7,200+ Confident Readers and Spellers
1st Grade At-Home Online Homeschool Reading Curriculum
With Phonics and Spelling
Scholar Within’s Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET has been featured on
Help Your 1st-Grader Become a Skilled, Confident, and Fluent Reader
Your child will learn to love to read with our reading program.
- Research-based, results-driven curriculum
- Step-by-step at-home and online lessons
- Fun and engaging short, daily activities
- Carefully selected reading selections and questions
- Learn to spell with spelling patterns
- Learn to read faster with our research-proven reading fluency training
- Play card games that work on phonics skills
- Feel confident and excited about reading
Why Scholar Within?
What parents are saying
“My daughter has not only increased her words per minute but also has improved her comprehension.”
– Mary M.
“The video spelling and phonics lessons are like having a private tutor in our home.”
– Wendy R.
“The games were really enjoyable! We even played them AFTER the lesson was over for the day.”
– Natalie M.
1st-Grade Homeschool Reading and Spelling Curriculum
Hand Selected Reading Passages
Our first-grade reading program will empower your child with engaging stories that will inspire a love of reading.
Each week, your child will receive two digital reading passages and accompanying worksheets to help them learn to read independently and practice comprehension skills.
Your child will learn how to talk about and summarize the stories they have read.
Tap to Read – Read-Aloud Technology from Scholar Within
Is your child struggling with unfamiliar words while reading?
Tap to Read can help!
With just a tap or click, your child can hear the proper pronunciation of any word in a text.
They can also improve their reading fluency and speed by pressing play and reading along with the audio.
Try Tap to Read
Build Long-Term Memory Skills
To help your child improve their comprehension and retention of what they read, our program includes review activities that are done a day or two after reading.
Your child will practice recalling details from the stories and can reinforce their understanding by reviewing notes that they have taken.
Your first grader will even learn how to take effective notes with our simple graphic organizers. They’ll improve their memory skills by organizing their thoughts and ideas.
5-Minute Reading Fluency Training
Improving reading fluency is crucial for your child’s success as a reader.
Fluency is the ability to read quickly, accurately, and automatically without having to focus on the mechanics of reading.
Our reading fluency drills, based on proven research, help train your child’s eyes to move more efficiently from left to right and improve their visual processing speed.
With this short 5-minute daily activity, your child will see measurable improvements in their reading fluency.
Learn beginning phonics with interactive video spelling lessons.
Your child will learn to identify and match individual letters with their sounds. They will start to understand that spoken words are made up of individual sounds (phonemic awareness). Putting several individual sounds together makes words. The individual sounds of /b/, /a/, and /t/ come together to make the word /bat/.
Our interactive video spelling lessons explain step-by-step how words are put together. Your child will listen to a sound at a time and use their auditory discrimination skills to determine which letters correspond to the sound. Your child will learn to spell 10 new words each week according to their phonetic spelling patterns. Your child will also learn to recognize easy sight words.
Spelling Puzzles and Worksheets
Your child will love working on their spelling words with quick 1st-grade worksheets including word searches and puzzles. Each week, they will work on a specific phonetic spelling pattern and will start to identify the patterns in words. They’ll also write their words in sentences.
Rapid Automatized Naming
Rapid naming is one of the biggest predictors of a child’s success with reading. This is your child’s ability to see a shape, symbol, word, or object and to instantly recognize what it is. We have simple, custom-designed drills that you will do a practice and timed read where your child will see their progress in 3-4 days. These drills also work on their eye-tracking skills and start to move their eyes fluidly from left to right across a page.
Build Executive Function Skills
Executive function skills are the decision-making and planning skills that we all need in our daily lives. Your child will help decide when they will do certain activities and they will estimate how long each activity will take. After the activity is completed, they will reflect on how long it actually took and will start to build their time awareness and planning skills.
1st-Grade Reading Program Includes Brain-Body Activities
The brain and body work together as a machine, one designed to move through space efficiently, walking, moving, and maintaining balance. This connection allows you to see the shapes, sizes, and positions of letters on a page as well as improve eye tracking skills. As we improve the brain-body connection, reading and overall learning improve.
We have different activities each week that your kids will think are just fun games, but the activities actually work on improving their motor skills and brain-body connection.
Research-Driven, Results-Proven Curriculum
Every component of our reading program is research-based and is specifically designed to boost your child’s reading skills. The program has been created by learning expert and board-certified educational therapist Bonnie Terry, M.Ed. She put together her 35+ years of working hands-on with children of all learning styles and abilities into this step-by-step program with custom-designed methods that you and your kids will see results each week.
