Today, I’m sharing an honest review of ReadBright Reading Curriculum. Before you buy next year’s homeschool reading curriculum, grab a cup of coffee. Then settle in for what may be the best homeschool reading program for your child.
ReadBright Reading is Now for Homeschoolers
It’s the time of year when homeschool teachers start searching for the best homeschool curriculum for the upcoming school year. Fortunately, ReadBright Reading has thrown their hat into the homeschool market.
You see, ReadBright is a reading program that was initially designed for the traditional school system. However, it’s of such high quality that it’s an ideal option for homeschoolers.
Let’s dive into my review.
ReadBright’s Origin Story
I recently spoke with Ms. Gross’s son, Abe Gross, and was thrilled to learn of the ReadBright backstory.
Sarah Gross, M.S. E.d., has over 30 years of experience working with struggling beginning readers. Throughout the years, she created various reading tools to support her struggling students.
Due to the success achieved with her students, over time and through word-of-mouth, teachers, parents, and eventually school districts asked her to share her reading materials.
Fast forward to today, and we now have ReadBright.
ReadBright Reading Scope and Sequence
Sara Gross, M.S. Ed., created ReadBright as a highly-structured literacy program. The ReadBright System has three parts.
- Phonological Awareness
- ABCs
- Leveled Phonics Program
Today, I’ll be focusing specifically on ReadBright’s Leveled Phonics Program. The leveled phonics program has three levels focused on developmental stages.
Not only is the ReadBright program rooted in solid pedagogy, but even more importantly, is informed by 30+ years of real-life experiences with struggling readers.
This reading curriculum is extremely comprehensive and is rooted in the following:
- Phonemic Awareness
- Phonics
- Vocabulary
- Fluency
- Reading Comprehension
As you will see, I believe ReadBright offers much more than this.
Specifically, it’s designed with a solid understanding of the speech and language components that neurodivergent kids need to thrive in all areas of academics (and life).
I was compensated for my time writing this post and provided the product at no charge for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Attractive Illustrations
One of the first things you’ll notice about ReadBright is the engaging illustrations in both the leveled readers and the workbooks.
They are captivating and obviously an intentional component of their program. Illustrations are essential for young children who are learning language skills and developing their vocabulary.
This is especially important for children with any language-based learning challenge including:
- Dyslexia
- Auditory processing challenges
- ADHD
- and Autism
When kids are learning to read, illustrations are crucial to creating meaning from decoded words. It’s a mistake to assume that a child who decodes the word “dog” is automatically visualizing an image of a dog.
It’s very clear that ReadBright’s illustrations were not an afterthought, but an essential component of the program. To reiterate, to increase engagement and support language and vocabulary acquisition.
Illustrations are Essential for Visual Learners
In the past, I’ve used a highly recommended special needs homeschool program with my son. It stressed the importance of removing illustrations to make sure the child was not dependent on pictures.
However, removing images to ensure comprehension can, in fact, hurt a child’s developing language and reading skills.
Reading Comprehension in the Leveled Readers
Not only are the ReadBright leveled readers beautifully illustrated, they include foundational skill practice components in each book.
In other words, at the end of each story, there are three reading comprehension questions. They typically follow a general pattern to help kids develop a basic framework for understanding what they’ve read.
Specifically, comprehension focuses on “Wh-” questions. For example,
- What was cooking in the pot? (Level 1 Reader)
- Why is the boy happy at the end of the story? (Level 2 Reader)
- How do the children get the stain off the rug? (Level 3)
- Where does the frog lead the boys? (Level 4)
- Who are the children waiting for? (Level 5)
As you can see, each of the various Leveled Readers (1-7) includes a focus on “Wh-” questions.
This is an extra bonus for neurodivergent learners who often struggle with speech and language. (Hint… many students need this support regardless of diagnosis.)
Sequencing in the Leveled Readers
Another area I LOVE within ReadBright’s leveled readers is the sequencing practice at the end of each story.
