Homeschool reading curriculum: a free plan by grade, Pre-K to 5th

A free homeschool reading curriculum can be built from four daily pieces: a few minutes of phonics in a planned order, a short book your child can read at their level, a longer book you read aloud, and a conversation about what you read. Phonics carries most of the weight from Pre-K to 2nd grade; from 3rd grade the weight shifts to reading more, harder and wider books, building vocabulary, and writing about them. Peabody (peabody.kids) wrote this plan. Peabody is a free reading and learning site for kids, free through the end of 2026, with a library of leveled stories and phonics and word games, and we say below where it helps and where it doesn't. The other free resources named here aren't ours, and nobody paid to be listed.

This plan lines up with two Peabody cheat sheets, the phonics scope and sequence (sixteen steps from s a t p i n to -ing and -ed) and reading levels by grade (thirteen levels). Grades in the table are a convention, not a deadline. Children vary a lot, and a homeschool's great freedom is teaching the child in front of you, not the grade on a chart.

The plan at a glance

Three notes on the table. The phonics column is one common pace, not a rule, and Peabody's own sequence does not tie steps to grades. The "time" column is what many families find workable, not a target: no study has found an ideal number of minutes, which we explain in how long should kids read. And Peabody starts a new reader a little below the level in the table on purpose (Preschool to 2nd grade all start at level 1, 3rd grade at level 2, and so on), then moves up when books run easy.

What a daily reading lesson looks like

The shape stays the same from kindergarten to 2nd grade; only the content moves.

1. Sounds and phonics (5–10 minutes). Review yesterday's letter pattern, teach one new thing, and read a handful of words with it. Magnetic letters, a whiteboard or a game.
2. Read a book at their level (5–15 minutes). Your child reads to you. A good fit is a book where they stumble on no more than about one word in ten.
3. Read aloud to them (10–20 minutes). A book harder than they can read alone, with talk before, during and after.
4. One small thing to write (a few minutes). Copy a word, write a sentence about the story, or spell three words from today's pattern.

From 3rd grade, swap step 1 for word study (prefixes, suffixes, roots and new words from their books) and make step 4 longer.

Pre-K: sounds by ear, then letter sounds

The work at this age is mostly spoken: rhymes, clapping syllables, playing "I spy something that starts with mmm", and lots of read-alouds. Toward the end of Pre-K, many children are ready for a few letter sounds, starting with the ones in Peabody's step 1: s, a, t, p, i, n.

On Peabody: the library has a floor of first books with a picture for the word, and new stories are read aloud page by page the first time by default. In the games, a Pre-K or kindergarten child starts on first sounds and rhymes; Critter Farm and Dino Dash are gentle ones. Every answer is three big boxes to tap, and Peabody says the picture's name aloud, so nothing needs reading yet.

Off screen: nursery rhymes, songs, picture books, and a library card. Five minutes of rhyming in the car counts.

Kindergarten: blending and first books

The big step is blending: seeing s-a-t and saying sat. Work through letter sounds a few at a time, then short-vowel words, then the digraphs sh, ch and th. Add heart words (the, said, was) two or three at a time, right when a book needs them.

On Peabody: start at level 1, where stories like I See a Boy and Can I Pet It? use a few words a page. Any word can be tapped to hear it. Deep Dig is the phonics sequence as mining layers, and Word Blocks asks a child to hop on the word they hear. The kindergarten and first-grade sight words cheat sheet has the Dolch lists.

There is a fuller week for this age in homeschool kindergarten, a free plan.

1st grade: from sounding out to reading smoothly

First grade covers a lot of patterns: blends (frog, hand), silent e (cake), vowel teams (rain, boat), r-controlled vowels (car, bird), and endings (jumping, kicked). Keep reading decodable books until most words come easily, then move to leveled stories. Start rereading for smoothness: the same short book two or three times across a week.

On Peabody: in the games, a 1st grader starts on phonics, first sounds and sight words, and spelling follows the words a child already reads. Stories at level 2 and level 3 are a line or a short paragraph a screen, like Look at Ants or Stone Soup. Each story ends with a few questions.

The full year is in first grade homeschool curriculum, free.

2nd grade: fluency, longer words, first chapter books

Most of the code is in place by now; the work is making it automatic and stretching it to longer words (rab-bit, un-zip, pic-nic). Reread for smoothness, read short chapter books together, and keep a list of new words from books.

Where Peabody falls short: Peabody's phonics path ends at step 16 (-ing, -ed, -er, -est). Longer-word patterns beyond that, such as -tion and three-syllable words, need another source. Reading Universe (below) covers those skills for free.

On Peabody: level 4 stories run to a short paragraph a screen. A 2nd grader's games ask phonics, sight words and spelling.

3rd to 5th grade: reading to learn

From 3rd grade the work changes from learning to read to reading to learn. Phonics drops to a few minutes of word study when a long word trips your child up. The daily time goes to:

• Their own reading, a chapter book or non-fiction they choose, with you checking in.
• Read-alouds a year or two above what they read alone, because listening vocabulary runs ahead.
• Talking and writing: a summary, a favourite part and why, a comparison of two books.
• Word meanings: new words from books, with a kid-sized definition.

On Peabody: at 3rd grade and up, the games ask word meanings and spelling; the vocabulary games page lists which ones. The library has retold classics at these levels, such as The Ugly Duckling (level 3), Treasure Island (level 4), Rapunzel (level 5), Aladdin (level 6) and Heidi (level 7). They are short retellings, a good taste before borrowing the full book.

6th to 8th grade: a lighter plan

By middle school a reading curriculum is mostly books, talk and writing. A simple shape: one novel and one non-fiction book a month, a weekly conversation or written response, and new words kept in a notebook. Let them choose often; assign one book a term that stretches them.

