For Parents

Help your child strengthen their literacy skills at any stage of development.

Your family plays a big role in helping your child learn to read and write. With the right phonics activities at home, you can support your child’s literacy development and academic success. The more you understand how and why phonics instruction works, the better you can facilitate effective and meaningful learning experiences with your family. 

To help your child practice phonics at home, read our insights for parents below! You can also browse our phonics program reviews for more.

Phonics Education for Families

child reading with headphones on a tablet

Top 5 Reading Apps for Kids

With so many educational apps available, it can be tricky to figure out which...

young girl with curly hair holding a pencil learning to write

When Can Kids Write Their Name?

If you’re a parent, you likely anticipate your child’s developmental milestones with awe and...

How Does Oral Language Support Children’s Writing? 

How Does Oral Language Support Children’s Writing?  KW: how does oral language support children’s...

How to Help Preschoolers Develop Pre-Writing Skills 

How to Help Preschoolers Develop Pre-Writing Skills  KW: how can you help preschool children...

Simple 10-Minute Phonics Lessons for Busy Parents

If your child is learning phonics, you might be wondering how to help them...

phonics for teaching English language learners

Phonics for EAL: Instruction Methods

As one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, English continues to be...

When Should Kids Learn Phonics?

Every parent and educator wants the best outcome for their students. At the beginning...

Most Popular Home Phonics Programs for Kids

Phonics instruction sets the stage for your child to thrive as a reader and...

5 Findings That Prove Words Are Remembered in Phonological Memory

To read fluently, the brain pulls from a large sight word vocabulary that we’ve...

children learning basic concepts in language

Basic Concepts in Language Development 

In language development, basic concepts are words that set the foundation for children’s learning....

First Grade Phonics: When to Move Beyond Basics

First Grade Phonics: When to Move Beyond Basics

There’s a moment that many first-grade parents describe with the same kind of wonder, the moment their child picks up a book and just… reads it. Not perfectly, not without…

Phonics Catch-Up for Third Graders: Intensive Intervention Strategies

Phonics Catch-Up for Third Graders: Intensive Intervention Strategies

There is a well-documented shift that occurs around third grade, which literacy researchers have studied for decades. In the early grades, children are learning to read. By third grade, they…

Preschool Phonics: What’s Developmentally Appropriate?

Preschool Phonics: What’s Developmentally Appropriate?

Here’s something that surprises many parents: phonics learning doesn’t begin in kindergarten. It begins in the bathtub. It begins in the car. It begins every time your toddler claps along…

Kindergarten Phonics Pacing: Month-by-Month Expectations

Kindergarten Phonics Pacing: Month-by-Month Expectations

If you’ve ever sat at a kindergarten pickup wondering whether your child is keeping pace with their classmates, you’re not alone. Phonics progress in kindergarten can feel mysterious from the…

Parent Pushback: Addressing Concerns About Phonics Instruction

Parent Pushback: Addressing Concerns About Phonics Instruction

You’ve just announced that your school is implementing a new systematic phonics program. You expect relief. After all, reading scores have been declining, and this approach is backed by decades…

Why Most Teachers Weren’t Taught to Teach Phonics

Why Most Teachers Weren’t Taught to Teach Phonics

If you’re a parent whose child is struggling to read, you might wonder why their teacher seems uncertain about phonics instruction. It’s a fair question, and the answer might surprise…

Right to Read Laws: What Parents and Educators Need to Know

Right to Read Laws: What Parents and Educators Need to Know

The Right to Read Act, introduced in Congress, is an effort by lawmakers to address gaps in literacy instruction and library access. While legislation always involves a political process, the…

Teaching Phonics to Specialized Populations: Adapting Instruction for Every Learner

Teaching Phonics to Specialized Populations: Adapting Instruction for Every Learner

Your third grader still struggles to decode simple words. Your English language learner confuses similar sounds. Your high schooler avoids reading aloud at all costs. These scenarios play out in…

Digital Phonics Games: Which Ones Actually Follow Science?

Digital Phonics Games: Which Ones Actually Follow Science?

You’re scrolling through educational apps at 10 PM, reading glowing reviews and watching demo videos of animated characters celebrating correct answers. This one promises to teach your child to read…

Screen Time vs. Sound Time: The Phonics Balance

Screen Time vs. Sound Time: The Phonics Balance

It’s 6:30 PM on a Tuesday. Dinner’s cooking, work emails are piling up, and your five-year-old is restless. You hand over the tablet loaded with that phonics app everyone recommends.…