SchoolhouseTeachers cost: how the plans bill and how to work out your cost per child and per year

SchoolhouseTeachers cost: the billing unit is the family

Many online homeschool programs bill by the student, as Time4Learning and Miacademy do. SchoolhouseTeachers.com bills by the family. The join page headline says one price covers the entire family, the home page says there are no per-child or per-course fees, and the FAQ says the membership covers your immediate family at no additional cost per student. That changes the arithmetic: instead of multiplying a price by the number of children, you divide one price by it. All of this was read from the vendor's pages on November 6, 2026, and the guide leaves the amounts to the live join page.

The three plan types

• Annual: charged automatically each year, listed with the Applecore Gold record keeping plan.
• Quarterly: charged automatically each quarter, listed with Applecore Silver.
• Lifetime: a single payment for access with no renewal, listed with Applecore Gold.
• All three: the join page says access is instant after checkout and that you can cancel anytime, and the home page lists a price lock guarantee. Read what the price lock covers on the vendor's page before relying on it.

How to work out your cost per child and per year

• Annual plan: cost per year is the annual price. Cost per child per year is that price divided by the number of children using it.
• Quarterly plan: multiply the quarterly price by four to get a cost per year, then divide by your number of children. Compare that figure with the annual price to see what paying quarterly costs.
• Lifetime plan: divide the one-time price by the number of years you expect to homeschool, then by the number of children. Compare that yearly figure with the annual price: lifetime pricing only wins for a family planning many years of homeschooling, which several children spread across grades can make likely.
• Renewals: the annual and quarterly plans renew automatically, so put the renewal date in your calendar and check the live price then.

Value: where the family price helps, and where it stops

With one child the family price buys a single seat, just as a per-student plan does, so compare the two prices directly. With two, three or more children at different grades the flat price pulls ahead, because per-student curricula add a charge for each one. Time4Learning's home page, for example, shows reductions of 10, 20 and 25 percent for two, three to five and six or more students, and its FAQ applies the reduction to the student of equal or lesser value, so each student still adds a charge. Miacademy's home page prices each student separately and lists a family lifetime option for up to four students. Those are the vendors' own structures, and the Time4Learning comparison goes through one of them side by side.

Hidden costs and fees outside the membership

• Books: the FAQ says some courses may recommend books, often from the library, and a few upper-level courses require a purchased text.
• Supplies: paper, printing ink and craft materials are yours, since most lessons are printable PDFs.
• Testing and records: your state may require testing, evaluations or portfolios. The membership includes record keeping tools, but any outside fee is separate.
• Electives and extras: courses taken outside the membership are separate.

Questions to check on the live join page

• Which plans show on the page from a US view, and does the page show a time-limited offer with different terms?
• What do the labels on each plan say about renewal and refunds?
• What differs between Applecore Gold and Applecore Silver?
• What does the price lock guarantee cover, and for how long?

Next step

Add your own numbers to the yearly cost guide, which covers the whole year and not only the membership. If you want the product picture first, start with the review.