My 10 Best Websites for FREE Homeschool Printables

[photo by tonx]

I'm going to be totally honest, okay? My husband and I have no money. We're on public assistance. Not very conducive to homeschooling, right? Especially when public school is free.

So how do we do it? (Why we do it is another topic entirely.) Well, we spent part of our tax return this year on some curriculum--mostly used, and what we couldn't get used, we bought through Rainbow Resource. We also use the library a lot. But that's only part of what I use to teach The Boy. 

The rest comes from the internet. 

Honestly, I don't know if I'd be able to homeschool if I didn't have internet access. There are so many awesome free resources out there. In fact, when we were doing preschool, all of our materials and ideas came from the internet.

I obviously can't point you to all the free homeschool stuff on the internet. But I want to show you my most-used sites. The Boy really likes worksheets, and he's currently doing schoolwork that's either kindergarten or first-grade level, so this list is biased toward those areas. But a lot of these sites have materials and activities for multiple ages and abilities, and some of them aren't even homeschool sites--they're for educators of all kinds. Awesome, right?

Here they are, full of free resources, with my most-used sites toward the top:

• Education.com--tons of stuff here. I usually go to the "Worksheets" tab or the "Activities" tab, and then do a search or just click on "kindergarten" or "first grade." 
• Lesson Pathways--used to be a paid site, but it's free now. Technically, you can use this site to design a complete curriculum. It doesn't have its own materials; just links to other sites on the web. But it has them organized into different subject "pathways," from K through 5th grade. Again, I usually just do a search for whatever topic I'm looking for.
• Classroom Freebies--SO MUCH STUFF here, from PreK through 12th grade. Put together by classroom teachers, but most of it is adaptable to whatever purpose you want.
• Kids Activities--good for classrooms, homeschool or just family activities. Ranges from PreK to middle school.
• Mr. Printables--if you're going for originality and cuteness, this is the place. They tend toward younger kids. Not a blog, but they seem to update pretty frequently.
• Watch Know Learn--videos! Says for ages 3-18, but they seem to mostly be for older kids. Do a search with the search bar, instead of using the links in the sidebar. I find more interesting stuff that way.
• Homeschool Share--exactly what it sounds like. I don't use this site as often; I tend to forget it's there. But it's full of good printables, especially if you're into lapbooks.
• Homeschool Creations--Jolanthe is pretty much a celebrity in the homeschool blogging world. Her printables are awesome. I really need to use this site more often.
• Confessions of a Homeschooler--another homeschool-blogging rock star. Erica's blog covers all kinds of homeschooling topics; her Teeny-Tiny Tot School ideas are awesome if you have toddlers running around.
• And, last but not least...Pinterest. I'm serious! Just in the last couple weeks, I've used this, this, this, and this. And I'm thinking about doing this. [Note to self: You also have a million homeschool pins that you have not used.]

So, there you have it. Don't forget to enter our Getting Started Giveaway, if you haven't yet. It still has only a few entries, so your chances of winning are very good. And art supplies make really good Christmas gifts for kiddos.