The Best Online Schools for Your Home Learner

Online schools are becoming a great source of support to the homeschool community. Whether you are new to homeschooling, looking for help in subjects you don’t feel confident in teaching or just need a change, an online school may be a valid option for your learners.

What is an online school? It is basically what it sounds like. A full curriculum with teachers or a computer teaching and testing your child. Some are accredited some are not. If that is something that is important to you then read the fine print carefully – accredited are going to be more expensive because they usually involve actual man hours from a remote teacher.

If you don’t need a full teacher but help in specific courses many of these online schools can be cherry-picked for specific classes. And, as you start moving into educating older children you can look to your local community college for dual course enrollment options.

---

FAQ About the List:

1. Is it exhaustive? No, there are so many options. These listed below are the ones that were most often suggested in various homeschool forums. They are listed in alphabetical order.
2. What about k12 & Connections Academy? Those are not in the spirit of homeschooling as they are really just public school at home. It does not mean they may not be great for your family but they are not on this list.
3. What about for Pre-K and Kindergarten? They don’t really need all this. Play with them, visit the library, read books, go to the park, make a mess. There are a ridiculous number of options for the littles if you feel they need a computer program I would suggest a curated number of apps and a time limit.

---

Abeka Academy

Abeka Academy offers an accredited version and an independent study option with their video homeschooling for Christian home educators with students in K4-12th. Abeka’s program can be customized to mix and match their video homeschooling with using their books and teaching at home. Expect to spend around $1000 per year per student for the accredited version. Abeka has declined to adopt Common Core.

Acellus (a.k.a. Power Homeschool)

Acellus is a complete online homeschool course for Grades K-12. It includes progress reports and keeps records automatically. Registration is rolling and you can begin at any time and a placement exam is included. Pricing options are available by the month or for the year $9.99/ student per month or $99.99/ student per year. There is not a contract and you can cancel anytime. Additionally, there is a common core filter so you can specify your wishes.

As of August 1, 2018 prices are increasing to $25 per month or $250 per year.

Alpha Omega Academy

A fully accredited online Classical Christian Education for K-12. Complete grading and record keeping. Several of the upper courses provide dual credit. Multiple start dates and pricing ranges from $199-299/ student per month (with a yearly discount option). AOA has declined to adopt Common Core.

BJU Press Distance Learning Online

BJU DLO has an online or DVD option. In is designed as an all-in-one Christian homeschool solution for grades K4-12. It is organized to allow the student to move through courses at their own pace. It has complete record keeping and online support. Records are kept and parents can make a transcript from them. It is priced by course and begins at $199 – classes can be purchased individually. Students are given From July to the following December (1.5 years) to complete a course. BJU has declined to adopt Common Core.

The Bridge School

The Bridge School provides educational services to a variety of programs serving unique middle school and high school students and organizations that require additional support or flexible scheduling, including: College Bound, Credit Recovery, Advanced Placement (AP), Athletes, Performers, Home Schooling, International, Gifted & Talented. Prices are between $399-524 per semester, with credit-recovery and credit-by-exam options.

Debra Bell’s Aim Academy

AIM is geared toward 4th-12th grade students with the goal of college prep and taking AP/ CLEP?tests. There are individual courses and complete curriculum in various subjects. The classes are taught by a live instructor and are fully interactive. Price varies by course so expect higher prices because this is not an automated service – there are actual schedules and time commitments. Expect prices to range from $225-700 per class or course.

Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool

It’s FREE! There are other reasons it is popular but if you are starting to homeschool and don’t know where to begin it’s here because it’s complete and free. It is not secular but the Christian parts can be easily skipped. It is for K-12 and you can follow along or cherry pick classes quite easily. EP has declined to adopt Common Core.

Freedom Project Academy

Classical Christian curriculum for grades K-12 – common core free. They follow a yearly schedule and offer live teachers (and access to recordings). Assignments are graded and students tested. Full records and transcripts are offered. Placement tests are given so children are put at the appropriate levels. Full-time students are $2200/ year per student that can be paid over 8 months. Individual class options are available as well. FPA has declined to adopt Common Core.

Kahn Academy

Another popular offering that is completely FREE! Kahn can be used as a complete curriculum or as an individual course offering. There are courses from K-12 (and beyond) in almost any subject you can imagine. You will have to build your own transcript though records are kept so you can track your student’s progress. Common Core aligned.

Next Level Homeschool

Next Level Homeschool is a secular option for a la carte classes geared at learners in the 7-17 year old range. Classes run for a given time period. Course material is uploaded weekly so students can access it on their timetable, as opposed to a designated live time for which they would need to be at a computer. A forum is available for interaction and questions. A grading option is available. A 10% discount is applied for those purchasing $300 or more per semester.

Northstar Academy

“NorthStar Academy (NSA) is an online, fully accredited Christian school that currently offers over 200 courses to students in grades 4 through 12, providing a complete academic and diploma-granting program.”

Outschool

Outschool is a class marketplace. Independent teachers choose their topic and coursework and offer live online classes for students K-12. Prices will vary by course and teacher but are very reasonably priced, some as low as $5 per student.

Texas Christian School

Texas Christian School is unique in that it has a brick and mortar full-time private school in Northwest Houston. It also offers a hybrid-homeschool program. And, they allow enrollment in their middle school and high school sports teams so long as your student is taking at least four courses with them.

The Pearl: A Remote Democratic High School

“The Pearl offers a different framework for approaching education, one which fosters community and embraces inclusion. At The Pearl, students share control of their learning environment. They have a say in the rules, what is studied, and how learning takes place…. a home-school partnership.”

Time4learning

This option is a self-paced online education for PreK-12. It is reasonably priced starting at $19.95 per month per student with a sibling discount. Time4Learning includes automated grading and records keeping, with an online parent support forum.? There is not a diagnostic test but student have access to three levels. T4L says they have not changed their curriculum to align with Common Core.

True North Homeschool Academy

“True North Homeschool Academy is a virtual online learning experience with small class size, dynamic teaching from world-class teachers, with a focus on creating a one-of-a-kind educational experience families will love.”

Varsity Tutors

Free live instruction for all ages. There are many classes available so that you could build your own curriculum. It is all free and all online. For specific test prep or focused tutoring they will connect you with qualified instructors for a fee and offer 100% instructor satisfaction guarantee..

Veritas Press

VP is an online Classical Christian School with a diploma option. It offers both live online classes and self-paced courses. The diploma option is more expensive. Enrollment ranges from $199-549, then $179-649 per course, and, finally, books and materials. Many of the secondary options are also available for dual credit.? Online courses are not available until 3rd grade but before that, the curriculum is available for the parent to teach. VP has declined to adopt Common Core.