What is everyone opinions about the new Delightful Reading Kits 1-3 vs. using All About Reading? Same question in a sense, what does everyone think about using Using Language Well/Spelling Wisdom vs. All About Spelling?
I tried the first edition of the Delightful Reading Kit and didn’t really enjoy using it mostly because I need something telling me what to do each day LOL (I blame it on the mom brain at that time) 🙂
I do however like the Using Language Well/Spelling Wisdom kits that are coming out but, I also use All About Spelling with my kids. It seems some of them need to have those phonics taught. Not necessarily the “rules”, but to know what sounds the letter combinations can make has really helped them in their reading.
Does the new Delightful Reading kits cover the different sounds that letter combinations can make? Like ‘a’ can say long a, short a, and /ah/? Same with other letter combinations like ea, ai, ou, etc.?
Delightful Reading kit 1 gives you many suggestions for teaching the letter sounds and names (soft/hard sounds and long/short vowel sounds).
Delightful Reading kit 2 (I’m currently using with kiddo #3) provides 95 lessons that build words, teaches some sight words, and teaches blends such as -ar, -ur, -or, -ew, -ow, -ey, silent -e, and much more. The sample download provides you with a table of contents and shows what letter blend is taught in each lesson.
Delightful Reading kit 3 also provides a teacher’s manual with specific lessons that progress gradually.
Using Language Well does not provide phonics rules. Basic letter blends like you mentioned are covered in DR kit 2. Using Language Well when paired with Spelling Wisdom provides you student with seeing and studying quality writing, English usage, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, and composition. ULW 3 also includes some poetry analysis.