The Alpha Omega Homeschool Academy offers two different curriculum choices for students: one that is print-based, graded by the student's parent based on an answer key and sent back to the Academy by mail, and one that is computer-based. Assignments are graded instantly and results are sent to a student's assigned Academy teacher. With either curriculum, parents are provided with planning tools, educational resources and report cards for each homeschooled child. Unlike some more flexible high school homeschool programs, though, Alpha Omega Academy requires 180 school days for its students.
The Sonlight curriculum avoids the use of traditional educational textbooks, instead forming a curriculum based on literature from many genres, including historical fiction and classic literature. An instruction guide is provided for parents that includes daily structured lesson plans, background notes, narration questions, comprehension questions, vocabulary-building exercises and classroom activities. While the provided lesson plans can be modified by parents, the program does require a lot of reading and studying on the part of the student.
Online homeschool programs are recommended for older students, such as those in high school, who want the freedom to work independently on their assignments. For those students who require or desire more personal interaction than online curriculum can offer, online homeschool programs may still be beneficial when it comes to high school math or science classes that some homeschooling parents may feel ill-equipped to teach. Some online programs allow homeschool students to enroll in just one or two courses and still do the bulk of their learning with more traditional curriculum programs.