Develop a Love of Reading
Reading will start to make sense to your child. Your child will develop a strong foundation of reading and overall learning skills. These skills include print awareness, phonemic awareness, letter recognition, phonics skills, and sight word recognition. Your kids will do a variety of activities that teach and strengthen all of these skills. Your child will love doing the activities in the program and will want to do them again and again.
Reviews from Parents
Everything you need to teach 1st-grade reading and spelling at home
Step-by-step, online and offline lessons
Carefully selected online reading passages
Tap-to-read, online read-aloud technology
Take notes offline with graphic organizers
Offline reading fluency training
Spelling and phonics video lessons and tests
Learn to spell with spelling patterns
Offline puzzles and worksheets
Vocabulary and word-attack card games
Offline planning and time-management
activities
Executive function and mind-body activities
Print at home or get materials shipped to you
Included in the Program:
- Weekly Reading Selections
- Reading Comprehension Questions
- Reading Fluency Training Drills
- Phonics and Spelling Video Lessons
- Spelling Worksheets and Puzzles
- Video Instruction
- Graphic Organizer Forms
- Note-Taking Printables
- Executive Function Activities
- Brain-Body Activities
- Card Games
- Daily Emails
- And More!
Reading and Spelling Program by Grade Level
Learn more about what reading skills your kids will build in our homeschool reading and spelling program.
FAQs
After sign up, you will be asked what grade your child is currently and whether they are above grade level, at grade level, or below grade level by 1-3 years in their reading skills.
Give your best estimate. If the material you choose is too easy or too hard, contact us and we’ll adjust your account.
Additionally, you can choose a couple of sample reading passages at the grade level you think your child is capable of reading proficiently.
Have them read aloud to you. Make a note of any repetitions, substitutions, omissions, or mispronunciations they make. Then ask them at least five comprehension questions.
Instructional level is reading without mistakes with a 93% accuracy and a minimum of 75% comprehension.
The program materials and teaching videos are delivered and accessed online. Each day you will print out a few pages of handouts to use with your kids. Most of the lessons and activities are done offline at a table or outside.
There are a lot of fun activities and games. With grades K-3, most of the activities are done with the parent and child together. For grades 4 and above, there are a couple of activities done with the parent and child together, and the rest the child can do independently.
The short answer is yes!
Each day there are a few handouts to print out and instructional videos to watch. Each day’s actual activities should only take 45-60 minutes of actual work.
The first week takes a little bit of time and prep to get up to speed, but by the second week, the activities become second nature.
We often suggest breaking up some of the activities to different parts of the day.
- Print out the handouts
- Watch the short videos either by yourself or with your kids to know what to do (about 5 minutes)
- Do the fluency training with your kids (5 minutes)
- Activities for comprehension, phonics, brain-body, and executive function rotate throughout the week (20 – 40 minutes)
No. We currently do not have live classes.
We have designed this program to be step-by-step with bite-sized activities. You won’t have to worry about missing a Zoom class, being late, or your kids being still in their pajamas. You can do the activities in the program on your schedule and make up missed days at your convenience.
We have video spelling instruction that your kids will follow along with their corresponding worksheets. If you want feedback on your child’s work, send us a picture of it via email.
Different from other summer reading programs, in this summer reading program, your child will learn through seeing, hearing, and doing. Learning to read through multiple senses builds stronger associations, improves retention, and speeds up recall skills.
In other words, learning to read in this way makes reading easier and automatic. This at-home and online reading program is specifically designed with short activities that integrate hearing, seeing, and doing.
Research on teaching reading and spelling dates back to the early 1930s, first with Samuel Orton and then later with Anna Gillingham. They developed a teaching approach, the Orton-Gillingham method (OG), to help struggling readers and spellers. Their teaching methods include what is currently considered best practices: sequential, phonics-based systems that teach the basics of word formation before whole meanings.
Learning through all three senses (auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic) is essential. This multisensory approach has been proven effective for students of all abilities, including those with dyslexia and other learning challenges.
The Scholar Within Reading Program incorporates these OG principles and strategies along with the latest research on learning.
