Curated guide

Best High School Homeschool Science Curriculum

9 curricula in this guide

High school science carries transcript weight: most colleges want at least two lab sciences, so the program you pick needs real experiments and enough structure to document them. The good news is that lab science at home is completely doable with the right materials list.

Apologia is the most established college-prep option, with complete lab courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. Master Books offers a gentler Christian alternative. Oak Meadow gives secular families project-based science with lab components, and Khan Academy backs any course with free video instruction that rivals a classroom lecture. The full list of high school science programs is below.

Editor's selection

Our picks

Apologia Science

Apologia Educational Ministries

Rigorous college-prep science curriculum written from a young-earth Christian perspective. Conversational writing style with notebook-based learning and strong lab components.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$42–$93/grade

Master Books

New Leaf Publishing Group

Affordable Charlotte Mason-inspired Christian curriculum with open-and-go daily lesson plans. Known for gentle pacing, beautiful design, and young-earth creation science integration.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$40–$350/grade

Oak Meadow

Waldorf-inspired secular curriculum emphasizing creativity, nature, and hands-on learning. Offers both independent homeschool materials and an accredited distance-learning school option.

K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$120–$2500/year

Khan Academy

Featured

Free, nonprofit, mastery-based online learning platform spanning PreK through college. Short video lessons paired with adaptive practice and unit tests, especially strong in math and SAT prep.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

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Apologia Science

Apologia Educational Ministries

Rigorous college-prep science curriculum written from a young-earth Christian perspective. Conversational writing style with notebook-based learning and strong lab components.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$42–$93/grade

Abeka

Pensacola Christian College

Highly structured traditional Christian curriculum with daily lesson plans, heavy drill and review, and optional filmed-classroom video instruction. One of the most comprehensive K4-12 programs available.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$450–$1884/year

BJU Press

Comprehensive traditional Christian curriculum with optional professional video instruction (Distance Learning). Rigorous academics with critical thinking emphasis across all subjects K4-12.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$600–$1500/year

Build Your Library

Secular, literature-based curriculum following a historical timeline with Charlotte Mason methods. Teacher's guide PDFs are affordable; books purchased separately.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$30–$60/grade

Classical Conversations

Classical Christian education combining weekly in-person community meetings with at-home study. Memory work, Socratic discussion, and the trivium model structure a unique hybrid program.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$700–$2000/year

Heart of Dakota

Charlotte Mason-influenced Christian unit study curriculum with detailed daily plans and a screen-free philosophy. Fourteen program levels span ages 2-18 using living books and hands-on activities.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$107–$1500/year

Master Books

New Leaf Publishing Group

Affordable Charlotte Mason-inspired Christian curriculum with open-and-go daily lesson plans. Known for gentle pacing, beautiful design, and young-earth creation science integration.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$40–$350/grade

My Father's World

Christian curriculum blending Charlotte Mason, classical, and unit study approaches with a missions-focused worldview. Designed for multi-age family learning with structured daily plans.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$310–$705/year

Sonlight

Sonlight Curriculum

Literature-based Christian curriculum built around parent-led read-alouds and high-quality living books. All-Subjects Packages provide a full year of instruction across multiple subjects.

PreK K–2 3–5 6–8 9–12

$250–$700/year

Common questions

Frequently asked

How many science credits do homeschoolers need?

Three years is the common expectation, with at least two including lab work. Selective and STEM-focused programs often want four, typically Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and an advanced course. Check the admission requirements of a few target colleges early rather than discovering a gap in senior year.

How do we do lab science at home?

Kit-based curricula, video-demonstrated labs, co-op lab days, and community college courses all work. What a college wants to see is that the student did hands-on work with real procedures and wrote it up. Keep lab reports and photographs in the portfolio so the credit is documented.

What order should high school sciences go in?

Biology, Chemistry, then Physics is the most common sequence, largely because Chemistry and Physics need more math. If your student is strong in math, Physics can come earlier. The practical constraint is that Chemistry generally needs Algebra 1 finished and Physics goes better with Algebra 2 underway.

Does a science course without labs still count?

It can count as a credit, but label it honestly on the transcript. Write Biology rather than Biology with Lab if there was no lab component. Colleges that require lab science will check, and an inaccurate transcript label is a much bigger problem than a missing lab.

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