Looking for a way to add written phonics practice to All About Reading? We use Explode the Code workbooks to reinforce phonics concepts and provide written practice with All About Reading.

How can we add grammar alongside All About Reading without overwhelming our kids or ourselves? My mantra for kindergarten and first grade “grammar” is keep it short and simple. In order to do this, I used an oral grammar program for my kindergarten through second graders and then move to a more independent program in third grade.

After using All About Reading (AAR) for several years, I have picked up a few tips that I hope might help someone else just starting out….Check the front of each workbook…Prep the student workbook…Make the fluency review fun…

I am a huge fan of the All About Reading (AAR) series from All About Learning Press.…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…here are my recommendations...

How I set it up to REUSE all the materials with each kid…I pre-assemble the activities in a large 3-ring binder before we ever start the next level - The student book that comes with each level has lots of hands-on manipulative games to reinforce the concepts being taught throughout the book. I hate collecting and assembling lesson pieces on a daily (or even weekly) basis. I would much rather have a huge “project” where I gather everything for the whole year at once, spend several hours, and get it all done. Then when we are in the middle of a busy homeschool day, I can just grab it and start teaching.

All About Reading, the brain-child of Marie Rippel came about as she struggled to help her dyslexic son learn to read. Hers is a phonics-centered (Orton-Gillingham based) curriculum for early elementary students. All About Reading (AAR) includes four levels as well as a Pre-Reading curriculum. At the time of this writing, I am part-way through level three with my oldest and feel like I can finally say IT WORKS with some authority. Check out the All About Learning Press website here.

Rather than waiting until children struggle, every child should receive systematic phonics instruction from the start. This is why I chose a dyslexic curriculum for my neurotypical child. Moving beyond the whole language approach, phonics focuses on understanding the sounds and rules of English. In this article, I explain the differences between these approaches, share my teaching experiences, and recommend valuable resources for effective reading instruction.