Today we’re going to review 10 of the most popular online reading and language arts programs for kids and decide which are the best of the best and which you should probably pass on. Whether you’re a homeschool parent looking for a new language arts program, or a parent with kids in school who need some extra reading practice, this is for you. So let’s get started!
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Best Online Reading Programs – Hooked on Phonics
First on our list of the best online reading programs is a company you probably remember from your childhood, Hooked on Phonics. I was actually surprised to find out they are still around and have an online phonics program. But it’s true! This program guarantees to teach your child to read in 30 days, and you can get your first month for just $1, so it’s definitely worth a try.
Hooked on Phonics is designed to be used by kids in PreK through 2nd grade. In addition to the online learning app, you also get monthly practice packages mailed to you that include workbooks, storybooks, and reward stickers. After your first month, the cost of the program will be just $12.99 a month, plus $2.99 for shipping of the printed materials. In addition to the Hooked on Phonics program, your subscription also includes Hooked on Spelling and an additional app, Hooked on Math. So you get a lot for the money.
Get your first month of Hooked on Phonics for just $1The Hooked on Phonics app can be installed on IOS, Android and Amazon devices as well as Mac and Windows desktops. You can add up to 3 children to the same account, all of different ability levels. Your child will follow a learning path watching short videos and playing games all designed to help them learn to read. There is also a digital library of books, games, and music. I tested this app out with my twins who are just starting to learn about letters, and they had fun with it. I like that it starts with the very basics of learning about individual letters. It seems like my twins could use this program for a long time!
Night Zookeeper
Next on our list of online reading programs is a language arts program for kids ages 6 to 12 called Night Zookeeper. This program is designed to help children develop their reading, writing and creative thinking skills while making learning fun. The Night Zookeeper program can be used as a supplemental language arts curriculum for kids in school or homeschool and can even be used as your main language arts curriculum for homeschooling.
The program offers a 7-day free trial, and after that, their annual subscription is $118.99 for one child. But if you use this link, you can save 50% off, so you can get a full year for just $59.99, or just about $5 a month, which is an awesome deal. They do also offer monthly and quarterly subscription options, and discounts for multiple children.
Night Zookeeper can be used on computers, tablets and smartphones and gives you a separate parent and student account so you can keep track of your child’s progress. Your child will play word games to improve their vocabulary, learn about grammar and sentence structure, and use their imagination to write their own stories. They will even receive personalized tutor feedback on all written work.
This program was perfect for my 9-year-old to try out. She had a lot of fun creating her own animals for the zoo and using them in battles. Your child will create and level up their animals by completing learning activities and games that teach spelling, grammar and more. The best part is, they will be encouraged to develop their creative writing skills along the way. I really love how when my daughter forgot to add punctuation or didn’t capitalize the right word, it would prompt her to write correctly. It’s really a very intelligent program! And since kids are having fun while learning, it alleviates a lot of stress for parents that can come from trying to get your kids to do a program that they don’t enjoy.
Reading Eggs Online Reading Program
Another online reading program that promises to help your kids learn to read in 30 days is Reading Eggs. This is a reading program for kids age 2 to 13, and you can get a 30-day free trial which is really nice. After that, this program is just $9.99 a month, and you can add up to 4 children.
They have four different learning levels, from the most basic ready to read skills for toddlers, to more advanced literacy skills for older children.
The Reading Eggs program is available to use on desktop and mobile devices. It also includes a math program for kids ages 3 to 9 for no additional cost. They include free printable worksheets for offline work, and a placement test to make sure your child is working at the right level.
Similar to other online reading programs, your child will follow a learning path and complete lessons along the way. The lessons are good if a bit repetitive and somewhat annoying to listen to. I have heard some complaints from parents about the curriculum, although I didn’t notice anything wrong when I was reviewing it. You can look up some reviews on Reading Eggs to see what I mean about that. Otherwise it seems like a good program as long as you have a good set of earplugs.
Readability Tutor
Another interesting program to add to our list of the best online reading programs is Readability Tutor. This program uses an AI powered tutor to help children jump up in reading levels, and you can try it out free for 30 days. After your free trial, this program will cost $19.99 a month, or you can purchase a full year for $139.99, and includes access for up to 3 children per account.
