Best Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum Options

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Choosing the best homeschool language arts curriculum can be overwhelming. Language arts includes reading, phonics, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, writing, and literature. Few curriculum options teach every area well.

After years of homeschooling and teaching, I’ve used and researched a variety of language arts programs. I’ve found that the best choice depends on your child’s age, reading level, learning style, and how much teaching you want to do yourself.

In this guide, you’ll find some of the best homeschool language arts curriculum options for elementary, middle, and high school students, including all-in-one programs, reading and spelling programs, online options, and writing curricula. I’ve also included what each program teaches, the grade levels it covers, and who I think will benefit most from it.

There isn’t one single best language arts curriculum for every homeschool family. Some families prefer an all-in-one program, while others get better results by combining separate reading, spelling, grammar, and writing programs. One of the perks of homeschooling is that you can choose a language arts curriculum that works for your family.

Once you have found a great option that will work for your family, be sure to visit the Homeschool Deals page to check for current coupon codes or sales.

the 6 best homeschool language arts curriculum options written above a student writing in a notebook with a pencil

Best Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum Options

Language Arts CurriculumSubjectsGrade LevelsBest For
All About ReadingPhonics & ReadingPreK – ElementaryReading
All About SpellingSpellingElementary – MiddleSpelling
Rabbit Trails Through LiteratureReading, Grammar, and WritingPreK – ElementaryHands-On Learning Combined with Books
Night ZookeeperWriting, Spelling, Grammar, & VocabularyElementaryReluctant or Resistant Students
Literary Adventures for KidsReading, Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary, & WritingElementary – HighAll-In-One
WriteShopWritingElementary – HighWriting

All About Reading: Best for Phonics and Reading

Best for: Beginning readers
Grade levels: Pre-reading–4
Format: Open-and-go once set up, print
Covers: Phonics, decoding, reading fluency
Parent involvement: High

Many parents stress about how to teach their little ones to read. I promise it doesn’t need to be scary! All About Reading will tell you exactly what to do so you can teach your child to read.

All About Reading does all of the lesson planning for you. Just open the teacher manual, read the script, complete the activities, and watch your child’s reading skills and confidence improve. It includes step-by-step lesson plans and short stories in short, efficient lessons. It is a full phonics program that is aligned with the Science of Reading. Understanding phonics is essential so students can decode new words. All About Reading will provide a strong foundation that will set students up for reading success. There is a bit of prep work to set up the activities, but for one student, this does not take much time each week.

There are 5 different levels:

  • Pre-reading
  • Level 1
  • Level 2
  • Level 3
  • Level 4

Most preschoolers and kindergartners without any previous reading instruction begin with the pre-reading level, but there is a free placement test to make sure you buy the correct level so you can meet your child where they are. If your child has mastered letter identification, lowercase and uppercase, and knows all of the letter sounds, they may be able to begin at level 1.

All About Reading will help your child become a fluent reader through hands-on activities and games, letter tile manipulation, and practice with fully decodable, leveled readers.

If I had the opportunity to homeschool kindergarten again, this is the reading curriculum I would choose – even as a trained kindergarten teacher. Read my detailed review of All About Reading Level 1.

All About Spelling: Best for Spelling

Best for: Spelling
Grade levels: Elementary
Format: Open-and-go once set up, print
Covers: Spelling rules
Parent involvement: High

Spelling is an important core subject that should be a part of any elementary language arts curriculum, beginning in 1st or 2nd grade. Some students continue to study spelling through middle school, but that depends on a child’s spelling skills.

All About Spelling is a spelling program that uses the Orton-Gillingham approach. This approach is one of the best ways to help students who are not naturally strong spellers.

In my experience, it also works well for kids who have no difficulty spelling.

I love All About Spelling for multiple reasons:

  • It is a hands-on program
  • The lessons only take about 20 minutes per day
  • It teaches the rules of spelling (perfect for kids who have to know ‘why’)
  • Kids can move at their own pace – there is no rush to move faster
  • Essentially zero daily prep time

All of those things together have made this the best spelling curriculum for my family.

