This video is for Megan (sorry I didn't say that in the video). I recorded this twice and forgot the second time! Thanks for the request, hope it helps.
We loved the pre reading level for when my child was in prek3. She was four at the time. It really gave her a solid foundation prior to being introduced to blends in K4. They have a scope and sequence in their website for parents who want to see exactly what will be taught.
I want to thank you for making this video. My 3rd son is half way through level 3 of AAR and my 4th son is on AAR 1. Both of them started on Level 1. I thought I would get a jump start and start my 5th son on the pre reading level. We just finished letter f and I was just plowing along and I know so well that it is ideal to teach letter sounds and not letter names initially. I am going to switch it up for him now, thank you!!
This was so helpful. The reasons I never bought this program were because of all the moving arts and the price. It just seems too tedious. We chose TGTB and it was such a good fit for us. It had my 4 year old reading and she’s now such a strong reader in kindergarten.
@@ordinaryhomemaking6027 yes the good and the beautiful, we love their language arts. If you haven’t heard of them, they offer their curriculum online free for grades K-6, worth checking them out. 😃
@@Svargasc3TGATB can have them reading, but it doesn’t actually teach phonics and uses sight words. It is also a bit weak in grammar, logic and reading comprehension. It’s nice as a literature curriculum, but it’s not rigorous.
I never really feel that a program is complete for me so I always add my own spin. I taught my 4 year old the letter sounds before starting the program and used the pre reader program as a drill to remember the first sound I already taught her. The program is good for making learning the alphabet and sounds fun. So say I didnt teach her the sounds already ,I’d take maybe a week for each letter / lesson and drill the sounds with the letter. Repeatedly go over the poem and letter sound for a week for that letter . And it also is great for teaching your kids to rhyme. I also recommend adding a writing manuscript activity on the side. But I love the program it makes it fun to learn for the kids. I’m gonna reuse it for my 4 other kids so the price is also worth it to me .I taught my oldest daughter the alphabet and their first sounds in order also at like 4 and then she did horizons phonics for k-1st and is a very strong reader already in 2nd grade. So I’d recommend horizons too.
This does not work b/c in phonics you teach the letter SOUNDS first and you do not teach them in order. Also, any text or stories they read should ONLY contain the sounds they have learned. I made this mistake with my oldest and now we are struggling to get him caught up. Thanks for the review as you saved me from making the mistake of buying this for my little one!
Thank you so much for making this video! It definitely helped seeing your perspective. I’m super interested now in The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I heard a long time ago that recognizing letter sounds are more important than letter names. I’m glad you can agree. I also saw somewhere that lower case was better for starting out because most words they start reading are all in lower case. 🤯 Speaking if AAR level 2 with AAS level one, that is exactly what I’m doing with my second grader this year. AAS is super fast and maybe takes 10-15 minutes. The level is so short, we will most likely complete that along with level 2 this year.
So glad you watched it. I so hated I didn't say HI in the video, ugh. Ordinary Parents Guide is definitely plain and simple, but I think it is a good resource to have, maybe even if you do not use it as a full curriculum. Since it is so affordable used, I feel like it could be justifiable as like summer practice. Look at you doing all the things! That is awesome. I know some mommas that do AAR and AAS, props. I love that the spelling is short and not a million lessons a year, so wonderful to go through and take a break. Then start another or wait till next year. That is nice and may make it seem like less work on us too. I'll be curious as your year progresses, how it goes. AAR 1-4 does looks fun.
@@ordinaryhomemaking6027 most definitely. I enjoy AAR and so does my son. He’s incredibly dyslexic, which is why we are slower paced with reading. We break each lesson into two parts. So 2 a week. I have to say that the activities are much more enjoyable this year since I prepped them all before we started school. It definitely makes the lesson much faster that way! Anyways, I love your channel and your videos. I look forward to the best one you do. 😃
@@QuinonesFamily-rj4yx love that. Yes. If I was going to do it over and use it I would do sounds and letters and maybe even big and lower case letters together.
I’ll also say the jump from pre reading to level one seemed like way too much! We did pre reading and then bought level one. Made it 8 lessons in bc we were both so frustrated. It seemed like we were missing a step between pre reading and level 1.
So glad it was helpful. I wished I would have seen a video like this before I bought it. (I did buy it used though.) I do really like what I have seen of AAR levels 1 and up. I have friends that use it and love it. We use All About Spelling and I like the first like 5 levels. But yes, I was disappointed with the Pre Reading. I have heard AAR 1 assumes they have a bit under their belt, so if your kiddo already knows letter sounds and you wanted to use PreReading for a review and play the games to learn the skills like rhyming and segmenting, etc., then that would be a good use of it. IF you could find it used at a good price. Have you used AAR level 1 before? If so did you teach or use anything before it to get them ready?
