Hi everyone! Welcome to the homeschool curriculum forum post series! Today we’re discussing reading and phonics. Since my children will be in grades prek, 2nd, 4th, and 5th this post will be geared towards elementary students. However feel free to leave a comment for whatever ages you are working with as I know it will help other homeschoolers out there!
For the early years I like to stick with basics and use Abeka for phonics and language practice. I prefer the more traditional approach to teaching letter sounds and blends as well as the reinforcing worksheets provided by Abeka.
I also like the various readers that come with the program as well as the comprehension questions after each story. You’ll want to make sure to get the “text questions and answers key” for the readers. I also like the “Read & Think” skill sheets that Abeka has starting in grade 3. They are timed reading exercises with comprehension questions at the end. The skill sheets are graded so you can assess how well your student does with comprehension. They also help prepare students for standardized timed testing as well.
Pros:
- Uses traditional sound blending for phonics practice.
- Material is grade level appropriate
- Stories are interesting
- Contains comprehension questions
- Contains Read & Think Skill Sheets for upper grades.
Cons:
- Can be pricey unless purchased used.
- Comprehension questions aren’t quite as in depth as the comprehension of BJU Press Reading program.
Another favorite is the All About Reading program! We are totally loving this program, and it’s no surprise really since we absolutely adore All About Spelling!
![aar1_thumb[1]](/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/aar1_thumb1.jpg "aar1_thumb[1]")
I already started Tinkerbell with All About Spelling Level 1 at the beginning of this year, so she was able to skip ahead a few lessons in the All About Reading Level 1 program, but I still like how the two complement each other.
The Level 1 of both AAS and AAR have a similar scope and sequence. All About Reading focuses on decoding skills, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary, and will include lots and lots of reading practice. All About Spelling focuses on the spelling side of things like how to know which letter to choose for a given sound. Both are complete phonics programs and use the same letter tiles which makes them easy to use together. We also love the workbook activities, the pages are hands-on and interactive which makes the learning more fun!
All About Reading also has several fluency exercises that will help strengthen reading skills. The student activity workbook comes with fun hands on worksheets to help your student practice reading more smoothly. We’re currently working through both programs together and doing great!
The kit comes with these wonderful reading books which your child will have read through by the time you are finished with the Level 1 program. You can see samples for all of the readers, including the Teacher’s Manual and Student Activity book on the All About Reading Level 1 website.
Tip from the trenches: If you have a reader who is just starting out, All About Reading might be a bit easier to do first because the letters are introduced more slowly. All About Spelling assumes that a child is either already reading, or is very ready to begin reading. If a child is struggling with learning to read, I recommend doing AAR Level 1 first and then starting AAS Level 1 to reinforce the concepts learned in AAR Level 1, as well as to learn valuable spelling rules that will create the foundation for strong reading as well as accuracy in spelling.
![aar1_thumb[1]](/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/aar1_thumb11.jpg "aar1_thumb[1]")
What does the All About Reading Level 1 Kit come with? (Regularly $107.70, on sale now for $99.95)
- Teacher’s Manual
- Student Packet (Includes word cards, as well as Activity Book)
- Run, Bug, Run! reader
- The Runt Pig reader
- Cobweb the Cat reader
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite Reading/Phonics curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully, this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards Reading & Phonics, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Click here if you missed my previous Homeschool Curriculum Forum posts!
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
We used “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” (up to about lesson 75) to teach all 4 of our children to read along with the Explode the Code books and BOB books. I can understand parents wanting a school textbook like Abeka but it is just too scripted and filled with busy work for us. I want my children to have a love for learning and not just know how to complete a workbook.
I think “All About Reading” is a good program too (used it with our youngest). Copywork and reading lots of picture books can also be a great way to develop reading, phonics, and spelling skills.
We also use All About Reading. My 4 year old is just about to wrap up AAR1. I plan on ordering AAR2 and continuing through the summer to not lose the momentum. I also plan to start him on AAS1 when we start AAR2.
For phonics practice I have been using Explode the Code. My son went from doing a page with my help in a few minutes to do 4 pages by himself in the same amount of time in just a few months. We are done with book 1 and I am having him use book 1 1/2 as extra practice over the summer.
We are in our 17th year of homeschooling and our now teaching our 4th and 5th children (twins) and have used something different for teaching reading each time. This time around we are using “Reading Eggs.” It is an online, colorful, fun computer program that the girls use on their own. I am very impressed!
We begin reading later by choice, so we started them at age 7 this past September. They were at a 4.25 reading level when we began and are now at a 7.25 reading level and reading fairly well.
