I bet you didn’t know that you could homeschool for free. Today I’m featuring some of the unique ways your kids can learn math, science, and everything else simply by living everyday life. Continue reading to learn more about homeschool for free ideas based on our normal family lifestyle.

Today I’m going to show you some ways we’re learning in addition to our Time4Learning Homeschool curriculum. I’m going to show you some homeschool for free ideas that we engage in regularly simply by spending quality family time together.

I understand that not every family is like ours. Each family, just as every human being, is different. We all have different morals, values, and beliefs. I’m merely sharing some of the fun ways we enjoy quality family time while learning.

Our family enjoys making everyday life moments into learning lessons.

Yes, this does get me some eye rolls now that the trio is older, but I’ll continue to find new ways to help them learn while we enjoy everyday life together.

How You Can Homeschool for Free

Below you’ll find a list of examples in how my older kids are learning without opening a school book or sitting in a classroom for 7-8 hours a day.

We do use Time4Learning of course, as we need a solid curriculum & portfolio for record-keeping as per the State of NH requirements. Plus we do want to make sure the kids’ are learning the other necessary components of a solid education.

Below is just a few examples of how we add in some hands-on learning and fun for the whole family. These ideas will help you find new ways to spend quality time together and expand your kids’ current education.

The Value of Hard Work

Above you’ll see a photo of my younger two sons who were helping me with mulch one weekend. We don’t own many shovels nor a wheelbarrow, but we had a tarp, a spade shovel, and winter shovel.

During this activity, the boys learned how to use what they have to help with landscaping. They piled the mulch on the tarp and we used teamwork to pull it to the backyard where we placed the mulch for decor.

This project took 3 hours to complete & not one complaint was heard.

This encourages a sense of pride in your yard, all the while teaching the kids about hard work and how it pays to work hard. This also reinforces the concept of teamwork and how working together can get the job done faster.

Raising Caterpillars

Our next homeschool for free idea is to raise some caterpillars. You can purchase a butterfly kit online at a pretty reasonable price. This helps with life science and STEM skills when you opt to homeschool for free.

Our caterpillars are growing quickly and we enjoy watching each stage as we wait for them to go through all of the stages until they spread their wings as beautiful painted lady butterflies.

Egg Science with Griddly Games

We received Griddly Games Just Add Egg for free as a review on my parenting blog. This has been a way to homeschool for free with science and eggs. Above you’ll see our candle we made by blowing out an egg, using the shell for a candle mold, and then melting down wax to form a real candle.

This kit is one of the many kits from Griddly Games Just Add which helps promote a love of science when you opt to homeschool for free.

Working on a Vehicle

I’m pretty blessed to have country living style kids. The boys’ Dad aka my other half has been busy working on the front end of his rig so we can have two vehicles again, and our youngest son helped.

Having your kids work on the vehicles with you is a fabulous way to homeschool for free as they’ll learn the life skills necessary to avoid costly mechanical repairs when possible.

Hamster Maze

We recently created a cardboard hamster maze. The planning, the measuring, and the thought process that went into creating a hamster maze helped work math and critical thinking skills.

During the various steps of working this hamster maze into something that Bear the hamster could go through we had to problem-solve & use math skills to ensure that this maze would be fun, entertaining, and safe for our hamster to try out.

Baking and Cooking in the Kitchen

When my trio was younger they would always be in the kitchen helping me. I was a huge advocate of educating kids on cooking and baking. Even though I’m domestically challenged in the kitchen, I enjoyed trying to get the trio to be independent in the kitchen.

My youngest boy enjoys this homeschool for free idea as he can grab the Jiffy brand blueberry muffin mix and whip up a delicious snack, all on his own. I still deal with preparing the oven and putting the muffins into the oven, but otherwise? He’s got this skill mastered now!

Cooking and baking in the kitchen with kids have many benefits, click here to learn more about the many benefits of baking with kids.

Nature and Outdoor Time

We enjoy getting outdoors as often as possible during the warmer months here in New Hamshire. I took the trio to Lake Gunnison, aka Goshen Ocean, where they enjoyed nature and learned more about the water dam here.

Throwing rocks and calculating how far a rock can go. Learning how to skip rocks, and fishing are all a few ways kids can homeschool for free when you opt to hit a local lake or river as a family.

Playing Games

Bear the hamster wanted to homeschool for free one night as I played UNO with my trio. Playing board games and card games can be a fabulous way to encourage your kids to homeschool for free.

Our current favorite is playing UNO, but we enjoy Monopoly and chess as well. Playing games can help with a variety of skills, including teamwork and critical thinking, or problem-solving as you engage in fun family time together.

Taking Care of Pets

I swear I’ve learned more than I ever thought I could about ferrets and hamsters. Above you’ll see my two furry grandchildren, Floof and Togo the ferrets. They belong to my firstborn kiddo.

The trio enjoys taking care of their pets as a means to learn about responsibility and in turn, we research the hamster and ferret breeds to find out more about their memory skills and other talents and needs which is a super fun way to homeschool for free.

And Then They Graduate

While two of my sons are still attending Time4Learning in grades 6 and 8, my oldest has reached a new milestone … my 2020 High School Graduate!

This kid attended public school into 10th grade and then switched to be a full time at-home online charter school student.

After we opted to homeschool for free using Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (free for NH residents), this kid went ahead and graduated a couple of months early and is now venturing into this new chapter of life as a 17-year-old high school graduate.

As you can see the reward of watching your kids grow up and become their own unique person is so worth all of the ups and downs we go through being their parent. It’s not easy to parent a kid, especially when they reach those preteen and teen years, but the rewards are never-ending.

I hope that I’ve inspired you to look into new ways to homeschool for free. Even if you’re currently remote learning and the kids are heading back to public school next school season, you can always use my homeschool for free ideas to expand your kids’ current school education.

I’ve enjoyed being able to homeschool for free because it has helped the boys open their minds to learning more, and it’s strengthened our family bond. I personally feel the boys are more interested in education now that they’re homeschooled.

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