All About Reading or Primary Arts of Language?

I have lost track of how many times I have been asked this past year whether I would recommend All About Reading (from All About Learning) or Primary Arts of Language (from IEW). It's a tough question to answer… I think they are both excellent and solid programs. I am currently using Primary Arts of Language (Reading and Writing) with my 1st grader, along with All About Spelling, and we have been supplementing with some of the materials (the readers) from All About Reading.

I don't mind sharing what we are using, or what has worked for us in the past, but I have never liked giving recommendations to others.  Every family is different, and every child within a family is different, and what works for me and my child (in our particular situation and season) might not work for you or your child.

I have been blessed to have some Catholic friends tutor my children this past year.  Kathleen comes on Thursdays and Trina had been coming on Tuesdays, up until this month. They have been helping teach Math and Language Arts and it has been such an incredible blessing as I try to keep up with home educating five children with two toddlers. They are both home-educating moms and are familiar with the programs I am currently using with my children. Kathleen has always used IEW's Teaching Writing with Structure and Style at home with her children, and Trina is currently using Primary Arts of Language with her 1st grade son.

Over the past couple months Trina and I have been discussing the pros and cons of All About Reading and Primary Arts of Language as I try to decide which of the two programs I will eventually use with Rose, my next kindergartner. I recently loaned Trina my All About Reading materials and she made a list of her thoughts on the pros and cons of each program.  Instead of sharing our thoughts as a reply in the comment box of Our School Year in Review I decided to compile it all into a new post along with some pictures. Keep in mind that these are just our personal opinions of these programs. Hopefully the list will help you decide if either of these programs is a good choice for you and your child!

Note:  This post contains affiliate links to All About Learning and Amazon. IEW does not currently offer an affiliate program.  All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for this post. 

All About Reading: ​

Pros:

• If you are using or have used All About Spelling, it is very similar.
• Tried and True Concepts 
• Orton-Gillingham Based 
• Colorful Folder Games
• Pre-Printed Word Cards
• Pretty Simple and Easy-to-Use Program
• Wonderful Readers!! 

Cons:

• If you are using All About Spelling, it might be 'overkill' (redundant)
• Games aren't very creative, they are just more repetition of 'key card' memorization.
• Only has 9 (or so) folder games
• Doesn't teach the alphabet sounds in a creative way.  For those children who are having trouble learning the sounds of the alphabet… It's all just repetition and memorization.  (Trina says this wouldn't have worked with her son.)

I also want to add that I love the Pre-Reading Activity Book - "My Book of Letters" from All About Reading Pre-Reading and plan to use it again with my younger children.  It is such a fun way to introduce the letters of the alphabet! You can see a few examples in some of my Alphabet Path posts, starting with the Letter A. 

Reading Cobweb the Cat - All About Reading Level 1 

Primary Arts of Language (PAL) Reading and Writing:
from Institute of Excellence in Writing (IEW)

My crate of Primary Arts of Language: Reading File Folder Games

Pros:

• For children who are struggling learning the sounds of the alphabet, it teaches them in a very visual way with word association. For example: "C" is the happy letter! Start at the top and circle around, but don't close it up! This is the happy cookie because somebody took a big bite! /c/, /c/, cookie. - PAL: Reading
• There are 35 (or so) folder games, with a nice variety. Even numbers!
• The games are creative and hands-on, reinforcing all the phonetic rules they are learning. 
• No writing is involved with the  PAL: Reading program, (perfect for boys)! 
• Has the option of adding PAL: Writing if you desire writing to be a part of the program.
• PAL is a complete Language Arts program 'in a box' - includes phonics, writing, reading, narration, journaling, memorization, and even adds grammar. 
• Adding All About Spelling when it is recommended works perfectly with the program and also adds some variety.  The PAL: Writing Program comes complete with the first level of All About Spelling.
• Love the 'Phonetic Farm' - It gives the child a great visual of letter blends/rules.  It's still repetitive, but in a creative and colorful way. 

