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

Why do some kids read earlier than others? The real reasons, and how to help your reader.

Why Some Children Learn to Read Earlier Than Others

In any kindergarten classroom, one child is already reading chapter books while another is...

How AI listening technology works in reading apps, and what it can and cannot do.

How AI Listening Technology Works in Reading Apps

Some reading apps do something that feels almost magical. Your child reads a sentence...

The pre-reading skills children need before phonics, and how to build them at home.

The Skills Children Need Before Formal Phonics Instruction

By the time a child sounds out their first word, most of the groundwork...

How parents can choose AI reading programs that follow the Science of Reading.

Parents’ Guide to AI-Powered Reading Programs

Your child’s tablet can now do something that sounded like science fiction a few...

AI vs human reading tutors: what research says and how to combine both for early readers.

AI Reading Tutors vs Human Reading Tutors

An AI reading tutor never sighs, never glances at the clock, and never loses...

AI reading tutors vs. phonics apps: what the research says and how to choose tools grounded in the Science of Reading.

Can AI Teach Phonics Better Than Apps?

Search “learn to read” in the App Store right now and you will get...

A parent and teacher guide to AI reading tutors grounded in the Science of Reading.

Best AI Reading Tutors for Kids: A Parent and Teacher Guide

What if every child had access to a patient, one-on-one reading tutor who never...

Not all phonics videos on YouTube are worth your child's time. Here is how to find the good ones and skip the rest.

Using YouTube for Phonics Practice: The Good, the Bad, and the Useless

YouTube has more than 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. Somewhere in that...

Most children build core phonics skills over two to three years. Here is what shapes that timeline.

How Long Does It Take a Child to Complete a Phonics Program?

Parents starting a phonics program often want to know one thing: how long is...

Structured literacy certification is more than a badge. Here is what the credential requires and why it matters for your child's reader.

What Structured Literacy Certification Means

The phrase “structured literacy certified” is showing up everywhere right now: on tutoring profiles,...

Why Some Children Learn to Read Earlier Than Others

Why Some Children Learn to Read Earlier Than Others

In any kindergarten classroom, one child is already reading chapter books while another is still working out that letters make sounds. Both can be completely normal. Reading is not a…

How AI Listening Technology Works in Reading Apps

How AI Listening Technology Works in Reading Apps

Some reading apps do something that feels almost magical. Your child reads a sentence aloud, and the app instantly shows which words they nailed and which tripped them up. There…

The Skills Children Need Before Formal Phonics Instruction

The Skills Children Need Before Formal Phonics Instruction

By the time a child sounds out their first word, most of the groundwork is already in place. Reading does not begin with letters on a page. It begins years…

Parents’ Guide to AI-Powered Reading Programs

Parents’ Guide to AI-Powered Reading Programs

Your child’s tablet can now do something that sounded like science fiction a few years ago. It can listen to them read aloud, catch the words they miss, and adjust…

AI Reading Tutors vs Human Reading Tutors

AI Reading Tutors vs Human Reading Tutors

An AI reading tutor never sighs, never glances at the clock, and never loses patience at seven on a Tuesday night. For about the price of one coffee a month,…

Can AI Teach Phonics Better Than Apps?

Can AI Teach Phonics Better Than Apps?

Search “learn to read” in the App Store right now and you will get hundreds of results, most of them describing themselves as “AI-powered.” Jolly Phonics, Hooked on Phonics, Duolingo…

Best AI Reading Tutors for Kids: A Parent and Teacher Guide

Best AI Reading Tutors for Kids: A Parent and Teacher Guide

What if every child had access to a patient, one-on-one reading tutor who never lost their place, never got tired, and adjusted instruction within seconds based on what a child…

Using YouTube for Phonics Practice: The Good, the Bad, and the Useless

Using YouTube for Phonics Practice: The Good, the Bad, and the Useless

YouTube has more than 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. Somewhere in that flood of content are genuinely useful phonics resources for your child, and somewhere are videos that…

How Long Does It Take a Child to Complete a Phonics Program?

How Long Does It Take a Child to Complete a Phonics Program?

Parents starting a phonics program often want to know one thing: how long is this going to take? It is a reasonable question, and the honest answer is that it…

What Structured Literacy Certification  Means

What Structured Literacy Certification Means

The phrase “structured literacy certified” is showing up everywhere right now: on tutoring profiles, school websites, reading intervention programs, and literacy apps. But what does the credential actually mean, and…