Starfall
Starfall is a website and app of games, movies, songs and books for pre-K to 5th grade, run by a nonprofit foundation. Its four-step Learn-to-Read program covers phonics, fluency and comprehension and is free for every child. A home membership opens the full site, including math and other subjects across all the grades, on computers, tablets and phones.
Grades it covers
- PK
- K
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- Subjects
- Reading and phonics and math
- Grades
- Pre-K to 5th grade; math and the full grade range need a home membership source ↗
- Method
- Traditional source ↗
- Format
- On screen source ↗
- Faith label
- Secular
- Cost a year
- $35 a year. Home membership: $35 a year for full access at home on the website and the app, with over 700 activities, games and books. Read on October 31, 2026; prices change. source ↗
- Placement
- No placement test on the publisher’s site when we checked.
What it does well
- The Learn-to-Read program is free with no membership, so a family can try early phonics at no cost.
- A year of membership costs $35 and opens every grade from pre-K to 5th on the site and the app.
- Activities are short games, songs, movies and books, which suit young children who learn through play.
- The site has no ads, and it is run by a nonprofit foundation.
Watch for
- Math and the later grades need the paid membership; only the reading program is free.
- There is no placement test or daily plan, so the parent chooses the activities and keeps the routine.
- All of it is on a screen; there are no printed workbooks in the home membership.
It fits
A family with a young child who likes short games and songs and needs gentle phonics or math practice to add to other lessons.
It doesn’t fit
A family that wants a full, parent-led course with books, tests and a set lesson each day.
Compare Starfall
Other programs for the same subject and grades:
- The Good and the Beautiful Preschool to 12th grade; high school has language arts and biology only
- Kumon workbooks Pre-K to 8th grade across the workbook lines; Kumon Ace covers 1st to 4th grade
- All About Reading Pre-reading for preschool and kindergarten, then Levels 1 to 4, placed by skill rather than grade
- BrainPOP Homeschool Grades 3 to 8 on the Homeschool plan; kindergarten to 8th grade with BrainPOP Jr. added
- CK-12 Kindergarten to 12th grade, plus some college and adult courses
- CTCMath Kindergarten to 12th grade, through Pre-Calculus and Calculus
- Evan-Moor Pre-K to 8th grade; the homeschool resources run pre-K to 6th grade
- Explode The Code Pre-K to 4th grade: primer books A to C, then Books 1 to 8
Lists it is on
- Homeschool math curricula 22
- Homeschool reading and phonics programs 10
- Secular homeschool curricula 42
- Traditional homeschool curricula 44
- Homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 72
- Online homeschool curricula 13
- Homeschool curricula under $100 a year 20
- Secular homeschool math curricula 14
- Secular homeschool reading and phonics programs 6
- Secular traditional homeschool curricula 23
- Secular homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 35
- Secular online homeschool curricula 10
What we read, and how we label
Every fact on a card was read on the publisher's own website on the date shown, and the page it came from is linked. A fact we could not confirm there is left out. Costs are for one child and one year of the main package, as the publisher's page showed them that day; prices and sales change. Method and format are the publisher's own description where it gives one. The only thing we say about religion is one label, secular or faith-based, given by the rule above; where the publisher's pages don't settle it, the card has no label.
The publisher’s pages we read on October 31, 2026:
Something wrong or out of date? Publishers and parents can send a correction and we will fix it. Publishers can send corrections, never money. All programs compared · Find your homeschool style