Foundational Phonics Reviews
“I finally had time to review Foundational Phonics. What a joy it was to review it, and see how carefully you follow the time tested way to teach the alphabetic principle, and apply the findings of the science of reading. You have taken the mystery and the stress out of teaching a child to read, and that is as it should be. Foundational Phonics is “Mom friendly.” It is not intimidating… the approach is to take a bite at a time, and happily move through the principles of learning to read, spell, and write. Thank you so much for sending Foundational Phonics to us for review. It has been truly a pleasure. Florence Akin would be delighted to know her faithful work is still being noted!”
– Bob Sweet, President, National Right to Read Foundation
“The more we have used Book Two, especially since I’m using both versions of Book Two simultaneously, I see how beneficial your take on the Orton-Gillingham approach is and how helpful it has been to me as the teacher and for both of my very different students. Although phonics programs come in all shapes and sizes, yours truly provides a very structured yet customizable way to improve reading skills that’s simple, fun, and very effective.”
– Allison
“Amazing program, easy to use and teach!”
– Trishan Blevins
“We love Foundational Phonics: Word Mastery. It is so straightforward and effective… and brilliant, really, in its simplicity. I’ve always admired Florence Akin’s Word Mastery, but you really fleshed that out and created a reading program that is just excellent.”
– Sarah
“I have used Foundational Phonics with both my kids and I am very pleased with the content and the way it is presented in the book. They both have been able to follow each lesson and grow along the way. The lessons are short enough to maintain focus yet offer enough content to grasp a new concept each lesson. You definitely get your bang for your buck as the workbooks are priced nicely!”
– Marianne
“I recommend this phonics curriculum to everyone I talk to! After teaching reading to my four children, using various programs…I am thankful to have found this concise, user friendly, thorough program that I am now using to supplement my grandson’s learning. He was a bright student, but was falling behind his classmates in reading. Because of some speech issues, phonics was eluding him. I started him (back) with the Book 1, as a review and to reinforce the proper sounds. He is just finishing the first book, and will soon move on to the actual reading Book 2. His confidence in reading and sounding out words has increased tremendously, and he is motivated to read, where before he was burdened by his reading problems and disliked even trying. He requests doing the reading book every time we are together, because his confidence has increased. I cannot say enough good things about the Foundational Phonics Reading Curriculum.”
– Becky Clark, CHEO Leadership Team, Homeschool Mom
“I have been using Book One with my older five year old and it is perfect for us! It has several exercises and activities for each letter and it is open and go other than finding books to read aloud that go along with each letter. It is not split into days, so you can go at your own pace. It could be used as a letter a week program, but since my child is older and eager to start reading, we do a new letter every other day. As soon as they have enough letters to make words, sounding out simple CVC words is introduced. My little guy is so excited to be reading! At the front of the book, there are phonemic awareness activities to complete before beginning the book. I would not use this program if you want a preschool, letter a week program for a child who is not ready to begin sounding out words, because just a few lessons in, your child will begin sounding out words. It reminds me of Charlotte Mason with short, focused lessons, and each letter lesson includes a poem.”
– Meg Zacharias
“Foundational Phonics is the best how to teach/how to learn reading curriculum I’ve seen. It’s clear, logical, and comprehensive with fun thrown in (just wait ’til you get to the “sl” poem!). It is delightful and effective. It can also be used for those students having trouble starting to read after using other systems.”
– Cyndee DeWeese, former public school teacher, home schooling mom, and grandma
“Love this curriculum. It’s so efficiently designed and curated. And so effective!! My kids are learning to read so quickly and enjoying every minute of it!”
– Susan Reeder
“Ariel Gunther has captured timeless pre-reading readiness skills within the pages of her books. Drawing upon vintage graphics, Book One equips the pre-reader to begin their journey into reading using phonics and letter recognition. Book Two piggypacks on the look and feel of Book One adding word groups, spelling, writing games and activities to hone higher phonics and solidify reading achievement. This collection is a refreshing and welcome tool to entice young readers towards literacy.”
– Kathy Gangi, M.Ed, LD
“This is perfect. Handwriting is optional, which is perfect for my boys. Easy to use. Logical progression.
Natural movement into reading words early in the book.”
– Marie Hepworth
“I recently started using this program with my son. I’m in love- it was everything I was looking for: thorough, engaging, and follows the word mastery approach. Thank you for creating such a beautiful curriculum. I look forward to using it with my daughter also in a few years.”
– Elizabeth Bortzfield
“Foundational Phonics is the best phonics curriculum I have ever seen. As a homeschool mom of seven children with completely different personalities and learning styles, I made myself familiar with most of the early reading curriculums out there, as I have always felt that the most important key to education is the ability to read well. Literacy in this day and age is sorely lacking and the plethora of “new methods” has made teaching children to read a complex process that can seem overwhelming to many parents and teachers. Foundational Phonics is different from most of what is available out there. Geared toward home education, but suitable for the classroom as well as tutoring, Foundational Phonics makes the transition from speaking to reading as natural as the transition from crawling to walking. Incorporating time tested teaching methods from an age of literacy and learning, and reinforcing a logical progression of learning language through ear, tongue and eye training, Ariel Gunther has crafted a curriculum that encourages young minds to soar.”
– Rachel
“I am currently using this with my 7 year old daughter and I have seen a huge difference in her reading already!! She loves her workbook and thinks it’s so pretty. 😊 I’ve tried many different reading curriculums and this is the one that finally clicked with her. I can’t say enough good things about this. I plan to use it with my son when he starts school.”
– Michelle
“Ariel Gunther’s Foundational Phonics Letter Mastery (Book One) and Word Mastery (Book Two) are beautifully crafted and carefully designed to develop a solid foundation in phonics. I have seen nothing that quite compares to this. I definitely plan to use this program for my grand children’s education. This curriculum is exactly what we need!”
– Kristine H. Westbeld, MA -Author, Illustrator, Educator
“Foundational Phonics is a wonderful system that my son has already benefited from just in the first few months. It has allowed him to not only start to master phonics skills but practice others as well including writing. This curriculum is very well rounded!”
– Jamie Ridley