“It’s just common sense!” Actually, it’s the Blue Book Common Sense Reading Program and yes, everything about this program is common sense. A very complete program organized around quality children’s literature (like all LLATL programs) and covering phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, handwriting, and higher-order reasoning. Phonics instruction is systematic, introducing a few sounds at a time and providing opportunities to read a “real” (small story book) book which uses those sounds. The literature component - carefully selected children’s favorites - reminds students that the reason for all the hard work in phonics is the joy of reading wonderful books. And woven through both of these elements is comprehensive instruction in all aspects of language arts. Relying heavily on Ruth Beechick’s principles for teaching reading (including her letter dice activities), the program includes a wide variety of activities appealing to all learning styles. The teacher’s manual is a homeschooler’s dream with all the work having been done for you, taking you step-by-step through the 36-week program. New skills are listed for each lesson with a materials list included at the beginning. Almost no teacher preparation is needed - you teach as you read. All answers are provided within the lesson. Higher-order thinking activities are italicized. Examples and diagrams are user-friendly including the easy-to-follow references to the Student Activity Book. Each of the four parts (readiness, short vowels, consonant blends and short vowels, and long vowels) concludes with an evaluation for determining your child’s readiness for the next level. The Student Activity Book contains the materials (except for household and school supplies) needed for cut and paste, word wheels, flip books, picture sequencing, story-telling puppets, PLUS handwriting pages that teach all upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation. The comfortable, natural handwriting method that isn’t exactly traditional, modern, or italic was developed by the authors. This handwriting instruction is coordinated with the phonics and includes pages for children to carefully complete and display or give as gifts.

The Student Activity Book is consumable, even having an easy-release binding that allows for clean page removal. Even the back cover is put to good use providing the miniature book covers to be added to the personal reading chart that marks the child’s progress. 28 separate readers cover short vowels, blends (bridge readers), and long vowels. They are small-sized for little hands and include black-and-white illustrations. Stories are engaging which is a good thing since a week’s worth of learning activities are built around them. The student uses puppets to retell the stories, completes sequencing activities with a series of reader-related events, and answers comprehension questions. One interesting aspect of the teacher-student interaction concerning these readers is that the week’s lesson starts off with the teacher reading the small book to the child. After several lessons thoroughly covering the new phonics steps and practice reading parts of the story, the student concludes the week with the successful reading of the small book. This is an effective variation of the typical approach because the goal of reading the book is always before the student. The materials packet is a useful collection of color-coded letter and word cards to use for learning and review along with cards used for reinforcement games and, of course, the letter dice (to be assembled from cardstock patterns). While this part of the program is not exactly consumable - you could use the various components again - the components do get a workout. If you are expecting to use the program with another child, you’ll want to save these items and covering them with clear contact paper to preserve them would also be a good idea. The program includes the Teacher’s Manual, the Student Activity Book, 28 Readers, and the Materials Packet.VWe sell additional Student Activity Books, Reader Sets, and Material Packets so you can use the program with a second student. Well-known children’s literature (Read-Aloud Library) is suggested each week, so at the same time your child is learning phonics, he is also learning other important reading skills such as literal recall, comprehension, predicting outcome, and drawing conclusions. These books are an integral part of the program and the Student Activity Book relies on them. Although usually available at the local library, for your convenience we also sell them. They are listed in order of use. Although this program focuses on first grade skills, it would be possible to use this program with a “ready” kindergartner. It would also work well with a slightly older child who is still a just-getting-started reader. ~ Janice

Customer Reviews

 
Amy G. from TN wrote the following on 10/27/2006:
We have been using LLATL for two years and we are really enjoying it. We started my first grader on the Red level and in second grade this year we are doing the Yellow level. I find this program to be a great blessing in our homeschooling. The lessons are planned for us and laid out in a very easy to follow outline format...practically no teacher preparation, except making sure you have the appropriate literature on hand and basic items such as pencils and crayons. Even though the lessons are planned out and somewhat scripted, the authors tell you to use what you need and change activities as necessary to suit your child's needs. The teacher and student manuals are very similar in content, but I think it is worth having both just to have the answers handy and to have my own book from which to read as we are doing the lesson together. I have not personally used this program with children of different ages, except for the read alouds (4 year-old son listens), but I think it would be very simple to use one grade level with children of slightly different ages (1-2 years apart), with minor modifications. LLATL uses a lot of different activities which work well for various learning styles. For example, it uses poetry memorization, read alouds, writing from dictation, drama, crafts, coloring, writing, and puzzles. It helps tremendously to have the extra books that go along with this program always available on your own bookshelf, if you are able to purchase them. Last year, we ran into the problem of not being able to get a particular book at the library for one of our lessons since it was already checked out, and rechecked out. This year, we purchased all the go-along books. If you are considering using this program, I recommend that you go to the Common Sense Press website and have your child take one or more of the assessments to determine the most appropriate level. This was very helpful to us. Overall, LLATL is a good value and it is very user friendly, both for the teacher and the student.

 
Kathy A. from Racine Wisconsin wrote the following on 04/02/2007:
The language arts curriculum we were using was advertised as "literature based." However it did not live up to our expectations and turned our child off of the subject of language arts. We began to search for a literature based curriculum which taught language arts in a gentle, engaging format. Our search ended when we discovered "Learning Language Arts Through Literature." After previewing the samples on the Rainbow Resource website and speaking with Rainbow's consultant we ordered the curriculum. I can not praise this curriculum enough! It utilizes choice selections from children's literature to teach language arts in a gentle, fun, engaging manner. There are many stories and hands on activities throughout the curriculum. The teachers manual is a dream come true! It is so well organized you can literally pick it up the manual and begin teaching. I give this curriculum an A+!

 
Kristi N. from LaCrosse, WI wrote the following on 01/08/2008:
I am currently using the blue program with my 5 yo and 7 yo and we all LOVE it! I wandered around in the LA wilderness for a few years with my oldest child, never feeling really comfortable or confident in any program. Then one day I happened upon this. It was just what I was looking for. First, it's all encompassing. You get phonics, spelling, comprehension, penmanship, creative writing--the whole deal! This makes for great retention and interest. Second, it's easy for me to use with essentially no teacher prep. Yes, once in a while I need a wire brad or popsicle stick for a small project but that's nothing. I have 3 kids to school and so anything that helps to save me time is a plus. Third, it uses real children's book favorites (i.e. Good Night Moon) as well as their own easy readers. I love the mix because it keeps my children engaged in the material as well as making sure that they learn things in a logical sequence. Plus, I feel the addition of using 'real' books gives my children a boost to their reading confidence when we use them. They love reading the books themselves that I had usually read to them. Fourth, it's more than just just LA. When we read Ferdinand we studied a little bit about Spain. Today our book was about a dog and we studied a bit extra about dogs. It's nothing that interferes with anything else we might be doing that day. It's just a way to further interest my small, impatient children and it works! Fifth and last--it's a bargain. This is a whole year's worth of curriculum for that price. I have friends who have used other, much more costly programs ($200+) with sometimes similar results but certainly not better results. I'm really glad that this program has as many levels as it does because we will using it well into the future.