How to Choose a Reading Curriculum for Struggling Readers

Why Be Discerning About Curriculum

If your child struggles with reading, any old joe-shmoe curriculum isn’t going to cut it. Certain curriculums are designed with the needs of struggling readers in mind. Other curriculums might claim to serve the needs of struggling readers but actually don’t include many of the essential elements we will discuss in this article. Still others are created primarily for typically developing readers and are not sufficient for children who need more explicit instruction (Moats, 2020).

As a homeschooling parent, you have the unique advantage of choosing your child’s curriculum. That choice can be overwhelming, especially if your child struggles with reading. There is a popular belief that learning to read is “natural” and that curriculum choice does not matter. But for children who struggle to read, it really does. Reading requires specific neural connections in the brain that must be explicitly taught and practiced—especially for students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties (National Reading Panel, 2000; Lyon et al., 2003). This is why your choice in curriculum is crucial to help your struggling reader succeed. Understanding what effective reading instruction includes allows you to make informed decisions and confidently support your child’s learning. This is your Parent Advantage!

For more background, see our article explaining the two major instructional philosophies that influence curriculum design and why some programs are more effective than others.

What A Good Reading Curriculum For Struggling Readers Should Have

In daily reading lessons, the following instructional components should be present consistently, especially for struggling readers who need frequent review and structured practice. If a child struggles significantly with one component, they should receive additional, targeted instruction in that area while still receiving all core components of reading instruction (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Phonemic awareness refers to a student's ability to identify, blend, separate or change sounds in a spoken word. Weak phonemic awareness is one of the most common underlying difficulties for struggling readers and students with dyslexia and is a strong predictor of future reading difficulty(National Reading Panel, 2000; Lyon et al., 2003).

For homeschool parents, this instruction is often easy to overlook, but 5–10 minutes a day is essential for a struggling reader. Activities may include:

• Saying the first, middle or last sound in a word

• Breaking apart the sounds in a word to say them separately

• Changing a sound in a word to make a new word

Why this matters: Weak phonemic awareness is one of the most common underlying causes of reading difficulty and dyslexia. Without it, phonics instruction alone will not stick (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction teaches the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and the letters or letter patterns (graphemes) that represent them. Effective phonics instruction begins with the sounds of the alphabet and progresses to more complex two- and three-letter spelling patterns (Moats, 2020).

For struggling readers, phonics should make up the bulk of reading instruction in kindergarten through second grade and should occur daily (National Reading Panel, 2000). Homeschool parents should look for curriculums that explicitly teach phonics rather than expecting students to infer spelling patterns through reading exposure.

Why this matters: Phonics instruction builds the neural pathways that allow children to decode unfamiliar words independently instead of guessing or memorizing (Moats, 2020).

Irregular Word Instruction

Some high-frequency words cannot be fully decoded using regular spelling patterns. These words still should be taught with phonics-style instruction that draws attention to their regular and irregular parts (Moats, 2020). For example, in the word "me", the /m/ sound follows regular spelling, while the /ē/ sound is irregular. (Normally “e” spells the sound at the beginning of “elephant”.)

For struggling readers, instruction should match the current phonics skills (like teaching me when learning the letter “m”), include daily review, and be capped at three new words per week (Moats, 2020).

Homeschool parents should be cautious of curriculums that rely heavily on memorization instead of teaching how irregular words actually work.

Why this matters: Struggling readers need explicit instruction to understand why and how certain words don’t follow phonics rules, rather than being asked to memorize them visually (Moats, 2020).

Decoding Practice

Decoding is the process of looking at a word and reading it aloud by applying known spelling patterns. Students should only practice decoding words that contain previously taught patterns (Mesmer, 2005).

Strong curriculums include decoding practice at the end of every phonics lesson in the form of reading or writing. A few common tools and strategies are:

• Letter-sound mapping activities, (“word work”) to help students connect sounds to letters

• Word lists with taught patterns to practice reading and spelling

• Decodable texts with taught patterns to read words in context

For homeschool families, using decodable texts often feel less “fun," but they are essential for building real reading skill with struggling readers (Mesmer, 2005). (Don’t count out engaging and rich read-alouds, which are also a part of a strong curriculum, and we will discuss in a minute.)

Why this matters: Application is how the brain changes. Without structured decoding practice, new phonics knowledge does not translate to support reading real words (Mesmer, 2005).

Fluency Practice

Fluency is the ability to read accurately, smoothly, expressively and in an appropriate volume. Fluent reading helps a student understand a text better. Fluent reading supports comprehension by freeing up cognitive resources that would otherwise be spent decoding each word (Rasinski, 2012). A student that sounds out every word (or who reads too fast!) will have a hard time finding the meaning of the text. Fluency activities might include:

• Reading decodable texts out loud

• Practice rereading phrases or texts until they are smooth

• Choral reading, following the voice of the parent-teacher

Homeschool parents can support fluency through calm, repeated reading without pressure or timers. Fluency practice should only include words and spelling patterns that have been previously taught because the goal of fluency is for these words to become automatic.

