Is All About Reading “Enough”?
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All About Reading is about Phonics
I am a huge fan of the All About Reading (AAR) series from All About Learning Press. My oldest child started in the Pre-Reading program and is now in level 3. I am now doing their Pre-Reading level with my second child. See my full review of AAR here.
Many parents online mention that AAR is not a complete Language Arts curriculum. And, I agree. It is predominantly a PHONICS curriculum -- and in my opinion, an excellent one. But, in order to round out our kids' education, most parents want to include a few other components to this. We could go down a rabbit-hole of "what all is included in language arts education" but sticking with the basics, here are my recommendations...
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is actually built into the AAR program. If you read the notes & apply their suggestions, your child will cover a wide range of reading comprehension skills. These skills are often embedded in the readers provided with the curriculum. Remember…even though they aren't filling out worksheets, your kids are learning - and probably much more quickly than their classroom-educated peers because they are getting one-on-one coaching from you!! (Sure, they probably need to learn how to read a passage and answer questions…but in the early years of elementary that may not be necessary.) AAR encourages parents to read 20 minutes a day outside of the time you spend doing AAR. They often include suggested questions or reading skills to discuss.
Daily Reading Practice by Judith Holbrook
If you REALLY want to use something separate - but very quick and easy to implement alongside AAR - check out “Daily Reading Practice” by Judith Holbrook. You can purchase it from various sites, including christianbook.com and rainbowresource.com. There is a VERY brief activity each day of the week for 30 weeks, and throughout each level the student covers a wide range of reading skills.
Handwriting
Depending on the age of your child, you may wish to have them do a handwriting curriculum. AAR does not include any handwriting within it, however you could always use the word lists to create a handwriting practice list for your student.
And…there are many excellent handwriting curricula out there that can be purchased from websites like christianbook.com or rainbowresource.com, or you can even find free resources for handwriting by doing an internet search.
Grammar
AAR does not include Grammar (AKA “English” as I grew up calling it). Nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. are not covered here. However, I have found a program that jives nicely with AAR and fills that need.
First Language Lessons (from The Well-Trained Mind Press)
I used First Language Lessons Level 1 from Well-Trained Mind Press during Kindergarten and First grade and am continuing with level 2 in Second grade. It is fantastic, has fairly short lessons, and it is almost completely an oral program. So, my very beginner reader/writer wasn't being overwhelmed by too much additional writing throughout the day. Again, I spread this book over the course of two grades. It even includes poetry memorization!! So check off that speaking component.😉 (NOTE: You could even use this curriculum as your writing/handwriting curriculum if desired. I usually skip the writing assignment parts.) The only “con” some might consider is that it is parent-led. The kids can’t complete this on their own.
Spelling
All About Spelling (from All About Learning Press)
At some point your children will need to learn how to Spell. Go figure! ;-) All About Learning Press has a Spelling program (All About Spelling!) that they recommend starting AFTER your child has completed book one. Listen to them!! This is totally fine - and much less frustrating if you wait. DON'T sweat the spelling right now!!! Seriously. Focus on helping your reader learn to READ before pressuring them to spell everything.
And even if you are starting a kid in a later level, consider getting going with the Reading curriculum before you try to add on Spelling. They are so inter-twined that an older kid is going to pick up spelling tips as they are learning phonics.
Written Work
Explode the Code (from Educators Publishing Service)
I decided to include a written phonics component in my first child's curriculum starting in the second half of kindergarten. I chose the Explode the Code series of workbooks and found a way to correlate them to what he had studied in AAR. This has been a fantastic way to reinforce the phonics concepts my child already has learned, practice writing answers to questions (and handwriting) as well as giving him something to do independently.
This is how I implemented Explode the Code (ETC) in my homeschool room along with All About Reading (AAR)...
Around AAR 1.43 (Level 1, lesson 43) I added in Explode the Code Level 2 workbook and had him complete two pages per school day. We often skipped the final page in each section (which tends to be a lot of writing), but the rest of the pages in each section were a combination of writing words and circling answers - often with funny pictures or silly sentences to keep the kids entertained.
As we completed AAR Level 1 and started level 2, I continued with approximately two pages per day of ETC level 2. I had also purchased level 2 1/2 but found that we ended up not using all of it. So, in future I would probably only buy ETC 2 before moving on to ETC Level 3.
After completing ETC 2 I started cherry-picking lessons from ETC 3 that corresponded with concepts we had already covered in AAR 2.
By the time we started AAR 3 we were finishing up ETC 3 (and 3 1/2) and beginning level 4 of the ETC curriculum. These were pretty easy by this point and corresponded fairly well with what we were studying (not exactly in the same order, but generally they were a little “behind” the AAR, which is what I was going for - REVIEW and independent practice).
[UPDATE] As we finished AAR 3 and are beginning book 4, we are working through levels 4-6 of ETC. Again, they are easier than what we are studying in AAR but are a perfect complement to provide a written phonics/spelling component.
Note: I have not always used ETC consistently. We have taken months off at a time before returning to it when I felt my kid was ready for more review. Again, I have used it primarily as a reinforcement of what he has ALREADY studied in AAR rather than to teach new concepts. (FYI Explode the Code is a phonics curriculum in and of itself with teacher books to go with it. I have never used it like this nor do I own any of the teacher guides.) However, I find that the ETC workbooks are a great way for my kids to start off the school day with some independent work while I am working with a sibling.
In Summary
All About Reading is a phonics curriculum that includes comprehension and fluency elements. Their All About Spelling curriculum complements AAR, with the same game-based format that kids love. Although handwriting, grammar, and written work (like composition) are not “included,” you can easily find other solutions to fill these gaps. OR just consider letting your child focus on learning to read. Then, you can focus on writing and spelling later on.