We used All About Spelling for years with great results. My family tried many different spelling curricula before landing on All About Spelling (sometimes referred to as AAS). It is the only spelling curriculum that we have stuck with long-term.

There are 7 levels to All About Spelling, but they do not correlate to grade levels. Generally, students begin at level 1 to make sure they don’t miss any important instruction concerning spelling rules. There are placement tests available if you think your child should begin at a level above level 1. Kids typically begin to learn spelling rules in first or second grade. All About Spelling requires minimal prep. Once you have the letter tiles separated and attached to the magnets, it is an open-and-go program.

Check out these frequently asked questions about the All About Spelling curriculum for more information.

Related: Fun Spelling Activities

Rabbit Trails Language Arts Curriculum: Best for Hands-On Learning Combined with Books

Best for: Hands-On Learning Combined with Books
Grade levels: Preschool – Elementary
Format: High-quality books with hands-on activities, digital
Covers: Literary genres, grammar, and writing
Parent involvement: High

The Rabbit Trails language arts curriculum is a fun choice for elementary-age kiddos. This curriculum follows a Charlotte Mason approach. It combines high-quality children’s classic literature with lessons. I love that this program uses great books to get young children interested in a variety of subjects.

The idea behind the Rabbit Trails language arts curriculum is that you focus on one great book for two weeks. That book is the core behind all of the related lessons and interactive activities. There are copy work assignments, language arts activities, crafts, and related books to accompany each title. Enjoyable literature is key during all grades, but especially during the elementary years, as kids are deciding if they like reading.

Rabbit Trails is a great choice if you are looking for a general language arts curriculum that you can use with all of your elementary-age kids at one time. Teaching all of the kids together is a great way to create fun family memories while also saving time.

Rabbit Trails Through Homeschool frequently runs sales, so check out the Homeschool Deals section before ordering. If the current sale doesn’t meet your needs, use the code: organized to save 10%.

Related: Rabbit Trails Curriculum Review

Night Zookeeper: Best for Making Lessons Fun

Best for: Kids who are reluctant to read or write
Grade levels: Elementary
Format: Online games
Covers: Writing, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary
Parent involvement: Low

I recently discovered Night Zookeeper, and I wish I had found it years ago! This secular language arts curriculum makes teaching incredibly easy for parents because it is all online.

Kids log in and create unique animals for their night zoo (making them a “night zookeeper”), play games, and complete challenges. It feels like a game, but kids are actually improving their writing skills.

As kids progress through the challenges, they complete writing prompts about the animals they designed. Professional online tutors read the writing assignments and offer encouraging and supportive feedback. This is part of what makes this language arts curriculum so easy for parents – the feedback is provided by someone else. It can be hard to critique your own child’s writing! In addition to the writing challenges, there are games to learn spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. This can be a good option if you have a hard time motivating your student to do language arts work.

Related: Night Zookeeper Review for Language Arts

Literary Adventures for Kids: Best for All-In-One

Best for: Families who want a complete all-in-one language arts curriculum
Grade levels: Elementary – High School
Format: Digital and online
Covers: Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Writing
Parent involvement: Medium

Literary Adventures offers a variety of online language arts curriculum options:

Literary Adventures is different from most online language arts curriculum choices because the lessons feel like a book club. Students read the books and then complete activities and answer questions. The material is planned by a teacher and accessed on a secure online learning platform. Students log in and work their way through the lessons and assignments. Parents only need to review and grade any assignments (answer keys are provided), so there is minimal teacher involvement or prep work required.

Literary Adventures for Kids combines reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and writing in engaging lessons, making it a great all-in-one language arts curriculum option.

In addition to the online lessons and writing assignments, suggestions are given for hands-on activities such as special teatimes. In my opinion, it can be the best of both learning experience worlds. An online program does most of the teaching, but parents get to participate in creating the homeschool magic.

I particularly like Literary Adventures for Kids for the literature guides. These online book clubs are similar to book-based unit studies.