Why this matters: Fluent reading frees up mental energy so children can focus on meaning instead of working so hard to read each word (Rasinski, 2012).

Comprehension Skills Instruction

Word recognition skills (which includes everything discussed so far) help students read words; comprehension skills (which will be the remainder of this list) help them understand what those words mean. A good curriculum includes two forms of comprehension instruction: listening comprehension (understanding texts read aloud) and reading comprehension (understanding texts read independently), both of which require explicit instruction (Duke & Cartwright, 2021).

Students can demonstrate listening and reading comprehension by summarizing, finding the main idea, building a graphic to organize the information, etc.. They should also always be expected to answer text questions. Good instruction includes a combination of three types of questions:

• Literal questions (answers found directly in the text)

• Inferential questions (answers are inferred from the text)

• Evaluative questions (students connect beyond the text to something else from their own life, another text, or the world)

Many homeschool styles put a strong emphasis on listening comprehension, which is great! Homeschool parents can use read-alouds strategically to build comprehension and vocabulary beyond what their child can read independently. Look for curriculums that also expect students to demonstrate reading comprehension on texts they can read independently (decodable texts) (Duke et al., 2011).

Why this matters: Understanding what was read is the whole point of reading. Struggling readers may decode accurately but still miss meaning without explicit comprehension instruction (Duke et al., 2011).

Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction introduces new words and their meanings before students encounter them in texts so their brains are primed to for the best understanding of the text possible (Beck et al., 2013). Words should connect to current units or upcoming read-alouds. Look for reading curriculums that have dedicated time to vocabulary instruction tied to themed units.

Students should be exposed to the sounds of the word, its letters, its definition and examples of it used in context. Instructional activities should be multisensory and engaging, like:

• Acting/drawing the word

• Making a word map to connect the new word to related words

• Creating examples and nonexamples of the word

• Crafting student-friendly definitions of the word

Why this matters: Students cannot understand what they read or hear if words are unfamiliar, even when decoding skills are strong (Beck et al., 2013).

Background Knowledge Building

Background knowledge supports comprehension by helping students connect new information to what they already know. Research consistently shows that knowledge-building significantly improves listening and reading comprehension (Willingham, 2006). It also piques students’ interest and connects the new learning coming up to something familiar. Look for curriculums that offers lots of opportunities for background knowledge building activities, such as:

• Looking at pictures or exposure to other beautiful and engaging media on the topic

• A hands-on activity related to the topic

• Asking students questions about their lives related to the topic

Why this matters: Building background knowledge increases engagement and familiarity with texts which strengthens comprehension (Willingham, 2006).

Grammar Instruction

Grammar instruction includes sentence structure, word order, punctuation, capitalization and parts of speech. Ideally grammar instruction is tied to the content of the reading lessons. When choosing a curriculum choose one that includes clear and direct grammar instruction, but if yours doesn’t, find a stand-alone grammar curriculum. Grammar instruction should include lots of repetitive practice for struggling readers (Scott & Balthazar, 2010).

Why this matters: A deep understanding of grammar supports both reading comprehension and fluent oral reading (Scott & Balthazar, 2010).

What A Good Reading Curriculum Should Be Like

These curriculum descriptors are essential for students with reading difficulties. Unfortunately, many curriculums claim to be or have these things since they have become educational buzzwords, but they really don’t include them or don’t do them well. Below are the specific qualities to look for when evaluating whether a curriculum truly stands up to the test.

Systematic Instruction

A good reading curriculum introduces learning in a logical, intentional sequence, progressing from easier concepts to more complex ones. This is known as systematic instruction. This should be the case for every type of reading instruction we have covered from phonemic awareness to grammar (National Reading Panel, 2000). While it may sound obvious, many curriculums, grounded in whole word or balanced literacy philosophies, do not always follow a logically sequential progression.

To evaluate whether instruction is systematic, review the curriculum’s scope and sequence - a document that outlines all concepts taught over the year within each area of reading instruction. Ask yourself whether the list of concepts seems to progress in a logical way and if new skills clearly build on previously taught ones.

Specific examples of what systematic instruction should look like for each type of instruction are included in our free Curriculum Review Checklist.

Why this matters: For a successful reading experience, struggling readers need the skills taught to match the progressive manner in which their brain develops (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Direct Instruction

The most effective type of curriculum for struggling readers uses direct instruction. This means that skills are explicitly taught before students are expected to use them independently. Direct instruction follows a predictable structure: the teacher models a skill, students practice with support, and then students apply the skill independently. This structure, often referred to as the Gradual Release of Responsibility, has been shown to be especially effective for students with learning difficulties (Rosenshine, 2012; Fisher & Frey, 2014).

