Teach your children to read with no tears! We have been using All About Reading for three years now and I can’t see us ever going back! This program has taken all of my children, with all of their different learning styles and challenges, from knowing their alphabet to reading fluently. It works for kinesthetic learners, auditory learners and visual learners alike! If you don’t know what type of learner you have, make sure you take the quiz! Read on to learn more about this amazing program and make sure you pin this image for later!
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What is included in an All About Reading package?
I purchased both the deluxe reading interactive kit and the materials. The cost for this program is about $120-$160 (depending on what you need, if you purchase deluxe or basic, and which level you are purchasing). Before you purchase, you need to go to the level you would like to purchase on the left hand side bar of the All About Reading website here. Click on the level and scroll down to the free placement test. This is important! You want to make sure your child is ready for that level before you spend that kind of money! You can also look inside the books to see how it is laid out and what the readers are like. You can also purchase additional student packages if you are teaching more than one student at that level.
When you first get your package, you will find a bunch of small, plastic letter tiles, a sheet of magnetic sticky squares, and dividers for your filing box as part of the interactive kit. Give yourself a few hours to read through the introduction, how to use the program, and set up your student materials. You will need to break apart all your word cards and file them and break up your letter tiles and place magnetic squares on the backs of them. You will also need to purchase a small magnetic board. You can find small dry-erase boards for cheap at target or walmart or your local office supply store. I ended up uses my Melissa and Doug patterning board. It comes in a small clear bag that I store all my extra letter tiles in and when we are done with it, we leave it all set up and put it in the bag. It never gets messed up, we don’t lose the tiles and it’s portable!
Your level will also include your readers, student activity book, teachers guide and your word cards for that level.
What makes All About Reading so great?
All About Reading is perfect for struggling readers, children with dyslexia, beginner readers or children who just hate reading. It works for all learning styles, and I can say that! I have three different learning styles in my house: a kinesthetic, auditory and visual. All three of them have enjoyed different aspects of the program but it has worked for each of them marvellously.
My auditory learner went through the program first, he LOVED the activity book. Each lesson includes a fun activity. Some of his favorites were letter bingo (you say the sound, he has to find the letter and put a chip on it) and feed the monster (read the word and feed it through a slit in a monsters mouth). Each activity he was learning his words while having fun and he just lived for the moment when I would pull out his activity sheets.
My auditory learner
My kinesthetic learner was next and for her it was all about the letter tiles. She responded so well to them that we worked almost exclusively in building her words. She needed to see them, touch them, create them. We used the tiles in place of the flashcards for her because repetition, visual and auditory cues did nothing for her. However the program was a huge success when working with the tiles and activity sheets! By the time we went to her reader, she was ready to read the story and there were no more tears (this was HUGE in our home, she hated reading!).
My Kinesthetic learner
My visual learner is working on level 1 right now. He is in grade 1 and his favorite words are “I can’t do it” or “I don’t know.” The flashcards work so well for him because he has such a visual memory! He goes through them a few times and reads his story from visual memory instead of phonetically sounding the words out. It is surreal to watch after working with two children who sounded everything out. He reads more fluently than either of them did, but it is key to stay on top of the flashcards or he starts forgetting and rarely falls back on phonics unless I remind him (to which he starts sighing and rolling his eyes… he HATES sounding out words).
My visual learner
You can see how three VERY different children responded to the program in very different ways!
*Like the first day of school signs I designed? CLICK HERE to grab your free printable first day of school signs for preschool-grade 12 and create your own fun photo shoot!
Why All About Reading Readers are my Favorite!
All About Reading readers come in chapter book form. They are separated into books, hardcover, and each level has a certain number. Level 1 came with 3 readers, each one including a collection of short stories that go along with your lessons. Your children do not start reading until they know all the words that will be in their story. Your flashcards, activity sheets, fluency sheets and building with tiles are all focused on teaching the words that you will see in your story. This has built so much confidence in my children! Instead of approaching a book with dread at how much work it is going to be, they can now approach a book excited! They CAN read! Everything comes together and seeing the pride and confidence in their eyes is so worth it!
The second thing I love about these readers is that they are in black and white. They have lots of pictures but there is no color in these pictures. Although color images would have worked well for one of my students, I find it highly distracting to my kinesthetic and visual learners. I also find color can sometimes detract from the actual image itself! This way my children are looking for (and finding) more details in the pictures! They are able to study it and then focus on their reading. This would also be a huge benefit for a child who has sensory issues. It also goes along well with the classical education model of homeschooling (where bright images are considered a distraction from learning, allowing the mind to become passive and not in “working mode”).
Don’t let the black and white fool you! These stories are engaging and funny! We all can’t wait to see what outrageous thing happens next and reading has easily become the best part of our day!
Would I recommend All About Reading?
Yes, yes and yes again! I have purchased All About Reading Level 1 and 2 and All About Spelling Level 1 and 2 at full price with my own money and I don’t have a single regret! I had no idea when I started homeschooling that teaching reading would be the hardest part of my job! I went through my first year feeling like an utter failure! I missed so many important rules and didn’t lay a solid foundation. Luckily I found All About Reading and now my grade 3 son is reading books for teens! I am so beyond impressed with this program, I have tried a LOT and I can honestly say it is the best, most comprehensive, well put together curriculum on the homeschool market!
To purchase your own All About Reading or All About Spelling program, CLICK HERE or on the image below. Also, take a look at my live periscope replay to see the inside of the program and how it works below!
