Build reading comprehension through planned activities with classic literature.

Great books in short daily readings, with questions personalized to your child's level.

14-day money-back guarantee
Approved for ESA funding on ClassWallet
Loved by 3000+ kids 7–16

How Chalky works

From a grade to a planned, documented term of reading.

Add your student account

Create your child's account in the parent dashboard: their name, their grade, and the password and sign-in info they will use on their own screen. It takes a minute, and everything else is built from it.

Build your book lists on Chalky

Tell us your child's grade and the plan is built — eight books, each chosen for a different job, together covering every Common Core reading standard for that grade. Not a reading list: a structure. Swap any book and its job stays filled.

Reading and practice every day, on their own dashboard

Your child signs in to their own view: the next chapter, read along with audio when they want it, then questions written from the page they just read. Their progress lands on your dashboard.

Every plan fills eight jobs:

fluency — Easy, fast reading — how decoding becomes automatic.
literary — Rich, older language worth reading slowly.
poetry — Rhythm and rhyme, read aloud.
folklore — The stories the rest of literature refers back to.
science — Informational reading — the nonfiction half of the standards.
history — Biography and the past, for later reading to stand on.
mirror — A book where your child sees their life, or someone else's.
stretch — One book deliberately harder — where the growth happens.

Learning reading comprehension skills and critical thinking with Charlotte Mason inspired booklists

Student dashboard

Students follow a simple daily plan: read, retell, learn a word, and write a little. Daily writing comes back marked with instant, friendly feedback. Highlighted words open kid-friendly meanings, and comprehension questions follow the reading. Try both below.

Parent dashboard

Chalky assesses literacy as your child reads: every question and writing task is scored against grade level standards, and the results land here as skill bars and printable reports.

Use your ESA funds for reading curriculum

Education Savings Accounts let homeschooling families spend state education funds on approved curriculum. Chalky is an approved ClassWallet vendor in six states — which means a full year of reading can cost your family nothing.

Find Chalky in ClassWallet

Search for Chalky in your state's ClassWallet marketplace. If your provider doesn't list us yet, ask them to add Chalky as an approved vendor — we'll help.

Get your invoice

Create a parent account, add your child, and the Billing tab generates an invoice or quote to submit. Direct pay or reimbursement, whichever your program uses.

Start reading

Access is provided within 24 business hours. Tell us your child's grade and their plan is ready the same day.

Approved for ESA funding in: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York.

Not listed? Ask your state's ESA provider to add Chalky as an approved vendor — email us and we'll send them what they need.

$0 out of pocket
Approved in 6 states
Access within 24 business hours
Records included for reporting

On a charter school programme?

Charter instructional funds work for Chalky too. Check with your school's programme, or email us and we'll send whatever paperwork they need. [email protected]

Mom-Approved, Built For Home Learning Success

98% of parents report feeling less stressed and more confident reading with their children.

Perfect for Homeschool Families

A complete reading comprehension curriculum — planned, paced, and documented for your homeschool.

A Grade-Matched Plan

Eight books a term, each with a job — fluency, literary language, poetry, science, history and more. Swap any book for one we recommend.

Standards, Documented

Every reading standard for your child's grade, and which books cover it — kept as you go. No notebook required.

Questions From the Book

Comprehension questions written from each book's own text, at your child's level — so you never have to write them yourself.

Hear directly from our users

I loooove Chalky! I read so many books with Chalky in just one month, and I also really like the practice games. They make learning super fun! Chalky is awesome and I want to keep using it every day!
George, Grade 4 Student

Chalky has made our homeschool journey so much smoother. My daughter looks forward to reading every day now!
Sarah, Mother

Homeschool reading guides

A guide to teaching every book in the Chalky library.

All homeschool reading guides

Understanding reading comprehension

Plain guides to what reading comprehension is, what progress in it looks like at each grade, and how to teach it at home.

What is reading comprehension? A plain explanation of what comprehension actually is, why a child can read a page perfectly and still not understand it, and what the research says builds understanding over time.
What does reading comprehension success look like? Progress in comprehension is easy to miss because it is invisible on the page. Here is what it looks like at each stage, and how to see it without turning reading into a test.
How to teach reading comprehension at home Six practices that move comprehension, what the research supports about each, and roughly how much of a homeschool week they need.