Homeschool science curriculum, free: a hands-on plan by age

A free homeschool science curriculum can be two or three short sessions a week built around doing: one session to wonder and read about a topic, one to try it with your hands, and one to record and talk about what happened, using free resources like NASA Space Place, the Exploratorium's Science Snacks and PhET simulations. Peabody (peabody.kids) wrote this plan. Peabody is free through the end of 2026, but it is not a science curriculum, and we say below exactly what its science pieces are and aren't. The outside resources aren't ours, and nobody paid to be listed.

Every fact about an outside site below was read from its own page on 18 October 2026. Where a page didn't say something, we leave it out or say "not stated".

A free homeschool science plan by age

Pick four to six topics a year and spend several weeks on each. Going deep on a few beats touching on many. If you want to line topics up with a standard, the Next Generation Science Standards used by many US states are organised by grade, and your state's education department publishes its own. Check your state's rules for what a homeschool must cover.

What a week of homeschool science looks like

1. Wonder (Monday). Ask a question: Why does the Moon change shape? What makes a boat float? Read a library book or a NASA Space Place page about it, or watch a short video. Write the question at the top of a notebook page.
2. Do (Wednesday). Try something with your hands: a Science Snack, a build, a walk to look. Guess first, then test.
3. Record and talk (Friday). Draw what happened, write one or two sentences (or dictate them), and talk about why. What would you change next time?

That rhythm is the whole curriculum. Everything else is choosing good activities.

Hands-on science at home, by age

Ages 4 to 6. Grow beans in a clear cup against wet paper towel and draw them every few days. Sort toys into "sinks" and "floats" after guessing. Roll balls down a ramp made of a book and a board, then make the ramp steeper. Keep a weather chart for a month.

Ages 6 to 8. Draw the Moon every clear night for a month. Test which materials soak up water. Make a shoebox habitat for a toy animal and explain what it needs. Stretch rubber bands over a box and listen to how the sound changes.

Ages 8 to 11. Make a simple circuit with a battery, a bulb and wire, with a grown-up. Press shells into clay to make "fossils". Build a lever from a ruler and a pencil and find where it lifts most easily. Map a food web for your garden or a park.

Ages 11 to 14. Look at onion skin cells if you can borrow a microscope. Model plate movement with crackers on frosting. Build a model of the solar system to scale in a long hallway or a field. Run a fair test: change one thing, keep the rest the same, repeat three times.

Heat, sharp tools, batteries and anything you'd eat or drink in an experiment are a grown-up's job.

Free homeschool science resources, checked October 2026

NASA Space Place is NASA's science site for kids, last updated 31 July 2026. It covers Earth, the Sun, the solar system, the universe, and science and technology, with games, crafts, activities, videos, a glossary, a Spanish version and a monthly art challenge. No sign-in appears on the page.

Exploratorium Science Snacks are hands-on, teacher-tested activities from San Francisco's science museum. Its page describes them as low-cost, using inexpensive, easily available materials, and you can search by subject, science standard (NGSS) and grade band. Examples on the page include tracing your shadow, looking inside a seed and making a rainstick. There is a Spanish collection too.

PhET Interactive Simulations, from the University of Colorado, are free simulations in physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and math. Its about page says they are free to all students and teachers, written in HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded. They suit children who can read short labels, so roughly 4th grade and up.

Khan Academy is a free nonprofit with science courses among its subjects, from kindergarten through early college. It works best for older children who can work through a video and practice on their own.

Mystery Science (mysteryscience.com) is a well-known K–5 science curriculum with hands-on lessons, but it is not free in the long run. As of October 2026 its site offers new users a free trial that runs to June 2027 and has a homeschool membership whose price shows after you log in. Worth a look if you'd like a structured program to buy later.

Your library. Libby lends ebooks and audiobooks free with a library card, and the children's non-fiction shelf is the best free science curriculum there is.

What Peabody has for science

Peabody is mostly reading, math and games. It has a few science pieces, all reached from the front page or linked here, and none is a full course.

The World's Science land. The World is Peabody's place for facts by subject. Its Science land has short trails by level, each one a few pages read aloud (Look), one or two three-box tasks (Try), a ten-step question climb where a miss shows the answer and a short why (Check), and a keepsake with a try-it-at-home line for a grown-up. The trails as of October 2026:

A land opens at the child's grade, and a child can open every level below and one above. Every trail names its sources, including at least one reference from a publisher such as NASA, USGS or the Smithsonian.

