Homeschool Reading/Phonics Program Comparison II All About Reading vs Logic of English Foundations 

This video brought back such warm and fuzzy memories for me. My son attended public school until I pulled him in sixth grade, but I used both LOE and AAR with my son, starting in Kindergarten, because I didn't like the whole language approach being used at his school. I love them both. Eventually, I dropped LOE and finished with AAR simply because I was afterschooling my son and it became too difficult to tease out the reading lessons in LOE. Mt son is about to turn 13 and still talks about memories from these programs. 💜

I debated between these two for weeks. Finally landed on AAR because I prefer to use lots of resources for ELA and it made more sense for us to really get reading down on it's own. My 7yo is currently flying through L1, mostly for review and to build her confidence back up. Love it so far!

Thank you for being so thorough and systematic, I can tell you put thought into this. I need reviews like you in my journey, subscribed!

Thank you so much for for this review! I’ve never tried AAR, but it was good to hear your perspective on it. I am using LOE with 2 of my boys, my 8 year old finishing level D and my 6 year old finishing level C. It works great for our family, I love that it’s all in 1 program and everything in a lesson is connected.

Thank you for sharing this, I particularly appreciated hearing your experience (and your sons:). I made the mistake at the beginning of using too many worksheets, etc and my daughter started to resist it all. I backed off totally for a year and just read a ton to her & introduced audiobooks. We started using Hooked on Phonics last year, added in Hooked on Spelling this year. I was feeling nervous, despite what others said, about where we were at. But, it was the best decision. CONFIDENCE is THE most important element I have found. There has been a huge shift in terms of learning fast in the past couple months. She will be totally on par by the end of our school season (PLUS, she loves books & reading:)

We decided to go with All about Reading! I was thinking of options on how to store the activity book pages (I don’t make my daughter glue or write on them, so totally reusable). Love the binder and sheet protector idea, so I put one together tonight! Thanks!

I have to say that I'm so thankful that you did this video. I watched your math comparison and you were the one who sold me on Dimensions Math. We're using it and loving it! I tried to start my daughter with Logic of English, which I love, but she's just not going for it. Part of it is that she is a perfectionist and doesn't like making mistakes, so she refuses to answer something if she's not 100% sure of the answer. Another thing is that she's a visual learner, and having me just say sounds to her was not very appealing. She did well on the first few lessons, but didn't seem to enjoy it. Another problem is that her younger sister tries to be part of it and answer the questions, which is fine by me, but my daughter gets distracted by that and ends up wanting to be done with school so she can go play. Because of all of that and me being pregnant then and now dealing with a newborn, I've ended up putting it aside and deciding we'd pick back up in the fall, after she turns 5. What bothers me is that she's eager to learn to read and already started reading a few cvc words. I've been thinking about trying AAR, but I already bought the first 3 levels of LOE (that's how in love with it I was) and it's hard to make the decision to invest in a different program without knowing if my kid would even be into it. My question is: which program do you feel like would allow her to start reading faster? She already knows most of the single letter phonograms (she loves the Doodling Dragons songs) and has started trying to sound out a few words and recognize familiar ones. Should I just try LOE again? Would AAR introduce reading faster, since it's a reading-only program?

I am using AAR for my kindergartner and second grader, levels 1 and 3! I didn't start Level one until a few months ago and my daughter is progressing and loves the readers. My son seems to fly through the warm ups and activities, but he still needs to work on his fluency and the level 2 readers help a lot with that. My sister is a former second grade teacher and she said that can be very normal for boys at that age, so I'm so happy the readers are my kids' favorite things to do in homeschool. Great video!

We use Logic of English Foundations and have only 2 lessons left in foundations D. The end of Foundations B has a focus on high frequency words. We actually ended up repeating those end of B lessons before moving on to C when I realized she needed more help with fluency. We used some other games with the High Frequency Words cause I got tired of playing fox in the hen house so much. :-) But parking it on those lessons at the end of B for a while really made a huge difference in her success in C. We have a had a wonderful experience with LOE and the support you can get in the Facebook group is phenomenal.