Cons:

• Requires more preparation than All About Reading.
• Folder games are not in color.  We had to color the games ourselves.
• The lessons are a little more involved - there are about 7-8 things you need to do during each lesson.
• You have to make the word cards yourself.
• This program requires LOTS of printing. Get ready to use some paper and ink! 
• Lame readers. (Trina's opinion. They need to be printed, double-sided, and assembled.)  Wish they'd have real ones like All About Reading.  (Note:  I think these could be cute if printed correctly, assembled, and colored by the child… but mine are still untouched in a file in  my crate and we've been using the All About Reading Readers, along with some of our other faith readers, instead.) 
• If you do the writing program, you have to insert the writing pages in with the reading pages yourself. You want to keep with the same lesson in each program.

Here are a few examples of the File Folder Games included in the PAL: Reading program:

Feeding Mugs

Color Palette Matching Game 

Magic-e
Use the Magic-e wand to add a silent e to the words on the board. Have fun with this game. Say something like, "The Magic-e can turn man into (ding!) mane!" Repeat for each word.  

Action Charades
Cut out the action word cards (verbs) as they are presented in the reading lessons.  As you add more cards, you may remove the duplicates. To play, lay the cards face down on the board. Take turns picking up a card, reading it, and acting it out. 

Match-It
Match-It is Snuggles' favorite game at the moment. 
Use this game board with any of (the 19 sets) Match-It cards. To play, lay one set of cards face down on the board. Take turns turning over two cards. Read the words or identify the picture. If they match, keep the set. If they do not, turn them back over, and the next person takes his turn. You can also play by taking turns revealing a single card and leaving it face up. If your card matches one already face up on the board, you get to take both. Score by adding up the numbers in the boxes under the cards. 

A few examples of some of the workbook pages:

Our (in progress) Phonetic Farm:

Here is an example of what we worked on during our last PAL lesson: 

1. Read Monster Box Cards (the Monster Word Box replaced Mugs once all the phonograms had been memorized) 
2. Pick a few of the easier words in Monster Box to be spelled. 
3. Visit a few places on the Phonetic Farm.
4. Games - #8 Match-It using card set 9; #12 Action Charades; #30 Long-o Silo Words
5. All Lesson Work Pages
6. Poem (review all previously memorized poems, work on current poem memorization)
7. Journal Entry (optional)

Note: Some lessons also include a story and narration.  We supplement thoughout the week with readers. We have started working our way through All About Spelling Level 1. Soon he will begin the "Who/Which" Writing Project (Lesson 9 in Part II of the Writing Book) - my daughter had so much fun with this project last year! 

Update: Purchase directly from IEW using my affiliate link:

Primary Arts of Language: Reading Complete Package

Primary Arts of Language: Writing Complete Package

Our School Year in Review

I started working on this post months ago and finally had a chance to get back to it last Friday, converting it into another "Seven Quick Takes" post.  Of course I ran out of time to finish it then, but am wrapping it up this morning or else it will never get published… I hope it answers some of your questions on how our curriculum choices for the 2013-2014 school year have been working out for us this year.   (Note: This post contains affiliate links.)

.: 1 - State Testing :. 

THEY PASSED!!!! THEY PASSED!!!! THEY PASSED!!!!

ALL four of our older children PASSED (and some even EXCEEDED!!!!) ALL the required state tests they took last Thursday and Friday.  Deo Gratias!!! And thank you for the prayers!

This was a big accomplishment, especially for our oldest son who has struggled with Auditory Processing Challenges in the past and had not yet (ever!) passed one of these yearly required tests.   (You can read more about our situation and last year's tests in under #2 here.) Not only did he pass the reading test, he was only one point away from exceeding.  He is also one of the only two students to actually pass this year's Math test for 7th grade in our charter school!  

We celebrated!  In fact I had pre-purchased prizes for all four of them.
I knew they could pass. I'm so proud of all their hard work this year! 

.: 2 - Saxon Math :. 

I am so thankful that we switched back to Saxon Math following last year's state tests.  It is a demanding program, but WOW has it been effective for our children.  Surprisingly we are all really enjoying Saxon this time, and the extra help from tutors on most Tuesday and Thursday afternoons this year has been such a blessing.

