Homeschooling Resources

With the school year starting and many schools limited to distance-learning, we understand that many parents will need to take a more active role in their children's education. Rather than shoulder the entire teaching burden, we encourage parents to take advantage of the nearly endless online resources. While sifting through the various resources can be daunting, Sylvia Chin (an MFA advisor who homeschooled her kids even before the pandemic) has put together a list of homeschooling resources. The below is curated, organized by resource type, and contains a short summary of each resource. We hope that you find this valuable and good luck this school year!

Online Classes and Resources
1	Fusion Academy	Gr 6-12	https://www.fusionacademy.com/	Various	One-to-one education so it's highly customizable to the child's need. They have both physical school and online school. There are 50+ campuses across the US.
2	Athena’s Advanced Academy	Gr 5-12	https://athenasacademy.com/	Various	100% online classes from social studies to geography to history to timely subjects like the election process. Classes have very active chat rooms but kids do not show their face. Homework optional.
3	Outschool	All ages	https://outschool.com/	Various	100% online classes with a wide range of classes available. The quality of teaching can be highly variable. It’s important to vet teacher/class based on the reviews available. Zoom style classes.
4	Khan Academy	K-12	https://www.khanacademy.org/	Various	The videos are the best! They explain things well and follow up with questions to reinforce learning. Great for auditory learners.
5	IXL Math and English	K-12	https://www.ixl.com/	Various	Many practice questions but, without membership, it's limited to 10 free questions per day in each subject area.
6	NextLesson	K-12	https://www.nextlesson.org/	Various	Common Core-aligned projects, lessons and worksheets.
7	QuantumCamp	K-8	https://www.quantumcamp.com/	Math and Science	Their premise is that quantum physics can be taught to elementary school kids. Their topics are advanced but surprisingly, kids are not intimidated by them. They learn and figure things out through experiments and draw conclusions through group work. They are currently being offered online through Outschool because of the pandemic.
8	Art of Problem Solving Academy	Gr 6-12	https://aopsacademy.org/	Math and Language Arts	They are known for their intense and advanced math courses. They have online courses as well as textbooks for self study. The textbook is a good supplement to traditional math learning.
9	Beast Academy	Gr 2-5	https://beastacademy.com/	Math	Engaging graphic novel style textbooks. They also have an online version but it's self-paced. It’s not unusual for students to work on Beast Academy one level below their regular grade level. Good supplement for traditional math learning.
10	Brilliant	Gr 5+	https://brilliant.org/	STEM	A forum where motivated kids share math and physics problems and solutions. Great for visual learners.
Homeschool Curricula and Workbooks
1	The Critical Thinking Co.	PreK-12	https://www.criticalthinking.com/	Various	Kid friendly workbooks that are fun to do, even when they are on "boring" topics such as grammar. Many critical thinking options available that develop spatial and reasoning ability.
2	Evan-Moor	PreK-12	https://www.evan-moor.com/	Various	Easy to do daily/weekly workbook exercise that kids can work on independently. "Daily Word Problems" for math is a great supplement to math drill exercises.
3	Timberdoodle	K-12	https://timberdoodle.com/	Various	Timberdoodle provides great homeschool recommendations by grade level. Many fun and tactile recommendations and customer service is outstanding. Their curriculum kits have 2 tracks: faith-based and non-religious.
4	BookShark	K-12	https://www.bookshark.com	Various	BookShark is a literature-based homeschool curriculum provider. They have great book recommendations and even a step- by-step weekly program that families can follow.
5	Royal Fireworks Press	K-12	https://www.rfwp.com/	Various	They are known for their Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum. The website also provides resources for gifted education and special needs education.
6	The Well-Trained Mind	K-12	https://welltrainedmind.com/	Various	They are known for their history and writing curriculum. The Classical Education homeschool community uses their program.
7	Math Drills	K-12	https://www.math-drills.com/	Math	A trove of worksheets for different math topics for different grades. Good source of daily math practice.
8	Accelerated Reader Bookfinder	K-12	https://www.arbookfind.com/	Language Arts	Useful website to find word count and book level.
9	Lexile and Quantile Tools	K-12	https://hub.lexile.com	Language Arts	Useful website to find lexile score for a book.
Monthly Subscription Box
1	Little Passports	K-6	https://www.littlepassports.com/	Geography, Foreign Cultures, and Science	Everything is in the box. Low to medium parental involvement. Activities are more words and reading driven than hands-on projects.
2	Kiwi Co	All ages	https://www.kiwico.com/	STEM, Arts and Crafts	Great hands-on STEM projects. Many choices for different levels. Everything is in the box. Low to medium parental involvement.
3	MEL Science	Gr 4-8	https://melscience.com/	Chemistry	Great hands-on chemistry project. Need to get items in addition to items provided in the box (usually items around the house). High parental involvement required. It has a VR headset and an online app.
4	Amazon STEM Club	Pre K-8	https://www.amazon.com/STEM-Discovery-Boxes-Monthly-Subscription/dp/B07QYVCWHD/	STEM	Huge convenience because we are all Amazon customers. Easy sign up process and payment is already set up.
Purposeful Media Time
1	OverSimplified	Gr 4-8	YouTube	History	Animated fast-paced videos with kids humor. They made complicated historic events understandable for kids.
2	TED-Ed	Gr 4-12	YouTube	Various	Animated educational videos around 5 minutes long. Wide range of interesting topics, especially for kids.
3	Big History CrashCourse	Gr 6-12	YouTube	History and Social Studies	An ambitious project that integrates science, math and history to journey from the creation to the death of the universe and is based on the Big History Project social studies curriculum.
4	MasterClass	All ages	https://www.masterclass.com	Various	Wide range of topics taught by accomplished individuals in their fields. Every member of the family can find something interesting to learn from MasterClass. Subscription required.