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....

What a Good Phonics Screener Actually Measures

What a Good Phonics Screener Actually Measures

If your child’s school sent home a note about an upcoming “phonics screener,” you might have felt a flash of worry. Is it a test? Will my child pass or…

Red Flags vs. Normal Variation: How to Tell If Your Child Needs Help

Red Flags vs. Normal Variation: How to Tell If Your Child Needs Help

Here’s something most parents don’t realize: Two five-year-olds sitting side by side in the same kindergarten classroom can be months apart in their reading readiness, and both can be perfectly…

Why Decodable Books Matter More Than You Think

Why Decodable Books Matter More Than You Think

Your child has been learning letter sounds for weeks. They can tell you that “s” says /s/ and “a” says /a/ and “t” says /t/. Then you hand them a…

The Alphabetic Principle: The One Concept That Changes Everything for Both Teachers and Parents

The Alphabetic Principle: The One Concept That Changes Everything for Both Teachers and Parents

Right now, you’re reading these words without thinking about how you’re doing it. Your brain is instantly converting letters into sounds and sounds into meaning, all in milliseconds. But there…

Fluency Is Not a Bonus Skill: Why Reading Rate and Accuracy Matter

Fluency Is Not a Bonus Skill: Why Reading Rate and Accuracy Matter

Most parents celebrate when their child can sound out words on a page. That’s a huge milestone. But here’s what often gets overlooked: decoding is not the finish line. A…

Adopted Children and Phonics: Addressing Gaps from Disrupted Early Language Exposure

Adopted Children and Phonics: Addressing Gaps from Disrupted Early Language Exposure

Before a child ever sees a letter on a page, their brain is already building the architecture for reading. It happens through thousands of hours of being spoken to, sung…

Phonics for Students with Visual Processing Difficulties

Phonics for Students with Visual Processing Difficulties

Your child passed the eye exam with flying colors, but they still mix up “b” and “d,” lose their place on the page, and get frustrated every time they sit…

Multilingual Learners at Home: Phonics When English Is the Second Language

Multilingual Learners at Home: Phonics When English Is the Second Language

Your family speaks Spanish at home, but your child is learning to read in English at school. Or perhaps your household runs on Mandarin, Arabic, or Somali, and your kindergartener…

Teaching Phonics to Students with Hearing Loss

Teaching Phonics to Students with Hearing Loss

Most people assume phonics and hearing loss don’t belong in the same sentence. After all, phonics is about sounds, and hearing loss means limited access to sound, right? It’s a…

Phonics for Late Talkers: When Speech Delays Affect Reading Readiness

Phonics for Late Talkers: When Speech Delays Affect Reading Readiness

Your toddler points at the dog, lights up with excitement, but stays silent. Meanwhile, the child next door is already stringing sentences together. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.…