The Homeschool Curriculum Price Index, 2026-27 Edition

How to read this index

Two kinds of numbers circulate about homeschool cost, and they answer different questions. Survey figures report what families say they spend, averaged across everything from library-only years to full boxed programs; Every Homeschool’s guide to homeschool costs covers those. This report answers the other question: what the catalog actually charges, today, for a specific year of school built from named programs.

The method is a price index in the ordinary sense. Four baskets, each a plausible year for one student, each filled with named programs at the prices their publishers or established retailers displayed when checked. Every price below carries the month it was retrieved. Basket totals are this publication’s own arithmetic from those component prices, computed August 2026, not quoted package prices. Where a publisher’s own store could not be checked directly, the retailer used is named. Where a figure could not be verified, it is marked as unverified rather than presented as settled.

One thing this edition cannot do is measure a year of change, because it is the first edition. That limitation is discussed in the price signals section, along with the within-year movements that are already documented.

Basket 1: the cheapest viable kindergarten

The floor for a real kindergarten year is low, because the largest line item can be free. The Good and the Beautiful distributes its language arts course PDFs at no charge, including the kindergarten level (publisher page, retrieved July 2026). Math and handwriting from the same publisher are paid but inexpensive. The basket:

Swapping the free PDF for the printed Level K Language Arts Course Set at approximately $69.97 (retrieved August 2026) produces an all-print variant of roughly $136, again this publication’s arithmetic, with no home printing. Free supplements extend the year at no cost: Khan Academy Kids for early academics (free, nonprofit model), Hoffman Academy’s free piano video lessons (Premium runs roughly $20–$24 monthly or $239 a year, retrieved August 2026; verify directly), and Duolingo’s free base tier (Super Duolingo $12.99 monthly or $83.99 a year, retrieved August 2026).

For scale above the floor: Master Books’ BASIC 4-Subject Set, the cheapest complete grade-in-a-box in this publication’s review set, starts around $151 at kindergarten (retrieved July 2026). My Father’s World kindergarten lists at $294.63, on sale at $265.17 (retrieved July 2026). Sonlight’s kindergarten All-Subjects Package, the premium pole, is $1,019.90 against a $1,274.87 retail figure (retrieved July 2026). The premium box costs about fifteen times the budget floor.

One budget pairing that circulates needs a caution. A Master Books Simply K core book at approximately $36 (unverified as of August 2026; confirm on the publisher page) plus Math-U-See Primer materials can stay under $200 only on the workbook-and-manual route: the Primer Student Workbook is $40.00 and the Instruction Manual $28.80, but the full Primer Set is $205.63, which breaks the under-$200 figure by itself (Demme Learning store, retrieved August 2026). The Integer Block Kit within that set, $81.90, is a one-time purchase reused through upper levels, which changes the math for a second child.

Basket 2: a typical first grade, built eclectic

First grade is where this index shifts to an eclectic, subject-by-subject build. The basket names one defensible program per subject; alternatives follow the table.

Two data notes on this basket. The All About Spelling Level 1 price is a discrepancy against this publication’s older records, which carried it near $50; the August 2026 publisher page shows $64.95, most likely a 2026 increase (re-verify on the page). And the Story of the World figures come from Christianbook because Well-Trained Mind Press blocks automated retrieval; the older revised-edition softcover text is still listed there at $12.15 against a $19.95 retail (retrieved August 2026).

The comparison that gives this basket meaning is the boxed equivalent. An Abeka Grade 1 Child Kit lists between $473.85 and $1,214.70 depending on binding, handwriting style, and bundled parent materials (retrieved August 2026), and the separate Parent Kit runs $390.60 to $665.65 (retrieved August 2026). Bought together, the boxed route moves toward $900 and beyond. The eclectic basket covers the same subjects for roughly $50 under the cheapest Child Kit configuration alone, and for less than half of the combined child-and-parent route.

Cheaper substitutions exist at nearly every line. JUMP Math’s two student books per grade total roughly $34 a year with free teacher resources ($17 each, retrieved August 2026). Miquon covers grades 1–3 for roughly $60–$120 across six books plus a one-time Cuisenaire rod set at $13–$60 (retrieved August 2026). Dimensions Math student books are $14.50 each, about $58 for a grade’s four books before teacher guides, with full bundles near $123–$190 (retrieved July 2026). Families wanting a secular history spine can substitute History Quest: Early Times at $36.99, positioned by its publisher as the secular Story-of-the-World alternative (retrieved August 2026).

