Reading

On this page you will find resources for teaching your kids to read and to support them as they continue to learn and develop over the years. Printables, tips, techniques, links to resources, book lists, and more. All these tips and resources come from my experience as a preschool and elementary teacher trained in Early Reading Intervention, plus my experience as a homeschool mom of five for the last 13+ years.

Play Your Way to Reading

A play-based literacy program for PreK-2nd graders.

Teach your child to read through play!

Read these blog posts:

Morning Work Binders

One of my favorite things that we’ve added to our homeschool over the years is our morning work binders. These have been a wonderful way for my kids to gain independence in their learning, bring different subjects into…

How to Teach Reading Without Worksheets

When it’s time to start teaching your child how to read, the first thing that most parents do is rush to find a workbook or curriculum. While well-intentioned, worksheets and flashcards are not developmentally appropriate for kids at…

Teach Reading – 5 mistakes you might be making

When it comes time to teach reading, you probably have questions. Where do you begin? What curriculum do you use? When do you start? There are a lot of voices out there, and often the ones that are…

Construction and truck learning invitations

Construction and Truck Learning Invitations

If your kids are into something, incorporating it into their learning is a great way to get them interested in whatever they’re learning! We use this kind of interest-led learning in many ways in our homeschool. I love…

Fun Spelling and Vocabulary Activities

Can you teach spelling and vocabulary in a fun way, without the lists and rote memorization? Yes! There are so many fun spelling and vocabulary activities you can add into your homeschool (or do after school with your…

Seven Ways to use Books as Homeschool Curriculum

One of the lies that a lot of homeschool parents believe is that they need to purchase a curriculum to teach a subject. While curriculum can be a helpful tool, it definitely isn’t always a necessary one! I’m…

How to Choose Books for Your Homeschool

Books are an incredibly important part of our homeschool – in fact, they are central to just about every part of our homeschool! But how do you choose books for your homeschool? What should you look for and…

Teaching US Presidents: resources and books

My kids and I have been studying the U.S. Presidents in our homeschool (which is a pretty common thing around Presidents’ Day ;) and I thought it would be helpful to round up the resources that we’ve been…

Five Ways to Improve Reading comprehension

Once your kids learn how to read, you want to make sure that they aren’t just reading the words, but that they actually understand what’s happening in the story. This is called reading comprehension. If your kids can…

How to Build a Homeschool Library (and on budget!)

Building a home library doesn’t have to break your budget. I’ve built our library over years and years of teaching in the classroom and homeschooling. We buy most of our books used; I rarely leave a thrift store…

Teaching Kids Letters and Sounds

I’ve spent a LOT of time over the last 20 years teaching kids letters and sounds. Between my time teaching in the classroom and now homeschooling my own kids, I’ve picked up many different ways for kids to…

Teach Kids How to Read: the best resources, curriculum, and tips for parents

Teaching kids how to read can feel overwhelming. Whether you are homeschooling and the responsibility is solely on you or if your child is in school but needs extra support, it can feel like a lot – especially…

Book Lists:

Solar Eclipse Books and Activities

If you’re looking for solar eclipse books and activities, plus printables, I’ve got a bunch of good ones for you! I put together a FREE mini-unit on the solar eclipse for you to print, a book list, and…

St Patrick’s Day Activities

I love to incorporate fun little unit studies and on holidays, and these St. Patrick’s Day activities are the perfect way to celebrate, even if you don’t have any Irish in your ancestry. Whether you use these activities…

Books to Teach Money and Entrepreneurship

We are a book family, so anytime we want to learn about a topic, my first thought is: what books can I find about this topic? This year, we are learning a lot about money and entrepreneurship, so…

Gardening Books for Kids

One of the best things about homeschooling is that you can use your real life experiences to teach your kids – no special curriculum required! Most of our learning is centered around books in our home, and we…

Easter Books and Baskets

In our house, we celebrate Easter as the Resurrection of Jesus, but we also like to celebrate the fun of Easter baskets! We keep baskets pretty simple, as we don’t want the focus to be on the gifts….

Advent Books and Resources

As we come into the Advent season, our family uses this time to turn our hearts to Jesus and celebrating the anticipation of His arrival. And we also like to have fun with Christmas traditions and holiday fun!…

Best Fall Books for Kids

Fall is my favorite season! I like to tuck seasonal books away for most of the year and then pull them out in the appropriate season. I just pulled out our fall books and thought I’d share the…

Five Books for Homeschooling Moms to Read

If you’re a thinking about homeschooling or you’re already a homeschooling mom, you’ve probably been doing some research. You’re looking into curriculum, you’re checking out different homeschooling styles and methods, and maybe you’re taking a homeschooling course. One…

Earth Day books and a free printable

Earth Day Books for Kids and a Free Printable!

Teaching kids to care for the earth is an important part of our responsibility as parents and educators. Caring for the living things on our planet is about more than just recycling, but about stewarding the gifts we’ve…

15 Must Have Gardening Books (for beginners, homesteaders, and beyond!)

If you’re thinking about starting a garden or expanding the growing space you currently have, there are SO many great resources for gardening and homesteading out there! And while I know I can find a blog post or…

Best Unicorn Books and Free Unicorn Coloring Pages

Happy Unicorn Day! Did you know this was a thing? Apparently it is! As a kid, I looooved unicorns (any other My Little Pony unicorn lovers??) In a house full of boys, we admittedly don’t have a lot…

Winter Books for Kids

One of my favorite things about the changing of seasons is the books! I store seasonal books separately from the rest of our books, so it’s always so fun to pull out the new (old) books as the…

More Books We Love:

Books we use in our homeschool

Nature Reference Books

Nature Picture Books

Chapter Books

Picture Books

Our favorite non-fiction books.

Check out these resources:

Hands-on games, resources, and learning tools I recommend

Printables

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