Printable vs boxed homeschool curriculum: an honest cost and fit comparison

The four main types of homeschool curriculum differ mostly in three ways: what you pay, how much planning you do yourself, and how the material arrives.

• Boxed curriculum: physical books shipped to you, often with teacher guides, readers and sometimes manipulatives. Highest cost, least prep.
• Online curriculum: lessons on a screen, often with automatic grading. Monthly or yearly subscription. Little prep, but more screen time.
• Printable curriculum: PDF files you download and print. Low cost, flexible, but you do the printing and organizing.
• Library-based and unit studies: you build lessons from library books and free resources around themes. Lowest cost, most planning.

None is the "right" answer for every family. Many homeschoolers mix them: a printable plan for reading and math, library books for read-alouds, and an occasional boxed kit for science.

What's inside the Everything Bundle

If you choose printables, our Everything Bundle is the biggest library in one download: 113 printables and 3,420 pages for ages 3 to 7, worth $777 if bought separately, for $97. It includes every busy book, holiday and seasonal pack, workbook (alphabet tracing, sight words, CVC words, numbers, shapes, adding and taking away, telling time, scissor skills), science and our-world unit, craft kit, pretend-play pack and coloring book, plus every new printable we add later at no extra cost.

To be clear about what it is not: the grade-level curriculums are sold separately. The Everything Bundle is your practice, theme and enrichment library; a grade curriculum or bundle is the day-by-day spine. Like all our products, it is an instant PDF download in black and white that prints on US Letter or A4, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Costs here are deliberately described in general terms. Prices change, and the same type can range widely depending on grade, number of subjects and whether teacher guides are included.

Printable curricula look cheap at checkout, and they usually are, but printing is a real cost and it is fair to count it. Here is a simple way to estimate.

The printing math

Cost per page = (ink or toner price ÷ pages it yields) + paper cost per page.

• Paper: a 500-sheet ream of basic copy paper usually works out to about 1 to 2 cents a page.
• Black toner in a basic laser printer: often roughly 2 to 4 cents a page, sometimes less with high-yield toner.
• Black ink in a cartridge inkjet: often roughly 4 to 10 cents a page, sometimes more with standard-size cartridges.
• Ink tank printers: usually at the low end, often around a cent or two of ink per page.

These are estimates. Check the page yield printed on your own cartridge box and do the division for your actual number.

Worked example: one grade of curriculum

Our 1st grade curriculum is 635 pages, Parents' Guide included. Printed in black and white:

Spread across a 36-week year, that is often less than a dollar or two a week. You can also bring it down:

1. Print a week at a time. You will skip pages your child already knows.
2. Read plan pages on screen instead of printing them.
3. Print double-sided where nothing needs cutting.
4. Slip reusable pages into sheet protectors and use dry-erase markers.

Our homeschool kindergarten supply list covers which printer types suit worksheets best, if you are deciding what to buy.

Every type has costs that do not show on the price tag.

Boxed curriculum

• Shipping, and sometimes extra charges for teacher guides or answer keys
• Consumable workbooks you must buy again for a second child
• Pieces you do not end up using if the approach does not suit your child

Online curriculum

• Subscription renewals that keep running
• A device per child if siblings learn at the same time
• Printing anyway, since many online programs still have worksheets

Printable curriculum

• Paper, ink or toner, and possibly a printer
• A binder, folders or a crate to stay organized
• Your time printing and sorting each week

Library-based and unit studies

• Your planning time, which is the real cost
• Gaps in sequence, especially in phonics and math, if you are not following a scope and sequence

Printables are our thing, but they are not the right fit for every family. Boxed is often the better choice if:

• You have no printer and no easy, cheap print shop nearby.
• You want scripted teacher manuals that tell you exactly what to say for every lesson.
• You want real bound readers and chapter books included rather than borrowed from the library.
• You plan to reuse or resell non-consumable books across several children.
• Printing and organizing would be the thing that stops you. If a stack of pages will sit unprinted, a box on the shelf is worth the extra cost.
• Your child is older and works best from a physical textbook.

Online programs make sense for older or independent learners, for a parent who works during the day, or as a supplement in a subject you feel less confident teaching. For ages 3 to 7, though, most children learn best with an adult, a pencil, real objects and short sessions, which is where printables shine.

Printables tend to win if:

• Budget matters. You can cover a full grade for well under the cost of a typical boxed set.
• You like flexibility. Skip pages, repeat pages, slow down or speed up without wasting a bound book.
• You want it now. Download today and start tomorrow; no waiting for shipping.
• Your child needs extra practice. Print a page twice.
• You teach young children, where much of the work is tracing, coloring, cutting and short reading and math practice.

1. How much time can I give to planning each week? Under an hour points to a ready-made plan, boxed or printable. Several hours points to unit studies.
2. Will I actually print? Be honest. If yes, printables save money. If no, buy boxed or online.
3. How much screen time do I want? For young children, most families aim for little.
4. Do I need everything in one place, or am I happy to mix? Mixing is normal and often works best.
5. What do I already own? A printer, a library card and a shelf of picture books change the math a lot.

If you are just starting out with a young child, our guides on choosing a homeschool preschool curriculum and how to homeschool kindergarten go deeper on what to look for at those ages.

For a complete year with printables, pair a grade-level spine with a practice library:

• The spine: a grade curriculum or bundle with 36 weekly plans. Our grade bundles are $59 for kindergarten, $45 for 1st grade, $59 for 2nd grade and $59 for 3rd grade; you can compare them in our bundles collection.
• The library: the Everything Bundle for seasonal packs, science units, crafts, extra workbooks and quiet-time busy books across ages 3 to 7.
• The extras: library books for read-alouds, a few math objects, and outings.

Not ready to buy? Try our free printable book first, print it at home, and see how your child and your printer get on.

Every Built Brains product is an instant PDF in black and white that prints on US Letter or A4, with a 14-day money-back guarantee, so you can check it suits your family before committing to a year of it.