What do I teach each day?

Before the first day: find the level

A routine only works at the right level. Too hard, and every day is a fight. Too easy, and nothing moves. Both tools below are free, and nothing you answer is sent anywhere.

The daily routine: four short blocks

1. Yesterday first.Start with what you did yesterday: the same sounds, the same words, the same math. Two minutes. If they come easily, move on. If they do not, today’s lesson is yesterday’s lesson.
2. Reading: one new small step.One new sound, or one new kind of word. Show it, say it, and have your child read a few words with it. Then one short game in the free reading app, or one printed page.
3. Math: one page.Counting, writing numbers, adding or taking away, at your child’s level. Use real things on the table first, then the page. Free pages you can make: addition pages · number tracing · number bonds · number lines.
4. Read aloud to your child.A book you both like, read by you. Your child hears new words and whole stories, and it needs no planning.

A week at a glance

The free tools for the routine

1. Make your own worksheetsType your child’s name or this week’s words, and print. Tracing, word cards, bingo, math pages and more.
2. Free worksheetsFree pages from our packs, ready to print, sorted by subject.
3. The free reading appShort reading games that follow the first seven reading levels. No sign-up.
4. Hear every letter soundFor you, before you teach a new sound.
5. Pages that hold the routineDaily routine cards · A picture schedule · A reading practice calendar · A reading progress chart · A reading log.

Keeping skills over the summer

Many parents ask for a summer review packet. A packet runs out. A routine lasts all summer, and it is the same one as above, made smaller.

1. Bring back, do not add.The summer is for what your child already learned. Start from the last step that was easy, not the next new one.
2. Three small blocks.A few sounds or words from the spring, one short page or one game, and a book read aloud.
3. Tie it to something that already happens.After breakfast, or before screen time. The same moment each day, so nobody has to remember.
4. Make the pages yourself.The free makers print a new page with the same words as often as you like, and there is a summer worksheet maker.

What this routine is not

It is not a curriculum, and it does not cover a full school year or every subject. It covers the daily basics of reading and math for a young child. Your state may have its own rules for homeschooling, so check those. And if reading stays hard however steady you are, tell a teacher or your child’s doctor what you see.