Teaching Reading Informational Text at Home

Teaching informational texts at home can feel overwhelming — especially when you’re trying to cover all the standards, teach multiple grade levels, and keep your child engaged.

That’s why I updated my Article of the Week units with homeschool-friendly guides. My goal is to make it easier for you to teach all the Reading Informational Text standards with real-world articles, flexible activities, and built-in assessment tools.

In This 4 Part Series, We’ll Explore How To:

✅ Meet every standard with confidence
✅ Balance multiple grade levels
✅ Use flexible print and digital formats
✅ Keep kids engaged with real-world reading

Let’s start with the biggest concern most homeschool parents have: covering the right skills at the right time.

Meet Every Standard With Confidence

As a homeschooling parent, you want the best for your kids. You want to know that you’re not missing anything important — that your child is learning the right skills and building a strong foundation for whatever comes next.

But this can feel overwhelming at times. Many parents ask:

“Am I doing enough?”

“Am I covering the right skills at the right time?”

“How do I even measure if my child is ‘meeting the standard’?”

You don’t need to be an expert in Common Core standards to use these units successfully. The lessons and activities guide you step-by-step through the skills your child needs to practice. Here’s how my Article of the Week resources can help you.

Every group of articles and activities is carefully put together so that, by the time you complete them, your child will have practiced all of the Common Core Reading Informational Text standards for that grade level.

Each individual article focuses on one specific standard. For example, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The Tale of the Travelling Trash unit is designed to teach main idea and supporting details – standard RI.5.2. Activity 5 in each unit specifically targets the focus standard for that lesson.

You’ll also practice other important skills in every article, like finding text evidence to support your answers (RI. 5.1) or integrating information from other sources (RI. 5.7 and RI. 5.9). These two skills are so important that I’ve included them in every single article unit.

Structured Practice That Builds Mastery

Each unit leads students through a clear, logical learning path:

Start with a basic comprehension check (multiple choice or short answer)
Practice finding text evidence
Focus on one core skill like main idea or academic vocabulary
Integrate information on the same topic from another source
Complete a skills test with a mix of inference, higher-order thinking, and text evidence questions

It’s a natural progression that builds skills without jumping randomly between topics or activities. And every activity is connected to a standard so you’ll always know what skill you’re working on.

A Little Extra Support Built In

Every unit was created with all learners in mind. I’ve included two helpful features:

A professionally recorded audio version of the article for any reader that needs it
A slightly modified skills test with just two answer choices instead of four—perfect for extra support without overwhelming struggling learners.

What Homeschool Parents Love About This Approach

✅ It’s simple to follow but academically strong.

✅ It works across grades.

✅ It gives you real evidence that your child is mastering the skills.

➡️ See It in Action

Ready to try a complete unit yourself? Each of these free units includes a step-by-step Homeschool Teaching Guide. Download one today!