The holidays are a special time, and this wonderful collection of holiday picture books celebrates the rich diversity of holiday traditions practiced by people all around the world. After all, no matter where you live or how you celebrate, this is the most wonderful time of the year!

If your child has recently finished All About Reading, my first piece of advice to you is…celebrate! Have a piece of cake. Call Grandma and Grandpa. Take the rest of the day off and go to the park!

And of course, don’t forget to document this milestone and send us a photo! It makes my day when we hear from kids like Katie who complete our program! The accomplishment feels fantastic, doesn’t it?

Are you teaching a child with autism how to read or spell? If so, you need this post!

Children with autism often have difficulty learning to read and spell using standard methods because their brains process information in unique ways.

Catchy rhymes can be a fun and easy way to remember some of those pesky phonics rules. Have you heard of this one?

When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.

Automaticity is the ability to do something without conscious thought.

For example, as you read this post, you probably aren’t consciously thinking about how to decode every word. You’ve reached automaticity in reading, which helps you pay attention to the content.

Have you ever made an exciting discovery?

Well, that’s exactly what happened to Dilly the armadillo, Seth the sloth, and Opal the ostrich in “Chasing Henry,” a short story from All About Reading Level 3.

If you’re looking for a delightful choice for read-aloud time—or if your child is eager to explore a series of humorous chapter books—here’s one you won’t want to miss: Lois Lowry’s lighthearted Gooney Bird Greene series.

Compound words are formed when two smaller words combine to form a new word, as in these examples:

mail + box = mailbox
milk + shake = milkshake
note + book = notebook

Shiver me timbers, we love playing pirates! Just look at these scallywags playing hooky from our office in the middle of the day…and on a pirate ship no less! International “Talk Like a Pirate Day” must be right around the corner!

Teaching a child to read and spell is not a “one size fits all” proposition. In this article, you will discover five ways to individualize instruction according to your child’s specific needs—making reading and spelling easier.

Have you heard the buzz? This week’s animal letter craft is coming your way and it’s really quite bee-u-tiful! Our B Is for Bee craft is colorful and fun, so let’s get started!

Here’s What You’ll Need

• 2 sheets of printer paper
• Card stock (we used blue, black, white, and yellow)
Continue reading…

Learning to read isn’t always easy, even under the best of circumstances. But what if you have a child with a significant learning disability like Down syndrome? What’s the best way to teach reading in that situation?

Jennifer and Heidi are real moms with real kids who happen to have Down syndrome. But Down syndrome didn’t stop these amazing moms from believing they could homeschool their boys.