I also really like that Literary Adventures offers a wide range of courses for high schoolers. It can be tricky to find programs that teach high school literary skills and literature analysis in a way that is interesting and engaging.

The variety of course offerings also makes it easy to do as much or as little as you want.

  • Would you like your teen to study a variety of poets for a high school credit? The Poetry and a Movie choice is perfect (My daughter took this class, and I definitely recommend it!).

I have used Literary Adventures for Kids quite a bit with my high school students. It is one of those rare complete language arts curriculum options. If I had to choose one homeschool language arts curriculum for high school, I would choose Literary Adventures for Kids.

Related: Literary Adventures for Kids: An Overview

WriteShop: Best for Writing

Best for: Writing
Grade levels: Elementary – High School
Format: Print
Covers: Writing
Parent involvement: High

WriteShop is a writing curriculum with a level for every grade from kindergarten through high school.

  • Primary = kindergarten – 3rd grade
  • Junior = 3rd grade – 6th grade
  • High School = WriteShop I and II

The Primary and Junior levels each follow a similar structure. Each unit helps students work through the 4 stages of the writing process – brainstorming, first draft, editing and revising, and the final draft.

There are a total of 10 units for each level, so my family has always studied one unit per month. The teacher’s guide lists a suggested schedule, but you can, of course, create a schedule that works for your family.

I like the WriteShop writing program for elementary and middle school because the lessons are interesting and incremental. They are not dry, but they still provide explicit writing instruction on topics such as sentence structure, including opening hooks, and using a variety of vocabulary words.

The lessons contain fun, creative writing prompts, hands-on activities, and plenty of editing practice. My son has used WriteShop Junior for a few years now and enjoys creating unique writing projects.

WriteShop I and II are great choices for teaching high school writing. Like the earlier levels, a suggested schedule is provided. This makes it easy to transfer the assignments to a student’s agenda.

WriteShop lessons do not require much preparation time, which definitely saves time. They do require parents to lead or teach the lesson, but the teacher’s guide provides excellent instruction tips. WriteShop offers sample lessons and a placement test to make sure this curriculum will work for your family.

Related: 6 Reasons I Love WriteShop

Frequently Asked Questions About Language Arts Curriculum

What is taught in language arts?

The core areas of language arts are:

  • Reading
  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Writing
  • Grammar Rules
  • Parts of Speech
  • Spelling
  • Vocabulary
  • Handwriting

These are sometimes called strands, topics, or components of language arts.

What do I do if the curriculum I want to use doesn’t include all of the strands?

Some language arts curriculum options cover all of the areas, but there are also options for each individual content area. We can supplement to create a full personalized language arts curriculum for our kids.

I frequently add a grammar curriculum and vocabulary workbooks to our language arts curriculum because I want to give my kids extra practice. One of the great things about homeschooling is that we can tailor the education to their needs.

How do I homeschool language arts?

The easiest way to homeschool language arts is to use a homeschool language arts curriculum. Those programs are designed for use at home. Look for a teacher’s guide or manual that guides you through lessons. All of the options listed above do a good job of explaining how to teach the curriculum.

What language arts curriculum do most homeschoolers use?

There are so many language arts curriculum choices that I don’t think there is any one option used by most homeschoolers. However, all of the choices listed above are pretty popular.

How do I know which language arts curriculum to choose?

It can be really tough to know which curriculum is right for your family. To help narrow down the options, ask yourself a few questions:

  • What is my budget?
  • Do I have a specific educational philosophy (Charlotte Mason, Classical approach, etc.)?
  • Do I want to outsource the instruction, or do I want to do the teaching?
  • How do I feel about screen time?
  • Does my child enjoy reading and writing?
  • Is my goal to provide a gentle education or a rigorous academic experience?

Answering those questions will eliminate many popular options. Then check out samples of the remaining curricula. Reading through the samples can really help you identify a program that is a good fit for your family.

Keep reading . . .

Welcome! My name is Jennifer. I am a teacher at heart. Before my children were born I was a public school teacher. Now, I am a homeschooling mom of two.