I love free! As a mom to 5 little ones and a family of 7 free is awesome! I write this post to share with you some of my favorite free homeschooling resources. If you are not a homeschool parent it’s OK, read on these resources you can also use for your children too!
You Tube is one of my favorite free resources in our homeschooling. Actually we use it almost daily especially in our science. As we are learning Apologia Land Animals this year I pull up that particular animal we are learning on that day. I was initially surprised how many National Geographic or educational snip its they offer on You Tube!
Library not only offers books, magazines, movies and books on tape/CD but they offer some wonderful programs for children. Each month when I plan our schedule for the following month I go on our library’s web-site and see what they are offering. For instance we are in a Geography Club every Thursday. The kids have a weekly folder where they add facts about that state they are learning for that week plus they get to add to their passports (pretend) which is all provided from our library! Plus if you live in a populated area try checking more than one of your library’s to see what they offer. I check about 5 different ones for the month.
Pinterest is where I get quite a bit of craft, science experiments, printables, montessori and other homeschooling related ideas.
Trading curriculum or other homeschool resources with other homeschoolers. Our homeschool group has a freebie table at our monthly meeting where they leave resources that the no longer want and whomever wants it takes it. Another suggestion is participating in a co-op where you can either share a curriculum with fellow homeschoolers or in some cases other homeschoolers may teach the class and you do not have to purchase any curriculum or materials!
Free Apps for tablets or phones, I am signed up for daily e-mail notifications for free Smart Apps For Kids. These notifications are for free Apps which are great because most of these Apps go from free to a few dollars within a few days so I check the e-mail once I get it to see if there are any Apps that we could use. I take advantage of this because many of them are Apps for handwriting, math, etc.
Freecycle which has local groups that are entirely a nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.
The internet, most of us have it so why not use it to the fullest. There are sites that offer Freebie of the Day or Currclick which also offers quite a bit of free printable, lapbooks and other resources. Plus there are other sites that you can print worksheets.
Some museums and nature centers are free and work on donation only. One of our nature centers has quite a few animals and they give the kids a scavenger hunt card where they give the kids clues to find the animal, etc. throughout the center. While other museums charge admission you would be surprised who many do not.
Audio Books offers a great selection for children to listen to books over the computer. Plus they have adult books as well as books in several other languages.
Free field trips- there are so many local businesses you can take advantage of such as: pet stores, fire station, post office, travel agent, dentist, grocery store. The possibilities are endless you would be surprised how many of these businesses would love to have homeschoolers learn about their businesses.
Nature walks – bring nets and catch bugs or collect leaves and view them in a microscope, star gazing, the beach is another great place. Observe sea creatures up close and maybe even get to touch some!
What are your favorite FREE learning resources?
Sunday: Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, DIY Show Off, 1+1+1=1, Sunday Showcase
Monday: C.R.A.F.T. Boogieboard Cottage, Sew Can Do,Sumos Sweet Stuff,Pursuit of Function a Home, DIY Home Sweet Home, Keeping It Simple, Mad in Crafts, So Much Better with Age, Skip to My Lou, Cupcakes & Crinoline Deceptively Educational, Living Montessori Now
Tuesday: Creative Blog, Hope Studios, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Linda’s Lunacy, Cozy Little House, Coastal Charm, Nap-time Creations, Elizabeth & Co., Learn With Play at Home
Wednesday: It’s Overflowing, DYI by Design, Southern Lovely, Vintage Gwen, Artsy Play,Creations by Kara, High Heels and Grills, Ginger Snap Crafts, Someday Crafts, Polka Dots on Parade, 36th Avenue, Life with the Crust Cut Off, Toddly Mummy, Rainy Day Mum, Simply Designing,
Thursday: The 36th Avenue, Shabby Creek Cottage, Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, Artsy Fartsy Mama, 52 Mantels, No Minimalist Here, live laugh rowe, Imparting Grace, The Girl Creative, Somewhat Simple, The Frugal Girls, Kid’s Activity Blog, Lessons Learned Journal
Friday: Living Life Intentionally, Create Craft Love, Flaunt it Friday, Blissful and Domestic,Happy Hour Projects, Close to Home (Recipes), Happy Go Lucky, Craftionary, The Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, Redoux, Simply Sweet Home, Liz Marie Blog, Shabby Nest, Thirty Handmade Days, The Stitchinโ Mommy, Whipperberry, Tots & Me (kids cooking), Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers,Homeschool Creations, Sunscholars, Turning Back the Clock, Feeding Big
Saturday: Cheerios and Lattes, Crafty Moms Share, Sugar Ants, Funky Junk Interiors, Six Sisters Stuff, Tatertots and Jello, Or so she says, Your Homebased Mom, Too Much Time on my Hands, I Can Teach My Child
I found tons of resources at our public library when I homeschooled.
