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When I was offered to review the program Reading Better Together I was immediately intrigued. As a massive bookworm I love a good reading program. As a mom of two (possibly three) dyslexic children, I LOVE a good reading program.
I've used several programs over the years, with varying levels of success, on both of my oldest children. I've liked them for a variety of reasons, but given the complexity of teaching a child with neurodevelopmental and learning disorders, none of them have worked universally well. Add into that the fact that I also have ADHD, and certain programs can become really overwhelming to try and use.
Reading Better Together is a program created by Sarah Miller, a teacher and homeschooler. She introduces herself here, in a training she did titled "6 Steps to Raising a Reader". I've linked this to start about 7 minutes into her presentation, where she introduces herself.
I appreciate the fact that Sarah has experience working with children who have special needs, including ADHD, dyslexia, and a general difficulty in sitting still. With her background of teaching in a school setting Sarah was able to see first hand how curriculums could benefit or distress a child, and influence their opportunity to love or hate reading.
Reading Better Together is a comprehensive program that begins with systematically teaching letter sounds, and progresses to reading short books together. She includes step-by-step instructions on how to pronounce each letter correctly while teaching so that children don't associate extra sounds with each letter. For example the letter M is pronounced "mmm" as opposed to "muh". These seem like small distinctions, but to young beginning readers it can make a huge difference in the outcome.
Now, when I'm searching for a reading curriculum, there are a few things I like to look out for. I want a curriculum that meets these criteria:
These are the most important factors that I've been able to identify in my own search for curriculum, and from feedback from other homeschooling moms. Usually homeschoolers have multiple children they are teaching, and the parent teaching (typically the mother) struggles to know how to present the material in a way that the child can access.
This is particularly exacerbated when the mother is neurodivergent - with something like ADHD or Autism. We can see the material, we know how it works, we know why it works, but we just can't articulate or translate that into something a young child would necessarily be able to work with.
I was diagnosed with ADHD just over 4 years ago now (as of 2023), and knowing about my ADHD has been life changing in how I approach myself. It has also affected how I homeschool my children. We focus on shorter lessons not only for their sakes, but for mine as well! One thing that I love about Reading Better Together is how short and simple the lessons are.
Some other things that I love about RBT:
Strong foundation in Phonics. This is my number one criteria. If a program isn't phonics based - like 90-95% of it is phonics instruction - then I don't even examine it. Phonics is simply the best way to handle reading instruction. It works with children who don't have reading problems and it works with children who have Dyslexia, ADHD, etc.
Sight words are kept minimal. There are a few sight words that readers need to know in order to begin reading with a bit of efficiency. Words like: the, it, is, and, or, that. These are like rebar laid down to pour concrete over. It provides stability, but the majority of the structure is comprised of the concrete principles of phonetic decoding.
Custom stories for parent to read with children. It's called Reading Better TOGETHER, and she means it! Each month of lessons has storybooks to download and print off. These stories have parts for parents to read on the left page, and parts for children to read on the right-hand page.
This is absolutely my favorite aspect of the curriculum! I have NEVER seen another curriculum that offers this, and their early readers are usually pretty dry and uninteresting, because they're based on what children can read through the lessons. By giving parents AND children a part to read the stories can be more complex and engaging, while still building on skills that children are learning through their lessons.
I've noticed with my children that reading a text on their own can make them feel pressured to perform, which increased their overall stress and makes the reading experience worse. By reading the same section of text together we're able to stop the build of anxiety because they know the flow of the story won't just rely upon them.
Now, if there were any thing I would change about this curriculum it would be moving the booklets from the font that she is using to one like this. One of my best friends is an OT, and she loves this font because of it's clarity and even structure. But really, this is more just a nit-picky kind of criticism. The font Sarah uses is just fine for kids to read with.
I've been using this curriculum with my children for about two weeks now, and frankly, we LOVE it! I'm using it with my two youngest, and they both love being able to sit with me and snuggle up while we read a story together. I've even started utilizing this principle with my oldest, where I will read the righthand page of the book he's working through, and he will read the lefthand page. This allows him to feel like he's progressing through the story while still getting the practice of reading out loud.
Here are some other things I love about this curriculum:
Lessons are sooooo easy to use! This is seriously the easiest curriculum I've ever tried.
I can put the lessons up on my computer and we can go through them on my screen.
Lessons are short enough that my kids don't get bored.
Letters and digraphs have different markings in practice work.
This has been a fantastic change for our family, and one that I'm looking forward to continuing.
Based on our experiences, this is the rating that I give the Reading Better Together Curriculum:
This curriculum is FANTASTIC. It is perfect for my ADHD/Autistic children, and it is perfect for me (a Mom with ADHD). It gives us an opportunity to have close one-on-one time together, and it is just plain fun!
Reading Better Together is comparable in cost with other full coverage curriculums like IEW's Primary Arts of Language (which I will review at some point in the future), and it is an excellent choice if you have children with learning or behavioral disorders that keep attention spans and patience short.
Sarah offers a free sample of her curriculum for new users to try out. I highly suggest that parents try samples of curriculum first, to see how well it flows for their children. Click here for a sample!
This curriculum has been amazing, and it's a wonderful tool for any neurodivergent family. If you have children with dyslexia, ADHD, or Autism, and they have been struggling to get reading, then I cannot recommend it enough. If you would like to buy Reading Better Together, then click the link here to buy it today!
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