Using Peabody in your homeschool: a free plan for reading, math and more

Peabody is a free online homeschool program for the practice half of the day: leveled stories from Pre-K to 8th grade, math lessons for every grade, learning games, a typing tutor and short lessons about the world, with problems made and marked by code. It is not a complete free homeschool curriculum: writing, science experiments, history and reading aloud to you stay with you. This guide shows each Peabody place a homeschool would use, a weekly plan by age with minutes, the free resources we would pair it with, what a grown-up can see, and where it falls short.

It is written by Peabody (peabody.kids), a free reading and learning site for kids. Peabody is free through the end of 2026, with no sign-up needed to start. Every non-Peabody resource below is free to use, isn't ours, and nobody paid to be listed. We opened each one on 18 October 2026.

What Peabody covers, at a glance

The homeschool hub links the same places by need: phonics, sight words, times tables, math by grade and reading by level.

Using Peabody in your homeschool, step by step

1. Day one, ten minutes, with your child. Open peabody.kids and tap the big button. Peabody asks your child's first name and grade, then sets the math, games and World from the grade. Read one story from the library together and do one Numbers part.
2. Decide whether you want a family account. Without one, Peabody remembers your child in that browser only: cleared cookies, a private window or another device is a new reader, and two children sharing one tablet share one reader. A free family account gives each child their own place, keeps progress across devices and adds the grown-up view. Most homeschools with more than one child will want it.
3. Pick the week's shape from the table below and write it on your plan. Short and often works better than one long sitting.
4. Once a week, look at the grown-up view (what it shows is further down) and copy what you need into your own records. Our homeschool record keeping and portfolio post has a simple routine.

A weekly homeschool rhythm by age

Peabody's part of the day is meant to be small. These minutes are for Peabody alone, not the whole school day.

Friday works well as a review day: no new Numbers part, two older parts the child found hard, then a longer game or a build. Every part stays open, so going back is one tap. For the math week by grade in more detail, see the free homeschool math plan. For reading by grade, see the free homeschool reading plan, and for whole-day timetables, the sample homeschool schedules by age.

If you set screen limits, our screen time by age guide has the numbers the paediatric groups give.

Reading: the library, levels and stories

The library is the heart of Peabody. Every story has a level from 1 (a first-ever reader) to 13 (about 8th grade), and each level has its own page, starting with level 1. After a story, your child answers four quick questions (three for a short story). Three right out of four finishes it.

• Ages 4–6: read together. Point at words. Phonics and sight words have their own games: phonics games, sight word games and rhyming games.
• Ages 7–9: your child reads, you listen to a page or two aloud, then talk about it. Questions to ask after reading helps.
• Ages 10–13: let them pick from their level and one above. A story your child makes from their own idea is written at their level too.

Peabody cannot hear a child read. Reading aloud to you, and you reading aloud to them, is the part no app does.

Math: Numbers, the Dojo and the games

Numbers has the lesson parts for each grade, from counting to 5 in Pre-K to linear equations and Pythagoras in 8th. Ten right answers finish a part, and a miss makes the next problem a little easier rather than sending a child back. On screen the grades are called levels, so nobody has to feel behind. The math by grade pages list every part.

The Math Dojo times only facts a child has already got right. New facts get an untimed warm-up first. The games, such as Rocket Number Blast, Critter Farm, Number Line Run and Potion Shop, ask from the same practice brain, so they are review, not a second curriculum. Every answer is three big boxes; nothing needs typing.

Typing, World and the making places

Typing starts with f and j and adds two keys a lesson. A lesson passes at its speed target with 90% accuracy. Ten minutes a few times a week is plenty; see homeschool typing for more.

World has sixteen lands, from Science and History to Code & Robots and Languages. A trail is a few short pages read aloud, one or two things to try, a short check, and a sticker. Your child opens at their grade and can go one level above. It is a taste of each subject, not a science or history course.

The Art Studio, Cartoons and the Workbench are the making places. Art and cartoons stay on your device; nothing is sent anywhere. The Workbench builds (a marble run, a foil boat, a straw rocket, a catapult) each have a materials checklist, one-sentence steps and a test with a number, which makes a good Friday science-and-engineering block. Our homeschool art and homeschool science posts go further.

What to pair it with for a full week

Here is what Peabody doesn't do, and free places we would use for it.

Writing is the biggest gap. Peabody's answers are all multiple choice, so a child never writes a sentence there. Story ideas from Peabody's story idea generator can start a writing session, but the writing happens on paper, with you.

