SchoolhouseTeachers.com

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is the flat-fee membership library published by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, offering a single family price for access to 400+ self-paced courses across PreK-12. The editorial stake: membership libraries are a different economic animal than single-publisher curricula, and the value proposition is real but contingent.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Online academy / eclectic / self-paced library
Worldview	Christian-evangelical (broadly evangelical, statement of faith affirms Trinitarian orthodoxy)
Grades	PreK-12
Formats	Digital (video, PDF lesson plans, printables, text)
Cost tier	Budget (per-family, not per-child)
Parent intensity	2 (largely self-directed once a plan is chosen)
ESA-common	Yes (accepted on multiple state marketplaces)
Accredited	No (the platform is a library, not an accredited school)
Established	2012 (parent magazine founded 2001)
Website	schoolhouseteachers.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Wide range; best courses are strong, weakest courses are thin, rigor varies by author
Ease of teaching	4	Self-paced video with lesson plans reduces parent presentation to near-zero
Content quality	3	Uneven across 400+ courses authored by different contributors
Flexibility	5	Mix and match at will; no scope-and-sequence lock-in
Value for money	5	One family fee covers unlimited children across all grades
Worldview scope	2	Christian-evangelical framing throughout; Bible references in most subject paths
Visual/design	3	Functional portal; not polished, not broken
Support resources	4	Applecore recordkeeping, scope-and-sequence planner, World Book Online included

Who the publisher is

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is the curriculum platform of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, a homeschool media company founded by Paul and Gena Suarez in 2001. The magazine began as a sixteen-page black-and-white newsletter in 2001 and, per the publisher's About page, grew to a quarterly print format before ending its print edition in January 2026 to continue digitally. The curriculum site launched in 2012 at $5.95 per month and has since scaled to 400+ courses and roughly 25,000 instructional videos, all accessible under one family membership.

The organizational structure is worth knowing. The Suarez family operates the commercial magazine and curriculum platform; a separate nonprofit arm, The Pastor Plan, Inc. (PPi), partners with churches to establish pastor-led homeschool co-ops under the Schoolhouses name. The curriculum library and the nonprofit share a worldview and some personnel but are distinct legal entities. For a homeschool family, the relevant unit is SchoolhouseTeachers.com itself, a members-only library.

The theological positioning is Christian-evangelical and upfront. The About page affirms Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit as God, a standard Trinitarian confession. Scripture references appear in many courses, and several tracks (Bible study, biblical archaeology) are explicitly devotional. Science courses on the platform generally present a young-earth framework, though the breadth of contributors means families will find some courses more overtly doctrinal than others. There is no denominational subscription beyond broadly evangelical orthodoxy; Baptist, non-denominational, Reformed, and charismatic families all appear in the member base based on publisher-reported testimonials.

The core pedagogy

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is not a curriculum in the sense that Abeka or Sonlight is a curriculum. It is a library. A family joins, logs in, and chooses from among hundreds of courses written by different contributors, with different pedagogical assumptions, different production values, and different levels of intensity. The closest analog outside homeschooling is Masterclass or LinkedIn Learning, with the meaningful difference that SchoolhouseTeachers is structured by grade level and includes printable lesson plans, worksheets, and quizzes.

The platform provides scaffolding to help families assemble a full year from the library. The Virtual School Box tool offers grade-level course bundles for PreK through twelfth grade, effectively pre-selecting a core curriculum from the broader catalog. Families who prefer to build their own plan use the scope-and-sequence planner and the Applecore recordkeeping system (included with the Gold tier membership) to track completion. World Book Online is bundled in as a reference.

Signature mechanics: (1) Flat family fee, unlimited children. One annual membership covers every child in the household regardless of grade, which materially changes the economics for families with three or more students. (2) Self-paced video. Most courses are pre-recorded; a student watches, completes printable worksheets, and submits work back to the parent. There is no live instruction. (3) Author-driven variety. Courses are written and filmed by different contributing educators, so production quality, pacing, and pedagogical approach vary significantly from course to course. (4) No accreditation, no transcripts. The platform is a resource, not a school. Families granting their own transcripts can use course certificates as supporting documentation, but SchoolhouseTeachers itself does not issue diplomas.

Grade-level differences matter. PreK through fifth grade on the platform leans toward printable phonics, basic math, and Bible stories, serviceable but rarely the strongest option available in those categories. The sweet spot of the library is middle school and early high school, where electives (biblical archaeology, forensic science, logic, American Sign Language, graphic design, sewing) are abundant and where families often struggle to find affordable single-subject options elsewhere. High school core courses (Algebra II, Biology, American Literature) exist but are generally considered supporting materials rather than a complete transcript-worthy path; families planning on competitive college admissions frequently pair SchoolhouseTeachers with an accredited provider for core credits.

A day in the life

A seventh-grader using SchoolhouseTeachers as a primary curriculum might start the morning at 8:30 with math (a pre-recorded video lesson, ~20 minutes, followed by a printable worksheet the parent checks). Then a Bible course (~15 minutes of video plus a short reading). Next, a language arts track, the student watches a writing instruction video, completes a writing prompt, and self-scores against a rubric the parent reviews weekly. After a break: a science video (general science or an elective like forensic science), followed by history from one of the platform's American or world history course sequences. After lunch, the student picks an elective, sign language, art, music appreciation, computer programming. Most days run three and a half to four hours of direct instruction, with the parent checking work rather than presenting it.

