Complete online curric that is *affordable*

[cindergretta]

I am in a season of my life where schooling is taking a hit. :( I need an option to keep my dc at home but do their school online. I looked at Time4Learning but I can't afford that. (I need it for 3 children and it would be $50/month.)

 

Outside of using a K12/public school type of thing, are there any options that are free or super cheap to have a 7, 9, and 12 year old do online in lieu of books and workbooks while I struggle through these next few months or even the whole year?

 

Please, I am open to any ideas, suggestions, hints, links, thoughts, opinions... I am really in a bad spot right now. If I could, I would send them to public school, but that really isn't an option. (Two with special needs and one who has nightmares about going to b&m school)

[Myeightkiddies]

Most all-in-one programs are expensive. K12 or other virtual schools associated with your state are free. They may or may not be an option for you based on their requirements.

 

HSBC had eTap listed for 30 percent off recently; however, it has expired. I'm not sure what the regular price is. I believe, when it was on sale, it was approximately $250. It can be used for all the children. It's not cheap, but it's less expensive than a lot.

[MomatHWTK]

I don't know anything about this one, but the price was one of the lower ones I've seen:

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/coupon-corner/?a=homeschoolofamerica-net

 

Also, the individual components of Plato Learning through HSBC aren't too bad.

 

Monarch was offering a subscription based service earlier this year (I think it was a Beta test of some sort) so you might call and see if that is still available.

 

Take a look at Learning.com also. Adaptive Math and Adaptive Science are available for $8 per year. Scary Good Writing was less than that I think.

Edited September 17, 2012 by MomatHWTK

[elegantlion]

ck12.org has some options for math and science that might work for the older two. They are free and you can request answer keys.

[JenninMN]

www.theheadoftheclass.com is free.

http://www.freeworldu.org/static/index.aspx is free.

http://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/portal/ is also free.

[ErinD]

The Old Schoolhouse people have come out with a website this year that has every subject you can think of, pretty much, and is $5.99 per month total no matter how many students you have.

 

We received a membership to review it as part of the Homeschool Review Crew and I find myself on there often,two months after the review. It has daily subjects and weekly and tons of stuff to choose from. We've been really pleased so far.

 

The only place I think it could be a lot better is math, because there's nothing for the lower grades.

[mommyagain]

http://allinonehomeschool.wordpress.com/about/ - completely online and free

 

This might be an option for some of your kids.

 

 

 

I decided to try K12 virtual academy this year because I was so burnt out dealing with special needs and 2 rambunctious preschoolers. I thought it would be less stressful but it is NOT! The sheer number of Teacher's Guides has me overwhelmed at the moment. I struggle getting in the required hours every day and then there are "Class Connects" to make sure I have the 2 olders ready for while keeping the youngers busy. They science is boring, I hate the math..... However, they are very accommodating to the special needs. That's the only thing keeping me with it for the moment. I will not be returning to it next year. But.....there are many people with special needs kids who love it. There are a number of k12 facebook groups for different areas and a special needs group as well.

 

I pray you find something that works for you!

Edited September 18, 2012 by mommyagain

[Joshin]

http://completecurriculum.com is $6 for a year subscription, which gives you access to their entire K-12 curriculum for language arts, social studies, math and science. I used it last year for a little while when we didn't have the finances to buy new materials in a few subjects.

 

It is not congruent to WTM rotations, at all. It is more like a public school curriculum, especially in sciences and social studies/history. I believe it is set to core standards. You can print the text/workbooks or you can give the kids their own logins and they do the work online, your choice.

 

http://lessonpathways.com is another choice. It's completely free.

[cindergretta]

I think she is looking for something that could be independant.

 

For your 7 and 9 year olds' date=' www.theheadoftheclass.com would most likely do for them. You do still have to spend some time with them but it's not too bad. They are weak on content subjects, so letting your kids pick topics and read books would be a good addition to it, some notebooking pages thrown in and you are good to go there.

 

For the 12yo, I would try to get my hands on teaching textbooks for math, you woud only need the disks as long as you don't need pre-alg and up (or you buy the new versions of the pre-alg and up, but I'm guessing you need used and cheap). For language arts, Writing Strands is pretty independant, Easy Grammar can be at that age as well, so can Wordly Wise. Oh and I think there is a site called like grammar101.com or something, that would be independant as well. For the content subjects, I again reccomend books on topics that your kids choose.

 

I would give guidelines for the contect subject books... like you have to pick something about an animal, or you need to pick something about Ancient Mayans, etc.

 

Yes, true story. :) Not that I am going to be hands off and leave them totally on their own or anything, but I really need something that isn't labor intensive for me to sort out, assign, correct...

 

The suggestions here have been awesome and amazing and I am bookmarking them all, even ones I can't use right now. Thank you all so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge. :grouphug: