The Mission ~ Written by Jacque Starr
We have met a lot of home school families where a single Mom is the sole provider and is doing her best to home school her children on a tight budget (meaning many of us cannot imagine how tight). In an effort to help out these Home school Moms, I am making a list of places online where they can find FREE Home school Resources. This will obviously benefit any home school mom, but I see a great need for single moms to have the freedom to home school, regardless of their financial burdens, and I am taking steps to aid them as much as the LORD allows us to.
We have felt this burden for single parent home school moms for the past year, and I feel it is a part of the Body of Christ’s place to make a way and to care for these moms and their children so that they are not forced to put their children into the public’s government school system, where they will be led in humanism, socialism, and all works of evil.
Below is a list of many sites you will find FREE home schooling resources. The best resources we know of are the ones that God freely gives to us, His WORD and our lives as Believers.
The Best Free Resources: The WORD of God and Living Learning Moments
I hope you are blessed with all that you need to teach your children about God and His ways. Honestly, if you want to keep their hearts and allow God to heal them… the best and free resource we have is the Bible.
Here is a beginner list of subjects you can use the Bible for in teaching: You can do reading and writing assignments from it; They will learn history; Culture-Studies; Poetry: the KJV is written almost in prose; You can use it as a copy book; studying it will build character; Critical Thinking, How to defend their faith; Memorizing Scripture not only hones the mind, but renews the Spirit and the mind each time it is brought to our remembrance. How to manage their lives and emotions; How to manage their homes and become kind and considerate citizens; As we seek to follow the LORD as we walk with them and talk with them, as in Deuteronomy 6, teaching them ALL that He has commanded us, He will surely lead us and show us what He has for our children.
We don’t buy a bunch of curriculum either. We prefer to use textbooks and workbooks as complimentary resources for the real learning tools: Living Learning Moments . LLMs are any moments that happen throughout life that teach you a lesson. Because God created us to be thinking creatures, made in His image, this is all of life. Anything that can be used as a life lesson or an example by which to learn is worthy of learning.
We use any free means we can to home school. One wonderful resource that we have is our small farm. Learning to become a responsible, hard-working adult who enjoys taking pride in a job well-done and an attitude befitting a Believer is important for children to learn at an early age. Having our goats, chickens, dogs and cats has enabled us to use the LLMs as character-building times and also as other learning times as well.
Nature Study: A wonderful way to pull children into God’s world is to take a bit of time each day and get out and see His Creation. You can find information on the internet of plants, trees, etc. that are indigenous to your area. Adding sketching and or classifying to their observation is a great way to do nature science and art.
I have found that allowing my children guided freedom to explore their own educational interests has shown me and them what God has for their lives.
Please, above all things, do not forsake the Power of Prayer. Only God can meet our deepest spiritual needs. Only God knows what our true physical and financial needs are. Please commit to pray for these families as they endeavor to walk in the way, teaching their children in the LORD.
Sites with Free Learning Materials (updated by ministerial staff as time permits)
- Ambleside Online “Ambleside Online is a curriculum guide and booklist designed to follow Charlotte Mason’s method of homeschooling. Each year/grade has a list of books to lay out what resources will need to be collected or purchased, and an optional weekly schedule based on a 36-week school year to break the resources into smaller increments to help with pacing the books throughout the year. There is no fee to use the curriculum or website. Parents may use as much or as little of the booklists and schedules as they like. Some families follow it exactly as laid out, most tweak it a little here and there to use books they already have, or because they prefer another resource over the one listed. And some use just the Picture Study, Composer Study, and other similar components.“
- An Old-Fashioned Education is a site that offers links to free curriculum resources as well as a curriculum that Maggie set up herself. Her Old Fashioned Education Curriculum was created using free texts which are available on the Internet. Most of the books were published before 1923, so they are now in the public domain. Most of the original copyrights have expired, and these books may be used by anyone, any way they like. Most of those whose copyrights are still held allow you to download, print or copy their books free for personal use. Most of what is listed on her site is free to you. There are a few exceptions that you can find listed on her site.
- Easy Peasy Homeschool Curriculum – complete, free, Christian program
- Little House Kindergarten – pay what you can, complete curriculum
- My Audio School – free audio books
- Catechism for Young Children
- A Charlotte Mason Bible Study Lesson – many links to free resources in this well-written article
- Charlotte Mason Simple Languages – Spanish Bible Cards with audio links
- Growing in Grace – beautiful, free home learning planner to print
- Trello – free online/app planning tool that can be utilized for home learning! Here is a sample of how it can be set up, please read the instructions if you choose to utilize the cards!
- Wonder & Wildness – cultivating habits is one of the first free help in smoother days in any home! Read through this introduction article and there are links galore – including to the author’s collection of games and resources to cultivate a variety of habits in our own lives and our children’s lives.
- Handwriting Worksheet Wizard
- Queensland Italic Handwriting Program – there is a lot of free resources at this link
- Mathemathics Enhancement Program – this is a complete K-12 maths program (through the UK, so measurements are in metric, not an insurmountable issue) that is completely free. It includes teacher guides, student workbooks, printable manipulatives, and more.
- Mike’s Math Page – a lot of great, free prompts to think mathematically with our children
- Play, Discover, Learn – free 12 week study using Gattengo’s first maths book and Cuisenaire rods
- Natural Math – a wealth of resources, including free math story books, games, and courses
- Using Map Drills for Geography
- Mapwork Discussion Group – this is a facebook group that offers a wealth of free resources in their files section
- A Year With My Camera – a free online photography course
- Sing Solfa – free singing training program
- Under The Home – free art history books
- A Humble Place – free picture study resources
- Homeschool Giveaways – regular freebies