Thank you so much for this review. I was about to place an order and the placement test told me because my daughter doesn’t know how to rhyme and doesn’t know how to separate syllables that we need to be in the pre-reading program. I’m glad I found this video because I was about to make that purchase, but I kept second-guessing myself because I feel as if it will be too slow paced for my child learning all the letters Individually ( meaning upper and lower ) and in order… but going to level one seem to advance? So if my child knows letters by looking at them and their sound. But when asked what letter is heard without looking at the alphabet chart and when you ask her “ what letter in the beginning do you hear when you say PIG” she tell me she doesn’t know. So maybe pre reading will benefit us?? I jusy know my Child will lose her mind taking that long to go over all the letters again since she does know them and knows some of their sounds and will be frustrated when we go over the ones we know, but maybe I can just skip over the ones we know? My girl can only last 15min tops on a subject before getting wild and not being interested anymore. I feel as pre level with all about reading we will never get done but I do love the fact they go over it at a slower pace but idk if that is beneficial to my child if she knows some? So with that said, you mention for ordinary reading, the first lesson starts with “ At, am , an , add “ so does my child need to really “ read “ before this?! Bc my girl is 5 and she is NOT reading nor rhyming. I read aloud to her all the time with all different types of books, poems, rhyming, fairy books, bob book, phonics book, we also have learning dynamics learn to read set off amazon. So do you think my child needs to learn to read before starting ordinary reading? I do want to note we use Miacademy as for fun and they are teaching her to read level a ( beginner) and they are starting off with matching the same sound “ at, cat , that and my girl is picking it up so quickly and it has multiple choice questions they read to her as well as read the question to her that says “ what word sounds like , PIG” A: cat B: dig And she will legit say dig. But she can’t read yet. And can’t identity what sound letter is beginning or end letters. Will ordinary parent guide be beneficial for us do you think or maybe Abeka phonics? I’m just stumped on the three programs. Yours ( ordinary along with the work book from hooked on phonics seems like a great combo so I’m glad you found what is working best for your kiddo !! )
We are in the exact same boat. My son just turned 5 in May. He knows all of his letters and sounds, but he wasn't quite ready to read or rhyme. We used The Good and the Beautiful preschool program, but the kindergarten curriculum seems way too advanced. I've heard that Masterbooks is also very good, but it's difficult to know how to move forward when they are kind of in between these levels. And I don't know about using a book that's just black and white with no pics because my son's personality is that in which he would rather be outside doing stuff all day😏.
I looking for a new curriculum for my 5 year old. We finished The Good and the Beautiful preschool curriculum last year which he did well with, however, TGTB kindergarten seems way too advanced for him (I think because he just turned 5 in May). So now I'm looking at other curriculums which seem too easy for him, being that he already knows his upper and lower case letters and sounds. But I also don't feel like he's ready to jump into learning long and short vowels and 2-3 letter words all in the first week, which TGTB does. Would you have any suggestions in this case?
@@bricehagens7956 I use Ordinary parents guide and skip the letters sound section. It is slow and she recommends doing a lot of rereading. So you can go probably all of K before you introduce long vowels. We do a little of the Ecclectic Readers and hooked on phonics if he gets bored with OPGTR.
"how would you compare the ordinary parents guide" to "teach your kids to read in 100 easy lessons"? Also once finished the book what do you move onto afterwards
Ordinary Parents Guide takes around 3-4 years to finish, so K to 2 or 3. For my first two we started later so we finished and moved toward chapter books and didn't use a curriculum for "reading". We did All about Spelling, which practiced/reviewed sounds and reinforced the previous years of reading. We also used some fluent reading books (timed practice books). I have a couple of grade leveled readers, nothing fancy. I had my first two read some of those. Lots of options. Basically just reading really good books, that fit in with science, history, ect. Every kid is so different, so I haven't decided for my K, yet. I will probably have him take the All About Reading placement test after Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and see if he needed level 4. I also have some of the Mcguffey Readers, so I plan to use those and maybe a Hooked on Phonics or two to break up Ordinary PGTR, if needed. Basically, I will just see how it goes. I love how cost efficient and simply OPGTR is, so I prefer it since I am homeschooling multiple kids and doing lots of other things. I am also now a fan of NO pictures. Side note, I think the other All About Reading Level 1-4 looks great, but it has sooo many moving parts that I prefer simple and I'm not sure about the pictures use, I would have to look more at it. I just believe in the old school method of Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I have never used the 100 Easy Lessons so I'm probably not the best to give an opinion. I have heard some parents really like it. (Which is great, since kids are so different.) It also seems tempting because it is only 100 lessons, but I preferred something I didn't have to transition later. I also had several older momma friends that all had used OPG with their kids, so that is why I chose it 8 years ago. Ok, back to 100 Lessons, I can share what my friend said about it after using it with her first. She said it was really good initially, but when she finished she had to figure out how to transition to Ordinary Parents Guide. So with her second child, she plans to start OPG and skip 100 Easy Lessons. Sorry for the lengthy message, I hope that helps a little.