Unlike some of the other reading programs on this list, Readability Tutor is not available on desktop. You can download the app either from the app store or google play. It’s a really interesting app because your child will actually read books aloud and the app will listen to see if the child is reading correctly, and prompt them with the correct words if they mess up. If they get stuck on a word, it’s really easy to just tap the screen and hear the word or sentence aloud, then try again. At the end of the story, your child will answer several questions to check for reading comprehension.
There are tons of fun books your child can choose from to practice their reading skills. There is also a parent section that shows the time your child spent reading each day, average accuracy, comprehension score, and words read per minute, so you can track your child’s progress over time. Although Readability Tutor is not a full curriculum or anything like that, it definitely seems like a good practice tool, especially for kids who are just starting to learn to read.
IXL Learning – Best Online Reading Programs
IXL is an online learning program that allows children from pre-k through 12th grade to practice and improve their Language Arts skills. Your child will learn by example or from watching a video and practice their skills by answering questions and completing learning games. The best thing about IXL is their real time diagnostics tool which will assess your child’s level of understanding in the different language arts areas such as reading and writing strategies, vocabulary, and grammar, and then recommend specific skills to help your child improve and close any learning gaps. So your child should always be working on skills that are just the right challenge for them.
The IXL Language Arts program can be purchased for just $9.95 a month, and they offer a 30-day money back guarantee. Normally IXL does not offer a free trial, but I have a special link for you so you can get a 7-day free trial if you use this link. Or if you already know you want to sign up for IXL, I also have a link for 20% off for you here. Take your pick!
You’ll love IXL as a parent because of the really good analytics and reporting they have, so you can understand exactly how your child is progressing through the program, and even assign specific skills to help them achieve their learning goals. And just remember, for the most part, IXL is not going to be a full language arts curriculum. It’s more of a practice tool, and a way to identify and close learning gaps. They do have a learn to read skill plan for PreK through 2nd grade that is very good, but as your kids get older, you won’t be able to rely on this as your only language arts curriculum.
Starfall
Another interesting online learning program that you may not have heard of is Starfall. Starfall can be used online at Starfall.com, or by downloading their app to your smartphone or tablet. They have 3 separate learning levels, PreK and Kindergarten, Grades 1 – 3, and grades 4 and 5. In addition to language arts, they also have math as well.
You can download the app or go to their website and try out some of the lessons for free without signing up. If you decide that you like it and want to unlock all of the lessons, it will cost $5.99 a month if you purchase it in the app. Online, the cost will be $35 a year for the home membership which is a really great deal.
Related – 10 Best Online Math Programs for Homeschoolers
Starfall offers fun, game-based activities to help keep your child interested in learning. I think the games on this app were some of my favorites on the list. They’re really cute and fun to play. Your child will just log on and start learning by picking any activity they want to try. They also offer some nice printable resources on their website that you can print for some offline practice. There isn’t really any kind of learning path or progress tracking. It’s just meant to be something for your kids to explore on their own and gain some reading skills. But it’s definitely a good program that I think kids will enjoy.
ABCya
Another online reading program for kids from PreK through 6th grade is ABCYa. They have over 300 educational activities and games organized by grade level and type of activity. Your child can learn reading, literature, writing and more and have fun at the same time.
You can create a free account and gain access to all of the games on desktop, plus 6 games a week on the mobile app. If you want unlimited access to ABCYa on the mobile app and an add free experience, you can upgrade to the family plan for just $9.99 a month. You can even get an additional 25% off with this link. But if you’re happy with it on desktop and don’t mind the ads, there’s no reason to pay anything.
Using the ABCYa program is very simple. Just pick your grade level, type of activity, and then choose from the list. Just like with Starfall, there isn’t a learning path or any kind of progress tracking. You can save your favorite activities to come back to later. You can also search by common core standards and choose the activities that align with the different standards. The activities and games seem fun and challenging, and they include math, strategy, and other skill games as well. They also include a bunch of nice printables and teaching resources with the premium subscription.
Best Online Reading Programs – Reading IQ
If you’re looking for an online reading program with access to over 4000 books for kids of all reading levels, you might want to try Reading IQ. This is an online reading library from the creators of ABC Mouse, and it can be used by kids ages 2 to 12. They even include books in Spanish!
