Is anyone using All About Reading and Explode the Code? I know AAR will cover everything ETC does, but I use both. Anyone else? Any thoughts on this? I need to simplify, but I’m having a hard time letting go of ETC:)
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I don’t use either, so no help here, but I love the concept of simplifying! If only simplifying were SIMPLE! 
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What do you use for reading?
We use ETC as an independent workbook for my daughter. She’s already been through our reading program so it’s mainly a review by she loves them. I have her use them when I need to free the baby or work with her sister.
@bttrflynthesky What reading program did you use?
We used ordinary parents guide to teaching reading.
The lessons are short with no prep work. My my oldest daughter finished it up in kindergarten and my next daughter is in preschool and working her way through it right now. They both love reading so I must be doing something right. 
We use AAR for my older two. I had no desire to add in any additional workbook work for my son for reading, but he doesn’t have an easy time with reading and I didn’t want to overwhelm him with workbook work. AAR covers all of the phonics skills that he needs right now. I do supplement the reader with other readers (currently we use Bob books because he likes them).
For my daughter now that she has completed level two of AAR we have found that it isn’t a great fit for her learning style. So we are switching to literature units and will supplement with Explode the Code to reinforce and review skills. She is third grade and I think we will start with level 3 1/2.
I used both for my youngest son. He loved the ETC workbooks. I think that it was really All About Reading that taught him to read (made everything start clicking).
We use Sonlight so we don’t have many workbooks as part of our regular curriculum so it was always nice for my son to do ETC because he felt like it was something he could do all by himself.
I use both and I love both. I am using AAR1 and ETC 1 and 11/2 with my kindergartener and he is progressing wonderfully. I also am using AAR3 and closing our ETC experience with my second grader. She just finished the 8th book. I like both because I get the 1 on 1 time with AAR and then ETC reinforces and gives them extra practice with reading and some extra writing practice.
@mommyv3 It sound like we did something very similiar to how you used th books: AAR 1 with ETC 1-2. Now my son is on AAR 2 and he just finished ETC 3 and 3 1/2, will be moving onto book 4…we don’t normally use the 1/2 ETC books, but he needed extra practice it’s vowel blends:)
Thanks for responding!
So glad to see this post! I am doing AAR 1 with my 5 year old in the fall and really wanted to add ETC but wasn’t sure if it would be helpful or confusing. Good to know I was on the right path 
This is a very old thread, but I thought it was a good question so wanted to chime in.
My daughter naturally loves reading, and I only used Explode the Code with her. She understood the concepts very quickly. We used all 8 books (and I accidentally skipped one of the levels and didn’t notice until part way because she was so good… haha). She finished all 8 by the time she was a first grader.
My son is quite different, and I realized that he is much slower at grasping the ideas and he is a reluctant reader. We were only using Explode the Code with him (I think we started when he was in 1st grade) – he got to Book 5 but is was quite painful and he wasn’t enjoying it. So I bought All About Reading 2. Now we are taking a break from Explode the Code, and only doing All About Reading. It’s a slow process, and I don’t think he particularly enjoys it, but he is able to read more than before. It’s a good match for someone like my son. I think when we finish All About Reading 2, we will try doing Explode the Code 5 again (continue from where we left off). Not sure how the levels match across the curriculum, but we’ll see. I don’t really want to use both because I don’t want to overload him… since I bought all levels of Explode the Code for my son a while back, I want to use them if possible. If Explode the Code proves to not be working for him, I will consider buying All About Reading 3 for him.