I appreciate how much thought you put into this review, genuinely considering the pros and the cons. That does seem like a lot of special sounds covered very quickly--we have really appreciated thorough phonics programs covering all the crazy special sounds that we have in English. :)
I just started homeschooling this year after my 2 youngest were in public school. I had planned on doing it before the world got crazy, and was led to Masterbooks. My kids were heading into 1st & 3rd grade. My daughter, age 6, did Foundations Phonics, and is now doing level 1. She seems to be doing good with it. My son, age 8, has being using level 3, and even though I have seen progress with him, I feel like he missed out in public school with phonics so now I am going through the Foundations Phonics with him to get those key sounds down. I think it will make all the difference in the world for him since he has always struggled with reading.
Something else that I started doing with them is doing a weeks worth of work in 2 days. We have a pretest spelling test, and the bookwork on Tuesdays, and we do a spelling test, and do the dictionary definitions on Thursdays. I help my oldest quite a bit because he does not like anything that feels like "school work". Thank you for your review! It was helpful.
Great video Megan! We have loved LLFLE for the Bible aspect! It seemed I always gulped that part up and threw out the rest...EXCEPT on busy days! It is great for those days when you want something quick! We are also going away from LLFLE! ❤
I totally agree. My kids would never be able to learn to read with Masterbooks phonics. But Level 2 and up work beautifully for my kids. The phonics instruction is very much lacking, which is a disappointment because we love Masterbooks!
This video was so helpful. I've been struggling to figure out what language arts curriculum to get for my son. I did the Foundation phonics with my son the first half year and we just got stuck. I switched to all about reading and it helps so much. He's picking up much better and quicker. He really needs mastery but with some review as well. Thanks for sharing this video.
I have a son that just started 1st grade. He has sensory processing and we used the Good and beautiful primer last year and started Level K this year but it isnt seeming to work for us. I just ordered Masterbooks level 1 and will try to blend the 2 together throughout our homeschool journey this year. We are a police family so have a crazy schedule so the open and go style is great! Also use Masterbooks and Good and beautiful blend for Math, Science and Social Studies. Thank you so much for this review. Been watching a lot of your videos lately. You are such a blessing and so uplifting.
I'm SO GLAD I read through these comments. My son is in between K and 1st, and totally "behind" in his reading. We've started over using Explode the Code, but I was looking for another more comprehensive open and go program for when he's ready for 1st grade curriculum. I was almost convinced based on other reviews to go with LLFLE, but I think I'll just stick with Explode the Code and piecemeal something else on my own for the rest of his language arts. Not ideal, but he definitely needs lots of repetition and mastery.
Great review! I agree that there isn’t enough mastery of blends and such, we did finish this curriculum.. just last week, but mid way through I added in All About Reading, so I agree 100% with your review and analysis.. very well said.☺️
I feel like I'm having this same concern with TGTB there just isn't enough practice. This was our first year homeschooling so I'm trying to not stress out. But I'm considering doing all about reading maybe even a combination of the two.
I totally agree. We got half way through this book also and it became an issue. I was wondering why it wasnt working. You put it into words perfectly!!
GREAT video, Megan! Love your take on it and looking at the good and the bad about the curriculums. I love the fact that it's open and go, and those kind of curriculums are helpful in different times of life and seasons in our family.
I agree with everything you said! I thought my daughter had mastered phonics bc she breezes through the lessons and I have come to find out it was not enough and she super frustrated about it ☹️
I really appreciate your curriculum reviews & flip throughs. They are thorough but concise. We have used this curriculum for 2nd & 3rd but I agree with you about it not being deep enough. Would you mind sharing what you're using instead?
I so hope this curriculum works for my younger 2. I ordered it for my upcoming 2nd and 5th graders. We have done Abeka since we started homeschooling 4 years ago and this year has been no fun. I think Abeka is way too fast paced because it’s like they’re learning something new every single day whether they grasped the day befores concept or not.So I have changed all 4 of my kiddos to different curriculums for this upcoming year. My older 2 are doing Ace Paces next year. Love your channel!❤️
@@jenniferharley8987 I thought about using them after I had already ordered their books. If these don’t work out that’s probably my next choice. Abeka is really complicated when you get into the high school years! I have one in 9th and praise God he is awesome at math because Abeka Algebra 1 is like Trigonometry that I took in 12th grade. It’s ridiculous!
Abeka is actually designed for Christian schools that is why it has so much busy work. It is marketed to homeschool families now but that was never their primary demographic.
