Districts invest deeply in high-quality early literacy and math instruction — yet too often, that investment stops at the classroom door. Home practice is inconsistent, inequitable, and frequently misaligned to what students are learning that week. Language barriers, busy schedules, and a lack of clear guidance leave families wanting to help but unsure how — and leave school and district leaders without visibility into whether learning is being supported at home at all.
TalkingPoints Academics at Home closes that gap by reinforcing classroom instruction through curriculum-aligned activities that fit into family routines. Each week, teachers select short PreK–3 literacy and math activities — organized by grade, unit, and learning objective — and families receive them via text message, automatically translated into their home language. No new programs, logins, or materials required. No extra prep for teachers. Activities are designed to fit naturally into everyday moments, with a mix of off-screen options, decodable texts, and simple interactive games that work for every household.
Because Academics at Home is built directly into TalkingPoints, districts aren't launching another initiative — they're deepening the impact of engagement they already have. Families receive clear, accessible, language-appropriate support. Teachers gain visibility into which families are participating. And educators and district leaders get consistent, measurable academic reinforcement at home — aligned to their curriculum and their instruction, equitable by design, and easy to scale.
When will the new Academics at Home package be available?
The new Academics at Home package for Literacy and Math will be available as an add-on to TalkingPoints Foundations for back-to-school 2026-27. It is currently being piloted in ten schools in Baltimore County (2025-26 SY).
Who is Academics at Home designed for?
Grades: PreK–3
Primary users: Families and caregivers
School users: Teachers, literacy and math support teams
How does Academics at Home align to the district curriculum?
TalkingPoints works directly with each district to map their existing PreK–3 literacy and math curriculum to family-facing activities delivered through TalkingPoints. Activities are paced to weekly instruction and learning units and reinforce core classroom instruction rather than introducing parallel, disconnected programs or apps.
Workflow for how we work with a district to use their curriculum to create activities for Academics at Home:
How are these activities created?
Each partner receives a unique set of activities custom-built for their curriculum. These are custom created based on their curriculum, scope and sequence, and pacing guides.
We have created a bank of thousands of literacy and math activities that focus on specific skills. We match each week’s skills focus with these activities and where there is no relevant activity for a skill, our team will create a new activity.
We have a team of K-3 teachers who create and align all of our content.
How are activities delivered to families?
Activities are delivered directly to families via SMS text message using TalkingPoints. No app downloads, logins, or additional technology are required. Additional access is available through the TalkingPoints app and web experience.
Example literacy activities:
Are the activities translated for families?
Yes. Academics at Home activities are translated into the 150+ languages supported by TalkingPoints’ industry-leading translation. The level of translation varies depending on the activity. For example, in literacy activities, phonics-specific words remain in English while the rest of the instructions are translated to preserve instructional integrity.
However, some activities may be fully translated—for example, when asking families to discuss story genres (e.g., realistic fiction vs. non-fiction vs. fantasy), these all stay in the home language which may make it easier for families to do if English is not their primary language.
Examples of activities translated at two different levels depending on activity type:
Does this create additional prep work for teachers?
No. Academics at Home is designed to minimize the need for teachers to do additional prep work. Activities are pre-aligned and ready to use, allowing teachers to engage families without creating, curating, or translating content themselves. Teachers use the familiar TalkingPoints platform and message sending workflows to deliver these activities to families and caregivers. Depending on how a district would like to be set up, activities could be set up and sent by the district, thus requiring no additional work for teachers.
What visibility do teachers and schools have into family engagement?
For back-to-school 2026-27, teachers will be the only users able to see family usage and engagement in the product. This will include who viewed the activity as well as completion. District leaders will be able to receive this information upon request via CSV files.
Family insights view for teachers:
Is Academics at Home a replacement for homework or intervention programs?
No. Academics at Home is intended to reinforce Tier 1 instruction and foundational skills. It is not positioned as homework, remediation, or a Tier 2/3 intervention program.
How is Academics at Home different from newsletters, iReady, or reading logs?
Activities are aligned to district curriculum and paced to instruction – not a separate program or app
Content is accessible, multilingual, and designed for mobile phones
Families receive guidance that fits into everyday routines
Teachers gain visibility into participation and engagement