Orton-Gillingham Instructional Components for Optimal Learning:
- Multisensory: Uses all of the senses (auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic)
- Sequential: Proceeds step-by-step in a logical sequence
- Incremental: Each lesson builds upon prior learning
- Cumulative: Constantly and consistently reviews previously taught concepts
- Individualized: Meets each student’s individual needs
- Phonogram-Based: Words are based on combining letters and letter combinations known as phonograms (the sound-symbol relationship, also known as the Alphabetic Principle)
- Explicit: Stated clearly and in a detailed manner
Physical Products
30-Day Money-back Guarantee
We offer this program because we love seeing parents and their kids succeed. It is an extraordinary experience to watch parents empower their kids, and we are 100% committed to your success. For your part, the success of the program relies on your commitment to completing the weekly activities as outlined.
We are so confident that our Reading Program and Spelling Program will be a life-changing experience for you that we offer a no-risk 30-day guarantee on our printed material kits.
If you are unsatisfied with the print materials and program within the first 30 days, just ship us back the printed material, and we’ll refund your purchase excluding actual shipping cost and return shipping. Materials must be unused and in a resaleable condition. The material must be postmarked within 30 days of receiving the material.
Bonus free physical products must be returned in their original, unused, new, and resalable condition. If the bonus free item is not returned, you will be charged for the full cost of the bonus free item.
If you think you might return or cancel the program, print out the material at home before using any of the physical material.
Online Programs
14-Day Money-back Guarantee
We offer this program because we love seeing parents and their kids succeed. It is an extraordinary experience to watch parents empower their kids, and we are 100% committed to your success. For your part, the success of the program relies on your commitment to completing the weekly activities as outlined.
We are so confident that our Reading Program and Spelling Program will be a life-changing experience for you that we offer a no-risk 14-day guarantee. If after completing the program’s first week’s activities within the first 14 days from the initial sign-up, simply let us know, and we will refund your purchase. If you purchased print materials with the online program, actual shipping costs will be excluded from your online program refund.
Bonus free physical products must be returned in their original, unused, new, and resalable condition. If the bonus free item is not returned, you will be charged for the full cost of the bonus free item.
If you think you might return or cancel the program, print out the material at home before using any of the physical material.
7-Day Free Trial
We offer a 7-day free trial only on the Monthly Reading & Spelling Program Membership.
This gives you a chance to try the program without having to pay. If you cancel within the first 7-days, you will not be charged. If you are considering the yearly option, this is a great way to try the program first before deciding to upgrade.
All other membership options require an upfront payment. For these other membership options, we offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Our 14-day money-back guarantee starts when you sign up for the program.
If you signed up for the 7-day free trial and you are still within the 7 days, you can cancel the program on your own. Log in to your account, click Go to Program, go to My Account > Settings > Membership, and you can cancel your account from here. If you cancel within the first 7-days, you will not be charged.
This program has been designed by learning disabilities expert and board-certified educational therapist Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET.
Bonnie originally designed this curriculum in her private learning center in the 1990s where she saw kids with dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorder, kids on the autism spectrum, and numerous other learning challenges.
She learned first hand what worked and what didn’t.
Bonnie was only able to see kids twice a week for an hour each time and had to figure out a way to make progress in reading and spelling in that short amount of time.
She discovered specific multisensory activities worked.
She discovered that she could teach spelling through spelling patterns while teaching individual sound components of letters.
She discovered that you could train your eye muscles for reading just like you can train your body for sports.
She discovered that to successfully teach reading, you must teach all 5 principles of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary).
She discovered that teaching through hands on games is not only fun but strengthens kids skills and associations with learning.
She discovered teaching by the Science of Reading before it was known as the Science of Reading.
Parents and teachers kept asking what it was that she was doing in her learning center because of the transformative results the kids saw in such little time.
She realized that she needed to make this curriculum available to all students.
When you teach in these ways, all kids can successfully read and spell, not matter whether they have learning challenges or not.
Since her private learning center, Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET has teamed up with her son, Nick Terry, who is a design and technology expert to create Scholar Within.
This way, they’ve been able to bring Bonnie Terry’s original curriculum into a step-by-step format that all families can do at home with their kids and teachers can do with their students.
7,200+ Confident Readers and Spellers
Grades K-8 Homeschool reading and spelling made easy.
Scholar Within’s online and offline homeschool curriculum makes teaching reading and spelling easy with self-paced, step-by-step lessons.
Reserve Your Spot
Not quite ready to sign up? Reserve your spot for Scholar Within’s homeschool reading and spelling program.
