General-Subject Materials
Note: I don’t repeat this content in subsequent sections.
Core Knowledge has an extraordinary number of resources, many available as free pdf downloads, covering basic reading and writing, language arts, history, math, and science.
Also, E. D. Hirsch, Jr., who is behind Core Knowledge, edited a set of books What Your [First] Grader Needs to Know, from preschool to sixth grade. These are excellent general readers. We also quite like the SRA Imagine It! readers, which available for the same grades. The books cover many of the same topics but usually using different materials. Often my wife reads from these books with our child before bedtime.
For younger kids (ages 2–7) the Khan Academy Kids app is excellent (and free).
For older kids (up through college), Khan Academy online offers a multitude of no-cost lessons in math, science, language arts, and economics.
Hopscotch offers short educational videos for young children.
Brain Quest offers fun and cheap workbooks for preK–6 covering the basics.
For more-advanced students, Open Culture lists 1,500 Free Online Courses from Top Universities.
Toddlers
My child absolutely loved Daniel Tiger up until the age of around five. It’s great for life-lessons about making friends, dealing with siblings, going potty, and much more.
Blippi, although silly, really does offer some educational content in his popular videos.
Reading and Writing
We had good success going through The Reading Lesson (Levin and Langton) to cover basic phonics.
I like Bob Books well enough for beginning readers. Bob Books also has several apps to teach reading.
Although I haven’t purchased any Flyleaf books (they’re fairly expensive), some people really like them. One really cool thing is that Flyleaf puts a number of its books online.
My five-year-old liked the ReadwithPhonics.com app, which has in-app purchases.
Writing and Composition
CrashCourse on YouTube has playlists on Composition and Linguistics.
Brandon Sanderson put his college lectures about writing science-fiction and fantasy on YouTube; here is the first one.
Literature
Core Knowledge sells a set of 15 books as its Classics Collection.
Project Gutenberg offers over 60,000 free out-of-copyright ebooks, including many books popular among younger readers (as I’ve listed).
At Read with Me, teacher Lisa VanDamme takes readers through various great works of literature.
VanDamme Academy offers a great reading list by grade level.
Math: Core Materials
I really like Dimensions Math.
DragonBox Math Apps are excellent for developing basic math skills. I love these, and so does my child.
MooMooMath and Science has videos on math.
CrashCourse on YouTube has playlists on Algebra and Data Literacy.
Trefor Bazett offers online lessons in advanced mathematics.
Math: Lesson Ideas
Fraction wheels for learning basic fractions.
Wooden cubes for learning counting and math functions up through exponents.
Wooden or foam blocks with singles, links of 10, squares of 100, and blocks of 1000.
Triangles cut from foam sheets.
Magformer and other magnetic blocks for spacial reasoning.
Science: Core Materials
There are lots of good short books (including from Core Knowledge) on specific topics.
Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding is a long three-volume series written for adults who are teaching science to kids. It’s thorough although not the easiest to implement.
There are lots of science kits covering specific areas. I’ve found some especially good ones on magnetism.
Science: Free Videos
Deep Look: Although these science videos (YouTube) are aimed at adults, my child loved them starting age 4.
It’s Okay to Be Smart: Science videos (YouTube).
Mystery Doug: Science videos aimed at children (YouTube).
National Geographic Kids has a great YouTube channel.
BBC offers Earth Unplugged.
Physics Girl: Not really core education but perhaps interesting.
Science Max is fun.
Professor Dave Explains; for example, I really like his video on plant tropisms.
Raising Da Vinci has a set of videos for simple science experiments you can do at home.
In addition to hosting an interactive online game, Adventure Academy has videos on science and math on Youtube.
Project Ianos offers videos about space exploration.
I haven’t watched much Smarter Every Day but some people love it.
Mark Rober discusses quirky science and engineering.
TedEd has a large number of videos on natural and social science. It even as a sequence on coding and logic puzzles.
BBC Ideas has several playlists pertaining to science.
Primitive Technology has some really interesting videos about making stuff (such as charcoal and a drill) with minimal technology.
MooMooMath and Science has a large number of short videos.
StoneAgeMan (Untamed Science) has some good science videos.
CrashCourse on YouTube has playlists on Chemistry and Organic Chemistry.
The Brain Scoop has videos on animals, geology, and more.
NASAJPL features educational videos about space; NASA also runs a STEM playlist and has tons of other videos on its main YouTube page.
Bright Side on YouTube has many videos, some of which are about science and some of which are appropriate for children. It has nice videos about (among other things) the nervous system, skin, lungs, heart, eyes, brain, digestive system, body (general), body (mysteries), and assorted anatomy facts.
Kurgesagt has scores of videos on science; but note that some of them are politically fraught and aimed at more-advanced audiences.
Science: For-Fee Videos
Generation Genius: Science videos for kids. (I regard these as excellent.)
Mystery Science: Video-based “open-and-go lessons on science for levels K–5.” Some content is free. Homeschooling subscriptions are available.
XPloration DIY Science with Steve Spangler: These videos are available through Amazon Prime. Spangler also has some videos on YouTube.
Emily Calendrelli‘s “Emily’s Wonder Lab” runs on Netflix.
Wild Kratts combines science education with entertainment. Some episodes are available for free online.
Odd Squad, on PBS Kids, is about a group of kids who “use math to investigate strange occurrences in their town.”
History
I really love the Curiosity Chronicles history books. Some people prefer History Quest.
Core Knowledge offers many history books for free as pdf downloads.
PBS makes available various videos from Ken Burns.
Oversimplified on Youtube has videos covering the American Revolution, the Civil War, the World Wars, and other eras.
CrashCourse on YouTube has history playlists on European history, Big History, and Big History 2.
David Halahmy has “History for the Ages” videos.
Social Studies
Kids in Other Countries features videos, dubbed in English, of children living in various places around the world. The stories presented are not representative, and the creator of the videos, Arnold Hansen, definitely has a (benign) agenda. Still, I think the videos can offer children a window into the lives of others living in very different circumstances.
Economics
Leonard E. Read’s classic story I, Pencil illustrates the complexity of our division-of-labor world. The essay is available in various formats, including pdf. See also a short video based on the story.
Marginal Revolution University offers many excellent video series on various economic topics.
Economist Tyler Cowen runs a great podcast (partly about economics. So does economist Russ Roberts.
Games (Online)
Cash Out offers practice in making change.
Games (Non-Digital)
Battleship teaches strategy and coordinates.
Yahtzee involves some basic math.
Tang Math has out some interesting card games that focus on basic addition and multiplication; each of two sets offers three games.
Podcasts for Kids
Solve It! for Kids: Interviews with experts on scientific answers and solutions.
The History of Chemistry—can get pretty technical
Podcasts for Parents
Passionate Homeschooler discusses homeschooling and interviews homeschoolers.
Schooled 2.0: Kevin Currie-Knight, a professor of education who specializes in self-directed learning, interviews experts in the field.
Learning by Living: “Gina Riley and Kevin Currie-Knight talk to unschoolers, homeschoolers, world-schoolers, staff at alternative schools, etc.”