What the grown-up view shows

With a free family account, the grown-ups corner has three tabs: Home, Stories and Family. For each child there is a report page, and from it a "Time and progress" page. Here is what is really there today:

• Their books: the reading level they are on and where it came from.
• At a glance: nights read this month, nights out of the last seven, words met and words sticking.
• Time and progress, the last seven days: minutes a day, split into Reading, Numbers, Arcade, Making stories, World, Chat and Everything else. Only active time counts: the page showing, and a tap, key or scroll in the last minute. Then stories finished, story questions right, number answers right, number parts finished and new words sticking, with a day-by-day table.
• Reading checks, the last seven days: each story by title, the day, and passed or not yet.
• Learning in the games and Skills in the games and Numbers: where your child is on each skill ladder, in words, beside Peabody's line for their grade, with one thing to try.
• Sounds and patterns: phonics progress. Times tables: a grid with one square per fact. Math Dojo: a heat grid by speed and sureness, once the Dojo is used. Your child never sees these grids.
• World: trails finished, land by land, with the grade each level is like, and World minutes this week.
• Words and details: every word they have met, in a table.
• Their own stories: the stories they made, and on the Stories tab, the family's stories with sharing settings.
• See their side: you can read along as your child, including their "Stories I've read" shelf, a list of every library story they have read, newest first.
• Settings: a daily goal (10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes), limits for the Arcade, chat and a total, "learn first" (10 to 30 minutes of reading, math or World before the Arcade opens), a lights-out time, and a switch that turns Peabody's AI off for that child.

The Learning record (a button on each child's page) prints a binder-ready sheet for any range you pick, up to 400 days: the days with learning, minutes in each place, stories finished with how many reading questions were right, and math parts finished, with blank lines for learning away from Peabody and a line to sign. "Download hours" gives the same days as a spreadsheet file. What it does not do: it is a record of use, not a transcript, a grade or a standards report, and it only counts time on Peabody. The Privacy page's "Download data" button is a different thing, a raw file of everything Peabody keeps about one child, for privacy, not a portfolio. The console also has no grade setting yet: your child picks their grade and can change it on their own page.

Honest limits

• Not a boxed curriculum. No standards report, no lesson plans for you, no grades and no test. Peabody has not been tested in a trial.
• No written work. Every answer is three boxes. Showing work, explaining reasoning and writing stay on paper.
• It cannot hear a child read and does not measure fluency.
• World stops at about 5th grade, and middle-school science and history need another source.
• The games are review, not new teaching.
• AI writes the stories. Each idea is screened before the AI sees it and each story is checked after, but no check is perfect. Read together with children under six. The AI policy lists every way AI is used; math is made and marked by code.
• Free has a date. Peabody is free through the end of 2026; what happens after has not been decided.

Learn more elsewhere

• HSLDA: homeschool laws by state, to check what your state asks for before you plan records.
• Core Knowledge History and Geography, a free K–6 history spine.
• ReadWriteThink, free writing lessons and printouts.
• PhET simulations, free science and math simulations.

Questions parents ask

Is Peabody a complete free homeschool curriculum?

No. Peabody covers reading practice with leveled stories, math lessons from Pre-K to 8th grade, learning games, typing and short World lessons, all free through the end of 2026. It has no written work, no standards report and no test, and it cannot hear a child read, so most families pair it with their own writing, science, history and read-alouds.

Is Peabody really free, and do we need an account?

Yes, Peabody is free through the end of 2026. A child can start with one tap and no account, and Peabody remembers them in that browser. A free family account is optional; it gives each child their own place, keeps progress across devices and adds the grown-up view.

How many minutes a day should a homeschooler spend on Peabody?

About 15 to 25 minutes for ages 4 to 6, 25 to 35 for ages 7 to 9, and 30 to 45 for ages 10 to 13, split into a story, a math part and a short game or World trail. Short sessions four or five days a week work better than one long one.

What can a parent see in Peabody?

With a family account: the reading level, nights read, words met, the last seven days of active minutes by area, stories finished, reading checks by title, math answers and parts, skill ladders, times-tables and Math Dojo grids, World trails finished, and every library story the child has read. The Learning record page prints these as a sheet for any range up to 400 days, and downloads the hours as a spreadsheet; it is a record of use, not a transcript.

Can I use Peabody for my state's homeschool records?

It can help. The Learning record page prints the days, minutes by place, stories finished and math parts finished for any range, and downloads the hours as a spreadsheet, so it can go into an attendance or reading log you keep yourself. It is Peabody's count of its own use, not a school register. What your state requires varies, so check your state's rules, for example through HSLDA's state-by-state pages.

What ages is Peabody for?

Pre-K to 8th grade, about ages 4 to 13. The library has thirteen reading levels and Numbers has ten grades of lessons. World lessons go up to about 5th grade, so older children will use the reading, math and typing more.

Does my child talk to an AI on Peabody?

Only in one place. Peabody has no open chatbot. A child in 3rd grade or up in a family account can have a short typed chat with Peabody (Talk with Peabody), which a grown-up can read and turn off. AI writes the stories from a child's idea at their level, and does a few behind-the-scenes jobs listed on the AI policy page. A grown-up can turn Peabody's AI off for one child in their settings. Math problems are made and marked by code.