Reviews & Resources Emily Reviews & Resources Emily

Is All About Reading “Enough”?

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...

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Reviews & Resources Emily Reviews & Resources Emily

How to Set Up All About Reading So You Can Use It Again

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.

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Reviews & Resources Emily Reviews & Resources Emily

All About Reading Curriculum Review

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.

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Research Emily Research Emily

The Simplest, FREE Way to Help a Struggling Reader

Do you have a kid who struggles to read on their grade level? Desperate to help them but unable to hire a tutor?…Try assisted reading!! As a parent working one-on-one with your child, you have an incredible opportunity to apply this strategy. It has been called “arguably one of the easiest and most cost-effective methods of developing children's fluency” [1].

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Reviews & Resources Emily Reviews & Resources Emily

Coloring Through the School Day: Educational Coloring Books

Looking for some fun science activities for you kids? Or a way to make history come alive? Want to add some “active learning” into your educational day? Coloring books might be just the thing!! I have discovered some amazing coloring books that could stand alone as a unit study (or whole curriculum - depending on your goals). Check out the educational coloring books below.

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Reviews & Resources Emily Reviews & Resources Emily

Why I Chose a “Dyslexic Curriculum” for my Non-Dyslexic Child

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.

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