Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: AAR, Climbing to Good English, delightful reading, Language Lessons for Little Ones, pathway reader, pathway readers, readers, struggling reader

This topic has 15 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 2 months ago by jenhorsfall.

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March 25, 2014 at 8:36 pm
AFthfulJrney
Participant
Looking for some reviews on this for my 7 year old who is still struggling a bit with her reading. Pros? Cons? I didn’t realize that pathway readers was a full reading program!
March 25, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Katrina in AK
Participant
My 7 yo ds is reading them now, and I love them. New words are gradually introduced and reinforced, all following the lives of a farming family. We don’t use the workbooks. Just the readers themselves seem to do nicely.
March 25, 2014 at 9:51 pm
Shannon
Participant
We love them! My sons are 8 and started about a year ago with the pre-primer level as they were struggling with reading (dyslexia). We don’t use the workbooks, just the reading. We also use AAR for phonics lessons and the Pathway Readers for practice and the interesting story line. I think they are my single favorite homeschooling item, maybe because I bought them on a whim and didn’t expect them to be so wonderful so they were a surprise. My sons are in the 1st and 2nd books for 2nd grade now. I do not know any cons to share. The reading gently introduces new words. Most are read phonetically but some are not. My sons now know the word ‘laughter’ and ‘light’ which hasn’t been introduced in AAR yet. But the words are repeated often enough that they do learn them.
March 25, 2014 at 9:58 pm
my3boys
Participant
We use them and love them!
My ds is 8, also, and we don’t use the workbooks but you could if you wanted to.
March 25, 2014 at 10:01 pm
pianogirl363
Participant
My children love the Pathway Readers and I do, too! The stories are actually interesting, which can sometimes be a hard thing to find in readers. 🙂
The new words are introduced very painlessly and we’ve seen great results in reading fluency by using them.
~Anna
March 25, 2014 at 10:27 pm
AFthfulJrney
Participant
I am loving this! Thanks you guys! Besides AAR that was mentioned, what else have you used to help teach reading, or are you just simply using the readers?
March 25, 2014 at 10:33 pm
pianogirl363
Participant
Here’s what “learning to read” looks like in our home: http://wheremytreasureis.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/education-in-our-home-part-8-the-3-rs/
We use the Pathway Readers after our children have a firm grasp on their phonograms and have had some success with BOB books or other simple readers such as Go Dog Go or Hop on Pop.
~Anna
March 26, 2014 at 1:50 am
MelissaB
Participant
I used Hooked on Phonics with my youngest (the only child I have taught to read as the others learned in public school). He really liked HOP and so it was a good fit for him, but he didn’t start learning to read until he was almost 6 because the interest wasn’t really there and I didn’t feel a necessary urge to push him. After we finished HOP, I used misc readers and books from the library (Henry & Mudge, Frog & Toad, Mr. Putter & Tabby, etc) and once we exhausted the library collection of things I found appropriate and worth reading, we moved on to Pathway Readers simply beacuse I had one I picked up at the Goodwill. We both really liked it, so that is what we’re doing right now. He’s in 3rd grade and I find it still important for him to read aloud to me. We got through one reader and are on to the one that follows. I agree with others that the stories are enjoyable for both parent & child. We don’t use the workbook, just the reader. And they are such a bargain too!
March 26, 2014 at 2:40 am
Alicia Hart
Participant
We love Pathway readers. All of my kids have loved the stories in them. They are even a favorite of my 7yo somewhat reluctant reader!
The stories seem somewhat simplistic but seem to really resonate with my kids’ hearts.
March 26, 2014 at 2:57 am
Kristen
Participant
My kids all liked the readers although my last one (in K this year) isn’t liking it as much but he still likes them just doesn’t love them. I used a couple of the workbooks early on but it isn’t really necessary. They introduce new words at the bottom of the page and they are nice stories and easy for beginning readers.
March 26, 2014 at 5:58 pm
AFthfulJrney
Participant
What other programs/methods are you using along with the readers?
March 26, 2014 at 6:18 pm
Yolanda VA
Participant
We use Pathway Readers as well for a struggling reader, she does much better with these than with readers that keep to one new vowel sound (Bob books and similar). We also use AAR, and they are very helpful with helping to assess problems and how to overcome them. I’ve emailed them and talked to them on the phone, and they helped me tailor our AAR lessons for my child. In addition to both AAR and Pathway readers, we also do right brain exercises and brain training from Dianne Craft. http://www.diannecraft.org/ There is much good information on her site. We use her Brain Training Manual, and just do the basics but have seen great gains in the past 5 months. I also do copywork and dictation, with the dictation consisting of just words from our AAR lesson. This sounds like a lot, but it takes us about 25 minutes, especially now that she can do the Dianne Craft exercises on her own.
One thing I learned about AAR, which is obvious now in hindsight, is to take the lessons at the pace that develops mastery for my child. i was going much too fast, and now we sometimes take 3-5 days on one lesson.
Yolanda
March 26, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Shellyjl
Participant
Pathway Readers, Alphaphonics, Explode the Code books a, b, c. When we realized we had a struggling reader, I used the book, Reading Rescue, which was very helpful.
March 27, 2014 at 1:45 am
AFthfulJrney
Participant
Thanks again for all the replies! Your reviews have been very helpful as well as encouraging!
Has anyone used Climbing to Good English or Working with Words?
March 27, 2014 at 6:08 pm
artcmomto3
Participant
My oldest (DD) did not particularly enjoy the Pathway readers, but my 2nd child (DS) loves them! He is over halfway through the last 2nd grade book. We are not doing the workbooks either. My daughter went through Harriette Taylor Treadwell’s readers through the 3rd grade book. There are different things I like about each.
Pathway readers for the most part follow a family and add new characters with various stories. The stories are interesting and engaging. They teach moral lessons as well as good reading by repeating new words several times so the child learns to recognize them and read them fluently.
Treadwell readers offer a mix of stories, fables, and poetry so the child learns to read various types of works. The stories are also interesting and engaging. Some are lengthy, so we just break it up over several days. Words are not repeated like the Pathway readers, so I had my DD re-read poems until she could read it confidently and fluidly. Some of the words gave a vocabulary lesson as well since they were unfamiliar.