July 23, 2019

Dash into Reading Review- Why I love it soooo much!

July 23, 2019/ Erin Cox

We’ve used Bob Books for years. For me, they were a great, level-appropriate complement to All About Reading that gave us additional fluency practice. I always appreciated how simple the reading was… but let’s be honest—my kids were never exactly enthusiastic to read about Bob and all his weird, pointless shenanigans.

So when I first stumbled across Dash into Reading on Instagram, I was intrigued. What held me back initially was the idea that it’s designed to be used as a full phonics program (which it absolutely can be!). But once I reached out to Amelia (the author), she assured me that many families were using them alongside All About Reading. Since my experience with AAR has been so solid, I wasn’t really looking for a replacement—but as a companion? That had my attention.

Amelia sweetly sent me Set 1 for an honest review, and we were thrilled. Here’s what stood out most:

February 14, 2019

Review of Foundational Phonics Program

February 14, 2019/ Erin Cox

ou may have noticed—if you’ve browsed this blog much—that I’m an enthusiastic supporter of All About Reading. So, it may come as a surprise that I’m sharing a review for a different phonics curriculum.
When the author of Foundational Phonics, Ariel Gunther, reached out to me with her gentle phonics program, I was more than intrigued. As we worked for years to get my dyslexic daughter reading on grade level, we tried more than a handful of programs. That process—along with the success my friend Hayley has also had with AAR—left me looking through Foundational Phonics with a discerning eye. So it’s only natural that as I share all I love (or might not) about Foundational Phonics, I’ll be making a few references to All About Reading as well.
What Is Foundational Phonics?

January 26, 2019

Dear Scared, Worried (Overwhelmed) New Homeschool Mom

January 26, 2019/ Erin Cox

I received a text from a sweet friend last night — one who is in the thick of her first year or two of homeschooling. As she’s been spending many sleepless nights cradling and nursing her newborn infant recently, thoughts and concerns have flooded her mind over the progress of her 6-year-old daughter’s reading.

Anyone who has been in the thick of homeschooling for one year or ten remembers those days well. Not one of us is impervious to fears, second-guessing, unmet expectations, and the torture of comparison.

What follows is a version of my response to her concerns — words she and I agreed should be shared with you as well. These words were once offered to me, small doses at a time, from the women ahead of me, speaking Truth into the midst of my fears. Some of these words are things I never heard but my heart desperately yearned for. And many of them are the result of hours, weeks, and years of pouring my aching heart out to a Father who understood and cared about it all.

Dear Scared, Worried, New Homeschool Mama,

January 22, 2019

All About Reading: Level 4 Color Edition Review

January 22, 2019/ Hayley Croft

I was so excited when Erin told me that All About Learning Press was releasing a NEW COLOR EDITION of their All About Reading program! I have used AAR with three of my children, and it has been such a blessing to our family. This program has helped me gain both confidence and skills in teaching my children to read. I’ve written before about how we use AAR in our home, but today I want to share more about the new color editions—and why I have changed my mind about Level 4.

October 10, 2018

All About Reading: How it Works for Our Family {a detailed review}

October 10, 2018/ Hayley Croft

When I first began homeschooling, the responsibility that intimidated me more than any other was teaching my own children to read. I have always been an avid reader, and I desperately wanted to instill a love of reading in my kids. I realized very quickly, however, that my love of reading did not automatically qualify me to teach someone else HOW to read. Because I had no background in teaching reading, I knew I needed to find a program that could walk ME through the process as well as my child. We tried several different programs in the beginning, but they either bored my child to tears or proceeding so quickly that she felt overwhelmed, and I felt lost without a map.

June 26, 2018

When Your Homeschooled Child Can't Read Yet

June 26, 2018/ Erin Cox

If you're reading this, you are probably in the midst of teaching one of your little ones to read OR you have that endeavor looming ahead of you in the near future... amiright? The singular biggest fear of every single homeschool mom I've ever spoken to is failing to teach her child to read well... and especially failing to teach them "on time".

In most of our minds, we envision that our homeschooled child would be reading well in advance of their public school counterparts (or at least at the same time). Simultaneously, in our little hearts, one reason we homeschool is to give our children the time and space to grow and develop on their own timeline. Sometimes these desires and expectations clash and can create monster homeschool mom anxiety. I know many mamas who have quit homeschooling (or never even began) because they were overwhelmed at the idea of failing in this important task.

I want to share some actual evidence with you today that helped put me at ease when my own homeschool student just wasn't progressing like I felt she "should."

March 25, 2018

107 Books to Read Before Age 7 (FREE Printable List!)

March 25, 2018/ Erin Cox

Wow! Have you looked lately for books for your little ones and been completely overwhelmed? There are SO many- and how can we know they are good books that are of high literary quality and don't counter with our beliefs and family culture until we've bought them? My sweet friend Hayley and I wanted to combine forces and share a powerful list of 107 books that we feel like every child should have read to them (or read) before age 7.

Many lists like this include a majority of chapter books or books for children with longer attention span. We have many of those, but rest assured that this collection also includes shorter picture books with gorgeous, engaging illustrations and fewer words per page.

January 21, 2018

How I Taught My Profoundly Dyslexic Daughter to Read {on Grade Level}- FREE Worksheet Available

January 21, 2018/ Erin Cox

There's little that strikes more fear into a homeschool mom's heart than the idea of teaching their child to read. It seems that every aspect of their child's future success is hinged upon this necessary, often ominous, skill. I know some homeschool parents that send their children to school for kindergarten and first grade, just to skip the stress of it! So, for a new homeschool mom to be greeted with a child whom she is doing everything "by the book" for and nothing seems to be sticking... well, it honestly feels like their deepest fears of inadequacy are coming to fruition.

You can feel like you must be the biggest homeschool failure in the world when you've been working diligently to teach your child phonics for over a year, and they still know less than a handful of sounds. You can be certain you've ruined your child's future when they are 7, and despite working to identify letter NAMES since they were 4, they still visibly struggle to name each letter. You can feel like pulling your hair out when you child sounds out CCCCC-AAAAAA-TTTTTT on one page, then sees it again 8 more times in the SAME book (seconds apart) and STILL has to sound it out like she's never seen the word in her life every single time...