I love Pinterest for ideas, but haven’t thought about going to You Tube – I really need to start! Don’t forget Blogs – such as yours – you and others also have tremendous amount of resources for us parents and I thank you for that!!
I love this list. We go on lots of nature walks with the boys – they LOVE exploring.
Wow, you have found a ton of great resources! I guess you need a lot of variety when it comes to homeschooling!
Great list. There’s learning time wherever you are, isn’t there. I loved to learn in the kitchen and outdoors the best when my kids are little.
excellent list!! I have friend who homeschools and she’s always finding new free homeschool resources ๐
I had no idea there were this many free resources available!! It does take a village…
Good list ~~~ we love to spend days at the zoo and museums. We try to turn every adventure into a fun learning time. It is fun to drive down the road and make it a learning adventure.
I’ve recently connected with 2 homeschooling moms. They have been so kind to share their experiences with me about homeschooling and have also shared many resources. This is great information I will passing along to them.
The internet wasn’t near as useful when I tried to homeschool (years and years ago). It’s amazing the resources available! You can find just about anything on YouTube, too! Awesome list!
We are lucky we live in a big metropolitan area with lots of museums and science centers. Even though I never homeschooled I tried to find lots of educational things for my kids to do, especially over the summer.
What a great list of resources! If I were a homeschooling parent I would be in heaven right now, I will definitely be passing this info on.
Wonderful list! We often forget about trading curriculum with friends. I know my friends and I have often passed materials back and forth. The library and internet are probably my biggest 2 sources for free resources. Thank you!
wow! amazing list – even for us moms who don’t homeschool! thanks so much!
I’ve wondered how parents that homeschool get all of there ideas! Some really great free resources!
Our local library has so many great programs and resources – it is really worth checking out what your local library offers
Pinning this! My husband joined the Navy and we will be moving twice next school year so I dont want to enroll my preschooler.
I think this is great even if you don’t homeschool!
These are some great resources, even for parents with kids in school out side of the home. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this list! Free is great and my kids particularly love being in nature more than anything else.
This sounds really great! Loved reading it! Sharing with my sister who is thinking about homeshooling her kids!
I never thought to use YouTube when we homeschooled. I did find out however, that I was not made to be a teacher. Homeschooling gave me a new respect for teachers and for the families that can pull it off.
we frequent the library when we need to figure things out.. We also use youtube allot for many different things.
What great resources. We especially love free learning apps because we can use them everywhere…makes learning on the go very easy.
Impressive list! It’s great that home schoolers seem to have more options and resources than ever these days!
Great list. I have to forward this to my homeschooling friends.
It is so great to have the resources social media can provide, for homeschooling or just about anything else!
What a great list, and I’ll be hitting up some of these resources this weekend with all the kids home for the March break. YouTube has been a treasure trove of all kinds of tutorials for the kids and I!
Great list. I am always looking for Free resources for in home teaching.
This is so helpful! We are planning on homeschooling our boys next year due to not being happy with the curriculum that is currently being taught in our schools. So the last few months have been filled with a lot of research. This is a big help.
Great resources. We are considering homeschooling so this is bookmarked.
I’m not a home schooler, but I call myself one on weekends when my son is at home. I love doing fun things like these that are educational with him.
