Free Literacy Apps for Your Homeschool

Educational apps are a fun way to keep kids learning all year long. Since my kids enjoy playing games on my phone, the right free app can provide lots of motivation to keep them learning. Here are a few of our favorite free literacy apps that are perfect for homeschooling and summer learning.

I received compensation and access to resources from Homeschool Buyers Club in exchange for my honest review, but all the opinions in this post are my own. This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission for purchases made through those links.

Using Free Literacy Apps for Summer Learning

Summer is the perfect time to try out a new literacy app in your homeschool. Here are some reasons why literacy apps are perfect for summer learning.

Teach Technology Skills

When kids spend time learning with a mobile app, they are also learning important technology skills at the same time. Homeschool apps are a great way to help young children become comfortable using technology, which is an important life skill.

Learn Anywhere

One of our favorite reasons to learn with interactive apps is that we can take our learning on the go. My kids love using their literacy apps in the car during road trips, while they are waiting at appointments, or during errands. Including these fun games during our downtime is a great way to keep my kids learning all day long.

Easy for Busy Families

I love that my kids can use our literacy apps for some independent learning. A few minutes of screen time with a good app is a great way to help my young learners work independently while I am working one-on-one with a sibling or cooking a meal.

Fun and Engaging for Kids

My kids always enjoy their learning experience with their favorite reading app, which is a great reason to use technology in our homeschool. I love that apps make my kids so motivated and excited to learn.

Easy to Customize

Another thing I love about using literacy apps is that it is easy to customize the experience for each child’s grade level and reading skills. Many apps provide customized levels for each child, and this is an easy way to make sure that kids are practicing the skills they need to learn.

Supplement Learning

Literacy apps are a great way to supplement the learning we are already doing in our homeschool. Many apps offer a parent dashboard where I can monitor my kids’ learning. Sometimes I can even assign specific topics or lessons for extra practice that correspond directly to what my kids are learning in our homeschool lessons.

Free Literacy Apps for Homeschool

Here are a few of our favorite free literacy apps. Use these apps in your homeschool for summer learning or all year long for an extra boost in your child’s reading skills.

Reading Skills Assessment

A great place to start is this free reading skills assessment from Explode the Code online. This is an interactive, online assessment of your child’s phonics skills. After your child completes the assessment, you will get a detailed report of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. The report will also include tips for practicing reading with your child.

Grab the Reading Skills Assessment for free from the Homeschool Buyers Club!

Reading IQ

Reading IQ is a library of over 7,000 books for kids ages 2-12. Kids can choose their own storybook to practice reading, or they can listen to books read aloud. Kids will learn about the elements of a story and develop their reading comprehension with this app as well.

Although Reading IQ is a paid app, you can grab a 30-day free trial from the Homeschool Buyers Club!

Vocabulary Quest

Vocabulary Quest is a great app for kids in grades 5-12 who want to develop their vocabulary and reading skills. This educational tool challenges kids to battle monsters and unlock new gear while they learn new words, study definitions, and then use the words to complete puzzles and games.

Although Vocabulary Quest is a paid app, you can download a free trial version from the Homeschool Buyers Club!

Free Alphabet Apps for Homeschool

Preschoolers can letter letter names, letter sounds, and more with these fun free apps.

ABCMouse

ABCMouse is a great app for young readers in preschool through 2nd grade. Kids work through sequential lessons that teach a variety of pre-reading skills, including letter names and beginning sounds, rhyming words, vocabulary words and comprehension, and more.

ABCMouse is a paid app but you can grab a 30-day free trial from the Homeschool Buyers Club!

Teach Your Monster to Read

Teach Your Monster to Read is one of my daughter’s favorite apps. Kids can create a monster and play games to help the monster complete different activities. Finding the correct answer will help kids earn new outfits for their monsters.

Free Phonics Apps for Homeschool

Make practicing phonemic awareness and phonics fun and engaging with these choices.

Nessy.com

Nessy is a phonics app for kids ages 6-11. It is based on the Orton Gillingham method of teaching reading, which is especially effective for kids with Dyslexia. Nessy teaches kids about phonemic awareness and phonics as well as vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, reading fluency, and more.

Nessy is a paid app but you can grab a 7-day free trial from the Homeschool Buyers Club.

Reading Eggs

Reading Eggs is one of the most popular reading apps for homeschool families. The app is perfect for kids ages 2-13, with different levels for each age group:

• Reading Eggs Junior is for ages 2-4. Kids will learn about uppercase letters and lowercase letters and pre-reading skills. Kids practice letter formation, letter sounds, and letter names with fun games and activities.
• Reading Eggs is for ages 3-7. In this app, younger children learn to read their first words with phonics. The app also teaches sight words from sight word lists to help students read fluently.
• Fast Phonics is for elementary students ages 5-10. This app helps kids continue to develop their skills in reading simple words. Kids also practice language arts skills like spelling.
• Reading Eggspress is for older students ages 7-13. In this app, kids will continue to practice essential skills for success in reading.

