The best homeschool websites for elementary
Sorted by what job you are hiring them for, because "best homeschool website" depends entirely on whether you need a whole curriculum, a reading programme, or twelve minutes of daily practice.
Written and checked September 2026. No affiliate links anywhere on this site — we make nothing if you choose a competitor, which is the only reason a comparison page is worth reading.
If you need a whole curriculum with records
Time4Learning ($39.95/month per student) is the usual answer: graded lessons, automated grading, attendance and a portfolio, which matters in states that ask for one. Go in aware that its Trustpilot rating is 2.2 out of 5 across more than three thousand reviews, mostly about billing. Easy Peasy is free and Christian. Power Homeschool and Acellus are cheaper alternatives worth a look.
If you need reading
A structured, explicit phonics sequence is the thing that matters, and it matters more than any other single choice you make in K–2. Options: Ladderbug (free K–1, $60/yr for six children), Reading Eggs ($99.99/yr, four children), Hooked on Phonics, Nessy for dyslexia, or a boxed Orton-Gillingham programme with a human doing the teaching.
If you need maths
Khan Academy free; Beast Academy for a child who finds maths easy; Math Mammoth or Singapore Dimensions on paper; Ladderbug for the daily fluency-and-review layer underneath whichever you choose.
If you just need daily practice that runs itself
This is the most common real need and the worst-served. You want something short, sequenced, self-placing and finished in a quarter of an hour — not another library to curate. That is precisely what we built: Ladderbug for homeschoolers.
| Product | Cost | Ages | What it is | Pick it when… |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladderbug | Free tier, $60/yr for 6 children, $180 once | 4–11 | Adaptive mastery ladder for phonics and K–5 math. No video, no ads, no account needed. | You want a sequence rather than a library, and you want to see real mastery rather than minutes played. |
| Khan Academy Kids | Genuinely free | 2–8 | Beautifully made, completely free, no ads and no in-app purchases. Backed by a nonprofit. | You want the best free option and you have an iPad or Android tablet. There is no web version, which rules it out on a Chromebook. |
| Teach Your Monster to Read | Web version free | 3–6 | Charming, well-sequenced early phonics from a UK charity. The browser version is free permanently. | Your child is just starting and you want something delightful at no cost. The app moved to a subscription in 2026; the web version did not. |
| Reading Eggs / Mathseeds | $99.99/yr, 4 children | 2–13 | A long, structured reading path with a lot of content and decent reporting. | You want one product to carry reading for several years and you do not mind the price. |
| ABCmouse | $45/yr promo, $14.99/mo, 3 children | 2–8 | The biggest library in the category, across many subjects, heavily gamified. | You want breadth and your child likes the reward economy. Note the FTC settlement over auto-renewal — set a calendar reminder. |
| IXL | $79–$159/yr, +$40/yr per extra child | PreK–12 | The widest standards coverage and the best analytics for a parent who wants data. | Your child is resilient and you want to track standards precisely. Many parents find it relentless. |
| Prodigy Math | Game free; $58.95–$118.95/yr | 6–14 | A genuine RPG with maths bolted into the battles. Children love it. | Motivation is your problem, not instruction. Be aware of the 2021 FTC complaint about in-game upselling to children. |
| Beast Academy | $100/yr +$64.99 per extra child | 6–13 | The most intellectually serious elementary maths available, from Art of Problem Solving. | Your child finds maths easy and is bored. It is a poor fit for a struggling learner. |
| ABCya / Funbrain | Free with ads | 4–12 | Big libraries of quick browser games, free because they are ad-supported. | You want a five-minute filler and you do not mind advertising in front of your child. |
| Epic! | $84.99/yr | 2–12 | A large digital library of real books. | You want reading volume rather than reading instruction. Watch for badge-driven page-flipping. |
| Nessy | Varies | 5–12 | Orton-Gillingham-based, built specifically for dyslexic learners. | You have a diagnosis and want a programme designed around it. |
| Time4Learning | $39.95/mo per student | PreK–12 | A full graded curriculum with automated grading and attendance records. | Your state requires records and you want a single vendor. Its Trustpilot rating is 2.2/5 across 3,000+ reviews, mostly about billing. |
Questions people actually ask
What is the best free homeschool curriculum for elementary?
For a genuinely complete free curriculum, Easy Peasy All-in-One (Christian) or the free tiers of Khan Academy plus a phonics programme (secular). For maths and reading specifically, Khan Academy and Teach Your Monster cost nothing.
How many hours a day should elementary homeschool take?
Far fewer than school. Common guidance for K–2 is one to two hours of focused work, rising to two or three by fifth grade. Screen-based practice should be a small slice of that — ten to twenty minutes.
What is a good secular homeschool option?
Secular choices are thinner than religious ones at the free end. Khan Academy, Beast Academy, Time4Learning and Ladderbug are all secular; Blossom & Root and Torchlight are popular secular boxed curricula.