Had heard great things about LOE beforehand but decided it would work perfectly for my son after your video last year. My son is 5.5 and this is his “kindergarten” year, however he was ready for foundations. He could have started at B but I thought it best to set a good foundation starting with A. We went a bit faster through A then a solid lesson a day through B and C. We are about 10 lessons into D but only doing a half a lesson or so per day. We love it!! It is a good fit for both of our personalities, it has addressed so many questions and pain points I had with other programs, and I couldn’t have been happier with the program. I will say D seems like a bit of a step up from C. He’s doing well and loves it but it’s become a more technical than I expected (nouns, etc) and definitely NOT what I was doing at almost 6 😁

This was incredibly helpful. I am definitely leaning towards AAR because my son also had problems with a different reading program where once we advanced to a certain level he just struggled.

I’m excited for the book club. Will get the book at the end of the month

Thank you! This was very helpful. I just started researching reading programs for next year, so this was perfect timing. Those were the two I was considering. I think I'll probably end up going with All About Reading 😃

I used AAR 1 with my son and we took it really slow through the second half of the book. He didn’t like the fluency sheets. I would split up the words and even tried doing different games but it didn’t work. He enjoyed most of the stories. We finished AAR 1 and he was still struggling to read and didn’t have confidence. We just read a lot of books after that. Halfway through this year my friend suggested LOE. It was a program I had done some research about and we started it. I’m using it with my 8yr and 5 yr old. I love it. All the games are so fun and good for reinforcement. I do use AAS with my 8yr old and that is a great program too. He is becoming more confident and I don’t have a fight him to do his reading. The books in Level B are getting challenging for him but then we can just slow down or do shared reading. Both are great programs.

This is such a great comparison video! I am so intrigued by LOE. I really don’t love AAR, so I will be tempted to try LOE next time I have a rising kindergartener. I really like that it’s complete.

Both of these are excellent programs and I have used both. I absolutely love LOE! We have found that the games & activities in LOE are way more fun and engaging than AAR. I LOVE the way LOE teaches phonics.

So happy to see this video pop up 🙌🙌 I think AAR sounds like a better program for us, thank you for this.

I've never used either of these programs! Thanks for sharing your experience, they both look like really solid and thorough. Our family has used Sing, Spell, Read, and Write since the 90s....I suspect I'll use that with my sons just because my mom already has all the teacher's guide and games and such....AND because all the songs are stuck in my head.

Thank you for such a great review. This video is so helpful. I think it is really hard to choose a curriculum that both mom and child would like. I love the the way you organized the workbook.

I love your hair in this video! 😍

We are using LOE A and I purchased the game pack. We are loving it so far and hopefully will continue to. I've been planning one day a week of just review using the game pack, and I plan to focus on adding extra reading practice with the game pack and high fluency words they provide as he reads more. We will see! I don't think my guy would have sat for AAR (at this age) but our needs could change in the future like yours did. 😊

We use AAR1 with our grade 1 son and it is working really well for us. I looked at both and ultimately decided to focus on reading alone so we could move through reading & handwriting separately, as he needed. That has worked really well! Here in our province (in the public school my children used to attend) reading isn't started until grade 1, so he knew his letters from public school kindergarten, but hadn't had any reading instruction. I found AAR1 a perfect level of challenging enough but not frustrating for him.

My daughter hates to sit for too long at a time but she is 6.5 and I feel like we are just now getting her letter sounds down. I'm a beginner homeschooler so I really struggle with worrying about 'falling behind' even though I know part of the beauty of homeschooling is going at your own pace. We started with TGATB but the lessons were quite long (again as a new homeschooler I started out without knowledge/confidence of breaking up lessons) and then it seemed to jump ahead too quickly for her which brought us to a halt for a bit. I'm really considering jumping into AAR and AAS. Thanks for the comparison review!

We use AAR, but I have been curious about LOE. Thanks for this video!

Thank you for the comparison! We started reading with my oldest this year with a fairly unknown curriculum (phonics-based), so I've been trying to figure out which of these will be good to continue on with. I lean more towards LOE because it is a bit cheaper (right now) and is, as you point out, a language arts curriculum vs. only reading. We still have another month of our current curriculum for me to figure out where to go next, so I really appreciate your comparison to help make the decision

We JUST grabbed Foundations after working through most of AAR level 1. There are things I love about both, so we are excited to kind of mash them together!