Captain and Ranger just completed Saxon Math 7/6, Twinkle Toes completed Saxon Math 5/4, Chiquita only has 10 more lessons left of Saxon Math Intermediate 3, and Snuggles is down to just 4 more lessons of Saxon 1!

I love it when I find the older boys explaining "Math Concepts" to their little brother! 

My plan for the summer is to have the children continue Math lessons 2-3 days per week, except for the weeks we will be attending summer camps, with the help of the Teacher CDs, to give us a jump start for this upcoming school year and allow some breaks throughout the year when needed.

.: 3 - Language Arts and Latin :. 

We are still loving the Institute for Excellence in Writing courses.  This year the oldest three moved on from the Student Writing Intensive, Level A to the Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course: A.  It has options for completing the course in one or two years and we have opted for the two year plan.  Our third grader has been working through Student Writing Intensive, Level A and she should complete it by summer or early fall.

At the beginning of last year I thought I would incorporate some of the Themed Writing Courses as well, but the children just love the DVD classes given by Mr. Pudewa, and I love that it is easy to modify the writing assignments based on what they are studying.  For now my plan is to just stick with the Continuation Courses, moving on to the next level once this level has been completed.




Speaking of IEW, another favorite has been Primary Arts of Language: Writing and Reading. Earlier this year I was still not sure I wanted to stick with this program and considered switching to All About Reading (right now we are supplementing with just the readers) but now, at the end of 1st grade, Snuggles is pulling books off the bookshelves and reading independently after just one year of using this program an average of three hours per week. It has been very effective!

He has completed about 40 of the 80 reading lessons and has moved on to Part II in writing. He will continue PAL next year and should complete the program by the end of second grade.

I love All About Spelling just as much as ever and am currently using it with my first grader, as suggested in PAL.  (I actually wish I had the time to continue All About Spelling with a couple of the older children, but Phonetic Zoo has been a great alternative.)

We've been supplementing with lots of great literature, both independently and during our afternoon family read-alouds.

Latin is probably my least favorite, but the children don't seem to mind and have been completing it without any complaints.  The older three are almost finished with Latina Christiana 1 (next year they will most likely move on to First Form) and Chiquita has been studying Prima Latina.

.: 4 - History and Geography :.

This year we have spent the majority of our formal school time focusing on Math and Language Arts, which hasn't left that much time for extra History and Geography projects.  We have been reading through some of the suggested books listed in Connecting with History Volume 1: A Guide to Salvation History, completed the various Maps, Charts, and Graphs workbooks, and studied a few more of the States in our State-by-State Study, but that is about it for this year.



The children have mentioned that they miss creating the coordinating Lap Books like we've done in the past, but we just haven't had the extra time this year.  I also only got through the first couple weeks of Classically Catholic Memory: Alpha but I haven't given up on it completely yet - just for this year!

Building the Parthenon 

.: 5 - Science :. 

The older boys completed Concepts and Challenges in Science Book 1 (the sections on Physics and Earth Science) and rather than have them move on to the first half of Concepts and Challenges in Science Book 2 I decided to have them join the younger children and we are all studying Chemistry together.



Captain and Ranger are using Focus on Middle School Chemistry with Laboratory Workbook and Teacher's Manual.

I ended up moving our 4th grader back down to the Focus on Elementary Chemistry (with Laboratory Workbook and Teacher's Manual) along with our 3rd and 1st graders.  (Next year she'll move back up to the Middle School levels.)

Even though they haven't all been as yummy as making marshmallow molecules, we have all really enjoyed the corresponding Labratory experiments. 

Originally I thought we would complete two books this year - Focus on Elementary Chemistry followed by Focus on Elementary Biology - but we'll be sticking with just Chemistry this year and moving on to a second topic next year.



With all our other studies and activities one course was all I could manage this school year and still be able to leave plenty of time for outdoor play, exploration, and nature sketching!

.: 6 - Art and Music :. 

So far we have completed four of our six units from Meet the Masters Track A.  (You can scroll through all our completed lessons here.) This program has been such a hit with all the children and we are looking forward to completing our final two units for this school year on Pablo Picaso and Claude Monet.  I'm sure we will be continuing this program next year, especially since we already have the rest of the tracks (for three more years) and all the art supplies!

