Homeschool subjects, one by one
For each subject: a way to start, the free things to use, curriculum if you want it and what to do when you aren't an expert.
You can teach any school subject at home without being an expert. The US Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse publishes practice guides for reading, math and writing that say what helps most, and standards groups set goals for science, arts and languages. This page links a start, free resources and curriculum lists for fourteen subjects.
Checked October 29, 2026.
This is a plain-words summary, not legal advice. Laws change: check your state's current law and its education department before you act.
Pick a subject
- Teaching reading at home: a free path and where to startThe order that works, free books at every level, and what to do if you don't remember learning to read yourself.
- Teaching writing at home: a free path and where to startDaily writing time, a simple process, and how to give feedback without red ink everywhere.
- Teaching spelling at home: a free path and where to startWhy sounds come first, how to study a word, and games that make practice short.
- Teaching math at home: a free path and where to startWhat to do when you say you're bad at math, the tools that help, and free practice.
- Teaching science at home: a free path and where to startObservation before vocabulary, kitchen and backyard experiments, and a plan for the later grades.
- Teaching history at home: a free path and where to startStories first, a timeline on the wall, and real sources from the Library of Congress.
- Teaching geography at home: a free path and where to startMaps, places in the news, travel by book and a globe on the table.
- Teaching art at home: a free path and where to startMaking, looking and talking about it, with free coloring pages and a kid art studio.
- Teaching music at home: a free path and where to startSinging, listening, keeping a beat and picking an instrument, without a degree in music.
- PE and movement at home: a free path and where to startDaily active play, family sports and records that count it as PE.
- Teaching typing at home: a free path and where to startWhen to start, what to practice and a free typing course.
- Teaching a foreign language at home: a free path and where to startHow to start when you don't speak it, the five goals of language learning and free ways to hear it.
- Teaching coding at home: a free path and where to startWhere to begin with block coding and logic puzzles, and when to move to a text language.
- Teaching life skills at home: a free path and where to startCooking, money, laundry, first aid and chores as real lessons, with records for the transcript.
Sources
- US Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse: Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (2016, revised 2019) (checked October 29, 2026)
- US Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse: Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics, Intervention in the Elementary Grades (2021) (checked October 29, 2026)
- US Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse: Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers (2012, revised 2018) (checked October 29, 2026)