This is a list of Homeschool Resources: Reading. If you have used any of these resources leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of them and why.
Growing readers are making strides in their learning and development with increases in both reading fluency and comprehension. ReadingIQ collection includes books with simple language, early chapter books with engaging characters, picture books with light-hearted stories, and nonfiction texts that support understanding.
Grades K-12, with parental supervision As the website states, “AmblesideOnline is a free homeschool curriculum that uses Charlotte Mason’s classically-based principles to prepare children for a life of rich relationships with everything around them: God, humanity, and the natural world.”
Charlotte Mason believed children should read and learn from living books rather than textbooks. If you ever wanted to try her style of teaching/learning, this would be a great place to start.
Everything is laid out for you – daily plans and weekly plans for each year (grade). When you get to the site, click on “Introduction to AmblesideOnline” to get an overview.
Then use the menu on the left sidebar to choose the weekly schedule for the year. There is a basic overview of the year, and then each subject is detailed. Each year also has Additional Books for Free Reading – with direct links.
From the side menu, you can also choose by subject:
- Art Study
- Composers
- Nature Study
- Plutarch
- Shakespeare
- Poets
- Hymns
- Folksongs
- Bible
- and more!
You can also join a forum, check out their blog, and link to extensive teacher resources.
Explode the Code Online has helped millions of students nationwide build the essential literacy skills needed for reading success: phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and spelling.
Grades 4 and up, with parental supervision Bibliomania – Free Online Literature and Study Guides has “free online literature with more than 2000 classic texts” where you can read, study or research.
When you scroll over the icons on the left sidebar, you’ll see new, featured, and/or recommended books. You can click on something that grabs your attention or you can start at each icon:
- Read – Choose fiction, poetry, drama, and more. When you click on an author’s name, all the books on the site by that author are listed. If you click on a title, there is usually a summary of the book first, then each chapter listed separately.
- Study – There are study guides for books written by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and more.
- Research – Choose from non-fiction, reference, biographies, or religious texts
You can also use the search feature to find something by text or author/title.
Reading Horizons provides software and direct instruction materials to help homeschool parents and tutors teach beginning and struggling readers how to discover reading success. Now you have the control to personalize your literacy instruction based on your child’s specific needs.
All too often, the barriers faced by children with difficulty reading outweigh their desire to read and, without proper guidance, they never overcome them.
SightWords.com has just introduced a new curriculum for teaching Phonemic Awareness (also called Pre-Phonics) to children. The website is packed with games, activities, and tools to help parents and educators prepare children for learning to read.
The free and printable materials are designed to promote learning in the classroom and also at home. Use the menu to locate the free curriculum. This is a comprehensive curriculum for teaching phonemic awareness, including lesson plans with scope and sequence, and offers classroom-tested lessons based on the latest research, complete with “how-to” videos.
You’ll also find teaching tips for presenting and planning the lessons as well as printable picture cards, word lists, and game boards. They include confidence builders, extension suggestions, and variations, and tips for scaling the activity from one child to several and vice versa.
Print and compile these in a binder to use over and over as your children develop a love of reading.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
