101 Homeschool Project Ideas!

When homeschooling, you have the flexibility to concentrate your and your child’s energy on specialized projects. While I definitely do NOT endorse trying to do this entire list with every child (or even anything specifically on this list), here are a bunch of different ideas to get your brainstorming session started.

Please note that not all of these ideas are useful for college admissions. If you’d like to meet with me about college admissions, feel free to fill out the contact form!

1) Write a lecture series about a topic you’re studying. Ask local libraries and community colleges if you can give a series of lectures in one of their rooms. (Often, you can do this for free.) Invite your friends and family.

2) After taking some photography classes, capture a photo series surrounding a particular theme. Ask local libraries and businesses if they’d like to display it.

3) Spend a school year focusing your writing effort on writing either a novel or a collection of short stories. Self-publish it at the end of the year.

4) Code your own iPhone app and publish it on the App Store.

5) Learn how to do ceramics. Compete at art competitions, and ask local libraries and galleries if they’d be interested in displaying your work.

6) Teach art classes to younger kids. Ask preschools and churches if you can use one of their spare rooms for free. If not, you can use your backyard.

7) Make a video series of stop animations. I like the Stick Motion app ($1) for a simple interface.

8) Start your own math team. Look up the AMC/AIME scorers in your geographic area and approximate score range, and reach out to their families. Travel to ARML, HMMT, and PUMAC together.

9) Start your own chapter of Junior Classical League. Do a lot of the different social activities and competitions. Travel to state and nationals together.

10) While involved with Junior Classical League, run for a leadership position. Ask the current leadership if you could give a speech at one of their conventions. Give the speech in Latin or Greek.

11) Learn a new coding language. Create a cool project in that computer language.

12) If you are interested in coding Python and have experience with Latin, I’d happily take on an unpaid intern to help me work on my Latin translator. It worked better than Google back when I made it in 2018, but could still use some more work.

13) Start your own charity organization to collect food, school books, and clothing for children in need. Connect with local schools and churches to see if any of them would like to contribute.

14) Run a Bible study for younger children at your local church.

15) Record a video compilation of dances. Try to get a perfect recording of a dance solo (or duet or trio). Send it to various dance auditions.

16) Ask your local dance studio if you can be an assistant teacher for baby ballet classes.

17) Create your own coloring book. Self-publish it.

18) Write a series of non-fiction essays about a topic of your choice. Publish it in a book or as a blog online.

19) Offer tutoring services to poor students. If you get enough enrollments, try to expand it into a larger program and recruit your friends to teach too.

20) Study interior design and offer your design services to the neighborhood for free. Create a design portfolio.

21) Study astronomy. Learn how scientists capture photos of celestial objects from Earth. Join a lab. Help research astronomical phenomena.

22) Become fluent in another language.

23) Create an app that teaches foreign languages that you know well. Publish it in an app store.

24) Compose a poetry book. Self-publish it.

25) Ask your favorite local businesses if you can be their social media assistant either for free or for minimum wage (depending on your age).

26) Learn about landscaping and yardwork. Ask neighbors if they’d like your services mowing the lawn and caring for flowers.

27) Study graphic design. Create a graphic design website and portfolio.

28) Start your own kickball league. Manage the logistics primarily on your own (with some parental assistance), and see how many other kids you can get involved.

29) Study the art of puppet shows. Create your own puppet show scripts and performances. Ask local libraries if you can perform for free at their locations. When you get old enough, ask local country fairs and Renaissance Fairs if you can perform there as well.

30) Join a professional dance or theater performance (e.g. the Joffrey Ballet includes some children in the party scene of their Nutcracker).

31) Become an expert at Rubik’s Cubes. Learn how to do lots of different shapes. Learn how to do them while juggling at the same time. Create in-person or online seminars to teach the art of Rubik’s Cubes.

32) Compete in a science fair competition. ISEF is a good one.

33) Create a to-scale model of the solar system.

34) Reach out to a college professor about a research project he’s doing. Ask if you could be an assistant for the professor’s research.

35) Reach out to a college professor about a research project that you would like to do that is relevant to the professor’s area of expertise. Ask if he could advise you.

36) Conduct an extended research project about something related to one of your favorite academic topics. Try to get it published in a journal.

37) What does current video conferencing software and school online interfaces lack? How could you make it better? Start your own tech company that fixes these problems.

