Free learning resources for NC parents, grades 3–5 (2026–27)

We sell a paid practice app, so start with the disclosure: this page is a list of things you can use instead of paying us. It is here because the honest answer to “what should I use to help my kid this year” usually starts with something free, and a parent who has never opened a released EOG form is leaving the single most useful free resource on the table.

1. NCDPI released tests — the real thing, free

The state publishes actual past EOG forms with answer keys. Reading and math for grades 3 through 8, science at grades 5 and 8, plus a released Beginning-of-Grade 3 reading form. Nothing else on this list gets you closer to the format, the wording, and the difficulty of the test your child will actually sit.

Used badly, they are also the fastest way to make a nine-year-old hate spring. Our guide to released questions covers where to download them and how to use them a few questions at a time instead of as a mock exam.

Best for: seeing the real format; diagnosing which question types trip your child up.

2. The standards themselves

NCDPI publishes the Standard Course of Study and, more usefully, the unpacking documents — which take each standard and explain in plain language what a child is expected to be able to do, often with examples. These are written for teachers, but they are completely readable by a parent and they answer the question “what does this report card code mean?” better than anything else.

We keep a browsable copy organized by grade and subject: the NC standards browser. Free, no account needed.

Best for: translating a report card or an assessment report into something specific.

3. Khan Academy

Free, comprehensive, nonprofit, no ads. Full math courses for every elementary grade with short videos and mastery practice, plus reading and grammar. If you are going to use exactly one free thing, use this one.

Keep in mind: it is aligned to national standards rather than the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and the reading side is thinner than the math side. It is also a library rather than a coach — you pick what your child works on and keep the routine going.

Best for: teaching or re-teaching a specific math skill, for free, on demand.

4. Your county library card

The most underused item on this list. Most North Carolina county library systems give cardholders free ebooks and audiobooks for kids through digital lending apps, and many also provide free online tutoring or homework help sessions. Some offer these to any NC resident, some to county residents only — your library’s website will say.

Reading volume is the thing that most reliably moves reading ability at this age, and a library card is the cheapest way to buy volume. A kid with an audiobook on a car ride is doing something real.

Best for: reading volume, and free tutoring you did not know you had.

5. The reports your school already sends you

You are already paying for these with your taxes and most of them go straight into recycling. mCLASS benchmark reports, iReady or MAP diagnostic reports, and the standards page on the back of the report card each name specific skills your child is behind on. That is a free, personalized diagnostic that no app can match, because it was produced by someone who watched your child do the work.

Our guides to reading those reports and to beginning-of-year assessments cover how to turn them into a two-or-three-item list.

Best for: knowing what to work on, which is the hard part.

6. Your child’s teacher

Free, and better informed than any of the above. One email — “what are the two things you’d have us practice at home?” — usually gets a specific, useful answer, and elementary teachers are generally glad to be asked.

It is also how you find out which diagnostic your district gives and when, which varies more than parents expect.

7. Public media and NCDPI classroom resources

PBS LearningMedia and PBS Kids carry a large free library of standards-tagged videos, games, and activities for elementary math and reading. NCDPI also publishes instructional resources for families alongside the standards documents. Quality varies, but the price does not.

Best for: a kid who will accept a video and will not accept a worksheet.

What free doesn’t give you

Every item above is content. None of them is a plan. The work that free resources leave on your plate is:

• deciding which skills to target, out of the fifty-odd standards at your child’s grade;
• finding practice at the right level for each one;
• noticing what stuck and what did not, and re-aiming;
• keeping it going in February.

That is perhaps twenty minutes of parent time a week. If you have it, free genuinely is enough, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

And if you would rather not do that part

That is what PracticeMarks sells. It is built on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study — the same standards linked above — so practice points at the specific standard on your child’s report card, and the parent view tells you which ones are solid without you having to track it. Reading and math for grades 3 through 5, science at grade 5. Kids are never shown a score or a grade level.

$34.99 for the school year to June 30, one payment, does not renew — or $6.99 a month. The standards browser and these guides stay free either way.

Quick answers

Related

• NC EOG released questions: where to find them and how to use them
• The after-school routine that survives the whole school year
• The best math and reading practice apps for grades 3–5
• Browse the NC standards by grade