Reading Eggs is a paid app but you can get a 30-day free trial from the Homeschool Buyers Club.

Starfall

Starfall has lots of fun educational games and interactive activities for preschool through 3rd grade. Kids will also get free access to a library of educational videos.

Homer

This phonics-based app for kids ages 2-8 uses the science of reading to help kids learn to read through fun games and activities. The skill level of the app increases as kids develop new skills. Kids will learn about the alphabet as they choose the correct letter in a variety of games. Over time they will develop phonics skills and learn to read sight words as well.

Although Homer is a paid app, you can get a 30-day free trial here.

Free Spelling Apps for Homeschool

Help your child practice their spelling skills with these exciting apps.

Word Wagon

Word Wagon is a fun mobile app for ages 2-6 teaches letter names, phonics skills, and spelling of words up to 6 letters. Kids will also learn 44 Dolch high-frequency words as they play the app.

Spelling City

With Spelling City, teachers can create a word list for kids to practice. Then, kids can play fun spelling games, practice the words, and even take a spelling test on the app.

Spelling Monster

In Spelling Monster, kids can help the monsters of Spelltopia by playing games and learning new spelling words. Add in your lists of spelling words to customize this app for your child.

Free Trials of Homeschool Literacy Apps

One of the best ways to find the perfect literacy app for your homeschool is to choose an app that offers a free trial period before you buy. This will allow you to test the app with your kids and make sure that it’s a good fit for their learning styles before committing to the purchase.

When I’m looking for new curriculum to try, I always love to shop at the Homeschool Buyers Club. They make it easy to find and try lots of different homeschool curriculum options!

Reasons Why We Love the Homeschool Buyers Club

Explore New Curriculum

I always love trying new curriculum options, but this can get expensive quickly. I love that the Homeschool Buyers Club offers free trials of many of the curriculum options. This makes it easy to try out a variety of curriculum options and figure out what kind of curriculum is a good fit for my kids before committing.

Try New Subjects

As a busy homeschool family, it can be hard to fit in all the subjects that I want my kids to learn into our homeschool day. Homeschool Buyers Club makes this easier with trials and subscriptions to programs in art, music, foreign language, and more.

Match Kids’ Interests

As a former teacher, it is important to me to make sure that I’m including my kids’ interests in their school day. I know that my kids learn better and remember more when they are learning about topics that interest them.

That’s why I love the wide variety of curriculum options at the Homeschool Buyers Club. I always know that I can find options that will be interesting and engaging for my kids!

Customize for Each Child

One of my favorite reasons to homeschool is the ability to customize each child’s learning to match their level and the skills they need to practice. The wide variety of curriculum options offered at the Homeschool Buyers Club makes this so easy to do. I can always find curriculum choices for the topics and skills I want my kids to learn.

Free Summer Homeschool Curriculum

Summer is the perfect time to experiment and explore a new homeschool curriculum, and the Homeschool Buyers Club is making this so easy for families this summer! They are offering free trials of 19 different homeschool curriculum options for families this summer.

Multi-Subject Apps and Curriculum:

• Thinkwell Free Trial
• Monarch
• Smile and Learn

Save up to 80% on Multi-subject curriculum at Homeschool Buyers Club!

Music and Art Apps and Curriculum:

• HomeSchoolPiano Trial
• Kids Guitar Academy Trial
• Mr. Henry’s Music World Freebie
• Mark Kistler Art Lessons

Save up to up to 87% on electives curriculum at Homeschool Buyers Club!

Reading and Literacy Apps and Curriculum:

• Reading Skills Assessment Ongoing
• Nessy.com Free Trial
• Reading Eggs
• Vocabulary Quest

Save up to 83% on Language arts curriculum at Homeschool Buyers Club!

Science and Math Apps and Curriculum:

• Code Avengers Free Trial
• Brilliant.org
• Creta Class 7 Day Trial
• Math Mammoth PDFs
• Doodlemaths
• Dynamic Earth Learning (Aquaponics Course)

Save up to 70% on math curriculum and up to 73% on science curriculum at Homeschool Buyers Club!

History Apps and Curriculum:

• History Alive Grades 6-12
• History Alive Grades 1-6

Save up to 54% on history curriculum at Homeschool Buyers Club!

All of these resources are available for free this summer!

Check out all the free summer homeschool curriculum options here!

Free Gifts from Homeschool Buyers Club

Every order from Homeschool Buyers Club this summer comes with 3 bonus gifts. All you need to do is place your order, and then select your free gifts at checkout.

Grab your free summer homeschool apps and curriculum (and free gifts) from the Homeschool Buyers Club today!