I’m really glad to have your perspective. We just started daughter on LOE A and B and it’s good to know we will likely have a hill to climb by C! Best to be prepared and confident and go slow like you said

This was so helpful! Thank you! I wish I would have seen this a couple years ago. I never thought of keeping the AAR worksheets. I’ve used AAR with my son and debating what to do with my daughter.

This was very helpful. Thank you! I was looking into both of these for my son for the Fall. He will turn 5 at the end of the year. I was leaning towards Logic of English because it encompassed handwriting and spelling, but now you have me considering AAR again. More to think about. Thank you!

Thanks so much for this video ! New subscriber here! I’m all in for “the science of reading”curriculums

I'm leaning towards AAR because my daughter is a busy one and loves to play and create. This program seems more interactive. And I didnt feel overwhelmed while reviewing the program content. LOE looks great too because it seems all encompassing but that can also mean overwhelming for my learner and me.

We use all about reading and love it

I so appreciate your videos!! They have been very helpful for me as we start our homeschooling journey. I’m currently using AAR PreReading this summer and we will move into AAR-1 this fall as kindergarten starts. But I have read the LOE book and bought a few of their materials (songs, etc.) as well as their handwriting program. I’m very excited!

Thank you so much for this comparison! I’m just starting to homeschool my son in first grade after he struggled so much at public school kindergarten. I got AAR but then ran into LOE after getting their cursive handwriting curriculum. I have been wondering if I should have just gotten their English curriculum instead but now I think I have the right combination for our needs. My son has dysgraphia and writing is a big struggle so I think having reading separate is going to be better. Though I am super excited to teach him cursive with the rhythm of handwriting and see if that solves a lot of his writing struggles. I also got the LOA game book and plan to incorporate those with AAR so I hope we’ll get the best of both worlds.

I’ve been looking at both of these and this video was really helpful! Thank you!

Thank you so much! Just what I was looking for..... sooo I've been using Spell to Write and Read, but I myself being slightly ADD have a very hard time with consistency and need something with more teacher guidance, more open and go. So I have a 7 year old son, who because of my inconsistencies can only read level K books - like sounding out 3 and some 4 letter words. He has potential but I need to get consistent! I also have a daughter going into 1st grade who I need to bring up to par... I've been stressing soo much.... also dyslexia runs strong in my family so I definitely want an OG program! And it's just more logical 😉 I'm not sure I know exactly which one I'd like to go with but this definitely helped me truly see the programs. Thanks again!

One nice thing about LOE is the cards go all the way with them. LOE also has RU-vid videos and videos on how to pronounce the letters.

I have a dyslexic son and were are currently using I can fly and will probably transition into blast off to reading. It is far from open and go and i create a lot of games and outside resources books etc to work on fluency. I have been going back and forth between Barton, AAR/AAS, and LOE. This was really helpful information, thank you for making this review. I started both of my kids on TGATB until i realized my son was dyslexic and we needed an OG program. My youngest isn't dyslexic or isn't showing any signs of it so I am considering using TGATB with him simply because I already have the program, but man is it hard to know what will be best for each kid. I guess the beauty of homeschool is there are no rules, if it isn't working we stop and try something else.

You are describing what is happening with my daughter at the end of Foundations B. It is picking up the pace in the amount of reading required, and she is growing frustrated because her fluency is not keeping up. I don’t want to buy a new program so I think I will do lots of sight word review and external reading practice. I love the way LOE is structured, but it can move too quickly for a struggling reader.

This was incredibly helpful for me. I tried LOE last year for my son who was also newly five and it was such a struggle to get into it and stick to it in the beginning, so much so that we stopped using it for awhile and only read for fun. I was pretty upset that I had spent so much on something that was just sitting on the shelf. Now that he's older and more motivated I'll give it another chance before trying AAR. Luckily I have two other kids that might thrive on LOE. My son is great with sight words but I really really want him to master phonetics. He's also really starting to love games so maybe this year will go much smoother. Fingers crossed

I am using all about reading level with my almost 5 year old and The Good and the Beautiful level K. I hear wondering comments on Foundations. Thank you for the comparison.