I’m continually surprised at how much utube has to offer. I hadn’t thought of it as a resource for homeschooling, but it probably has a lot of terrific things!
Great Information That Will Be Helpful Thank You
Those are really great resources. I love using educational apps with my daughter.
I daydream about homeschooling so much, but my kids love their school. I try in the summer!
Free is always best! My parents took us to the library several times a week growing up, and I loved it. I’ve only taken my son a handful of times so far, but he’s also only a toddler, so that’s not a bad start. I think, anyway.
Such great resources. I am a homeschool mom as well. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome List Thank You
That’s a great list. I know a lot of people joke about how engrossed people get in YouTube and Pinterest but they really can be fantastic learning tools!
That is a great list and you certainly can’t beat free.
My daughter is a preschooler, and we are teaching at home, to sort of get a feel of homeschooling. We use youtube daily! Since she IS so young, we also use google images as a free resource. If she thinks frogs are interesting that day, we look up frogs and see how many different kinds there are and talk about their differences.
Passing this on to my friend who does home preschool. Thanks!
This is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing. Free resources are so valuable when you have lots of littles and a small budget.
I hear about so many people opting to home school these days! This is a great resource for them!!
This couldn’t come at a better time! I’m not homeschooling yet but wanting to teach my daughter some pre-pre-K stuff at home. She loves learning so I want to do what I can to help her instead of sending her to play with Barbies, you know?
This is a great list. I am amazed by parents who homeschool their kids!
This is a great post!! I have a friend thinking about homeschooling, and she’s very overwhelmed. I’ll pass this on!
I’ve been thinking about homeschooling and these resources really come in handy.
Such great resources! My little ones aren’t school aged just yet, but I’ve been toying with the idea of homeschooling them and I LOVE that there are so many resources available online now
It’s funny because I never thought of youtube as being a potential source, but that makes total sense!
Wow what a great list of resources. I have a few friends starting homeschooling. This would be great for them.
Great suggestions to help keep homeschooling on budget
What an amazing list and to top it off, you can’t go wrong with FREE.
I love the idea of the field trips. What a great way for the kids to learn.
Freecycle is amazing! I love the whole idea behind it and that what someone doesn’t need anymore can be given to someone else who needs it just because it’s better to help someone out than throw something away. Museums and nature centers are always a great educational resource as well, and a lot of the time they rotate new fun and sometimes free activities for kids.
Nice list! If I were homeschooling I’m sure I’d find it very helpful!
These are great even if you’re not homeschooling. My daughter is still very young so we don’t do homeschooling but I’m very interested in new resources to complement her education once she’s big enough to start learning. Thanks for the tips Nicole.
Great list! Free is my favorite word,lol ๐ My favorite is freecycling.
I think it’s a great idea to view the sea creatures up close. It’s unique and something the kids would remember!
These are some really great tips, thank you! I have only recently discovered Pinterest to be such a fabulous resource for all kinds of creative and educational tools ๐
What a great resource.. thanks for sharing your tips; My favorite Homeschool resource of all times are APPS.. aren’t they amazing? The kids can learn hands on with many apps, videos and e-readers.. just an amazing time we are in and have everything at our fingertips; always love coming to see what new things you have to share, keep up the good work.
I try to stay involved with our local library too. It’s a really great place for the kids to socialize and learn, without even realizing it!
Great list. A couple are new to me!
Great resources! Thank you for sharing!
What a great list of resources! Thanks for sharing this at the After School Linky Party!
we LOVE freecycle. i’m sure there’s lots of facebook groups too!
Freecycle is such a great idea, they are always giving away great stuff that can be used in homeschooling…
I love these free homeschooling resources because I use them as supplemental work for my kids.
What a great list of resources, I home schooled for a couple of years and we spend an awful lot of time at the library and outside learning too!
I love freecycle! Founds lots of great things through there. These are great resources!
This is a great list and sooo helpful. It is always great to have good resources. Thanks for sharing!