What did homeschoolers ever do without the internet? You can easily find a quality homeschool curriculum available online. The problem is it can be very costly, especially for larger families.

Fortunately, if you find yourself homeschooling on a budget, there are more options for low-cost or no-cost courses than ever before. If you’re trying to save money, try these websites that offer free homeschool history curriculums.

How to Find the Right Homeschool History Curriculum

Because history curriculums can be controversial, and needs may vary according to a family’s worldview and individual learning styles, we recommend checking out reviews before choosing resources or courses.

Cathy Duffy Reviews is a great place to find the most comprehensive, objective reviews of hundreds of religious and secular homeschooling classes and curriculums. In her reviews, she describes the curriculum in detail, discusses age level and additional learning needs, and reviews pricing information and purchasing options.

For a headstart on choosing your homeschool history curriculum, you can't go wrong with the following resources.

1. Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool

Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool was originally created by a homeschool mom piecing together free bits of curriculums for her children to use. Quickly, it grew into a comprehensive K-12 homeschool curriculum, and she decided to share it with the world—for free!

If you’re only looking for history, Easy Peasy has got you covered. While the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool site is geared towards younger kids, you can use the Easy Peasy All-in-One High School sister site for older students.

On the elementary site, there are four history courses, presented at two levels of difficulty. Classes include ancient, modern, and early American history, along with geography and culture courses which include the history of people from around the world. The high school site also includes world and American history, as well as a comparative government course.

All the Easy Peasy courses are self-paced, run for 180 days, and are designed for independent learning. Each day, students follow instructions with links to online reading material, printable worksheets, videos, activities, and assignments. Students are prompted to save work for portfolios if necessary, and the curriculum guides students through criteria to self-assess and self-grade their work.

2. Khan Academy

Here, you’ll find a variety of world and US history, government, and civics courses. Khan Academy is known for the way it presents lectures in an animated chalkboard format, however, its history courses include multimedia videos and traditional lectures.

Each course is arranged in units made up of several video lessons. Before your kids watch the videos, they can read guiding questions to help them focus and know what to listen for. Students can also test their knowledge with multiple choice practice questions and unit tests as they progress through the course.

3. Hillsdale College

This liberal arts college offers in-person tuition courses and degrees but has generously made all its online courses available for free.

In the History section, you can choose from several detailed history courses, including classes on American history, Athens and Sparta, World War II, Winston Churchill, and more. Although these courses are college-level, they are still appropriate for high school students as well.

Hillsdale courses include videos with images, maps, media clips, interview-style lectures, and online quizzes. Students can also use the e-learning platform to take notes as they watch, read accompanying reference material, and participate in discussion forums.

4. Digital History

Covering American history homeschool curriculum, from the first Americans to the 21st Century, this website presents information in a digital textbook format. Students can click on a topic or an era to display related text.

Students will do the bulk of their learning by reading, but they can also watch videos, build timelines, view maps, and visit online museums for virtual tours. The curriculum explores many primary resources, such as journal entries, speeches, and newspaper reports. Parents and teachers can also access lesson plans and print worksheets and quizzes.

5. CK-12

Several El Paso, Texas School District history classes, including US history, world history, economics, and government, are available on CK-12 at the high school level. Students can read digital textbooks, view multimedia presentations, and complete assignments.

As a homeschool parent, you can set up a teacher account and assign lessons to students with due dates. You can highlight and comment on the material to guide your students through their courses.

6. TedEd

If you are familiar with Ted Talks, you might have come across TedEd, the related platform aimed at youth and educators. You can search for history video lessons already on the site, or pull in other Ted Talks or YouTube videos to create lessons for your kids.

At the end of each video, students can take quizzes to see what they’ve retained, do further reading on the subject, or join an online discussion about what they watched.

Videos typically run around the five-minute mark, so these are great to supplement other history learning materials. That said, since you can round up videos from other sites, you can easily put together a full course for your child to access from this platform.

7. YouTube

While we are talking about video-based courses, we have to mention YouTube. We’ve all watched too many animal videos on this site, but YouTube can also be an amazing resource for teaching history.

Why not create a playlist to guide your child through a particular history topic? Or, you can check out a channel that has already done the grunt work for you. Crash Course and Horrible Histories are two fun places to start.

Crash Course uses short animated videos to teach high school students about European history, American history, and even art and film history. PBS Learning Media has gathered the Crash Course History videos for you, all in one place.

Horrible Histories, a British television series, has assembled everything gross and goofy about history, and put it into songs and skits to engage younger students. However, teenagers and adults will still find it funny and learn new things too.

Other Experiences to Supplement Your Online History Program

Whichever courses you decide on, remember to supplement them with field trips, when possible. While you can’t always travel to your favorite historical attractions, there are many virtual history field trips that can bring your curriculum to life.

What kid isn’t engaged by educational apps and games? Since smartphones and tablets are so appealing, why not try using history apps as well? Online games can also reinforce your children’s learning at home.

Many Options for Homeschool History

When you are on the hunt for free homeschool history curriculum, you can choose to build your own courses using a variety of sources or select a program that’s already laid out for you. Either way, there are plenty of solutions to explore online.