We have to do some remedial work with our soon-to-be 8 year old grandson. He was diagnosed with visual-motor issues, severe ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia so many things are a struggle (he is getting OT and will likely have to get vision therapy). We had been using a non-OG phonics program, but, it has been difficult, so we have to switch. I purchased part of the AAR1 program (have to round out the purchase) as it came so highly recommended; did not know about the LOE. One barrier with this child is having things appear "too babyish." The LOE readers at the intro level look pretty young-oriented, whereas I think we can sneak by with the AAR Level 1 readers (maybe!). The games with LOE are appealing for this wiggly guy, but, down the road we may be using parts of a near-developmental program which features games of different sorts... so we may be okay. The other portions - grammar, HW - we had been using Shurley Grammar online (had all the ELA) and Handwriting without Tears...not familiar with the recs. put forward by "A Well-Trained Mind." One more question: does LOE go to a higher level ultimately than AAR (which is supposed to only go to around 4th grade)? I guess the assumption is that at some point, THE CHILD IS READING!! Any comments would be appreciated!

I have been using AAR and have been telling other’s about it, but I have not used Logic of English! So many mamas keep telling me about it. I’m glad you’ve used both! I’ll send them your way when mamas ask me about Logic of English! 👏🏻👏🏻

This was so helpful, thank you!

Your videos are amazing. Thank You so much 👏🏾

This is so helpful! I'm debating this very question right now, more drawn to LOE for a number of reasons...but someone lent me their AAR, so it's really tempting to go with the cheaper option! But my boys didn't like AAR Pre Reading at all (other than my sock version of Ziggy the Zebra, who gets pulled out all the time! :) And everything I hear about LOE says that there are a ton of games good for wiggly boys, which I need! I have a very wiggly 6yo boy who loves to write but isn't as interested in reading (knows maybe half of his letter sounds and can sound out basic CVC words that include letters he knows), and a calmer 3yo boy who was super motivated to learn all the basic letter sounds on his own but doesn't have the fine motor skills for writing letters yet and doesn't get the idea of blending sounds. If you were me, which might you choose? :}

Hello! Did you do the placement test when you switched? Did he test into level 1, or did you want to do level 1 regardless to build confidence? Your experience is our current experience with our 7.5yo daughter. She gets so overwhelmed with LOE, even though we only do half a lesson at a time. She haaates the readers. In her overwhelm, she just shuts down. She struggles to read the readers and whatever paragraphs they have in the workbook because she starts out immediately overwhelmed and mopey. If I give her an early reader from the library, she does much better. I had her take the placement test for AAR, and she placed in level 2…barely, I think. I’m worried she’d be bored and frustrated if we started in level 1, but I’m also a little concerned that level 2 could be too much? I don’t know. How long do the lessons in AAR take compared to LOE? - Ashley

This was really helpful!

I used lifepac then bju press and now masterbooks. All very different. Lifepac was good when he was 5 but I added a lot to make it more at his level. When I switched to bju it was good at first until we got to the same place like you did. The readers got too hard and at the end it seemed like each lesson had too many new things and it was moving so fast. My son got so discouraged and feels like he can't really read. So I went with something more easy going which is masterbooks. Well that was way too slow paced and at his level there was no more phonics. So he has actually forgotten a lot of what he learned. I'm thinking of going to AAR level 1 even though he is 10 because he is struggling a lot with reading. I'm so glad I saw this video because there are so many good programs out there it's hard to choose. And I have several other younger kids who I started with masterbooks and they are no where near where they could be because of how slow and laid back their phonics and language material is. I really hope we finally found a solid phonics program 🤞😁🤞

Do you think adding AAR readers to LOE after A&B would have helped? I know you tried others too. We are enjoying LOE A with my 5yo so far and she loves the cursive. Your videos have helped us in making our selections. Cute hair!

So helpful. Thank you.

