We just started All About Reading/Spelling 2 weeks ago, and we LOOOOOVE it. A good mix of sit down time and hands on. Great balance for kinesthetic learners.
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We did a system based on long vowel, instead of short vowel. My son is in first grade and his reading level and comprehension have exploded. Because he learned the rules of reading/spelling the way he did, he can sound out really long, complex words. After finishing the reading program and learning all the rules, he reads books at his level and now works on a retell journal to work on increasing comprehension and eventually working up to writing essays about what he reads, which is where my older son (fourth grade) is in his reading.
I don’t know a lot about this program but from what I see, The interactive kit look the same for the spelling and reading. Did you purchase both interactive kits?
No, we just purchased the reading interactive kit. The student kits come with the cards you need for each level.
I started my kids at 5yo, but they go through it at different speeds. Some catch on quickly and some need to spend more time on any given topic.
I started it with my daughter right after she turned 4 and she is doing great with it. Prior to starting level 1 we did LOTW and the prereading AAR level.
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With my older daughter, I taught her to read using the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I plan on teaching my Kindergartener next year with that same program. We’ve used Heart of Dakota curriculum this year for 2nd grade for my oldest and she likes it. Next year, I’m thinking of trying All About Reading as well as All About Spelling. I know with AAS I need to start her on Level 1 regardless of her age. But, with AAR, does she need to be on level 1 even if she’s reading at her grade level?
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I used CLE Learning to Read for teaching reading and LOVED it. I tried Abeka before that and it didn’t work for us. However in the older grades we loved Abeka. Because it is becoming too time consuming for us along with everything else we are doing we will not be doing an official reading program next year, we will be doing a lot of reading in other areas and I don’t think it is necessary for us anymore to use a program as the bigs are reading quite well. Now it’s more of a practice makes perfect approach 
I used CLE Learning to Read with my children and they were excellent readers in a short space of time plus CLE is very inexpensive. (CLE= Christian Light Education) By the time my girls were done people were shocked at how quickly they were reading, I am now using it with my 4yo because she was ready, we are more than halfway through and she is reading stories that make sense not just 3 letter words. I am definitely a fan and don’t plan on switching from using this with my first timers any time soon.
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What is the name of the comprehension cards you are using?
They are made by learning resources.
We tried a few different reading curriculums but none fit for our family. We just sat and read a few times a day and now my 1st grader reads at a 5-6 the grade level. We also give her books that are above her grade level to work through. She loves the challenge and looks up words she is not sure about on the computer.
We’ve tried 3 of the above this year. Explode the code, All about reading and Abeka. I have ended up on Abeka and find it is what’s working best for our family. Reading is my son’s least favorite subject, but we are making tremendous progress with Abeka. It will be our first grade curriculum for sure!
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My son is 6 1/2 and started it this past fall. He is progressing slowly through it and we are halfway done now. Reading it not an easy subject for him.
Check out Progressive Phonics. It is a free online printable curriculum. I am using it with my young 5 year old boy who is just now learning to write his name. He is picking it up very quickly and enjoying it.
What is the name of the program you used?
We use Logic of English Foundations without the writing portion. It has worked well for us. Sometimes we use the AAR letter tiles with it since we already had them.
I also own Teach Your Child to Read Using Children’s books. I found it helpful for me to read and learned a lot of tips for teaching. I personally needed more handholding than what that book had for teaching phonics though.
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Thank you for your thoughts on LOE and the “Teach a Child to Read with Children’s Books” book. I was debating the two. I just received the book today in the mail, and I just found out that I won Level A of LOE Foundations. I guess I’ll dive into both over the next month or so.
LOE Foundations helped my DD with raising awareness with speech articulation and different sounds in vowels especially. We went through AAR level 1 before LOE Foundations and LOE Foundations was a much better fit for us and caused less frustration over all than AAR. I was also remediating problems with reading that arrived from a combination of vision problems and guessing after a year in public school with the vision problems. She has made leaps and bounds in progress and we are near the end of level B in LOE Foundations and her confidence has increased so much. Her favorite books to read right now are not part of our curriculum and so I actually use things I learned from the book How to Teach a Child to Read With Children’s Books to teach her words that she hasn’t learned the phonics yet to sound out on her own. I also use things I learned in that book while reading books to the kids many times. Even though I haven’t used it exclusively, I found it to be a good investment for us.
I am looking for a new reading program. Can you tell me why you like BJU better than AAR? We currently use AAR level 2 but my daughter wants to switch away from it.