Our favorite reading curriculum and why : Half a Hundred Acre Wood

I receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please see our full disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for supporting Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood through your purchases.

Flash back six years.

In our first years of homeschooling, few things frightened me more than teaching a struggling child to read. (This fear was almost as bad as the thought that maybe our toddlers would never be potty-trained.)

Although our first son had picked up on reading quickly, I fought feelings of inadequacy when, after four months of phonogram work, our second son still could not blend letters into words. In desperation, I sought out other methods to conquer this foreboding task I knew little about. Although I really did not want to purchase and learn how to use another program, what convinced me to try All About Learning products is their Try-It-for-One-Year 100% Money-Back Guarantee.

“You have one full year to try out All About Reading. Go ahead and use it! If it doesn’t meet your needs for any reason, simply return the materials within one year for a full refund of purchase price.”

I figured, “What is there to lose?” We took the plunge, and within two weeks he was reading.

So why did it work when other methods had failed? After reviewing multiple reading and spelling programs over the past eight years, I’ve come to recognize some elements in All About Reading that have caused such reading success in our children. In short, All About Reading provides…

Systematic phonics instruction and decoding practice
Engaging and enjoyable multi-sensory activities
Amusing and relate-able stories that introduces advanced vocabulary
Syllable division rules and fluency practice
Interesting discussion prompts that aid in comprehension

Pictured above: Our second son six years ago reading his first words.

But I think mostly it just boils down to this: When a child enjoys learning to read, they tend to enjoy reading. When a parent enjoys teaching to read, they tend to enjoy teaching reading. Without these two elements, even if a course of instruction is well-designed, it will likely not fill the need for us. (In our home, that means either Mom avoids it, or child avoids it, or they both avoid it.) This brings to mind a quote from one of my favorite books on education, A Thomas Jefferson Education.

Inspiring, in contrast to ignoring and forcing, means finding out what the students need and then creatively encouraging them to engage it on their own – with excitement and interest.

Although Oliver DeMille is talking about mentoring older students, much of the same thing applies to younger ones. When I notice something that ignites a passion for learning in my children, I delight in helping them pursue it. It has been said that true education only happens when a person chooses to seek education. If they don’t enjoy it – they don’t really own or retain it. So our children’s response to our learning endeavors really does matter to me – not because everything should be fun and easy (au contraire!), but because inspiration is at the foundation of becoming a lifelong learner.

What is All About Reading?

All About Reading is a scripted, open-and-go reading program that makes reading instruction simple for the teacher and pleasant for the student. Each level of the program includes a teacher’s manual, an activity book, readers, cards, and tiles. The teacher’s manual is fully scripted with helpful tips and ideas and is laid out in a simple-to-follow format.

Each lesson starts with teacher preparation notes (as needed) and a phonogram and word review. “New Teaching” includes the introduction of new phonograms, blending exercises with letter and syllable tiles, games to practice rhyming and changing words, instructions for activity sheets, reading practice with word cards, and fluency practice instructions.

Our children have loved the reinforcement activities within the activity book…

…and have thoroughly enjoyed the readers, so much so that they’ve often gathered together to hear the stories again as their younger brother reads.

The above images are from the free sample download of All About Reading Level 1. You can download and teach the first three lessons of Level 1 to try it out free. {Click here to download the samples and/or placement tests for each level.} You can also download a variety of other activities and reports to read and try out!

Flash forward six years. The child who struggled with learning to read is now an avid reader as a pre-teen. His younger brother (age eight, pictured below working through All About Reading Level 3) has also learned to read with this program. It’s one of his favorite parts of our school day.

Many of the activities reinforce spelling lessons and provide a memorable way to remember various spelling rules.

And the program includes activities and discussion prompts for learning about character analysis, story elements, vocal expression (storytelling techniques), and literary devices.

We have attempted other programs, but by far, this one has provided the most complete, effective, and enjoyable experience for our family. Most importantly, it has instilled a love of reading in our children as they learn to read fluently and accurately while improving in comprehension and expression.

Any drawbacks?

The only thing our children have ever disliked about the program are the fluency practice pages.

When they were young, I would reduce the intimidation factor by placing a sticker next to the last word in the list that I wanted them to read, or we would play a game to read through the lists. After level 2, however, the fluency practice pages no longer intimidated them.

Although the program is not inexpensive, it has definitely been worth the cost. It doesn’t require extensive upfront study for a parent to use and eliminates those overwhelming feelings of inadequacy as it equips the parent to teach a subject that seems elusive to many.

Free Resources!

All About Learning Press provides a ton of great free activities, articles, and reports to read and try out, so be sure to take a moment to check them out!

Now it’s your turn!

Have you run into any difficulties with teaching reading? Does teaching reading intimidate you? Are there any questions about All About Reading that I can answer to help you out? Jump down to the comments and leave a comment. I’ll be glad to help in any way that I can!