8 Free Language Arts Curriculum Options for Elementary Homeschool
Are you looking for a good language arts curriculum for your child that won’t break the bank?
There are quite a few homeschool English curriculums out there for you to choose. However, some of them are quite expensive, while others may not fit your child’s learning style.
Keep reading to learn what you need to consider when choosing a language arts curriculum for your homeschooling child, and find out all the details about eight outstanding, free homeschool English curriculums that will make your life much easier without any cost for you.
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Things to Consider When Selecting a Language Arts Curriculum
Finding an online language arts curriculum for your elementary child isn’t an easy task, especially if you’re looking for a free option. There quite a few things to consider before choosing the right homeschool English curriculum for your child.
- Look at the company’s mission or the curriculum’s goal and see if that matches with your own interests
- Analyze if their instructional style fits your child’s own learning style
- Consider the standards the program follows, types of assessments it provides, and additional resources it offers
In the following list, we’re exploring only FREE language arts curricula, so the price isn’t another element you have to consider!
8 Free Language Arts Curriculum
I’ve put together for you this list with the best free English homeschool curriculums for elementary students, with a detailed analysis of what each program offers.
1. Easy Peasy
Easy Peasy provides a complete (not only language arts) and free Christian homeschool curriculum put together by a homeschooling mom. They make it clear from the beginning that Easy Peasy isn’t a school, that there’s no enrollment, and they keep no records. It’s just a free homeschool curriculum, open to anyone who may need materials, resources, or just wants to save some money.
Instructional Style: Independent, online work, with the possibility of ordering offline books. Includes plenty of links to pictures and worksheets, and guides the student step by step foe each lesson.
Standards: As a Christian curriculum, Easy Peasy doesn’t comply with the Common Core Standards. Although, few states require to supplement this curriculum.
Assessments: No tests.
Additional Resources: Daily progress charts, daily accountability sheets, trackers, weekly planners, checklists, worksheets, books, workbooks, reading lists, and a parent guide.
Price: Free, with the possibility of buying extra resources.
2. The Good and the Beautiful
The Good and the Beautiful is another free online homeschool curriculum that offers an all in one approach from a Christian perspective. Their language arts curriculum is pretty complete and it covers from kindergarten to grade 8.
Mission: To teach advanced academics, make homeschooling less overwhelming, and offer affordable resources of the highest quality.
Instructional Style: Each grade full course book comes in a free PDF file. It requires no daily preparation time, focuses on phonics at the lower levels and reading in the higher ones.
Standards: As a Christian curriculum, The Good and the Beautiful doesn’t comply with the Common Core Standards.
Assessments: Placement tests.
Additional Resources: The 2nd grade course includes reading booster cards and the 3rd grade comes with a poetry collection. Other grades include a personal reader, spelling workshops, grammar cards, answer keys, games, and hands-on activities.
Price: Free, with the possibility of buying the physical sets of the books.
3. Core Knowledge
Core Knowledge is a free, secular non-profit organization focused on providing knowledge-based schooling and building strong educational foundations. Their language arts curriculum covers from pre-K to 6th grade and includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking, while building knowledge in literature, history, geography, and science.
Mission: “Work for educational excellence and equity for all children in America’s schools.”
Instructional Style: It focuses on developing skills through decodable stories. Includes a lot of reading, spelling, and handwriting. Another area of the program develops learning through listening, including teacher read-alouds, class discussions, and vocabulary work.
Standards: Aligned to the Common Core Standards.
Assessments: Grades 4 and 5 includ unit assessments.
Additional Resources: Teacher guides, e-books, and printed materials.
Price: Free, with the possibility of buying revised editions.
4. Plain and not so Plain
Plain and not so Plain is one more of the high quality and free Christian homeschool curriculums directed at students from elementary and middle school. Created by homeschooling mom Amy Maryon, the courses are easily downloaded from their website and consist of mostly of bare-bones worksheets with little or none illustrations at all.
Mission: “To help encourage other mothers.”
Instructional Style: Printed PDF with lots of grammar, reading, handwriting, and spelling exercises. For the most part, the PDF files include only text, which means that visual learners may struggle with this instructional style.
Standards: Dependable language arts program not aligned to any standards.
Assessments: No tests.
Additional Resources: Reading comprehension activities, vocabulary words, spelling, spelling cursive, and spelling for left-handed activities.
Price: Free, with the possibility of buying printed books.
5. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a successful non-profit that provides lots of free educational resources for students from all over the world. At their website you find language arts courses for grades 2 to 9, but you can also download the Khan Academy Kids App for pre-K to 1st grade.
Mission: “To provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.”
Instructional Style: Online, self-paced courses which come in topic-based units for integrated reading practice and includes exercises, videos, and vocabulary articles. Fun and attractive for the lower grades, interactive and challenging for the higher grades.
Standards: Aligned to Common Core Standards.
Assessments: No tests.
Additional Resources: Instructional videos, practice exercises, short stories, informational texts, and more.
Price: Free.
6. Under the Home
Under the Home provides a complete, online, and free K-5 curriculum. Inspired by Carlotte Mason’s ideas, this curriculum uses older textbooks that are now in the public domain and other resources, offering a well-balanced, easy-to-use course. The language arts program includes writing, reading, phonics, poetry, and prose sections.
Mission: “To make homeschooling easier for busy families.”
Instructional Style: Traditional teaching approach making use of printed worksheets with lots of reading and writing, without many illustrations. Visual learners would have a hard-time using this course.
Standards: Not aligned to any standards.
Assessments: No tests.
Additional Resources: Lesson guides.
Price: Free.
7. Scott Foresman
Scott Foresman doesn’t offer a language arts course as such, but a grammar and writing curriculum for free. Some parents consider it as the most helpful grammar and writing programs from grades 1 to 6.
Instructional Style: Very straightforward approach with a lot of writing activities and attractive illustrations for children. It provides short, straight-to-the-point explanations and then asks students to apply that knowledge in practice exercises.
Standards: Aligned to Common Core Standards.
Assessments: It includes “review and assess” sections for every unit.
Additional Resources: No extra resources.
Price: Free.
8. Ambleside Online
Ambleside Online is a free, Christian curriculum put together by a group of Christian homeschooling mothers who have tried to provide “as close as a modern approximation as possible to the curriculum designed by Charlotte Mason for her PNEU Schools.”
Goal: “To be true to Charlotte Mason’s high literary standards.”
Instructional Style: It’s a very classic and traditional instructional style based in lots of reading, copywork, and dictation. No vocabulary lists, no handwriting program, and no spelling book.
Standards: Not aligned to any standards.
Assessments: No tests.
Additional Resources: Grammar worksheets, books, booklist, videos, daily and weekly schedules, and blank weekly charts.
Price: Free.
Find the Best Free Language Arts Curriculum for your Child
These are eight complete language arts curriculum which are free of charge and very popular among homeschooling families. Find the one that best fits your child’s learning style and your own views about what you want your child to learn content-wise.
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