I think the worst on this list is Khan Academy. And it’s really because it is not designed for homeschoolers and it’s tough to figure out and navigate for a homeschool parent.
And as for the BEST online homeschooling program? It’s a tough decision, but for our family, Time 4 Learning is still my favorite. It’s easy to use for a homeschool parent who hasn’t ever taught in a traditional school, and you get a lot for your money.
I hope this helped you to better understand your options for choosing the best online homeschooling program for your family!
