Hi! I’ve been looking ahead at what I’ll be using for when my son starts 1st grade. Right now he’s doing My Father’s World for Kindergarten. I’m getting a bit stuck on what we should get for Reading. Delightful Reading looks great and is what I was going to get. Now I’ve found Reading Lessons Through Literature. So now I’m not sure. He can read a little like some 3 letter words. And between now and this fall, I’m sure he will be reading more. He’s not very excited about reading though. So I’m just looking for others thoughts on this. Also, any thoughts on ELTL? That looks great too. Thank you!
I only have experience with Delightful Reading. My 9YO did exceptionally well with it; my 5YO is just beginning but is so excited and doing well. Both of mine are kinesthetic so the letter and word tiles help to keep their hands busy.
I’ve purchased both. But in the end went with RLTL because I’ve read for kids who evidence dyslexia it’s better to teach the phonetic sounds first, letter names later. OG was also developed to teach children with dyslexia how to read. And we have some evidence. I know I could’ve adapted DR, but when I sat down to do it…new baby in the house..it was just too much work for me. I kind of wish the author would create a second version that starts with the sounds. …ELTL isn’t a reading program, I agree it looks great, but we won’t start grammar until later, so just not yet.
RLTL has cards with it that can serve similarly to tiles. But I’m sure you could easily use magnetic letter tiles just as easily. I also have a Montessori moveable alphabet that we can use geared for age 3-6.
I have 4 kids – dd16, ds13, dd10, ds8. DD10 is a natural speller and learned to read on her own at 4. She’s an anomaly here.
CAUTIONARY TALE – Whatever you choose, do not stop lessons or reading aloud too soon!!! I prefer a strong O-G approach to teaching reading and spelling as it makes the most sense to me. I’ve bought, tried, evaluated and used a great variety of programs – SWR, AAS, WRTR, LEM Phonics, and RLTL. I used SWR for oldest, but stopped much too soon because she was reading fluently. Issues came when we hit longer multi-syllable words. Same for ds13. These would have been avoided had I kept the reading/spelling lessons and reading aloud going longer. So no matter what you choose, go longer than you think may be necessary initially.
I just finished RLTL vol. 1 with my ds8 today for the 2nd time. We did the majority last year following the year 1 schedule and began at the beginning this year. DS has phenomenal reading and spelling skills, for his age. I was planning to do RLTL vol. 2 with him beginning in January because it is so simple to open and go. However, my older son needs some extra work in spelling, so I’m going to use Logic of English with the two of them as I can do it at the same time for the most part. I’m waiting on the materials now. If I were only working with ds8, I would happily continue with RLTL through volume 4.
I’ve seen you post a lot about LOE and other programs, can you give me some advice? I was looking at LOE and RLTL for my 6 and 9 year old. I did 100 easy lessons with them both years ago, and one round of AAR which we didn’t really enjoy and didn’t even finish. I also did spelling you see with them and didn’t finish it oops. I don’t know that they have a strong foundation in phonics even though they can both read. Neither can spell well at all, particularly my 9 year old. And handwriting is terrible for him too. Do you think I should go back with LOE foundations or use RLTL? Any advice!? I actually own RLTL and ELTL.