I love this conversation! It’s great to see community even in the comments! I actually use LLFLE with my 3rd Grader and I’ve found it a good fit for him. It just didn’t work the greatest for my 1st grader. We have never used Abeka but I know many people do.
@@PenniesAndSalt I absolutely love watching your channel! I have looked over the new books for my younger 2 and I think they are going to be a great fit for them. I am so excited about starting them on it next year!
We are using phonics wen teaching to read or to improve reading, along wiv sight words. The dictionary activity sounds awesome even if a dyslexic child don’t get apherbetal order. Sorry I can’t spell. It helps it become familiar with them.
Thank you for this review. We are finishing up Foundations Phonics in a few weeks. We used it along with Dash into Learning to get my 6 year old reading. Mastery is very important to us. We still haven't decided if LLLE1 is our next step yet. I feel like for my learner I would have to do some lessons over a 2 week period
All about reading is phenomenal. I’ve used ABeka and AAR is better and explains so many things I felt ABeka didn’t. It’s worth the investment for AAR, the phonics is fantastic and the lessons are short, to the point and it sticks! The games are also great and kids love them. I used LL for a short attention span and squirmy child at grade 2, along with AAR-omitting the reading curriculum (which I wouldn’t classify as phonics-it looked like all memorization and was terrible in my opinion, to be honest). I also supplemented with extra practice for Lang arts skills for LL level 2. So I won’t be using it again.!
I tried this directly after Foundations Phonics and also did not like it, but we did a year of Explode the Code, then came back to it in 2nd grade, and we love it now. I use their LA in other grades too.
Yes, we love explode the code and have used it alongside each reading program starting in Kindergarten! That’s a great idea! One of my other boys uses LLFLE and it works well for him.
Agreed with everything as I tried this curriculum as well and it didn’t work for me! I loved how Christian based it was as well but it just wasn’t a Good fit....
Thank you for your review! I'm looking at using this curriculum for my 1st grader next year. So far we have loved LLFALE with the exception of the spelling component. So, I may try to find a different program for next year.
Thank you for this review. I use level 1 for my 1st and k. I did notice it was light on the phonics but i love the layout of it. It is not overwhelming for my littles and they retain the information. I have been using alpha phonics which can be downloaded for free along with explode the code. We also bought a cute phoncis book of poems called The B on your thumb. Together with lots of reading has worked great for us. I see the progress. 😁
I am this same thing. I like the LA portions of the book but its not enough phonics mastery. Im trying yo decode what else we need or what to switch to.. currently thinking of logic of english or all ahout reading
We are working our way through Foundation Phonics now and I have purchased this for when we are finished. I am hoping we enjoy it. Thanks for the review.
I hope you guys have a wonderful experience! It definitely has its sweet points! If you need extra phonics practice we added in Explode the Code alongside it 😉
Thank you for your review! I have gleaned so much which helps in my curriculum decisions. What are you using for your son now? It sounds like it would be a good fit for my daughter. 😀
Do you think if used with a reading curriculum it would work? We’ve been doing LLFLE with All About Reading. I mostly like language lessons because it touches more on grammar, spelling, writing skills, and poetry. I agree that it wouldn’t be sufficient alone for teaching reading. I hope level 1 will work for my first grader this fall. 🤗
The curriculum journey is so different for each kid. Thanks for your honesty!
It really is!
If you dont get the hardback books that come with the curriculum are you still able to use it and get through it? @PenniesAndSalt
This is so good and very in depth and honest. You made some really good points, there isn’t a lot of depth.
I appreciate how much thought you put into this review, genuinely considering the pros and the cons. That does seem like a lot of special sounds covered very quickly--we have really appreciated thorough phonics programs covering all the crazy special sounds that we have in English. :)
I just started homeschooling this year after my 2 youngest were in public school. I had planned on doing it before the world got crazy, and was led to Masterbooks. My kids were heading into 1st & 3rd grade. My daughter, age 6, did Foundations Phonics, and is now doing level 1. She seems to be doing good with it. My son, age 8, has being using level 3, and even though I have seen progress with him, I feel like he missed out in public school with phonics so now I am going through the Foundations Phonics with him to get those key sounds down. I think it will make all the difference in the world for him since he has always struggled with reading.
Something else that I started doing with them is doing a weeks worth of work in 2 days. We have a pretest spelling test, and the bookwork on Tuesdays, and we do a spelling test, and do the dictionary definitions on Thursdays. I help my oldest quite a bit because he does not like anything that feels like "school work". Thank you for your review! It was helpful.
