Still learning sounds?
Explore the readiness and beginning-decoding scope. Grammar can support spoken language, but it does not replace phonics.
Phonics and Early Reading · In development
From first sounds to reading words.
Homeschool phonics for Pre-K through Grade 2, being built to help children connect sounds and letters, blend words, and read short passages.
Pre-K begins with listening and letter readiness, with no reading expected. Later grades build decoding skills through explicit teaching and practice with patterns already introduced.
Intended for the first HillLight ELA release. Course design and draft lessons remain under review; access is not open yet.
- Grades
- Pre-K through Grade 2
- Focus
- Beginning reading
- Parent role
- Listen and read together
- Membership
- Included in HillLight ELA
What each grade is designed to teach
Planned scope, subject to review. Start with the skills your child is ready to learn, rather than expecting every child of the same age to begin in the same place.
Pre-K: listening and letter readiness
Hear rhymes and syllables, notice first sounds, recognize letter names, and discover how print carries words. No independent reading is expected.
Kindergarten: sounds into words
Connect letters to sounds, blend and separate sounds in short words, learn common words, and begin reading simple sentences using taught patterns.
Grade 1: build a wider reading toolkit
Review short vowels, then explore consonant blends, sh and ch, final-e words, common vowel teams, syllables, endings, and short passages.
Grade 2: read more complex patterns
Explore additional vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, two-syllable words, prefixes and suffixes, and irregular words. Reread passages for accuracy and expression.
From an actual draft passage
A small step into connected reading.
These are the opening three pages of “The Red Bus,” a Grade 1 draft passage. The repeated sentence pattern gives a child a short stretch of text to read with a grown-up.
An excerpt of authored content, not a released or independently approved reading sample.
The bus is red.
The bus is big.
Ben is on the bus.
A reading session, together
- Remember. Revisit familiar sounds or words.
- Learn. Hear and see a new sound pattern.
- Practice. Blend, read, or build words using that pattern.
- Read together. Listen as your child reads and offer help where needed.
A parent listens to spoken reading and confirms practice; no microphone is required. Pre-K activities stay with listening, pictures, and letters rather than passage reading.
Where to begin
Already reading short words?
Compare your child’s current skills with the scope above. Grade 1 Spelling assumes they can read words such as cat, sit, and hop.
Explore SpellingDifferent strengths by subject?
Use readiness in each subject as your guide. A child’s grammar knowledge may be ahead of their decoding. Paid access is designed for parent-selected starting levels.
This is curriculum guidance, not a reading assessment or diagnosis.
One family membership
$49.99 / year / family · Launch pricing
Phonics, Grammar Quest, and Spelling are intended for launch. Other ELA modules join as released. Phonics teaches beginning reading; it is not a complete language-arts program on its own.