September 16, 2026

Best Math Apps for Homeschool

That question is not which app is best. It is how much of the year each one actually carries, and what you are still on the hook for.

Why homeschool changes the question

In a classroom, the teacher supplies the scope and sequence and the app supplies repetition. The district hands over a curriculum, the app fills the practice gap, and nobody has to ask whether the software covers the year, because the software was never expected to.

Take the school away and that assumption quietly breaks. The same app that was a perfectly good supplement is now being asked to be the plan.

Here is the part worth knowing before you shop: not one of these tools claims to be a full curriculum, and the strongest one on the list says so in writing. Khan Academy's help center tells homeschool families outright that "neither are accredited schools. Work completed on the sites does not count towards a formal diploma or degree," describes its material as something that will "complement your child's education," and then points you at homeschool laws in your state.

You are not choosing a curriculum. You are choosing how much of one you are buying, and deciding what you still have to document yourself.

What each one actually carries

Khan Academy carries the most, and costs nothing. Free courses, videos, exercises and mastery tracking across math from early elementary through calculus, with a parent dashboard and free accounts for you and each child. There is no paid tier at all, so there is no per-child arithmetic to do. It reads more like a course than a game, which matters if your student needs to be persuaded to start.

Prodigy, IXL, SplashLearn and Boddle are practice layers. Each attaches to a scope and sequence rather than supplying one. They differ mostly in what practice feels like and what it costs, which is the next section.

DragonBox is neither, and that is fine. It is eight separate apps under Kahoot, split across ages 4–8 and 8-and-up: Numbers, Big Numbers, Algebra 5+, Algebra 12+, Elements for geometry, a multiplication title, plus reading and chess (DragonBox). They are conceptual, well made, and narrow by design. Buying the algebra app does not get you a year of math, and it is not trying to. Treat the whole set as enrichment you reach for at a specific moment.

The cost question the lists never do: multiply by your actual number of students

"Free" means four different things here, and only one of them is free the way a homeschool budget needs. The distinction is not whether there is a free tier. It is what the money buys, and it separates the field cleanly.

Khan Academy. No paid tier exists. Nothing to multiply.

Prodigy. Their membership page states it plainly: "Prodigy's Math and English content are free, while Science content and additional game enhancements are available with a membership" (Prodigy memberships). Core runs $9.95/month or $58.95/year. The math itself is not what you are buying.

Boddle. Same shape, but all the learning content is free, and Premium buys in-game rewards: pet battle perks, a premium Boddle Pass track, monthly Boddle Bucks, shop items (Boddle Premium). $5.83/month billed yearly.

IXL is the one where the practice itself is the product, and it prices that practice per child. From their own help center: a single-subject family membership "starts at just $9.95/month or $79/year for one child. Each additional child costs $4/month or $40/year" (IXL help center).

Run that. Three students, math only: $159 a year. Add language arts and you are on the $15.95/month combo tier before the additional-child charges. None of this is hidden, and IXL's K-12 breadth and rigor are real. It is simply a cost structure a classroom teacher never meets, because no teacher pays by the student.

The multi-grade problem

Most of these tools assume one student in one grade, and you probably have neither. A classroom is a single grade band by definition. A homeschool is frequently a 2nd grader and a 5th grader at the same table, on the same subscription, on possibly the same device.

Two things to check before you commit:

Does one account hold several students at different levels, or does each need their own? IXL and Khan both handle multiple children under one adult account. Where a tool is built around a class roster, the multi-grade case can be clumsier than the classroom case it was designed for.
Can you set different content per student without rebuilding the whole thing each time? This is the difference between a tool that saves you an hour and one that costs you one.

Worth being honest about the second one: an app that adapts on its own solves multi-grade elegantly, right up until you want a specific student on a specific topic this week, at which point you want manual control instead. Most homeschool educators want both at different moments, and few tools do both well.

The part no app handles: your records

Khan pointing families at their state's homeschool regulations is the most useful sentence any of these vendors publishes, because no app on this list produces the documentation a state might ask you for. Progress reports inside a platform are built to tell a teacher who is stuck this week. They are not built to be a portfolio, a transcript or an attendance log.

Requirements vary widely by state, and checking yours before you build a year around a piece of software is worth the twenty minutes. Whatever the software reports, the record is still yours to keep.

Where Boddle fits

Boddle is a practice layer, not a curriculum. If you are looking for something to supply your scope and sequence, Khan Academy is the better starting point and it costs nothing.

What Boddle is for is the other job: standards-aligned practice in math, ELA and science across K–6, in a game students choose to open. You do not need a school to get in. There is a free parent account, and it includes customizable assignments so you can put a student on a specific skill rather than hoping the algorithm gets there. You can also run it the other way and let adaptive mode meet each student where they are. For a multi-grade table, having both modes available matters more than either one alone.

The learning content is not paywalled, for any number of students. Premium buys cosmetics and game rewards, and every character is earnable without paying.

The honest limits: Boddle stops at grade 6, so if you are planning a K-12 arc you should expect to move on, and Khan is the obvious next stop. Questions are timed, which suits some students and not others. And it will not write your records.

For a homeschool running its own curriculum and wanting the practice half to stop being a fight, that is a reasonable fit.

Frequently asked questions

Is Khan Academy enough for homeschool math on its own?

It is the closest thing on this list to a complete math program, free, and it runs from early elementary through calculus with mastery tracking. Khan itself is careful here: its help center states it is not an accredited school and that work completed there does not count toward a diploma, and it directs families to their state's homeschool requirements. Treat it as a strong spine that you supervise and document, not as a school in a box.

What is the best math app for teaching multiple grades at once?

Look for two things rather than a brand. First, one adult account that holds several students at different levels, which Khan and IXL both do. Second, the ability to assign a specific skill to a specific student without rebuilding your setup, since adaptive placement alone will not put a student where you want them this week. Also price it properly: tools that charge per child, like IXL at $40/year for each additional student, scale differently than tools where the learning content is free.

Do I need a math app at all if I already have a curriculum?

Often no. If your curriculum includes enough practice and you can see where a student is stuck, adding software adds a login rather than a benefit. The two cases where it earns its place are volume, when a student needs far more repetition than the workbook contains, and willingness, when practice has become a daily argument. Buy for the problem you have.