Great video Megan! We have loved LLFLE for the Bible aspect! It seemed I always gulped that part up and threw out the rest...EXCEPT on busy days! It is great for those days when you want something quick! We are also going away from LLFLE! ❤
I totally agree. My kids would never be able to learn to read with Masterbooks phonics. But Level 2 and up work beautifully for my kids. The phonics instruction is very much lacking, which is a disappointment because we love Masterbooks!
This video was so helpful. I've been struggling to figure out what language arts curriculum to get for my son. I did the Foundation phonics with my son the first half year and we just got stuck. I switched to all about reading and it helps so much. He's picking up much better and quicker. He really needs mastery but with some review as well. Thanks for sharing this video.
I have a son that just started 1st grade. He has sensory processing and we used the Good and beautiful primer last year and started Level K this year but it isnt seeming to work for us. I just ordered Masterbooks level 1 and will try to blend the 2 together throughout our homeschool journey this year. We are a police family so have a crazy schedule so the open and go style is great! Also use Masterbooks and Good and beautiful blend for Math, Science and Social Studies. Thank you so much for this review. Been watching a lot of your videos lately. You are such a blessing and so uplifting.
I'm SO GLAD I read through these comments. My son is in between K and 1st, and totally "behind" in his reading. We've started over using Explode the Code, but I was looking for another more comprehensive open and go program for when he's ready for 1st grade curriculum. I was almost convinced based on other reviews to go with LLFLE, but I think I'll just stick with Explode the Code and piecemeal something else on my own for the rest of his language arts. Not ideal, but he definitely needs lots of repetition and mastery.
Great review! I agree that there isn’t enough mastery of blends and such, we did finish this curriculum.. just last week, but mid way through I added in All About Reading, so I agree 100% with your review and analysis.. very well said.☺️
Thank you! ❤️
I feel like I'm having this same concern with TGTB there just isn't enough practice. This was our first year homeschooling so I'm trying to not stress out. But I'm considering doing all about reading maybe even a combination of the two.
Great review! You explained the pros and cons so well!
I totally agree. We got half way through this book also and it became an issue. I was wondering why it wasnt working. You put it into words perfectly!!
GREAT video, Megan! Love your take on it and looking at the good and the bad about the curriculums. I love the fact that it's open and go, and those kind of curriculums are helpful in different times of life and seasons in our family.
I need to switch LA next year for my rising 4th and 6th grader boys! LLFLE has been a bit too gentle I think, and my oldest hates TGTB LA.......
Try Rod and Staff.
I agree with everything you said! I thought my daughter had mastered phonics bc she breezes through the lessons and I have come to find out it was not enough and she super frustrated about it ☹️
I really appreciate your curriculum reviews & flip throughs. They are thorough but concise. We have used this curriculum for 2nd & 3rd but I agree with you about it not being deep enough. Would you mind sharing what you're using instead?
“Learning to Read” from Christian Light Education
@@PenniesAndSalt thank you! I was actually looking at that last week.
Thanks for asking this! I was curious of the same thing!
So glad you posted this. I have Simply K being delivered for one child today, and was considering possibly switching my other kid.
I loved Foundation Phonics but LLFLE 1 moved too fast without enough repetition for my daughter. It was the exact same issue that we had with TG&TB.
I’d love to know what you’re using now. We’ve tried both TGTB and llfle.
@@morethantheravens1593 we are using Happy Cheetah and my daughter has made amazing progress!
I so hope this curriculum works for my younger 2. I ordered it for my upcoming 2nd and 5th graders. We have done Abeka since we started homeschooling 4 years ago and this year has been no fun. I think Abeka is way too fast paced because it’s like they’re learning something new every single day whether they grasped the day befores concept or not.So I have changed all 4 of my kiddos to different curriculums for this upcoming year. My older 2 are doing Ace Paces next year. Love your channel!❤️
We had the same issue with Abeka. We are moving to Christian Liberty Press.
@@jenniferharley8987 I thought about using them after I had already ordered their books. If these don’t work out that’s probably my next choice. Abeka is really complicated when you get into the high school years! I have one in 9th and praise God he is awesome at math because Abeka Algebra 1 is like Trigonometry that I took in 12th grade. It’s ridiculous!
Abeka is actually designed for Christian schools that is why it has so much busy work. It is marketed to homeschool families now but that was never their primary demographic.
