Big Fat List of Online & Digital Curriculum

Last month, my husband and I welcomed some friends for the weekend. They are a family of seven who had traveled over 8,000 miles to visit us and others for the next few months while here in the states. Up until their arrival, we'd never actually met them before in real life. We'd only ever connected with them online

They are missionaries in a "closed" country spreading the gospel to those who have never heard. A year or so ago, my family (along with one other family from our church) began sending them emails, small gifts, financial support, and prayer.


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When they were here, I was chatting with the mom about her homeschooling efforts. Living in a foreign nation all the way on the other side of the world has its challenges, to be sure. The language barriers alone could leave anyone feeling isolated and emotionally impoverished. But in addition to all the regular cross-cultural struggles, she bears the weight of trying to homeschool in a country that disdains it. Most days, she nurtures chaos just trying to do the best she can with the limited resources available to her.

It's impossible for her to find any suitable English language-based curriculums abroad, and airmail prices make shipping books from the states out of her budget. Because it tends to be a no-fuss, gentler approach to learning, she incorporates many of Charlotte Mason's educational methods, snatching up free or cheap digital ebooks whenever she can. She squirrels these away on digital devices in order to use and reuse them with each of her kids. And yet, there are still many gaps -- many subjects and topics she'd love to be able to cover and can't...

OR CAN SHE?

After she and her family left, I began compiling a list of all the possibilities worth looking into. I pulled at every thread of potential, noting all online curriculums, eClasses, and video courses -- any and every resource that I could think of that would help to lighten her load.

The digital age has gifted missionaries, like our friends, with a feast of possibilities. Never has there been such a smorgasbord of alternative learning.

And while all of these online offerings will work for ANY homeschool situation, they seem especially helpful for folks far from home...foreign missionaries, military families, and roadschoolers.

(This is an ongoing list that I will continue to compile. If you have a curriculum or resource suggestion that you think should be included, please leave it in the comments section and I'll add to the list. Please note: I don't have experience with all of these and cannot review them each to their fullest.)

Complete (or almost complete) Curriculum

Ambleside Online- lesson plans and links to public domain digital books
BJU Press- online video lessons and eTextbooks
Bright Ideas Press- most of their materials are available in pdf
Confessions of a Homeschooler- complete preschool curriculum
Discovery K12- online secular school
Easy Peasy All-in-One-Homeschool
Enlightium Academy- online Christian school
Liberty University Online Academy- online Christian school
Logos School- online Christian school with a classical model
Monarch from AOP- complete digital curriculum
Schoolhouse Teachers.com- online Christian classes
Switched-On Schoolhouse from AOP- complete digital curriculum

Bible

Apologetics Press- mostly for older students/high schoolers
Grapevine Bible Studies- mostly for younger students/elementary aged kids
The Bible Road Trip
Veritas Press
World Video Bible School

Language Arts

Brave Writer- online writing courses and digital downloads
Grammar Galaxy
Reading Eggs- online, phonics-based reading program
Reading Horizons- online, Orton-Gillingham based reading program especially designed for dyslexic/struggling readers
The Good and The Beautiful- the elementary lessons are all free to download

Math

Math Mammoth
Teaching Textbooks- available in online and CD format

History

Story of the World- available in pdf and mp3

The Mystery of History
Veritas Press

Science

Bright Ideas Press- many of their materials are available in pdf
The Lab Bench- downloadable lesson plans

Elemental Science

Unit Studies for Various Content Subjects

Amanda Bennett Unit Studies- history, science, geography, and art
Confessions of a Homeschooler- geography, composer studies, artist studies, literature guides
Currclick- individual unit studies and video lessons for a variety of topics and age levels
Homeschool Buyer's Co-op- purchase pdf books or online classes from various curriculum companies at bulk-rate prices
Techie Homeschool Mom- artist study, history, science

Living Books for All Subjects

Amazon- eBooks (You don't have to have a Kindle to read Kindle books. Just download the FREE Kindle app to any device.)
Audible- audio books (You don't have to be an Audible member to purchase and listen to audio books. Just download the FREE Audible app to any device.)
Librivox- free public domain eBooks and audio books
Old Fashioned Education- links to digital versions of public domain books

Extra Curriculars

Alisha Gratehouse Mixed-Media Art Classes
Chalk Pastels
Notebooking Pages- download themed notebooking pages for all subjects
Typing.com