Peabody helps less here. The library has retold classics at level 8 and above, such as The Secret Garden, Black Beauty and The Call of the Wild, and vocabulary practice continues in the games. It has no essay feedback, no literature units, and it cannot discuss a book with your child.

Using Peabody in your homeschool

Here is one way to fit Peabody into the daily lesson above, for K to 2nd grade. Older children can use the same pattern with vocabulary games and harder stories.

1. Monday to Thursday, 5 minutes: a learning game in its Reading mode, as the warm-up. Your child picks the game; the practice brain picks the questions, and a word answered right is not asked again.
2. Monday to Thursday, 5–10 minutes: one story from the free library at their level, read aloud to you. You listen, and when they stop on a word, cover its ending and ask for the first sound.
3. Friday: no new story. Reread a favourite from the week, then let them make a story about something they love with the free AI story maker (up to three new stories a child each day). Read it together.
4. Every day, off screen: your read-aloud and a little writing.

A child starts with one tap from the front page and needs no account. A free family account adds a grown-up page for each child: their recent stories with a short report on each, minutes split between reading, math and games, the letter-sound patterns that are sticking or still being practised, and one thing to try tonight. It is a useful record for a portfolio, but it is built from taps and story questions, not from listening.

What Peabody is not: a boxed curriculum. It has no teacher's manual, no handwriting, no standards report and no test. It never records your child, so it cannot hear reading aloud or measure fluency. It has no published efficacy study. Think of it as free practice and books on a path, beside you. The homeschool hub has the math side, and the free homeschool math plan uses the same short-and-often shape.

Free reading resources beyond Peabody (checked October 2026)

• Reading Universe is free for all users, from WETA/Reading Rockets, the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book. It has a taxonomy of reading and writing skills with lesson plans, classroom videos, decodable texts, word lists and more than 40 free assessments. It is written for teachers and covers kindergarten to 3rd grade as of October 2026. It is the best free "teacher's manual" we know of.
• UFLI Foundations Toolbox, from the University of Florida Literacy Institute, has free slide decks, decodable passages, home practice sheets and games that go with each lesson. The teacher's manual the lessons come from is sold separately, so the toolbox is free but the full programme is not.
• Starfall says its four-step Learn-to-Read section is free for every child. A home membership, $35 a year as of October 2026, unlocks the rest of its Pre-K to 5th grade activities, including math.
• Khan Academy Kids is a free app for ages 2 to 8 with early literacy, reading and math, with no ads or subscriptions.
• Your public library, with Libby for free ebooks and audiobooks on a library card, and Storyline Online from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation for picture books read aloud by actors.

How to tell it's working, without a test

You are with your child every day, which is better evidence than any single test. Watch for these, month over month:

• The books are getting longer and they still finish them. If a level used to need help and now doesn't, move up.
• Fewer stops per page. Keep a note once a month: one page of a book at their level, how many words they stumbled on.
• They sound out a new word instead of guessing from the picture. Guessing from the first letter is a normal stage; using every letter is the next one.
• Rereads sound smoother. The second and third read of the same book should sound more like talking.
• They can tell you what happened. After a story, ask "What was the problem? How did it end?" If they decode well but can't say, the fix is more read-aloud and talk, not easier books.
• They choose to read. Picking up a book unasked is the best sign there is.

If your child is stuck on the same step for many weeks, or reading seems much harder for them than for other children their age, talk to your doctor or a reading specialist. No app, including Peabody, can tell you why.

Your state may also have rules about what a homeschool teaches or records. Check your state's rules; HSLDA keeps a page for each state, and your state's education department has the official text.

Learn more elsewhere

• Reading Universe, free lessons, videos and assessments for teaching reading
• UFLI Foundations Toolbox, free lesson slides and decodable passages
• Starfall, with a free Learn-to-Read section
• IES: foundational skills for reading, kindergarten to 3rd grade, the US Institute of Education Sciences
• HSLDA state law pages, one per state

Questions parents ask

What is the best free homeschool reading curriculum?

There isn't one best, but a strong free set is Reading Universe for what to teach, the UFLI Foundations Toolbox for free lesson slides and decodable passages, your public library for books, and a practice tool like Peabody for leveled stories and phonics games. Peabody is free through the end of 2026. What matters most is a planned phonics order, daily reading at the right level, and reading aloud.

Do I need a separate phonics curriculum?

For kindergarten to 2nd grade, you need a planned phonics order, which can be free. Peabody's sixteen-step scope and sequence is one; Reading Universe and UFLI publish theirs. Pick one order and stick with it, so the books your child reads match the patterns they have learned.

How long should homeschool reading take each day?

There is no research-backed ideal. Many families find 15 to 30 minutes works in kindergarten, 30 to 45 in 1st and 2nd grade, and 45 to 60 from 3rd grade, plus read-aloud time. Short and most days beats long and rare. Stop while it is still going well.

When should my child read on their own?

Somewhere between kindergarten and 2nd grade for most children, and the range is wide. Keep reading aloud long after they read alone, because books they can listen to are richer than books they can read.

Is Peabody a complete homeschool reading curriculum?

No. It gives free leveled stories with questions, phonics, sight-word, spelling and vocabulary games, and a grown-up page that shows how practice is going. It has no handwriting, no teacher's guide, no written work and no test, and it cannot hear a child read. Most families use it beside their own read-alouds, writing and a phonics order.

What if my child is behind the grade in this plan?

Teach the step they are on, not the grade. Find the phonics step where they can read most but not all of the words and start there. The levels are a pointer, and a child reading below the grade column is still reading. If progress stalls for months, ask a reading specialist.