I love this conversation! It’s great to see community even in the comments! I actually use LLFLE with my 3rd Grader and I’ve found it a good fit for him. It just didn’t work the greatest for my 1st grader.
We have never used Abeka but I know many people do.
@@PenniesAndSalt I absolutely love watching your channel! I have looked over the new books for my younger 2 and I think they are going to be a great fit for them. I am so excited about starting them on it next year!
We are using phonics wen teaching to read or to improve reading, along wiv sight words. The dictionary activity sounds awesome even if a dyslexic child don’t get apherbetal order. Sorry I can’t spell. It helps it become familiar with them.
Thank you for this review. We are finishing up Foundations Phonics in a few weeks. We used it along with Dash into Learning to get my 6 year old reading. Mastery is very important to us.
We still haven't decided if LLLE1 is our next step yet. I feel like for my learner I would have to do some lessons over a 2 week period
All about reading is phenomenal. I’ve used ABeka and AAR is better and explains so many things I felt ABeka didn’t. It’s worth the investment for AAR, the phonics is fantastic and the lessons are short, to the point and it sticks! The games are also great and kids love them. I used LL for a short attention span and squirmy child at grade 2, along with AAR-omitting the reading curriculum (which I wouldn’t classify as phonics-it looked like all memorization and was terrible in my opinion, to be honest). I also supplemented with extra practice for Lang arts skills for LL level 2. So I won’t be using it again.!
I tried this directly after Foundations Phonics and also did not like it, but we did a year of Explode the Code, then came back to it in 2nd grade, and we love it now. I use their LA in other grades too.
Yes, we love explode the code and have used it alongside each reading program starting in Kindergarten! That’s a great idea! One of my other boys uses LLFLE and it works well for him.
Agreed with everything as I tried this curriculum as well and it didn’t work for me! I loved how Christian based it was as well but it just wasn’t a Good fit....
Thank you for your review! I'm looking at using this curriculum for my 1st grader next year. So far we have loved LLFALE with the exception of the spelling component. So, I may try to find a different program for next year.
One add-on that helped some was using Explode the Code with it. That may be helpful if you decide to go with it and need extra practice.
I came SO close to pulling the trigger on this one for my 2nd Grader, but never did.
Thank you for this review. I use level 1 for my 1st and k. I did notice it was light on the phonics but i love the layout of it. It is not overwhelming for my littles and they retain the information. I have been using alpha phonics which can be downloaded for free along with explode the code. We also bought a cute phoncis book of poems called The B on your thumb. Together with lots of reading has worked great for us. I see the progress. 😁
Absolutely! Yes, we used explode the code alongside it as well as some readers. I love that we can customize things for our needs!
Great review, and I agree with all of the points you touched on.
Loved this review
I agree it's a great curriculum but I have a daughter that needs repetition. CLE has been great for her.
Absolutely! That’s what we use as well and I used it with a couple of other kids as well. I love it.
Great review! Very thorough.
I am this same thing. I like the LA portions of the book but its not enough phonics mastery. Im trying yo decode what else we need or what to switch to.. currently thinking of logic of english or all ahout reading
We are working our way through Foundation Phonics now and I have purchased this for when we are finished. I am hoping we enjoy it. Thanks for the review.
I hope you guys have a wonderful experience! It definitely has its sweet points! If you need extra phonics practice we added in Explode the Code alongside it 😉
@@PenniesAndSalt great idea!
We haven’t tried LLFLE yet. But I did purchase foundations phonics and level k math.
We enjoyed foundations phonics. 😉
Thank you for your review! I have gleaned so much which helps in my curriculum decisions.
What are you using for your son now? It sounds like it would be a good fit for my daughter. 😀
We are using the “Learning to Read” program from Christian Light Education
@@PenniesAndSalt Thank you! 😀
I’m really interested to k ow more about the door to salvation and if it promotes the sinners prayer?
It shares the Gospel then talks about the need to repent. At the very end there are salvation verses.
Do you think if used with a reading curriculum it would work? We’ve been doing LLFLE with All About Reading. I mostly like language lessons because it touches more on grammar, spelling, writing skills, and poetry. I agree that it wouldn’t be sufficient alone for teaching reading. I hope level 1 will work for my first grader this fall. 🤗
I think if paired with a reading program it would do well 😉
@@PenniesAndSalt ok thanks! Glad I watched this cause I didn’t realize I needed those companion books! 😂🙈
I agree that it’s a good curriculum, but it didn’t work for us either.
I love that we can choose what is best for each of our children.
👌