We loved the pre reading level for when my child was in prek3. She was four at the time. It really gave her a solid foundation prior to being introduced to blends in K4. They have a scope and sequence in their website for parents who want to see exactly what will be taught.

I totally agree that its more important to learn the letter sounds rather than letter names

I never really feel that a program is complete for me so I always add my own spin. I taught my 4 year old the letter sounds before starting the program and used the pre reader program as a drill to remember the first sound I already taught her. The program is good for making learning the alphabet and sounds fun. So say I didnt teach her the sounds already ,I’d take maybe a week for each letter / lesson and drill the sounds with the letter. Repeatedly go over the poem and letter sound for a week for that letter . And it also is great for teaching your kids to rhyme. I also recommend adding a writing manuscript activity on the side. But I love the program it makes it fun to learn for the kids. I’m gonna reuse it for my 4 other kids so the price is also worth it to me .I taught my oldest daughter the alphabet and their first sounds in order also at like 4 and then she did horizons phonics for k-1st and is a very strong reader already in 2nd grade. So I’d recommend horizons too.

Thank you so much for making this video! It definitely helped seeing your perspective. I’m super interested now in The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I heard a long time ago that recognizing letter sounds are more important than letter names. I’m glad you can agree. I also saw somewhere that lower case was better for starting out because most words they start reading are all in lower case. 🤯 Speaking if AAR level 2 with AAS level one, that is exactly what I’m doing with my second grader this year. AAS is super fast and maybe takes 10-15 minutes. The level is so short, we will most likely complete that along with level 2 this year.

This was so helpful. The reasons I never bought this program were because of all the moving arts and the price. It just seems too tedious. We chose TGTB and it was such a good fit for us. It had my 4 year old reading and she’s now such a strong reader in kindergarten.

Thank you so much for this review. I was about to place an order and the placement test told me because my daughter doesn’t know how to rhyme and doesn’t know how to separate syllables that we need to be in the pre-reading program. I’m glad I found this video because I was about to make that purchase, but I kept second-guessing myself because I feel as if it will be too slow paced for my child learning all the letters Individually ( meaning upper and lower ) and in order… but going to level one seem to advance? So if my child knows letters by looking at them and their sound. But when asked what letter is heard without looking at the alphabet chart and when you ask her “ what letter in the beginning do you hear when you say PIG” she tell me she doesn’t know. So maybe pre reading will benefit us?? I jusy know my Child will lose her mind taking that long to go over all the letters again since she does know them and knows some of their sounds and will be frustrated when we go over the ones we know, but maybe I can just skip over the ones we know? My girl can only last 15min tops on a subject before getting wild and not being interested anymore. I feel as pre level with all about reading we will never get done but I do love the fact they go over it at a slower pace but idk if that is beneficial to my child if she knows some? So with that said, you mention for ordinary reading, the first lesson starts with “ At, am , an , add “ so does my child need to really “ read “ before this?! Bc my girl is 5 and she is NOT reading nor rhyming. I read aloud to her all the time with all different types of books, poems, rhyming, fairy books, bob book, phonics book, we also have learning dynamics learn to read set off amazon. So do you think my child needs to learn to read before starting ordinary reading? I do want to note we use Miacademy as for fun and they are teaching her to read level a ( beginner) and they are starting off with matching the same sound “ at, cat , that and my girl is picking it up so quickly and it has multiple choice questions they read to her as well as read the question to her that says “ what word sounds like , PIG” A: cat B: dig And she will legit say dig. But she can’t read yet. And can’t identity what sound letter is beginning or end letters. Will ordinary parent guide be beneficial for us do you think or maybe Abeka phonics? I’m just stumped on the three programs. Yours ( ordinary along with the work book from hooked on phonics seems like a great combo so I’m glad you found what is working best for your kiddo !! )

I’ll also say the jump from pre reading to level one seemed like way too much! We did pre reading and then bought level one. Made it 8 lessons in bc we were both so frustrated. It seemed like we were missing a step between pre reading and level 1.

This was more helpful than I realised. I love All About Reading but perhaps this is a not one level I need to invest in when my youngest gets there

This does not work b/c in phonics you teach the letter SOUNDS first and you do not teach them in order. Also, any text or stories they read should ONLY contain the sounds they have learned. I made this mistake with my oldest and now we are struggling to get him caught up. Thanks for the review as you saved me from making the mistake of buying this for my little one!

"how would you compare the ordinary parents guide" to "teach your kids to read in 100 easy lessons"? Also once finished the book what do you move onto afterwards