38) Write your own comic book that teaches about an academic topic you enjoy. Self-publish it.

39) Write your own textbook about your strongest academic area of expertise. Explain the topics as clearly as you can. Self-publish it.

40) Learn archery. Study the difference styles, and practice regularly at a local range. Compete in archery tournaments.

41) Write a thorough and understandable poetry analysis for some of your favorite famous poems. Self-publish your commentary.

42) Write Bible lessons for younger kids.

43) Create a Shakespeare performance group. Film your performances at local libraries. Include an introduction spoken by you.

44) Start a book club. Start multiple book clubs with different themes and age groups.

45) Go on a mission trip with your church.

46) Build a physical or digital escape room.

47) Sew stuffed animals for cancer patients.

48) Go on an archaeological dig. This is expensive, but a cool experience to do once. Do a lot of reading beforehand to get as much as possible out of the experience.

49) Memorize a famous collection of poems. Recite the poems at nursing homes.

50) Start a reselling company.

51) Become an expert at baking. Compete in baking competitions. Start your own bakery.

52) Learn to play chess. Compete at tournaments. Study hard. Become a chess master.

53) Become a wedding photographer. You’ll want a portfolio of your own photos and probably shadowing a professional one for awhile first.

54) Learn a trade skill like welding or plumbing.

55) Build furniture. Sell it online.

56) Go through a bunch of coding challenges online. See how many you can complete.

57) Create your own digital art for iPhone backgrounds. Create a Pinterest board.

58) Become an expert at finger painting.

59) Compose your own musical piece. It can be an album of country songs or a classical symphony. Enter it into competitions. Perform it at venues around the country.

60) Learn to garden well. Organize a garden walk for your church.

61) Write book reviews for a local bookstore. Sometimes, they give you free books to preread, which is extra fun.

62) Construct your own virtual reality video game.

63) Create your own virtual reality tour of a historical location. Include footage of how things look now combined with what it would have looked like previously.

64) Design your own puzzles. Try to get them sold at a local toy store.

65) Create your own board game.

66) Follow detailed painting tutorials online. Create a gallery of your best works.

67) Write your own book of logic puzzles.

68) Shadow professionals in different careers. Take detailed notes on what you do and don’t like about each career possibility.

69) Study computer science complexity theory. If you can demonstrate a sufficient level of competence, I’d be happy to give you some interesting unsolved problems to ponder for free.

70) Get a 3D printer and learn how to use it.

71) Write and publish your own 3D printer designs.

72) Use a 3D printer to print prosthetic limbs to help kids with missing arms and legs.

73) Learn basic maintenance skills around the house.

74) Build a dollhouse from scratch with working electricity.

75) Learn to use a sewing machine. Sew your own clothes.

76) Powerpoint is Turing complete. Try to complete Python coding challenges using Powerpoint. It’s technically possible.

77) Learn to knit. Knit yourself socks.

78) Learn to latchhook. Make yourself a beautiful carpet.

79) Get yoga teacher certified.

80) Learn the physics of amusement park rides. Build a miniature model of your new design for a working doll-sized ride.

81) Build yourself a treehouse.

82) Design a toy for kids that simulates coding questions.

83) Learn parkour and then film an action movie doing cool tricks.

84) Compete in film race competitions.

85) Practice using green screens smoothly. Create your own film. Ask local movie theaters to screen the movie.

86) Produce a podcast.

87) Practice taking care of houseplants. Learn about botany.

88) Read a collection of Feynman physics lectures. Make your own easier version.

89) Learn the art of glassblowing. Sell glass pumpkins to raise money for a charity of your choice.

90) Organize your own charity banquet.

91) Write your own choose your own adventure book.

92) Build an elaborate Lego robotic machine. Enter it in competitions. I think there’s a good contest in Australia.

93) Learn metal-working. Build a working aeolipile.

94) Build a miniature catapult.

95) Dress up in nice outfits and take photos. Learn Photoshop thoroughly, and edit the photos to put you somewhere magical.

96) Get a chicken coop and raise chickens.

97) Design your own clothing line.

98) Learn to become a master chef.

99) Write a historical analysis of a favorite historical era.

100) Make a computer model of an extreme physics phenomenon.

101) Apply for various blog-writing projects as a freelance writer.