| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| eScience Learning Program from Supercharged Science | K-12 | Physical Science, Chemistry. (Biology and Life Science scheduled for Winter 2011.) | Over 650 instructional online videos, dozens of live tele-classes, textbook downloads, hundreds of hands-on science experiments, lesson plans, and more. | University professors, scientists, engineers, and teachers. All lessons taught by Aurora. | Kids spend most of time building projects and explaining how it works back to you. Minimal computer screen time. | Deep. | Over 600 | Downloadable, and includes quizzes, text, vocabulary, highlights, activities, objectives. | $37 per month per family for K-8 access, $57 per month per family for K-12 access.30-day money-back guarantee. No monthly agreement. |
| Time 4 Learning | K-8 | Math, Language, Social Studies. Science was tacked on as a bonus, but not as a core subject. | No videos or live interaction. Just text and animations on a screen. | Content leased from Compass Learning Odyssey, which was developed by researchers and sales teams and intended for charter and public schools (not homeschools). | No videos. Cartoon-like computer animations. Child spends most of the time staring at the computer. | Shallow. Very few experiments for science.A lot of reading and writing from the computer screen, experiments are too easy for grade levels. | No real experiments, only computer animations that show the experiments being done for you on the computer screen. No experiments for 7-8th in science. | Yes. | $20 per month per child ($5 off each additional child). 14-day money-back guarantee. |
| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| FOSSweb | K-8 | Science. | No videos or live interaction. Just text on a screen, some computer animations. | Research team. | You don’t get answers to your questions when submitted to the “Ask a Scientist” link. | Shallow. | None. You watch a computer simulation of a couple of experiments. | None. | Free. |
| Aha!Science | 3-8 | Earth, Space, Physical, Life Science. | No videos or live interaction. Just text and computer simulations on a screen. | Researchers with PhDs. Made for public school teachers. | Looks like a video game for science.Created for public and charter schools. | Low-Moderate. | None. You watch a simulation on the computer screen. | No. | Must get a price quote. No prices listed online. |
| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| Greg Landry’s Homeschool Science Academy | 6-12 | Biology, Chemistry. | Live weekly teleclasses (no video). | Homeschool parent, university instructor, 6-12 grade teacher. | You need to be online to get the most out of it. | Deep. | Some. | Text and materials provided with course fee. | $545 -$1,200 per semester per child. |
| Jubilee Academy | K-12 | All subjects. | No videos or live interaction. Just text and computer simulations on a screen. | Learning by Grace, developed by a team of researchers. | 100 videos per course, mostly computer simulations.Child spends most of the time staring at a computer. | Moderate. | Experiments in science only in grades 9-12. | No. All done from computer screen. | $895 per year per child, 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| K12.com | K-8 | Math. Language, Physical Science, Earth Science, Life Science, History, Art, Music. | No videos or live interaction. Just text and computer animations on a screen. | Initially developed by instructional educational designers, field experts, and some teachers. | No teacher support for K-8 students.Send you textbooks, workbooks, novels. Lots of reading. Materials shipped to you once a year. | Moderate. | Course only for K-8. 9-12 students enroll in international school for additional cost. | Printable and also on the screen. | $800-$1,500 per student per year, 30-day money-back guarantee.If using state funding, your time and what you complete is regulated by the state. |
| eTutor | K-12 | Language, Math, Science, Social Studies | No videos or live interaction. Just text on a screen. | Individual contracted writers from all over the country to write content for curriculum. | Not a lot of experiments, and the few are virtual experiments.Most ‘experiments’ are links to other websites. | Low-moderate. | Few. Kids spend most of the time reading from a computer screen. | No. | $99-$140 per month per subject per child, plus additional $100-$150 per month per child for teacher support. |
| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| Apologia Online | 9-12 | Only Physical Science. | No videos. Just real-time instruction online via chat. | PhD researchers with science field expertise.Brand-new program, not yet tested with homeschoolers. | Started this year. Lots of writing required to turn in. | Unknown. Just began this year. no curriculum preview available. | Only for 9-12th grade. | Yes. | $450 per child per year.Materials, textbooks, and tests are additional cost. |
| Merlin Science | 8-12 | Only offers three courses: Chemistry, Astronomy, and Genetics. | No videos or live interaction. Just text on a screen. | Dr. Love, PhD in biology, teacher. | No teacher support. Quizzes online. | Low. | Minimal. | No. | $40 per course. |
| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| Calvert School | K-8 | All. | Box of books for entire year arrive at your door (90% of content). Supplemental material (10%) is online. | Education specialists created printed material.Online instruction leased from BrainPOP! and Aha!Math. | Lots of hoops to return curriculum. Must be in pristine, resell-able condition, and you are obligated to pay for entire year if they judge it not returnable. | Moderate. The eScience program dovetails very well with this program. Good teacher support. | Minimal. Experiments tacked on as afterthought. Online material are only computer simulations and screenfuls of text. No instructional videos. | Yes. | $850 per child per year.Mandatory tests are additional $350.Enrollment fees additional. |
| Alpha Omega | 3-12 | All. | Screenfuls of text. No videos or audios. | In-house. Brand-new program, not yet tested with homeschoolers. | “Media-rich” content means your kids spend a lot of time staring at computer screen animations and screenfuls of text. | Unknown. No preview available, no trial period, no curriculum outline available. | On-screen animations only. If you want to do the experiments yourself, you must purchase materials and do on your own. | No. All on screen. | $419 per child for 18 months. Non-refundable. |
| Curriculum Name | Grades | Subjects | How is content delivered? | Developed By | Hidden Fine Print | Topic Depth | Hands-on Experiments | Lesson Plans | Cost |
| Apologia Science | K-12 | K-6: Astronomy, Botany, Zoology7-12: Physics, Biology, Chemistry | Textbooks cover content for entire year arrive, optional audio CDs available.Labs and experiments are optional, materials purchased separately. | PhD researchers with science field expertise. | All of content is in the text reading, good for kids that love to read. CD option good for audio learners.Must be in unopened to return. CDs not returnable. | Reading material is moderately deep (good resource book). Too few experiments in books to bring concepts alive.The eScience program dovetails excellently with this program. | Minimal. Experiments tacked on as afterthought.No instructional videos on how to do experiments. | No. | Up to $250 per child per year for text, solutions, CDs, and experiment materials. |
| Bob Jones | K-12 | Life Science, Earth Science, Space Science, Physics, Biology, Chemistry | Textbooks cover content for entire year. Experiments are optional, and equipment is purchased separately. | PhD researchers with science field expertise. | All content is in text reading, great for kids that love to read.Great illustrations in text, high school texts are well laid out. | Text is well written and comprehensive (good resource book). Experiments not challenging enough.eScience is an excellent complement to this curriculum. | K-8 lab books have lots of worksheets as ‘experiments’ with minimal hands-on experiments.Not enough quality science experiments to bring concepts to life. No video instructions. | No. | $90 per student per year, $79 additional for teacher guides.$22-312 additional for lab equipment. |