Once your child has finished reading a story from the leveled readers, they’re shown 3 images from the story. Your student’s job is to identify what happened in order.
- first, second, and third
- or… in the beginning, middle, and end
This sequencing component is essential to reading and all areas of critical thinking. Sequencing practice helps learners put ideas, events, and things in a logical order.
Don’t underestimate this essential skill. Sequencing is an executive function skill (organization) and an area that speech-language pathologists focus on in speech therapy.
Genius, ReadBright!
Phonics and Sight Word Drill in the Leveled Readers
Again, the readers are a goldmine of resources for teaching reading to kids. Not only do the readers include comprehension questions, but they also include Phonics Review and Sight Word Drills.
Phonics Drills
Each leveled reader contains specifically chosen words based on the phonics patterns covered in each story.
And the best part is that it’s so quick and painless for your student and for you!
If your student’s focus capacity is low whether or not they have ADHD, simply reading through a ReadBright reader will address many components of the learning-to-read process.
Sight Word Drill
After the Phonics Drill and reading comprehension sections, you’ll find a Sight Word drill.
Despite what many say, reviewing sight words is essential for many learners. Specifically, sight word practice is an excellent option for visually-based learners (many of whom are neurodivergent thinkers).
As you can see, the load is not overwhelming which increases a child’s ability to push through. In the end, small chunks of intentional teaching will yield fruit.
The creator of ReadBright Reading understands that more doesn’t always equal better when it comes to teaching.
See How to Homeschool ADHD for more on that.
ReadBright Reading Workbooks
ReadBright Reading has a high-quality workbook component that is one of the best I’ve used with my kids.
The workbooks are made from sturdy paper and are in full color on every page.
There are multiple elements that make it different from many I’ve used in the past.
Some of those include:
- Pyramid Reading Pages
- Following Directions Pages
- Sight Word Pages
- Phonogram Pages
- Look and Find Pages
These workbooks are some of the most comprehensive homeschool reading workbooks I’ve ever seen. One of the greatest parts about them is that they’re open and go. You don’t need a teacher’s manual to use them.
Pyramid Reading
ReadBright Reading contains a unique component to their program that’s referred to as Pyramid Reading.
I love it for many reasons.
- Eye Tracking: Left-to-right ocular-motor practice
- Many children end up in Occupational Therapy or Vision Therapy for eye-tracking issues.
- Strengthening the small muscle movement patterns of the eyes can make a huge difference in a child’s long-term success as a reader.
- Reading fluency practice
- Motivating quick wins for struggling students
- Bite-sized sight word and phonics practice
And it’s comprised of one sentence built into a pyramid shape, one word at a time. (See below).
Phonics Focus of Pyramid Reading Breakdown
This above Pyramid Reading element is from the Level 1 workbook. As you can see, the phonics focus is the r-controlled vowel syllable type.
Using one sentence, your child gets repetitive practice using the -er phonogram while building confidence, fluency, and growing in their “family” vocabulary.
In all honesty, ReadBright’s Pyramid Reading element has been amazing for my school-resistant child’s reading confidence.
Speech and Language Processing Support
When I mentioned that ReadBright is comprehensive, I wasn’t exaggerating.
Within the workbooks, you’ll find so many solid speech-and-language-based activities and exercises that are CRITICAL for long-term success.
When I got my hands on ReadBright, I was so impressed that I discussed the program with my son’s speech-language pathologist.
While I can’t get into everything, here is one such activity.
Following Directions
The workbooks contain Following Directions pages. These are the types of exercises that SLPs use with speech therapy patients.
Let’s take a look at a sample from the Level 1 workbook.
In the above Following Directions activity, you see a few things besides the fact that the illustrations are AMAZING!
- Vocabulary and Sight word practice.
- This is from the numbers as words lesson.
- Kids don’t have to write these vocabulary/sight words over and over again.
- An activity that’s torturous for kids who aren’t developmentally ready for the fine motor skills required for monotonous handwriting.
- Instead, they’re actively engaged to make meaning of the vocabulary words in context.
