I absolute love All About Reading! I initially chose it because I was looking for something hands on, with little to no worksheets and no handwriting. My son was ready to read, but not ready to write or do seat work. When you complete all 4 levels--- you will have full mastery of reading. This program will take you above and beyond reading at grade level. It is also teacher intensive. This program will work for any child who can't stop moving and any homeschooling parent with the 20min a day to dedicate to a phonics lesson. I have used all 4 levels. My teenage son has always been an excellent reader because of this problem. I'm currently working through level 1 with my youngest. I'm enjoy our time together knowing how fast the years go. I have never used TGTB--- but it looks great too. Always start with what your child and you as a homeschooling teacher need, than find a curriculum that closely resembles that. Any curriculum will work at the end of the day because they are just tools. ✌
We made it halfway through AAR 1 , then started supplementing with TGTB K. They pair very well together. MY son started to hate the fluency sheets with AAR. TGTB booster cards and reading booster books have helped tremendously in that regard. I still want him to have a strong phonics background so now we are pairing TGTB with Logic of English.
We use both! I love the structured way and the order in which All About Reading introduces concepts- it's based on the Orton-Gillingham approach which is highly effective. We use TGATB workbook to supplement/change things up every now and then.
I bought both as well. We made it to lesson 2 in AAR. So far, my son is doing great with TGTB. It jives with him way better than the flashcard system. Great comparison!
I am not one who learns by flashcards. They get in the way of the learning for me. So we started with TGATB, and that was not a good fit for my son. We switched to Pinwheels, and that started out good, but then it focused too much on writing and grammar, and not much on reading. Which is what my son needed help with. I finally purchased AAR 1 and it has been a huge hit- because as it turns iut my son DOES learn by flashcards. My newly 8 year old son is finally starting to click with reading. It was the complete opposite with his older sister who just started reading one day at age 6 so trying to find what works on the second go around has been a trip.
I'm finding the same how much we need to change things up for my sons. I didn't expect to have to make so many changes but I hear you on how something seems to work for a time and then they need a bit more direction somewhere else lol I'm glad we aren't the only ones!
I thought I would be interested in doing AAR for my son’s kindergarten year but after doing TGATB pre-k language arts and thriving, I think we are leaning towards TGATB level K. All programs have their cons. This is a good comparison video!
This was a great review! I used AAR with one of my kiddos, but it didn't end up being a great fit at that time, so he switched to Logic of English. That worked well for him. I began LOE with my next child but it moved very fast for him, so we switched to Pinwheels, which was great to reinforce some concepts, but eventually was overkill, once he had a more solid foundation. He is currently using TGATB level 2 and really enjoying it. I thought we would just use it as a supplement to reinforce and practice over the summer, and then return to the other program, but I am planning going to keep going with it because it's working quite well for him and he really enjoys the variety. I believe there is no perfect reading program that will be a great fit for every child.
Thank you! It's so interesting to me that the longer I homeschool, the more I realize that the needs of each child are so different and they change so much year to year with each kid as well. I'm finding my son already needs something different for 1st grade which was so unexpected!
I’ve been using the good and the beautiful K level last year when my son was in prek because he started reading basic word early… enjoy and currently using the same book now for kindergarten
We’re currently using TGATB and I’m enjoying it but is there a curriculum you could recommend for children who can read already? Or reading comes naturally?
You mentioned that TGTB also has aspects of geography in it, is that just American geography or global? I’m in Australia so wondering if I need to supplement sections.
I would say the geography lessons have a "world geography" perspective. They teach aspects of landforms, culture, and other various topics. All their K-5 LA curriculum is available to download for free, so you might want to scroll through to see if they fit what you're hoping. I hope that helps!
How do you teach the reading booster cards? Do you use flash cards or do you just have your student read from the book? Because I've heard other people say that their child is memorizing the words on the cards
This is a really great question! My son does memorize some of the cards a little bit but the words are repeated enough through both the booster cards and throughout his workbook that he also has to learn the rules on how to decode the words too. Also, if you really felt this was a problem, (like I have for certain pages), I just make him read the words backward or in a random order and that helps too!
I believe you should be able to download The Good and the Beautiful at goodandbeautiful.com! It's a free download! I'm not sure about All About Reading unfortunately though. Hope this helps!