Basket 3: a typical fifth grade

By fifth grade the cost centers in this basket shift: the reading-instruction line is gone, a writing program enters, and video-taught writing is the single most expensive line in the basket.

The writing line deserves a second look, because it is elastic. A parent already trained in the IEW method can buy the bare student packet for $29 (retrieved July 2026), which drops the basket to roughly $366, our arithmetic. The parent training itself, Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, is $189 for forever-streaming access with the workbook, a one-time household purchase rather than a per-child cost (retrieved July 2026). Essentials in Writing prices by level; Level 7 is $99 digital or $119 with print (retrieved August 2026; check the Level 5 page for a fifth-grade figure).

The boxed and video comparisons run far above this basket. A full fifth-grade year of Abeka Academy video instruction is $1,399 (retrieved August 2026), more than double the named-program total. BJU Press’s adjacent grade 4 runs from $534.15 for the student textbook kit to $1,209 with DVDs, with online video kits at $979 to $1,149 (retrieved August 2026).

Alternatives by line: Teaching Textbooks runs $48.95 to $83.95 per level for a twelve-month enrollment (retrieved July 2026), and its Family Plan caps four to eight students at $239.95 a year (retrieved July 2026), which flips the per-student economics at three or more children. Memoria Press’s Famous Men of Greece and Famous Men of Rome sets are $109.40 each (retrieved August 2026) for families on a classical sequence. Master Books’ Math Lessons for a Living Education holds a budget line at $39.19 per book through sixth grade (list $48.99, retrieved July 2026).

Basket 4: ninth grade, college-prep

High school changes the buying problem. The five-subject core has to survive a transcript audit, labs and language credits enter, and exam fees become a real line. The core basket:

The Notgrass figure comes from Christianbook because the publisher’s own shop refuses automated retrieval; it sits inside the $99–$129 range this publication has recorded from third-party sellers. Two swaps pull the core under $700: Memoria Press First Form Latin Basic Set at $77.11 in place of Rosetta Stone (regular $82.30, retrieved August 2026), and the WriteShop I and II Set at $170.74, which covers two years of high school composition, in place of the IEW year (retrieved August 2026).

The boxed comparison: Sonlight’s ninth-grade All-Subjects Package is $1,029.78 against a $1,287.22 retail figure, with payment plans offered on orders of $799 and up (retrieved July 2026). The named-program basket runs $200–$300 under it with more format flexibility.

Costs the catalog does not show also belong in a ninth-grade budget. AP exams are $99 each for US and Canada in 2026, with a $37 College Board fee reduction for demonstrated financial need and a November 14 school ordering deadline (retrieved August 2026). CLEP is $97 per exam, and the American Council on Education recommends a minimum scaled score of 50 for three semester hours of credit (verified unchanged August 2026), which makes it the cheap college-credit lever in this budget. Lab-science expectations are commonly patched with Outschool semester sessions at $4–$60 per session (retrieved August 2026), and conversation practice for language credits runs $6–$13.75 per lesson on featured italki profiles (retrieved August 2026). A creative-writing elective like One Year Adventure Novel adds $299.00 with a consumable per-student workbook (retrieved August 2026).

What drives cost

Across all four baskets the same handful of variables separate a $66 year from a $1,400 one.

• Format.The single largest lever at the young grades. The same publisher’s kindergarten language arts is free as a PDF and $69.97 in print. Math Mammoth’s per-grade PDFs at $42.50 run well under the printed Saxon and Math-U-See kits at $152.33 and $205.63.
• Who does the teaching. Video instruction is the premium product. The IEW student packet is $29; the same content with Andrew Pudewa teaching on video is $289. A fifth-grade Abeka Academy video year is $1,399. Buyers are paying for instruction, not paper.
• Boxed convenience.The boxed premium varies by grade: Sonlight’s ninth-grade package runs $200–$300 above the named-program basket, its kindergarten package about fifteen times the budget floor, and a fifth-grade Abeka Academy video year more than double the fifth-grade basket. The premium buys sequencing and support; the subject list underneath is the same.
• One-time purchases that amortize.Math-U-See’s $81.90 block kit, the $25.95 letter tiles, and IEW’s $189 parent training all serve multiple children across multiple years. First-child cost and per-child cost are different numbers.
• The permanent sale.Apologia’s “25% off” prices were identical in July and August 2026 pulls, and Sonlight’s packages are consistently listed at 20% off retail (retrieved July 2026). Where a discount never expires, the sale price is the price, and this index tracks the transacted figure rather than the reference one. Genuinely dated windows do exist, such as Pandia Press’s early-bird sale of up to 35% off REAL Science Odyssey through May 31, 2026 (publisher); the curriculum sale calendar tracks those.
• Edition transitions.A new edition is an effective price change even when no sticker moves. Story of the World Vol. 1’s new anniversary structure, text plus workbook plus instructor guide at roughly $44, costs more than the old text-and-activity-book pairing (retrieved August 2026).