- Prepositions or Positional Language
- Again, positional language is an area that Speech-Language Pathologists work on with so many children.
- Hint. Children and adults with language-based processing challenges will miss the nuances of tiny words such as:
- Articles (a, an, the).
- Prepositions (on, about, on top, in, around)
- Conjunctions (and, but, nor, so)
In the end, RightBright’s inclusion of the Following Directions exercises serves kids with Auditory Processing and language-based processing disorders. (Dyslexia, APD, ADHD, Autism).
Limited Writing Demands Make Reading Accessible
ReadBright Reading shines in its clear FOCUS on learning to read through phonics and develop language skills.
As such, there is very limited writing required which could bog down a student. Unfortunately, many curriculum companies require way too much writing from their learners.
This, in turn, is a massive barrier to the stated learning objective. In this case, it’s learning to read, spell, and process language.
Removing the writing barrier allows students to make progress as readers while working on penmanship in isolation.
In our ADHD/dyslexia homeschool, this is key.
Is ReadBright for You?
ReadBright is a high-quality, thorough structured literacy program that has been a blessing for my child.
I rank it up there with All About Reading. However, I’ve been so pleased with this homeschool reading program that we’ll be using it as our primary phonics tool moving forward.
The bottom line is that it’s highly engaging and complete, and my child enjoys it! That’s a miracle, Friend.
But… is it right for you?
The truth is that curriculum is a TOOL which means you’re in charge of the curriculum and it’s not the other way around. What’s the best option for one child could be completely different for another.
Lesson Plans a Priority?
One of the perks of the program is that it’s pretty open-and-go and doesn’t require messing around with a full teacher’s manual. For moms who want explicit lesson plans each day, you’ll need to purchase the USB Teacher’s Manual or create plans on your own.
Truthfully, though, as an educator and homeschool mom of more than 13 years, I typically recommend not stressing about lesson plans.
Rather, I recommend focusing on the child’s next step. This means working through the workbook page by page.
Visually Stimulating
In general, I recommend choosing learning materials that are minimalistic in design in order to avoid distracting visual clutter.
This is especially true with neurodivergent students. Visual clutter increases the demand on the brain to focus on the most essential visual input.
There are a few pages in the workbooks that may be too visually crowded (see above). Therefore, this may cause undue stress for learners with visual discrimination challenges.
However, in this case, I simply skip these lessons or write out one or two of the problems on a small whiteboard.
Truthfully though, because my child’s cognitive capacity is so full because he enjoys ReadBright, he’s able to handle the extra visual input pretty well.
For our family, this can be a small issue. However, every learner is different.
Recap: ReadBright Reading Review
Fortunately, I’ve been BLOWN away by ReadBright. And this is no exaggeration.
It’s comprehensive, simple to use for both me and my child, and beautifully designed.
I can’t more highly recommend it for kids who struggle with reading, taking direction from authority figures, or any child who needs to learn to read.
Even more, this program serves A Heart for All Students neurodivergent homeschool families beautifully.
As such, ReadBright has generously provided you with a 10% discount.
Use the following Coupon Code:
- aheartforallstudents10
So, Friend. What do you think? Check out ReadBright and check out their many literacy tools and resources.
Don’t forget to circle back with any questions. In this with you!
About the Author:
Lindsay is a trauma-informed educator with a Master’s Degree in Teaching. Her mission is to support moms to equip neurodivergent kids (ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Anxiety) to thrive as exactly who they’ve been created to be. Wait until you hear the story that led to it all…
What do you think of using this with a 12 year old with Dyslexia that is reading at an end of third grade beginning of fourth grade level but that can’t spell well.
Thanks!
Amy, Personally, based on what I know of your child, I would consider Explode the Code workbooks because she’s already learned how to read. I think those workbooks will build her confidence and her foundational phonics skills to help her grow as a reader in a very gentle and stress-free way. I recommend ReadBright when beginning to teach your child to read or for a struggling reader. Does this help? 🙂