I've had to let go of my hopes to continue Along the Alphabet Path with my little ones for now.  It just not possible during this season of our family. Of course we are still incorporating lots of fun field trips, feast day celebrations, and more!  Even if I haven't gotten to everything I had initially planned or hoped, I'd say it is turning out to be another productive and successful school year!

.: 7 - Religion :.  

I don't like to think our beautiful Catholic Faith as a "school subject" to be checked off this list, but I can't leave it out either.  My husband continues to teach our children on Sunday afternoons using various levels of the Baltimore Catechism.  We supplement with lots of great books and do our best to incorporate the Catholic faith in our home - the "Domestic Church."

We had hoped to be given permission to take our older children to one of Sean's brother's parishes this summer to receive the sacrament of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form, but that request was denied. At this point they will need to go through the local parish program once they are in high school… For now we will continue praying, preparing them at home, and preparing Snuggles for his First Holy Communion next year!

I think that pretty much sums up our school year so far. I have once again fallen way behind in answering emails, so if you have any questions for me please leave them in the comment box below and I will do my best to respond. I hope you all have a great week! Summer is almost here!! :)

"A" is for Apples, Altar, St. Aloysius, and Archangels!

Why did I even question whether I would do the Alphabet Path with Snuggles or not?  We have been having SO. MUCH. FUN!  The Alphabet Path is definitely one of the highlights of our days, and all the big kids are really enjoying watching and helping their little brother - who is always such a character!  (And Rose is joining in, wherever she can!  Even Bud is intrigued!!)  Here is some of what we Accomplished for the letter Aa...

*Warning!  This is a really long post!  Practically the equivalent of 10 posts in one... Maybe I need to break up these "Alphabet Path" posts?  Hmmmm.... Hope you all don't mind!

.: Letter Introduction & Formation :. 

"AAaaaahhhhh!!!  It's the A-A-Angry A!  'Cause someone pulled her ponytail!"

(Yep!  Those little stories from Primary Arts of Language:Writing are sticking! It's so fun to hear Snuggles talk about the letters as he is practicing writing them!)

A green Alligator with super Awesome googly eyes
 Snuggles colored this picture from My Book of Letters last school year (along with B-E)...

I pulled out the rest of the activity pages for the letter A...

... including An Apple Tree with Painted Apples for lowercase a...

... Adding the pictures that begin with "a"...

... circling All the A's and then looking through a magazine (we used a Leaflet Catalog) for pictures that begin with a - like Advent Wreath, Angels, Archangels, Apples to Apples, Aaron, St. Augustine, St. Anne, and St. Anthony!

Snuggles apparently isn't too crazy about Modeling Wax (maybe later in the year we will try again) but the Wikki Sticks were a huge hit!

.: A, B... Seas & Storybook Science :.

A is for Aqua 

Snuggles will be making an A, B... Seas Ocean Box this year!  The first thing we did was find a box and cover it with construction paper.   Since we had just finished learning about the different zones - the  sunlit zone, the twillight zone, and the midnight zone - he insisted on using light blue, dark blue, and black paper!

A is for Anenome

Sea Life Alphabet Coloring Book
(and of course we had to rent Finding Nemo for our family movie night!)

A is for Apples :: Apples with Appeal

The suggested expierement in Apples, Bubbles and Crystals: Your Science ABCs was all about apples!

We also read a bunch of books about Apples, including the following:   

Ten Red Apples
Rain Makes Applesauce
Apples to Oregon
Brother Bartholomew and the Apple Grove
Amazing Apples
All for Pie, Pie for All
How Do Apples Grow?

Pressing Apples

During our field trip to a "farm" earlier this week the kids picked apples and made Apple Cider!  Snuggles especially loved turning the wheel on the Apple Press!  (And how Appropriate for A week!)

.: Arts, Crafts & Additional Activities :. 

A is for Angel of God

I posted the instructions and additional pictures from this craft here: Angel Art for A Week.


Assemble Aircraft

I also had been saving a little aircraft lego set for Snuggles to Assemble...
(Bud always has a smile for his Momma!  Oooh, I love him!!) 

... with a very Attentive Audience!

.: My Catholic Faith :.

