Just came across this older thread. Question for Hunter - I taught both of my kids to read with an Alpha-Phonics book that I found for $5 and a set of foam letters from the Dollar Tree. Simple, easy, and it worked. Both kids were reading well in Kindergarten, and we finished the book in 1st grade along with some Explode the Code workbooks for more practice. I'm now looking for input on where to go from there in language arts. For my oldest, we tried going to Abeka in 2nd grade because it's always held as the phonics gold standard in my homeschool community. I was taught Abeka in private school, so it's familiar to me. But to be honest, the teacher's manual made me want to hurl myself off a building. It just wasn't a good fit for me, and we struggled with getting through all the different pieces...the lessons, the charts, the workbooks, and the fact that spelling and reading and phonics and grammar were all separated. It was cumbersome and time consuming, and we started to skip things just to get through it. And even though I acknowledge that it's a great program, it's only great if I can teach it. So I'm on the hunt for something new for my (now) 2nd grader who just finished Alpha-Phonics.
My question for Hunter is - as someone familiar with Alpha-Phonics, do you have any recommendations on where to go after that? I really feel like a strong phonics foundation is important. Was Alpha-Phonics enough? Something that goes over the phonogram rules and the "why" behind phonics does sound appealing to me, but I don't want to bog them down since they're both reading well for their ages. I'm also realizing that spelling and spelling rules are probably going to need a bit more attention with both my kids. Ideally, I'd love a program that covers phonics, spelling and grammar all in one without being overwhelming. Does such a magic unicorn program exist? I've been considering LOE Foundations for my youngest, but it's expensive and the teacher's manual looks a little busy. I've wondered if I could still teach him the phonograms by just using the flashcards and the games and skip all of the other pricey stuff? I've also looked into AAR/AAS, but I've heard that they move slowly, and I'm not crazy about it being 2 separate programs. I also just stumbled on Reading Lessons Through Literature (now Reading and Spelling Through Literature), which looks interesting and a bit more straightforward. I like simple, but I also want to make sure I'm giving them a good foundation. Open to ideas! Thanks for reading my ramblings :)