We're using Logic of English and like it very much. We don't follow it exactly, especially the writing. My newly 5 yo is in B and we wish there were more readers. I'm considering purchasing some of the aar readers. Would the level 1 readers or level 2 be good supplements for foundations B?

Great review! I have a 6yr old on the spectrum with ADHD, we just completed the good and the beautiful level K, he did well with it, but I’m also noticing the lack of fluency...he sounds out each letter instead of blending. Great curriculum but it moved very quickly towards the end. I’m debating between these two AAR and LOE to do a quick review and build his confidence. Would you recommend one over another for just review?

Wow this is exactly my son. We began with LOE as well. He did great with A and B during his kindergarten year, but as soon as we hit C he started struggling. He also didn’t care for the game cards or the readers. We started AAR this past Fall on level 2 and he has done amazing! Everything just fell into place and he has advanced so much in this past year. I do love how LOE is a full language arts curriculum. That’s one of the reasons I was drawn to the program. I just feel the jump from B to C was to much for him.

thank you for this video! it definitely helped ton understand the two programs! I'm using AAR level one with my 6 year old son. I really like it, but I'm considering the LoE online videos next year just because I'm spread thin with lots of kids... do you have any thoughts on the videos?

Such a helpful video!! We are using All About Reading and going to stick with it for Level 2 next year. I was considering Logic of English but I figured, why fix something that isn’t broken? It’s working so great for my daughter!! Such an excellent, solid program! Do you have any recommendations for adding more language arts to All About Reading for first grade?

Thank you for this video! I’m currently deciding between LOE and AAR so this was perfect. I have 4 littles so I’m thinking that AAR may be a good budget option for us since we can reuse it. Seems that is not the case with LOE? We would have to buy different workbooks for each child right?

Hi! I'm not sure you are still reading comments on this video, but I appreciate this comparison! We are using AAR Level 1 with our 6.5 year old and it feels like a perfect fit for her. She is taking it very slowly (we are half way through and have been working for a year) and the program seems to be designed with her needs in mind. Our second daughter just turned 5 and is a very eager reader. She is already sounding out CVC words with ease, though she doesn't know every letter sound since she's had not formal instruction. I got AAR prereading for her, and while it's fun and fine, it feels like she is ready to actually read. I'm wondering if LOE moves more quickly than AAR. I think AAR will feel tedious for her and I'm hoping to find something that will meet her pace and get her reading a little more quickly. She is neurodivergent and really likes kinesthetic learning activities and picks up on things like spelling rules (or any facts) very quickly. LOE feels like a big investment since we already own AAR (I wish I had thought of your student book system!), but I'm wondering if it would be a better fit. I'd love your thoughts after using both programs. Thanks so much!!

I’m TOTALLY in the boat you were in! Were you able to re-use some of the cards etc from LOE for the All About Reading?

We just are finishing up level 1 with my second grader. So we are going to add LOE to all about reading. My five year old Kindergartener will start LOE. Then move on to level 1 all about reading. 🙂

I see in your LoE workbooks you have some large laminated pages. What did you laminate? We are just getting started, so I was wondering if there was a tip or useful hack to laminate certain things.

Thank you for this! I am using ARR for older son but was considering LOE for younger son but not I’m convinced to stick it out with AAR. What do you think about using LOE handwriting alongside AAR? I think I like their cursive curriculum.

We use Logic of English and love it! My almost 7 1/2 year old first grader is finishing up level C, and for him, the reading has been the easiest part. The only reason I dont go faster is to make sure we are strong in spelling, new phonograms, and learning new spelling rules.

We’re considering switching to All About Reading after LOE Foundations B- did you all start back on All About Reading Level 1 when you switched?

We ultimately chose AAR! I was definitely torn though. Finishing up Pre-Reading and going to restart Level 1 soon. We use handwriting for a reason and will most likely use AAS. Curious how you round out the rest of your language arts. I have a kindergartner/first grade, but I’m always thinking ahead with curriculum!

Did you cut up the student workbook? This is a helpful video! Thank you!

Thank you so much for your video. I am thinking of starting LOE with my son. I have also considered The Good and the Beautiful, as well as Abeka. Do you have thoughts on that? I should mention that English is not his first language. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks

Great review! I just don’t know what works best for my LO. It gets expensive to change.

