Enroll your child in the public school system. They can take online courses at home. Connections Academy partners with school districts across the nation to provide such services as curriculum, textbooks and computers at no charge to public school students taking virtual courses. "Connections Academy is a leader in virtual education for grades K through 12, offering a tuition-free public school in many states and a private academy everywhere," says Connections President and Co-Founder and President Barbara Dreyer.
Search online sources for free faith-based curricula. Ambleside Online provides Charlotte Mason-style (Christian) curriculum without charge. The curriculum Mason developed is still relevant for grades K through 12. Another source of no-cost educational material is textbooks that are in the public domain. The Online Book Page, made available by the University of Pennsylvania, lists over one million free books on the Web, such as classics by Jane Austin or Charlotte Bronte.
Download free curricula tailored to the specific needs of your children. The Successful Homeschooling website lists links to sources that provide educational material on art, geography, history, foreign language, math, music and science. The Incredible Art Department provides art lesson plans for early childhood education through college. Classics for the Kids offers activity sheets, games and lesson plans for music education. Science-Teachers.com makes available materials for upper elementary and middle school sciences teachers. Rainforest Math is a website dedicated to interactive math activities for grades K through 6.
Get free worksheets from the Color Mountain website, including coloring pages with Bible stories. The Learning Page website provides professionally produced lesson plans, books and worksheets, but you must be a member to take advantage of their products. Busy Teachers Café offers resources for grades K through 6 and Donna Young's website contains downloadable materials such graph paper, math games, drill cards as well as links to videos and digital images on topics such as the Monarch butterfly, the Spined Soldier bug and the aphid.
Read the Homeschool FreeStuff newsletter for find CDs, software, interactive games and calendars for free or a nominal fee. Materials include software for the Encyclopedia Britannica, typing instruction and Hispanic Heritage. Other software programs that usually cost between thirty and fifty dollars, such as Rainbow Fish, Pinball Science, can usually be found for free. CDs include math, language arts speed reading and instruction. Science kits on geodes and growing crystals are also available.