For homeschooling
You are the teacher as well as the parent, so this page is about what gets written down.
TaleTykes gives a homeschooled child new books at the level they read. You get weekly phonics lessons with a script, a reading log, and a record of the year you can print or share. A family plan is from $18.99 a month, and the first 3 days and 2 books are free.
What is kept
We record every book your child finishes, how long it took, and which words turned up for the first time. When they read a page aloud, we note how many words came out as written, and when they answer questions, we note how many they got right.
All of it is on their progress page, and any of it can be put on a report card behind a link you can send to somebody. The link lasts a month and you can stop it sooner.
A homeschool section in your account
Tell us when your school year starts and ends, and your account gains a Homeschool section. Each week it gives you four or five short reading lessons for each child, 15 or 20 minutes, built from the sounds they are on, with what to say at every step: a warm-up, the new sound, blending, heart words, writing words from their sounds, and a book to read together.
It keeps a reading log that already has everything read here and every lesson you mark done, and you can add what was read away from the screen. For any part of the year, such as a quarter, you can print a record with the log, the books finished and the sounds your child has learned, or send it to whoever reviews your year with a link that stops after a month.
There are receipts for an education savings account or scholarship program, and a short guide to what each state asks homeschooling families to keep. Only you see the section, and nothing in it is sent to a school or a state.
What is not kept
We don’t produce a percentile, a reading age or anything else you could compare with another child, and we left them out on purpose. A measurement taken at a kitchen table over a few books can’t stand in for a school assessment, and presenting it as one would do more harm than good.
We also do not claim alignment to a curriculum. There are 11 phonics phases here in a sensible order. They will be close to whichever scheme you use, though they won’t match it exactly.
What a book looks like at each age
The writing is held to these figures. A draft outside its band is rewritten before a picture is drawn.
Ages 2 to 5
A short picture book for you to read out loud.
- Length
- 100–500 words
- Pages
- 10–16
- Pictures
- 8–10
- Chapters
- None
- Questions at the end
- 2
Ages 5 to 7
A first book, built from the sounds your child already knows.
- Length
- 500–1,500 words
- Pages
- 12–20
- Pictures
- 6–12
- Chapters
- None
- Questions at the end
- 3
Ages 7 to 9
A first chapter book, with a hook at the end of every chapter.
- Length
- 4,000–9,000 words
- Pages
- 18–34
- Pictures
- 4–6
- Chapters
- 6–10
- Questions at the end
- 3
Ages 9 to 12
A longer story with subplots and choices your child makes.
- Length
- 8,000–15,000 words
- Pages
- 24–50
- Pictures
- 3–5
- Chapters
- 8–14
- Questions at the end
- 3
More than one child
Each reader has their own level, phase, interests and record, and we never set one child’s results beside another’s. The exception is the weekly board, which is by age group rather than household, so two children close in age can land on the same one. It does not start until you agree to the notice that describes it, and you can switch it off per reader.
Part of a co-op
A co-op or another group of five or more families can buy seats for everyone on one invoice. Each family still has its own account, and whoever organizes the seats sees only how many have been claimed. How group seats work.
A record you can hand to somebody
Your child gets books at the level they are on, and you get a report card behind a link that expires.
We show no ads, and a child can't buy anything.