Stone Age (/games/stone). A science-only game: a child and a friend called Stony wake from stasis on a planet that is Earth's twin and build everything from a rock, in roughly the order people invented things. There are 77 builds across six islands, from a stone hammer, a campfire and a raft through clay, iron, a waterwheel, a generator, a steam engine, a telescope and a solar panel, to a rocket. Each island is split into stages of three or four builds, each meant to take well under half an hour. At each build, three choices appear, the child picks one and the game shows what it does; a miss says why. Questions come in four tiers by reading level, and Dig deeper adds three layers of more detail after any build. Home cards suggest kitchen-safe follow-ups and name a grown-up wherever heat or sharp things come up. Builds finished in the game count in the World's Science land. If your child likes it, our Dr. Stone guide covers the anime that inspired it.

The Workbench. Twelve real things to build at home, each with "the big idea" in one sentence, materials, steps read aloud, a test with a number to beat, and three ways to make it better. Several are small physics lessons: Ramp Races ("a steeper ramp makes a faster car"), a Foil Boat, a Straw Rocket, a Paper Airplane Lab, an Index-Card Bridge, a Light-Up Card (a full loop or no light) and a Hydraulic Robot Arm.

Reading science. The free library has leveled stories at thirteen levels, and the World's keepsakes suggest a library book where one fits.

Using Peabody in your homeschool science

1. Monday, 10 minutes: one World Science trail at your child's level as the "wonder" step. You read the try-it-at-home line on the keepsake.
2. Wednesday, 30 to 45 minutes: one Workbench build or a Science Snack. You gather materials the night before and do the grown-up steps. Record the test numbers in the notebook.
3. Friday, 15 minutes: draw and talk about what happened. Older children can play one Stone Age stage and tell you the "why" Stony gave.

What Peabody is not, for science

• It is not a science curriculum. There are short trails, a game and twelve builds, not a year's sequence.
• No lab write-ups, no tests, no grades, no standards report. The notebook and the talking stay with you.
• Pictures in the World are simple emoji, not drawn diagrams, and the trails are short.
• The World's middle-school levels are new (October 2026) and are in twelve of its sixteen lands.
• Its free period is promised only through 31 December 2026.

Most families who use Peabody pair it with their own science: library books, hands-on activities and one of the free resources above. The homeschool hub has the rest of the week, and our free homeschool apps and free homeschool art curriculum cover more subjects.

Learn more elsewhere

• NASA Space Place: games, crafts and explainers about Earth and space.
• Exploratorium Science Snacks: low-cost hands-on activities, searchable by grade band.
• PhET: about: the free science and math simulations and how they are tested.
• Khan Academy: about: free courses including science from kindergarten up.

Questions parents ask

Is there a completely free homeschool science curriculum?

You can build one from free pieces: library books, hands-on activities from the Exploratorium's Science Snacks, NASA Space Place for space and Earth science, PhET simulations for older children, and Khan Academy's free science courses. A simple weekly rhythm of wonder, do, and record and talk holds it together.

How much science should a homeschooler do each week?

Two sessions of 15 to 20 minutes suits ages 4 to 6, two or three of 20 to 30 minutes ages 6 to 8, and three sessions of 30 to 50 minutes for older children. Going deep on four to six topics a year works better than many short topics.

Is Mystery Science free?

Not in the long run. As of October 2026, Mystery Science, a K–5 curriculum, offers new users a free trial running to June 2027 and sells a homeschool membership; its price is shown after you log in.

Is Peabody a homeschool science curriculum?

No. Peabody has short science trails in its World, a science-only building game called Stone Age, and twelve real builds on its Workbench, all free through the end of 2026. It has no lab write-ups, tests or standards report, so it works as an extra beside your own science.

What science topics should my child learn by grade?

Common topics are what plants and animals need and pushes and pulls in kindergarten; the Moon, plant growth and materials in 1st and 2nd grade; life cycles, fossils, forces and circuits in 3rd to 5th; and cells, the solar system, atoms, plates and genes in middle school. Your state's science standards list them grade by grade.

What science can I do at home with no supplies?

Lots. Draw the Moon every night for a month, grow beans from the kitchen cupboard, guess and test what sinks and floats in the bath, roll things down a ramp made from a book, and keep a weather chart. A notebook and a question are the only supplies you need.