🍂❄️ Free Homeschool Resources to Use This Fall & Winter
Fall and winter can be some of the most beautiful seasons to homeschool. The weather changes, nature gives us new things to observe, holidays create opportunities for hands-on learning, and even an ordinary walk around the neighborhood can become a science lesson.
And the best part? You don't need to spend a lot of money to make the seasons educational.
There are countless free resources available online, at your local library, in your community, and even right outside your front door. Here are some of my favorite ways homeschool families can make the most of fall and winter without adding another expense to the homeschool budget.
Here’s a FREE HOMESCHOOLING RESOURCE SHEET WITH CLICKABLE LINKS 😍
🍁 1. Turn Nature Into Your Classroom
You don't need a fancy nature curriculum to study the seasons.
Take a notebook outside and encourage your children to observe what is changing around them.
Try a Fall Nature Study:
🍂 Collect and identify different leaves
🌳 Sketch trees throughout the season
🐦 Keep a bird-watching journal
🌤️ Record the weather each day
🌰 Collect acorns, pinecones, and other fallen items
🕷️ Look for insects and observe their habitats
🌅 Watch how the amount of daylight changes
📸 Photograph changes in the same outdoor location each week
Older children can turn their observations into graphs, research projects, essays, or nature journals.
Younger children can simply draw pictures and tell you what they noticed.
Nature doesn't have to be complicated to be educational.
📚 2. Make Your Local Library Part of Your Curriculum
Your library can become one of your family's greatest homeschool resources—and it's free!
Instead of buying an entire seasonal book collection, search your library catalog for:
Fall
Apples
Pumpkins
Leaves
Harvest
Migration
Autumn animals
Halloween history
Thanksgiving
Indigenous cultures and history
Winter
Snow
Winter animals
Hibernation
Weather
The Arctic
Astronomy
Holidays around the world
Winter sports
You can also ask your librarian about free children's programs, storytimes, craft events, museum passes, homeschool programs, and educational databases.
And don't forget about audiobooks, ebooks, documentaries, music, and digital resources that many libraries provide for free with a library card.
🔬 3. Explore Free Science Resources From NASA
NASA has an extensive collection of free science learning materials covering topics such as Earth science, space, weather, climate, astronomy, and more.
Explore NASA's free learning resources
Fall & winter ideas:
🌎 Study Earth's seasons
🌙 Track the Moon
⭐ Learn about constellations
☀️ Explore the Sun
🌧️ Study weather patterns
🛰️ Explore satellite images
🌡️ Keep a temperature journal
NASA's resources include activities designed for different ages and levels, so you can often find something appropriate for multiple children in the same household.
🏞️ 4. Use the National Park Service as Your Outdoor Curriculum
National parks aren't just places to visit—they're also incredible learning resources.
The National Park Service provides free lesson plans, primary sources, science activities, history resources, virtual experiences, and other educational materials.
Explore National Park Service education resources
You can study:
🦌 Wildlife
🌲 Forest ecosystems
🌋 Geology
🏕️ Camping
🗺️ Geography
🏛️ American history
🌎 Environmental science
🌦️ Weather and climate
The NPS even has seasonal activities focused specifically on winter science. For example, its What Is Winter? lesson explores Earth's rotation, revolution, sunlight, temperature, and seasonal changes.
🐻 5. Study How Animals Prepare for Winter
Winter provides an excellent opportunity for a biology unit.
Choose one animal each week and research:
Where does it live?
What does it eat?
Does it migrate, hibernate, or remain active?
How does its body adapt to cold temperatures?
What happens to its food supply during winter?
Then let your child create an:
Animal report
Diorama
Drawing
Mini-book
Presentation
Lapbook
Nature journal page
For younger children, simply reading a picture book about the animal and drawing it can become a complete mini lesson.
❄️ 6. Use Winter as a Science Experiment
You don't need expensive science kits.
Try simple experiments using things you already have at home.
❄️ Ice Melting Experiment
Place ice cubes in different locations and see which melts first.
💧 Water Cycle Experiment
Explore evaporation, condensation, and precipitation with a simple homemade setup.
🌡️ Temperature Investigation
Record outdoor temperatures for several weeks and create a graph.
☀️ Shadow Study
Measure a shadow at different times of the day and compare the results.
🧊 What Makes Ice Melt Faster?
Test salt, sugar, warm water, cold water, or other household materials.
Ask your children to predict → observe → record → explain.
That's science!
