Best Homeschool Subscriptions: Boxes, Letters & Fun
Are you always on the lookout for new and engaging ways enrich your homeschool? If so, you might want to consider sprinkling in some homeschool subscriptions. We love, love, love monthly subscriptions to add to our homeschool curriculum!
Subscription box services are a fun way to bring a variety of learning resources straight to your doorstep each month, including books, activities, crafts, and experiments. They're a great way to deliver some excitement and variety into your homeschool routine, and they can help you tailor your children's learning experiences to their interests and needs.
I'd love to share some of my favorite educational subscriptions with you, give you a little glimpse of the vast variety of boxes, magazines, and letters there are covering so many subjects, and explain how they can help you create a fun and engaging homeschool experience for your children.
what ARE HOMESCHOOL SUBSCRIPTIONS?
Homeschool subscriptions – or subscription schooling as I call it – bring fun monthly deliveries into your homeschool. They can be boxes, letters, magazines, books – the variety of subscription services available now is endless and there are subscriptions for everything from sci-fi fans, to sticker collectors, to snacks from Japan, to crafts, art, music and more… and every age group too, from preschool to high school!
What I love most is that subscriptions are a great way for your whole family to spend time together – even older kids. My daughter is middle school age now and we still love cuddling up on the couch to read the Yesteryear Gazette and Letters from Afar together. We both always learn something new!
Here are our current homeschool subscriptions (my daughter is middle school age):
- Honest History – a beautiful full color magazine that dives into one topic per issue.
- The Yesteryear Gazette – a fun monthly newspaper highlighting important events in history, each issue also contains short biographies of important historical figures, weird laws, a crossword puzzle, and fun jokes.
- Letters From Afar – monthly letter from your friend Isabelle, who writes to you from different places every month, with lots of interesting details!
- Wild Kids – a free, monthly digital newsletter with nature activities, learning, poetry and more!
- Box of Matter – actual scientific artifacts – like a science museum in your house!
Subscriptions we've enjoyed in the past:
- Kiwi Crate (Tinker Crate, Koala Crate…) – hands-on projects of all kinds.
- Young Scientist Club – Let Ms. Frizzle teach your kids science with these kits based on Magic School Bus episodes!
- Spangler Science – we love Steve Spangler and my daughter even did a summer camp on zoom with him during the pandemic!
- BitsBox – learn computer coding in a fun, colorful way!
- Let's Make Art – really great watercolor art instruction and projects.
- Miss Maisy's Tasty Travels – each month, new recipes from different cultures around the world!
- ScrawlrBox – a high-level art subscription box from the UK that highlights a new technique each month, along with introducing an independent artist and of course art supplies.
- Literati – an amazing curated book subscription box. Keep only the books you want and returns are free!
- Beautiful Discovery – for older kids, an exploration of patterns in nature (check out my review right there on the front page!)
- Pipsticks – stickers, just for fun! I actually use these for my daughter's daily homeschool notebook where I write her tasks for the day.
Other homeschool subscription boxes that moms I know personally rave about:
- MEL Science – hands on science experiments.
- Universal Yums – a box of treats from around the world.
- Think Outside Box – nature exploration and learning for tweens and teens.
- Ivy Kids Kits – literacy and STEM boxes based on books for kids 3-8
homeschool subscriptions keeps things fresh
Educational subscription boxes can be a fantastic way to inject fresh ideas and experiences into your homeschool routine. Who doesn't love real mail and boxes to open? Getting a curated selection of fun reading, experiments or activities each month, you can explore new topics and discover new interests together.
As you've read above, subscriptions can include things like books, craft projects, science experiments, or even virtual field trips. They provide a great way to introduce your kids to new subjects and help them discover what they're passionate about. And since something new shows up every month, monthly subscription boxes are like gifts that you get to open together.
I've often said that as a homeschool mom I can make a unit study out of anything – and subscriptions are the perfect jumping off point for deeper learning. Letters from Afar visits a new place each month – sometimes we get corresponding books from the library, take tours on YouTube to see what places really look like, and watch documentaries.
Any story from the Yesteryear Gazette or Honest History is perfect for a deep dive into that period in history and what it was like to live and work there.
subscription schooling has so many possibilities
There are a wide variety of educational subscriptions available that can cover just about any subject you can imagine for kids of all ages. For example, you can find subscriptions that focus on cooking, teaching your children how to prepare healthy and delicious meals while also exploring different cuisines from around the world. Or even yummy snacks from different countries!
There are also subscriptions that focus on geography, allowing your children to explore different countries and cultures through maps, books, and activities. Science subscriptions can offer a range of experiments and projects that encourage your children to explore and understand scientific concepts. Learn American history or dive back into ancient history with real artifacts.
STEM activities subscriptions can include fun and challenging projects that build problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Reading subscriptions can introduce your children to new books and authors, while nature discovery subscriptions can help your children develop a deeper appreciation for the natural world.
I also have a couple digital subscriptions that support our learning. Nothing physical comes to my door, but there's lots to explore!
- Wondrium for amazing documentaries and courses (formerly Great Courses)
- Udemy for in-depth courses on lots of different subjects
- 21Draw for drawing instruction
subscription schooling lets you tailor learning
One of the great benefits of using educational subscriptions in your homeschool is that they allow you to tailor your children's learning experiences to their individual levels and needs. Got an asynchronous learner, or kids of varying ages and grade levels? Subscriptions can help you learn together, and keep your kids challenged and engaged, while absorbing details and learning at their own pace.
Subscriptions also make great gifts for children of all ages – perfect for holidays and birthdays. I know as a mom I'd rather get an awesome few months of a cool sticker club than a trendy toy that will only be played with a few times.
I also love that subscriptions can involve more kinesthetic and hands-on learning. Create your own science fair with science projects built from Kiwi Crate or Tinker Crate! Cook up some recipes from Miss Maisy's Tasty Travels and watch some travel videos about the area. Learn art techniques, discover cool books you've never heard of… the possibilities are endless!
Subscription schooling can also help you add depth to your homeschool, even if you're using traditional curriculum or workbooks. Science experiments happen before your eyes, instead of just being represented by pictures in a textbook. Creating a catapult that you build on your kitchen table creates an experience and understanding that just reading about one does not. Cooking a dish from another country and tasting the flavors is so much more exciting than simply reading about that country's food.
Cooking a dish from another country
and tasting the flavors is so much more exciting
than simply reading about that country's food.
Another way subscriptions impact learning is by tailoring projects and step-by-step instructions to different learning levels. It's an amazing feeling for kids to work on hands-on activities – and complete them – independently.
subscription schooling brings home the arts
Educational subscriptions can be a great way to incorporate the arts into your homeschool curriculum – even when you don't feel like you're very artsy! Many subscriptions include art projects or craft activities that encourage younger students to explore their creativity and express themselves through different mediums. These can include things like drawing and painting projects, sculpture, collage, and even music and theater activities.
There are also boxes for older kids too!
I love subscriptions for exposing us to a variety of different art forms, techniques, supplies and artists. Whether your children are budding artists or just starting to explore their creative side, subscriptions can be a fun and easy way to incorporate the arts into your homeschool curriculum throughout the school year.
awesome homeschool subscriptions by subject
Here are some fantastic choices for homeschool subscriptions, grouped by subject or area of learning! Why not add one or two to your monthly homeschool plan?
Geography
stem subjects
history
nature & Conservation
life skills
reading, writing, literacy
just good stuff
let's not forget the grown ups!
I hope you're inspired to try some homeschool subscriptions and bring some fun and learning to your home. There just something special about real snail mail and packages to open – your kids will look forward to something new to discover every month!
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