A is for Angel

In addition to St. Anne, St. Anthony, and our little Guardian Angel, a couple of our Archangels have been making Appearances around the house!  We've also been reading a few of our favorite picture books about angels including:  

Pascual and the Kitchen Angels
My Guardian Dear
Angels, Angels Everywhere
Angel in the Waters
Angels: God's Messengers and Our Helpers

A is for Angel our Guardian so bright:
Say to him, 
"Angel dear, help me do right."
~ God's Alphabet

A is for Altar

A is for Altar, B is for Bible

Captain helped me teach Snuggles a little about the Altar and a few additional Items Used at Mass using the First Presentation from the lesson book that came with his (Captain's) Miniature Mass Kit.  

The Mass Kit is expensive, but such a lovely set!  We purchased ours years ago for the big boys and were given a second set (which is Rascal's) from friends.    

I'd love to eventually get Snuggles his own set as well.   In the meantime his big brothers are more than happy to share and are hoping they can start teaching him to serve Mass with them soon!

A is for Always Ask

I am so excited to be using Writing ABC's on Little Hearts by Pondered In My Heart with Snuggles!   He has already enjoyed coloring the cover page and Always Ask for the letter A.

Snuggles:  "See, Rose, we should Always Ask Mom when we want something..."

Rose:  Well... Mom needs to have some Compassion and get me dressed Already this AM! ;) 

I had ordered a few 8.5"x11" blank books from Rainbow Resource (Amazon has them too, just more expensive at the moment) and am using a few of them for the Alphabet Path.   They contain 14 pages - 28 back and front - which is just perfect for the 26 letters of the Alphabet!

After gluing the cover page on, we laminated the cover with like we did for our "Wisdom of the Saints" Journals.  We skipped the first page, front and back (saving it for a title page and index), adding Always Ask to page 3.

A is for St. Aloysius

He is also going to make "My Picture Book of Saints" using a saint (of choice) coloring page for each letter!

Since Snuggles was born on the feast of St. Aloysius, and since my Grandfather was named (middle name) after St. Aloysius, we decided to include it in his name as well!  Our little Snuggles, with two middle names, has quite the long name - and he is very proud of it!

He asked for a St. Aloysius coloring page.  I wasn't able to find one, so I made my own by converting the image from Picture Book of Saints into a Pencil Sketch and adding text.

Here is the link to our document if anyone would like a copy:  

St. Aloysius Coloring Page

Note:  I've actually been completely amazed at Snuggles interest in coloring!  I really didn't think he'd want to color much, but has really been enjoying it!  Yay!!

In addition to reading about St. Anne (An Alphabet of Catholic Saints) and St. Anthony (An Alphabet of Saints and S is for Saints)  we also read about Saint Aloysius from A Picture Book of Saints.

.: A to Z Recipes :.

Oatmeal Sparkling Cider Pancakes 

with Homemade Apple Cider Syrup

We started Aa with an Applicious breakfast!  I love homeschooling and being able to enjoy yummy meals on Monday mornings!  

Oatmeal Sparkling Cider Pancakes
2 cups pancake and waffle mix
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup instant oatmeal
1/2 cup sparkling cider

In a medium bowl, blend together all ingredients using a wire whisk. For thicker pancakes, allow batter to sit for 5 minutes. Cook on a hot griddle. Serve with Apple Cider Syrup.

Apple Cider Syrup
3/4 cup apple cider
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup (I used honey)
2 T butter
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and stir occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until thickened. Serve warm.

Ants in My Applesauce

We made Ants in my Applesauce from My A to Z Recipe Box: An Alphabet of Recipes for Kids.

A is for Apple Pie

After reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World we used the recipe in the back to make our Apple Pie, substituting refrigerated pie dough for the crust.  Super easy and so much fun for Snuggles!  (And the girls kept saying... "Oh!!! Remember when....")

Yep, Snuggles thinks this Alphabet Adventure is AAA-wesome!  

We will Begin Bb on Monday... In the meantime, everyone is Bouncing off the walls as we wait for Daddy to get home tonight, after 16 days away!   

I hope you all have a Beautiful and Blessed weekend!