Reading IQ can be accessed on computers, smartphones and tablets, and you can get a one-month free trial. After that, it’s just $7.99 a month for up to 3 children. You can choose your child’s grade level and get started, or you can have them take an assessment to determine their reading level and customize the book selection.
They have all sorts of categories including “read to me”, graphic novels, poetry, chapter books, and even nonfiction titles, which makes it a really great resource for homeschoolers. They include plenty of classic titles as well as modern stories. When your child finds a book they like, they can add it to their favorites. The app will also track how much they read each day.
The Reading IQ program definitely has a lot of books to choose from, so your child should be able to find plenty to keep them interested. I just wish they had more parental settings and a way to lock certain books that you don’t want your child to read. Not that I saw anything bad, but with so many books, you can’t possibly know everything that’s available.
Prodigy English
If your kids want an online language arts program that’s a little bit different, they might like Prodigy English. This is a unique approach to helping kids from 1st through 6th grade practice their reading skills. Kids will play a fun online game, answering English question along the way. The questions are integrated into the gameplay seamlessly, so it feels more like a game than most of the other reading programs on this list. The game itself is a lot of fun, but the only way your character can refill their energy is if you answer the questions correctly.
The basic membership is free and includes everything you need for your child to try it out and see if they like it. If you decide this online reading program is something you want to keep, you may want to upgrade to a paid membership so your child can access more in game items and rewards. The cost of the Prodigy English level up membership is $6.25 a month.
My older daughter uses the Prodigy Math game for some extra math practice during the week, and we have had a good experience with that program. They have a nice parent dashboard that tracks your child’s activity and progress. The Prodigy English program is a little bit newer and so they don’t have the same learning and performance data that the math program has, but hopefully they will have that available soon. If your child enjoys these types of crafting games, they should have a lot of fun with this.
Lightsail
Finally, last on our list of the best online reading programs is an online English and Language Arts program specifically for homeschoolers called LightSail. They provide a complete Language Arts curriculum for kids ages 8 to 18, plus additional packages for younger kids. They also have one of my favorite free trial offers. You can get a 7-day free trial with just your email address – no credit card required. After that, you’ll pay $15 a month for their premium package which includes everything you need for kids ages 8 to 18.
Getting started with the LightSail program is a little more complicated than some of the other reading programs on this list, but it’s worth taking the time to get familiar with it. There is a lot of customization offered for parents, including extensive child safety controls where you can control which type of content your child will be allowed to access. You can allow or block all sorts of different sensitive topics, which is something I have not come across on any other online Language Arts programs.
LightSail has an extensive library of books, audio books, videos, encyclopedias and more. And while this is a faith-based program, you can choose from several different faiths, select them all if you want, or turn faith-based content off altogether.
They have assessments to determine your child’s reading level, reading and writing assignments, vocabulary, reading fluency, and so much more. I think you’ll be surprised at just how much this program has to offer once you get past that initial learning curve.
Best of the Best Online Reading Programs
So that takes care of our list of 10 online reading and language arts programs. So which are the best and which programs should you maybe just skip entirely? Well, I’ll tell you what I think. Let’s start with the best.
Well it’s really tough to decide, but I have a couple favorites from the list. First let’s talk about the phonics and early reading programs. For that, my favorite on the list is Starfall. I just really thought the games were super fun and engaging without being annoying. It’s affordable and easy to sign up, and I like that they have a desktop version as well as a mobile app. I think it’s going to be a great program for my younger kids to help learn to read.
And for a Language Arts program for older kids, my favorite was Night Zookeeper. My 9-year-old has really been enjoying it, and I think it’s really a great program either for kids in school who need a supplement or for homeschoolers. We’ll be using it as part of our Language Arts curriculum this year, and I’m really happy to have found it. As a homeschool parent, once your kids learn to read, it can be hard to know where to go from there in their Language Arts education, and this program is helping me feel confident that we aren’t leaving anything out.
Worst of the Best Online Reading Programs
And now for the worst programs on the list. Well, for the early readers, I just really wasn’t a fan of Reading Eggs. I’m sure it’s a good program, but my head might explode if I had to listen to those videos and songs ever again. So it’s a no for me.
As for the older kids, I’ll have to put LightSail at the bottom of the list just because of how complicated it is to set up. But if you’re a parent who wants to be able to do all of that customization, you’ll probably love it!
Have a favorite online reading program? Leave a comment and let me know!