A high-school junior using the platform for electives only runs a simpler pattern: core coursework from an accredited provider (say, dual-enrollment or a separate online school), with SchoolhouseTeachers filling a personal finance course, a driver's education primer, a cooking or home-economics elective, and perhaps an art history track. In this use case, which appears to be the most common among experienced homeschool families, the platform functions as an inexpensive elective bank, and the $389 annual fee is competitive against buying individual electives separately.

What they do exceptionally well

Price for multi-child families. One membership covers every child in a household regardless of number or grade. A family with four students in four different grades pays the same $389 per the publisher's pricing page as of April 2026 as a family with one student. The per-child economics are difficult to match at any other tier of homeschool publishing. Families with five or six students cross into territory where SchoolhouseTeachers is simply the cheapest serious option in the market.

Electives and enrichment breadth. The library's strongest suit is the secondary elective catalog. Forensic science, biblical archaeology, American Sign Language, logic, entrepreneurship, graphic design, sewing, cooking, and personal finance all exist on the platform as full video courses with lesson plans. Families who would otherwise buy four or five single-elective products at $50 to $150 each find the membership pays for itself on electives alone.

Planning and recordkeeping tools. The Applecore Gold recordkeeping system bundled at the annual tier is a legitimate homeschool recordkeeping product sold elsewhere as a standalone subscription. World Book Online (the encyclopedia and reference platform) is similarly included. These two bundled benefits represent real dollars of value before any course is watched.

What they do poorly

Quality variance. A library of 400+ courses written by different contributors will have ranges. Some courses are produced to a high visual and pedagogical standard; others are essentially a single instructor reading through a slide deck. Families expecting the production polish of Abeka Academy or the curricular tightness of a single-publisher program will find SchoolhouseTeachers uneven in ways that require parent evaluation before committing a child to a full year of a given course.

Core high school rigor. The middle school and elective catalogs are the platform's strength; the high school core is its weakest band. Algebra II, chemistry, physics, and honors-level literature on the platform do not generally match what a family would find at Veritas Press, Mr. D Math, or a dual-enrollment community college course. Families aiming at selective college admissions typically use SchoolhouseTeachers as a supplement, not a spine.

Pacing discipline. Self-paced video with no live instructor, no accountability deadlines, and no external grading is liberating for self-motivated students and a trap for others. A seventh-grader who does not naturally pace themselves can finish the year having watched a great deal of video and completed relatively little writing, math practice, or lab work. The platform provides planning tools; it does not enforce them.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick SchoolhouseTeachers.com if: you have three or more children across different grades; you want a Christian-evangelical library rather than a single publisher; you need electives more than core; you have a self-directed learner who responds well to video; you want the lowest per-child annual fee in the Christian homeschool market.

• Skip SchoolhouseTeachers.com if: you have one student and want a tightly integrated single-publisher curriculum; your student is heading toward selective college admissions and needs accredited transcripts; you are secular, Catholic, or denominationally specific and want materials without evangelical framing; your student struggles to self-pace without external accountability; you want consistent production quality across every subject.

Cost honest assessment

Annual membership is $389 per the publisher's pricing page as of April 2026, with a quarterly option at $119 per quarter (currently discounted from $129) and a one-time lifetime option at $1,850. A Bright Beginnings Bundle at $399 for the first year includes a magazine back-issue set, a tote, and a homeschooling primer, then auto-renews at the standard annual rate.

Compared to The Good and the Beautiful (roughly $200-$400 for a single-grade core), Abeka ($700-$2,000 per grade depending on video use), and Sonlight ($800-$1,200 per core package), SchoolhouseTeachers occupies a distinct position because its pricing does not scale with child count. A one-child family pays more per child than The Good and the Beautiful; a five-child family pays dramatically less per child than any single-publisher option. The break-even against Abeka or Sonlight is roughly two to three children. Against single-subject electives from publishers like Master Books or Memoria Press (typically $40-$120 per elective), a family buying three or more electives a year reaches break-even on membership fees alone.

A realistic all-in annual budget for a family of three students using SchoolhouseTeachers as a primary curriculum is approximately $389 in membership plus perhaps $200-$400 in supplemental materials (math manipulatives, physical books for literature, science lab supplies), for a total of $600-$800 per year across all three children. That is below almost every single-publisher option in the Christian homeschool market.

ESA eligibility notes

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is accepted on multiple state ESA marketplaces where Christian curricula and digital subscriptions are permitted, including Arizona's ClassWallet and Florida's Step Up For Students pathways. The membership model presents a structural wrinkle for ESAs: most state programs reimburse per-child purchases, and SchoolhouseTeachers is a per-family subscription, so some states require families to submit the membership fee as a single-line purchase attributed to the primary student. ESA-funded families should verify eligibility within their specific state marketplace, as some states restrict subscription-based products and some restrict materials from religious publishers. The publisher's customer service line (1.888.718.4663) handles ESA order questions directly.

Alternatives

• Masterbooks Academy, a family would pick Masterbooks over SchoolhouseTeachers for a tighter, more consistent young-earth creationist package with the Master Books publishing catalog integrated into course sequences.
• BJU Press Homeschool, a family would pick BJU for a more integrated Christian K-12 curriculum with video instruction from a single publisher, in exchange for per-child (not per-family) pricing.
• Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool, a family would pick Easy Peasy for a completely free Christian online curriculum library at the cost of less polished production and no recordkeeping tools.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed SchoolhouseTeachers.com's published pricing page, About Us page, and course library sample pages in April 2026. We cross-referenced against The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's own corporate history page, the founders' publicly available biographies, and Cathy Duffy Reviews' general publisher directory. Prices and program details verified April 2026.