Best Online Homeschool Classes for Kids aged 3-14
Online homeschool classes are a big part of our week, I just can’t teach everything!
Online homeschool classes are among the various types of homeschool curriculum we incorporate into our weekly routine.
Especially as we head toward middle school. Even math is getting more and more challenging, and with science, I was struggling in elementary grades!
So we have been using online classes and homeschool videos for a long time.
I understand this is more and more popular of course now since the pandemic, so I thought I would share our favorite online homeschool classes.
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What are the best online homeschool classes?
For us, there are 2 companies that stand out the most when it comes to the best free online homeschool curriculum:
- Outschool for live online classes for everything else and social meetups.
- Generation Genius (for math and science)
But for even more carry on reading.
Live online homeschool classes
There are currently very few live online homeschool classes that we recommend. But I wanted to share them as they are a great way for the kids to interact directly with the teacher in real-time.
In fact, my son looks forward to all of them, mainly as it is a change from his mom teaching him!
Outschool
Outschool has our favorite live online homeschool classes (check out our Outschool review.) They offer academic classes, social classes, and fun supplementary classes too.
The tutors are from all over the world, and you can pretty much find any time throughout the day to take a great online class.
From magic tricks to social clubs to learning a foreign language, they have every class you can think of.
Allschool
Allschool has only recently launched in America.
Therefore does not (yet) have as many online classes for kids as Outschool. However, what I really love is the discounts they always have on offer and the frequently added new classes.
Allschool vs Outschool
Despite using both Allschool and Outschool, personally, there is no competition, yet.
- Outschool has significantly more classes. For example, we were looking at supplementing our Shakespeare lessons with live online homeschool classes. Outschool had over 75 (I stopped counting after I got here) and Allschool had 6. Introducing Shakespeare to children can, and should be fun!
- Outschool has more times suitable for UK and USA audiences.
- I prefer the search function with Outschool. Although Allschool has definitely been working on improving theirs.
- As Outschool has been around longer there are more online homeschool reviews on classes and teachers. For us, that is one of the main things we look at before deciding on a class.
- Allschool has more offers than Outschool. For example, they seem to have a permanent 30% off if you sign up. But of course, as they get more popular this will go I am sure.
As you can see Outschool offers the best live online homeschool classes.
Live online math classes for homeschoolers
Mr. D Math is one of our favorite homeschool curriculums. You can either have self-paced or live online math classes.
Starting with pre-algebra through to calculus. This is aimed more towards high school-aged students, but as we are working ahead I wanted to share what we enjoyed in middle school.
Homeschooling online
Although we love live online homeschool classes, we also use many self-paced online courses. These are our absolute favorites:
Generation Genius
For fun math and science, there is no one better than Generation Genius.
My son watched every single one of their science videos in elementary and grade 6.
Check out our Generation Genius review, but I promise you are going to love it as much as we did.
What is even better is, you can try 4 lessons absolutely free, with no credit card required.
Start your free trial today.
BrainPOP
Homeschooling online with BrainPOP is great for kids grades K-8.
With over 1100 topics to search from with graded lessons and interactive videos, there is nothing to not like.
Check it out for yourself with a 2 weeks free trial or check out our honest BrainPOP review.
Adventure Academy & ABCMouse
Adventure Academy is a fantastic and “fun” online curriculum for kids in upper elementary grades. This is not a full homeschool curriculum but it is an excellent supplement.
Kids love it as it feels like they are gaming, moms love it as they are learning.
Check out our Adventure Academy review for more information.
ABCMouse is fantastic for younger students. It is from the creators of Adventure Academy and should be the first “game” preschoolers should have on their Ipads.
Check out our ABCMouse review to find out 12 reasons why you should try it today.
Night Zookeeper
Night Zookeeper is the best writing online “gaming” program we have found for elementary grades.
What’s better is if you go through my link you will get 50% off! (If you are in the UK, go to my Night Zookeeper review and you can get a 52% discount code.)
Advantages and disadvantages of online classes
I have tried to keep this as balanced as possible, as of course there are a few disadvantages of online learning! But, the advantages outweigh them so much.
We have used live online homeschool classes for both elementary classes and now we are in middle school we actually use them even more. As the subjects are getting harder, especially science and math he will take even more online classes.
Carry on reading about the advantages and disadvantages of online classes in our homeschool.
Advantages of Online Classes for Homeschoolers
Flexible Schedule
The main reason we use online classes is the flexibility.
Although we are fairly structured it is helpful to us that we can take online classes whenever we want. Sometimes it may work to start early in the morning, for other subjects later in the afternoon works better.
With online classes, you can take them anytime you want.
Takes Pressure off parents to help
As we homeschool I teach all of the lessons.
This just isn’t workable, all of the time.
The lessons are now getting harder, and sometimes I just don’t have the time. Also, especially with learning a foreign language, unless you speak it at home, it is the only way to learn.
Affordability
Online classes are so much cheaper than you think. Outschool classes can be as low as $8 per class, and MyTutor offers an hour of tutoring for as low as $27.
Suits a Variety of Learning Styles
If you have a visual or audio learner online classes are just perfect. For us though, there are no distractions.
Even though some of the Outschool classes are with other children, which is great, all of his focus is on the screen. I think this is probably why he is so good at video gaming!
Disadvantages of Online Classes
Actually, for us, there are no disadvantages, as we already homeschool.
I wanted to add them though to make it balanced.
Time on the Screen
I take it back, this is a small disadvantage!
If allowed my son would spend ALL his time either playing on his IPAD or Playstation, so the extra time on the screen isn’t ideal. But, as this is educational and the others generally are NOT, we reduce the time on “fun” screen time!
Isolation
This of course is an issue if you are new to homeschooling.
I am not going to lie, it can be isolating. My son is effectively an only child (his siblings are much older and have long flown the nest) so him feeling isolated is an issue.
Actually, the online classes help, and for us actually is an advantage. Especially with Outschool as they offer social groups so they can just talk about their interests. His favorite has been the Star Wars group.
Technology Issues
Of course, I can’t say this isn’t an occasional issue. Now, when I say occasionally I really mean it, we have had hundreds of online classes and only had two issues.
One when we lost power. There is nothing we can do to stop that, well apart from the generator we have recently purchased. And two there was a slight lag in the class, so there was like a five-second delay when someone was talking.
Ability to focus
Some people struggle to focus, now I am really clutching at straws with this one.
We actually find the absolute opposite. But I could see if the online classes were boring, it would be hard to focus. Although that is the same with anything, in person or not.
We have not had one boring live online class so maybe we have been lucky.
If you are looking for online homeschool high school check out what we recommend.
Last Updated on 2 January 2025 by Clare Brown