Price signals, 2026

This is the first edition of the index, which means there is no prior-year basket to compare against. Any year-over-year claim this report could make would be manufactured, so it makes none. The 2026-27 baskets above are the baseline; the 2027-28 edition will re-price the same baskets and produce the first true annual reading.

What can be reported now are documented movements inside 2026, drawn from this publication’s quarterly re-verification of its own published prices, plus publisher announcements. Between the April–May stamps and the August re-check, 155 prices and claims across the subject pillars and state-law pages were re-verified: 92 confirmed, 41 corrected, and 22 left on their original stamps because the sources were unreachable (editorial re-verification, August 2026). A correction rate near 26 percent over roughly three months is itself a finding: homeschool catalog prices move more than buyers assume.

The documented movers, May to August 2026:

• Math Mammothrepriced its bundles: full bundle $225 to $245.50 with scope expanded from grades 1–8 to K–8, half-bundle K–4 $112.50 to $133, All Inclusive $275 to $295, Everything $330 to $345. Per-grade PDFs held at $42.50 (publisher, retrieved August 2026). Part of the bundle increase reflects added content.
• Rosetta Stonerestructured entirely: from single-language plans near $130–$145 a year in May to a flat $19.99 monthly and $159.00 annual plan with all 25 languages included in August (retrieved August 2026). An increase for single-language buyers, a decrease per language. Older single-language figures are obsolete.
• Beautiful Feet Books raised package prices 1.5 to 3.4 percent: Early American History from $265.95 to $269.95 sale, Medieval History from $289.95 to $299.95 sale (retrieved August 2026).
• Memoria Press moved down, one of the few documented decreases: Famous Men sets $113.65 to $109.40, and First Form Latin restructured from an $82.30 Kit to a $77.11 Basic Set (retrieved August 2026). Likely SKU restructuring rather than a pure cut.
• Spanish for You! restructured from a ~$64.95 full package to themed packages at $74.95 across grade-band editions, about 15 percent at the top line (retrieved August 2026).
• JLPT exam feesrose from $100 per level in 2025 to $135 in 2026, flat across N5–N1, the largest single documented increase in this audit at 35 percent; 2026 registration closes September 16 (AATJ).

The control group matters as much as the movers. Verified unchanged in the August 2026 re-check: AP at $99, CLEP at $97, Beast Academy at $15.99 monthly or $99.99 a year online, Apologia’s list prices, Singapore Math’s $14.50 Dimensions books, and all six ABRSM fee checkpoints (August 2026).

Two signals stay on the watch list rather than in the findings. Abeka Academy’s fifth-grade video year is $1,399 today, and a widely-viewed comparison review once priced a first-grade video year at $1,349; those are different grades and an undated snapshot, so they indicate drift without measuring it, and this report treats the series as unverified. Brave Writer’s season-labeled bundles, such as the Middle School Writers Bundle 2025-2026 at $249.00 marked down from $297.00 (retrieved August 2026), mean each school year arrives as a new SKU that can carry a new price, a structural pattern the next edition will check.

A quarter of the prices this publication had verified in the spring needed correction by August. The index exists because the catalog will not hold still.

What an ESA award buys against these baskets

Education savings account awards give these baskets a second frame: buying power. Florida’s PEP program set 2026-27 awards between $7,463 and $12,217, with the floor for grades 9–12 in Volusia County and the ceiling for K–3 in Monroe County, up from $7,380–$11,950 the prior year (Step Up For Students award tables). Against those figures, even the most expensive item in this index, a $1,399 Abeka Academy video year, consumes under a fifth of the smallest award, and the $825 ninth-grade basket about a ninth. Award growth of one to two percent roughly paced the documented curriculum increases this year. Which programs exist in which states, and what the accounts may legally be spent on, are covered in the state-by-state ESA guide and the ESA reimbursement guide.

Cite this report

This report may be cited as: Every Homeschool, “The Homeschool Curriculum Price Index, 2026-27 Edition,” August 27, 2026, https://everyhomeschool.com/guides/homeschool-curriculum-price-index-2026. Component prices carry their individual retrieval dates above; basket totals are this publication’s arithmetic as of August 2026.