The one program we have used with all 5 children with great success are the Explode the Code workbooks. We use them for spelling, penmanship, and reading help. I can’t say enough great things about them.
We do reading eggs too and LOVE IT!
I just found out about and started reading eggs this past week and my son loves it. I love how colorful and animated it is. He thinks he is playing games and getting out of school work but he’s learning and getting reading practice with it. I think when our 3 week free trial is up I might subscribe for a little bit.
We used a combo (switching back and forth a few times) of 100 EZ Lessons and the Reading Lesson with my oldest. She was an early reader and had finished both by her fourth birthday. She also read Bob books and a borrowed set of Sonlight K readers. We then began in the middle of The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Reading and began reading lots of early reader real books. We stopped several months ago with 20 lessons left and have just been reading. She just turned five and reads at a third grade level, but is not quite ready for the length of that level. So she reads part of each chapter and I finish or we just read lower level books. She loves Magic Treehouse! I realize she is exceptional so I’m still kind of feeling out for my younger two. My 3 1/2 yr old son has started 100 EZ LS (1-30) and is now slowly going through The Reading Lesson. He reads Bob books. With both kids the lessons are only 10 – 15 minutes so it’s been great for our family. If our budget can handle it I’d like to maybe use All About Reading starting at Level 2 in a few (or several) months, but we’ll see 🙂
Does anyone have any experience or thoughts/opinions on McRuffy Language Arts program?
We are using it this year in first grade. We really like it and will continue with it for 2nd grade. My son loves the readers and the games that came with the program.
Email me if you have any other questions.
We also use McRuffy Phonics and Language Arts. It is a program that includes everything. My daughter has loved doing it and I have loved teaching it. It jumps right into learning. The teachers manual is perfect for letting us know why they may have mis-understood a certain topic with several explanations. This is wonderful so I can understand what she is confused about, and make the correction. The customer service is wonderful. I encourage you to talk 1 on 1 over the phone and ask any questions.
I plan to continue with McRuffy. I am looking into Explode the Code, but not sure if I would even have to supplement because of how wonderful McRuffy has been for our family.
We used McRuffy also this year. I really liked it for Kindergarten, but felt just okay about it for 2nd grade. I felt like it didn’t have enough “word work”. Some of the activities geared towards this just were silly. It seemed repetitive in other activities also. As for the readers, both of my kids loved them and couldn’t wait to see what they would be reading the following week. I did like how it was comprehensive. The Kindergarten level came with reinforcement games. So, I am currently researching other curriculums to see what is out there. I also am looking into Explode the Code and All About Reading and Spelling.
LOVE Phonics Pathways. At first I thought it would be dry and boring…not so!! My 5-year old took off reading and is on a second grade level. She is reading ahead of where we are in her phonics lessons. I can’t keep up with her. PP totally gave her the tolls she needed to sound her words out and she is soaring with that knowledge.
Can’t recommend it enough!
I meant…PP gave her TOOLS … not tolls. 🙂
The phonics in MFW 1st grade seem to be teaching my boys well. We are doing AAS 1 as well which also reviews the phonics learned. MFW finishes phonics in 1st, which I like. We then will practice reading fluency in 2nd with Heart of Dakota’s emerging readers books (from the library).
I love a lot of the programs already mentioned. I used Abeka 2nd grade with my daughter this year and she went from struggling to sound out each word to reading fluently with great comprehension. I wish I had begun Abeka this year with my Kindergartener because I plan on moving him into it next year. He used AAR 1, which was easy to use and understand, and the year before he used AAR- Pre Reading. Between the two I think he has a solid foundation and will grow quickly with Abeka for 1st Grade.
I’m halfway through K5 A Beka with my son and he’s doing fine, but I wonder if AAR would be better for us. You still think A Beka is the better choice?
I learned to read with Abeka and I am using Abeka full curriculum for my boys. I love Abeka!! When my 4 yr old started reading, it was awesome! He is now 6 and reading 3rd/4th grade level books! The phonics charts and worksheets are by far the best I have seen to teach your kid to read!
So glad to hear that someone else is using ABeka full curriculum. I love it and just supplement with more technology and games.
I’ve used Abeka’s full curriculum all the way from Pre-K through middle school and found it to be be wonderful. My kids love it and they’ve become independent learners all around. My kids were reading independently at age 4.
We love:
the I See Sam readers http://www.iseesam.com/parents#Reading-for-All-Learners
All About Spelling
and my 4 year old just finished Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It worked for him.
We use I See Sam as well! We are now teaching our 3rd of 5 children how to read and he is picking it up just as quickly as his older siblings did. This is my husband and I learned to read when we were little!