Why this matters: Clear modeling and guided practice prevent struggling readers from being expected to “figure it out” on their own before they’re ready (Rosenshine, 2012).

Multisensory Instruction

Multisensory instruction engages more than one of the senses during learning and is particularly important for struggling readers. Effective multisensory instruction strengthens memory and understanding by connecting what a child sees, hears, and does (Moats, 2020). In a strong curriculum, multisensory strategies are used frequently and intentionally to support learning, not to entertain or distract. Examples include:

• Presenting information visually and spoken aloud

• Using movement or hand motions to reinforce sounds or concepts

• Incorporating manipulatives to represent sounds or words

• Encouraging creative expression (acting, drawing, singing) that directly reinforces the instructional goal

Homeschool parents have additional flexibility to tailor multisensory activities to their child’s interests or strengths, but these strategies should always reinforce explicit instruction, not replace it.

Why this matters: Engaging multiple senses helps strengthen memory and learning pathways, making reading skills easier to recall and use (Moats, 2020).

Repetition and Review

Struggling readers need frequent review of previously taught skills in order for learning to stick. Because most curriculums are designed for students who acquire reading skills more easily, repetition is often limited or missing.

A high-quality curriculum for struggling readers includes built-in review, particularly for word recognition skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular words, and fluency (National Reading Panel, 2000). Look for curriculums where time is set aside before each lesson to revisit previously taught concepts and reinforce mastery.

Why this matters: Struggling readers need more repetition for learning to stick; without regular review, progress is often slow or inconsistent (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Consistency

Consistency refers to how reliably students receive instruction in all essential reading components over time. Every strong homeschool curriculum assumes that a parent will be consistent with its implementation.

While the time constraints of testing, school assemblies or behavioral distractions are not the case in your homeschool setting, it is up to you to be consistent with your daily reading instruction. Consistent instruction helps struggling readers know what to expect and allows skills to build steadily rather than sporadically. It also allows for the repetition needed for new concepts to stick in a struggling reader's brain (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Research-based recommendations for how much time each type of instruction should take are included in our free Curriculum Review Checklist!

Why this matters: Consistent instruction allows reading skills to build steadily over time instead of being interrupted or forgotten (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Theme or Unit-Based Learning

Most homeschool philosophies already ascribe to the idea that learning should be organized around interesting and engaging topics, and fortunately this idea is supported by an abundance of research (Duke & Cartwright, 2021)! Look for reading curriculums that organize lessons around science or social studies topics, allowing students to deepen their understanding of content while strengthening reading skills.

In unit-based learning, students are more engaged and better able to connect new information to what they already know—an essential component of reading comprehension (Duke & Cartwright, 2021).

Why this matters: Learning within meaningful topics builds background knowledge, which is essential for strong reading comprehension (Duke & Cartwright, 2021).

How to Use this Information to Help Your Struggling Reader

You now know what to look for in a high-quality reading curriculum for a struggling reader—and just as importantly, what should raise red flags. You can now move into informed curriculum decision making.

Review your curriculum samples with intention and download our free Curriculum Review Checklist to help!

Look for each of the necessary instructional elements (phonics, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, etc.) and for explicit instruction, logical progression, and built-in review, etc. If you are struggling to find a curriculum that meets all your child’s needs check out our Homeschool Curriculums Collection (coming soon!) for a closer look at specific curriculum options. You can also book a consultation with us to show us what you are working with and let us help you find what you need!

Research & Sources

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. https://www.guilford.com/books/Bringing-Words-to-Life/Beck-McKeown-Kucan/9781462510437

Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2021). The science of reading progresses beyond the simple view of reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(S1), S25–S44. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.411

Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Strachan, S. L., & Billman, A. K. (2011). Essential elements of fostering and teaching reading comprehension. In S. J. Samuels & A. E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.). International Literacy Association. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/comprehension/articles/what-research-has-say-about-reading-instruction

Lyon, G. R., Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2003). A definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 53(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-003-0001-9

Mesmer, H. A. E. (2005). Decodable texts in early reading instruction: Careful examination of the evidence. The Reading Teacher, 59(2), 156–165. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1598/RT.59.2.6

Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching reading is rocket science: What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do. American Federation of Teachers. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2020/TeachingReadingIsRocketScience.pdf

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

Rasinski, T. V. (2012). Why reading fluency should be hot. The Reading Teacher, 65(8), 516–522. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.01077

Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American Educator, 36(1), 12–39. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Rosenshine.pdf

Scott, C. M., & Balthazar, C. H. (2010). Grammar and reading comprehension: A review of the literature. Topics in Language Disorders, 30(4), 299–315. https://journals.lww.com/topicsinlanguagedisorders/Abstract/2010/10000/Grammar_and_Reading_Comprehension__A_Review.4.aspx

Willingham, D. T. (2006). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens reading comprehension, learning—and thinking. American Educator, 30(1), 30–37. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Willingham.pdf