🏛️ 7. Explore History With the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress offers homeschool resources, primary sources, historical photographs, maps, documents, and other materials that can be used to create history lessons. It also provides a homeschool-focused collection of resources and programming.
Explore Library of Congress homeschool resources
Try searching for:
Historical photographs
Maps
Presidential history
Thanksgiving history
Women's history
Black history
Immigration
Indigenous history
American inventions
Historical newspapers
Pick one primary source and simply ask:
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
What does this tell us about the time period?
You can turn one photograph into an entire history lesson.
🦋 8. Explore Smithsonian Resources
The Smithsonian provides free educational resources covering science, history, art, culture, animals, and more.
Its Smithsonian Learning Lab is a free interactive platform where families and educators can explore digital resources and create learning experiences.
Explore Smithsonian Learning Lab
You can also explore Smithsonian digital collections, including millions of images and other resources available through Smithsonian Open Access.
Seasonal project idea:
Choose an animal → research it → find Smithsonian images → draw it → write about it → create a presentation.
One free resource can turn into several days of learning.
🍎 9. Create a Fall or Winter Unit Study From Scratch
You don't necessarily need to purchase a unit study.
Choose one theme and build your own.
🍎 Apples
Science: Parts of an apple
Math: Apple graphing
Language Arts: Apple-themed writing
Art: Apple stamping
Geography: Where apples are grown
Cooking: Applesauce
Nature: Observe an apple tree
🎃 Pumpkins (FREE Printable HERE)
Science: Pumpkin life cycle
Math: Circumference and measurement
Art: Pumpkin drawings
Writing: Pumpkin descriptive writing
History: Pumpkin traditions
Cooking: Pumpkin recipe
❄️ Winter
Science: Snow and ice
Math: Temperature graphs
Geography: Winter around the world
Art: Snowflake symmetry
Writing: Winter poetry
Nature: Winter animal adaptations
🎨 10. Don't Forget Free Art & Creativity
Homeschooling doesn't have to mean worksheets all day.
Give children seasonal materials and let them create.
Try:
🍂 Leaf rubbings
🎨 Nature paintings
✂️ Paper snowflakes
🖍️ Autumn coloring pages
🧵 Pinecone crafts
📦 Recycled-material sculptures
📸 Nature photography
🎵 Seasonal music
✍️ Fall poetry
📖 Homemade storybooks
The finished product doesn't have to be perfect.
The process is the lesson.
🧮 11. Turn Everyday Activities Into Math
You can sneak math into your seasonal routines without opening a workbook.
Pumpkin Math
Estimate how many seeds are inside
Count the seeds
Measure the pumpkin
Compare pumpkin sizes
Create a graph
Grocery Store Math
Compare prices
Calculate discounts
Make a seasonal grocery budget
Estimate the total before checkout
Nature Math
Count birds
Measure leaves
Sort objects by size
Create graphs from observations
Track temperatures
Real-life math can be especially meaningful because children can see why they're learning it.
🌎 12. Study How Other Places Experience Fall & Winter
One of my favorite homeschool activities is comparing seasons around the world.
Choose several locations and research:
What is the weather like?
What season are they experiencing?
What animals live there?
What foods are traditionally eaten?
What holidays or celebrations happen during this season?
You can compare your community with:
🇨🇦 Canada
🇯🇵 Japan
🇦🇺 Australia
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇳🇴 Norway
🇿🇦 South Africa
This can easily become a geography, culture, science, and writing unit all at once.
💻 13. Take Free Virtual Field Trips
Can't afford to travel?
Travel from your living room!
Museums, national parks, libraries, research institutions, and educational organizations offer digital experiences and virtual learning opportunities.
For example, the National Park Service offers distance-learning and virtual field-trip resources, while Smithsonian institutions provide extensive digital collections and online learning resources.
You can make virtual field trips more interactive by having your children keep a Field Trip Journal.
Afterward, ask:
What did you see?
What did you learn?
What surprised you?
What questions do you still have?
Would you want to visit in person?
🍂 14. Remember: Free Doesn't Mean "Less Educational"
One of the biggest misconceptions about homeschooling is that you need to constantly purchase curriculum, memberships, subscriptions, manipulatives, and educational products.
You don't.
A library book can become a literature lesson.
A walk can become science.
A grocery trip can become math.
A museum website can become history.
A leaf can become art.
A conversation can become writing.
A backyard can become a laboratory.
And a rainy afternoon can become an opportunity to curl up with a stack of books.