I have a very similar story to you with my oldest son. He is in 1st grade, and we are about 1/2 way through Foundations C and it's his least favorite subject. He does not enjoy the readers and things are not clicking as well. I have been considering switching to AAR and was looking at switching to AAR 2, since it looks like he's learned everything in AAR 1. But you mentioned in your video that you switched to level 1. Would you suggest doing that or would it be fine to switch to level 2?

Which one has the least amount of "fluff", like less games and to the point?

Thank you for this review. Since you have to teach spelling separately with ABR did it feel like a lot more work?

I know this is an old video so I hope you see this! I’m wondering if you feel like foundations helped before all about reading. I’m thinking about doing foundations A and maybe B with my incoming kindergartener before AAR to lay a great foundation with the rules and wondered if that was a good idea? Thanks!

Hi beautiful mama! Thank you so much for this video. I am currently using the Good and the Beautiful for my Grade 1 son and K son, though my K son (6 in Sept) is needing to go in a different direction. He struggles with learning the sounds/letter recognition and confidence. I am debating between these two programs... LOE A&B sounds perfect for him, but he would definitely struggle as did your son.... If you had to start over with your son, would you have done AAR this past year with him and skipped LOE or was LOE the best "warm up" for AAR? Thank you so much

Thank you for the video. Have you used all about spelling program? My son started reading early and is great reader (he's almost 5) but we didn't do any spelling nor writing part as he was just too young at the time. Now as he's getting 5 soon we're just looking to add those portions. In case you have experience or can comment their spelling program.

Are you planning to add all about spelling 1 once you're through AAR level 1 or what are your thoughts re: spelling moving forward?

Have you ever checked in to pinwheels by rooted in language? I’m between the 3 haha but I do worry about the speed of the program… so now I’m thinking Pinwheels or AAR. My daughter tends to need more repetition. Pinwheels is an entire literacy curriculum though too so I’m wondering if separating reading would be best… how did you supplement with the other literacy aspects? Did you continue those with LOE or another avenue?

Would you recommend doing the programs in the order that you did? Kind of mixing them, doing AAR pre-reading first, then LOE A and B and then AAR Level One? I'm doing lots of research and it seems that both programs have a few "holes" and I'm wondering if doing them both as you did would help to rectify that. Thanks!! :)

Thank you for this! My 5 year old is finishing up LOE Foundations B and I feel like we could do more practice before moving on to C - would AAR be a good practice option for us before C, or have any other suggestions?

I have been trying to decide on one of these for my daughter going into 1st grade next school year. Since you ended up going with all about reading what other books did you use to supplement for spelling and writing to go along with all about reading?

I’m looking for a Spelling program. We have between AAR and Hooked on Phonics. What would be your personal suggestion for Spelling?

Do you think you could've continued using the program without the reading elements if he was doing well with the spelling, etc? I'm wondering if I could do that if I needed to.

I'm eyeing all about reading , logic of English and the goid and the beautiful. They all have their pros and cons. My daughter is starting kindergarten through a charter homeschool and has California state requirements. She knows her upper and lower case letters but I have not started to teach sounds. What would you recommend ? AAR Pre reading ? Or level one? Or LOE?

Hi! Did the doodling dragons, whistling whales etc come with the complete set? I got the complete set, but I don’t see those😳🧐

Hi, we use AAR but I’m currently thinking to switch to LOE as it’s comprehensive and I really like the cursive writing program they offer. May I ask you which writing program do you use together with AAR? Thank you very much.

Please, when it's convenient for you- I'm so curious how is this switch working out now? Also, would you say that AAR contradicts the LOE concepts? If so, have you had to deal w/ any confusion issues? I apologize if you've covered these topics in this vid.. it's been a little while since I viewed it. And now I'm going to watch again. :) PS: Just 1 more Q.. Would you say that your great love, and expertise of Science comes from nature or nurture? Thank you so much in advance..

Can you start foundations with c or d for grade 2 or is it essential to start with b?

Have you had any experience with Logic of English Essentials?

I’m excited for the book club. Will get the book at the end of the month