First Start Reading (Memoria Press)

First Start Reading is Memoria Press's pre-kindergarten and kindergarten phonics program, four consumable workbooks plus a teacher manual that move a child from letter formation to simple sentence reading. It is the on-ramp to Memoria's classical-education sequence, and it does one thing deliberately well.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Classical / systematic phonics / subject-specialist
Worldview	Christian-ecumenical (broadly Christian, non-sectarian)
Grades	PreK-K (with Book E extending into 1st grade)
Formats	Print consumable workbooks, teacher manual, storybooks
Cost tier	Budget
Parent intensity	4
ESA-common	Yes
Accredited	No
Established	2011 (program origin); Memoria Press founded 1994
Website	memoriapress.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Genuine systematic phonics with cumulative drill; reaches sentence reading by mid-kindergarten
Ease of teaching	3	Scripted teacher manual helps, but daily parent presentation is required
Content quality	4	Clean, traditional, linguistically accurate; storybooks are plain but purposeful
Flexibility	3	Designed to feed Memoria's full sequence; works standalone but leaves some parent assembly at grade 1
Value for money	5	Complete four-book program retails under $45; one of the lowest-cost rigorous phonics options
Worldview scope	4	Broadly Christian framing; no doctrinal content; usable in Catholic, Protestant, or secular households
Visual/design	3	Black-and-white line-drawn; intentionally unadorned classical aesthetic
Support resources	4	Memoria Press Online Academy, free lesson plans, strong homeschool community around the broader catalog

Who the publisher is

Memoria Press was founded in 1994 by Cheryl Lowe in Louisville, Kentucky, as a publisher of classical education materials. Over the past three decades the company has become one of the defining publishers of the classical-Christian homeschool movement, best known for Latina Christiana (elementary Latin), Traditional Logic, the Form series literature study guides, and the broader Simply Classical full-curriculum package. Memoria Press is its own brick-and-mortar presence as well, it operates Highlands Latin School in Louisville, a classical day school whose pedagogy shapes the publishing house's choices.

First Start Reading is, by design, the on-ramp to this ecosystem. Published originally in 2011, the program is a four-book consumable phonics sequence (A, B, C, D) plus a teacher manual, with a fifth book (E) and companion storybooks that extend the child toward fluent reading. It was written to be the phonics slot in Memoria Press's PreK and Kindergarten packages, feeding directly into StoryTime Treasures, the company's first-grade reading program, and from there into Memoria's classical Latin and literature track. The program stands alone, families use First Start Reading without any other Memoria material, but its architecture assumes a student who will continue in a classical education framework.

Memoria Press's theological posture is broadly Christian, generally Protestant in framing, ecumenical enough in practice to be used widely by Catholic classical schools and homeschoolers. First Start Reading itself carries no doctrinal content; the storybook selections are sweet, traditional, and religiously neutral in tone. A Catholic, Reformed, Evangelical, or secular family can use the program without modification, which is part of why it has spread beyond the classical-Protestant niche from which Memoria emerged.

The core pedagogy

First Start Reading is systematic, letter-sound-first phonics. The program teaches one sound per consonant and vowel first, mastering short sounds before introducing long sounds, and sequences children through blending, tracing, and printing words, reaching sentence reading within the first workbook for most students. The four-book sequence moves from letter formation in Book A through short-vowel consonant-vowel-consonant words in Book B, consonant blends and long-vowel teams in Book C, and more complex phonograms (soft c and g, three sounds of y, common sight words) in Book D. Book E, added later in the program's history, extends the skills toward the first-grade reading level.

Scope and sequence is linear and cumulative. Each lesson introduces one new element, a new letter, a new phonogram, a new blending pattern, and drills it alongside review of everything the student has already learned. The scripted teacher manual tells the parent what to say and what to have the student do, step by step, for each lesson. First-time homeschool parents teaching phonics appreciate the scripting; experienced ones abandon it within a few weeks.

Signature mechanics: (1) Three skill strands per lesson, every First Start Reading lesson integrates pencil grip and correct letter formation, sound-mastery drill, and blending or word-reading practice in a single sitting. The program is unusually deliberate about handwriting and letter formation, which distinguishes it from phonics programs that assume handwriting is taught separately. (2) Short-vowel mastery first, unlike programs that introduce long and short vowels together, First Start Reading drills short vowels to automaticity before adding long-vowel teams, a sequencing choice that Memoria Press argues produces faster genuine decoding. (3) Consumable workbook format, each book is written in by the student; a second child requires new copies (this is Memoria's business model as well as a pedagogical choice to reinforce handwriting). (4) Seamless flow into Memoria's classical sequence, the program is written to deposit students into StoryTime Treasures and the broader Memoria first-grade package, but standalone use is equally viable.

A day in the life

A five-year-old using First Start Reading works in 20-30 minute daily sessions, five days a week, across most of a kindergarten year. The parent sits beside the child, opens the teacher manual to the day's lesson, and reads the scripted presentation: introducing today's new sound (say, long a in the ai team), demonstrating the correct letter formation, modeling a word or two. The child traces the letter, writes it independently, and then moves to blending, reading a short list of words containing the new phonogram. The lesson closes with a few sentences that use the week's accumulated words. Over the course of two to three weeks, enough accumulated phonograms allow the child to read a new set of simple stories from the companion First Start Reading storybooks.

A pre-kindergarten child, a four-year-old, typically works in shorter sessions, 10-15 minutes, and may take longer to complete Book A. Memoria's own guidance is permissive about pace: the program is designed to be completed in roughly a year, but slow and steady is encouraged over compressed schedules. A child who completes Books A through D by the end of kindergarten is reading at what most conventional curricula consider a late-first-grade level.

What they do exceptionally well

Systematic phonics at a budget price point. Our editorial view is that First Start Reading is the most economical rigorous phonics program widely available to homeschool families. The complete A-D student set runs $38.05 per the publisher's site (April 2026); the teacher manual for the same sequence is sold separately. A total spend under $75 for a complete kindergarten phonics program that delivers real decoding fluency is unusual in the homeschool market, where comparable programs (Logic of English Foundations, All About Reading) run three to four times that price point.

Integration of handwriting and phonics. Most phonics programs assume handwriting instruction is someone else's problem. First Start Reading treats letter formation as integral to phonemic awareness, the child writes the letter as they learn the sound, and the workbook pages explicitly scaffold correct pencil grip and stroke order. This integration is pedagogically defensible and eliminates the need for a separate handwriting program at this stage.

Clean linguistic sequencing. The program does not over-teach. Short vowels first; then long vowels; then phonogram teams; then the hard cases (soft c and g, the three sounds of y). This is the phonics sequence supported by reading research, executed without the distractions of character mascots, sticker rewards, or online gamification. For a family that wants phonics to be phonics, this is a feature.

Durable as an on-ramp. A family that uses First Start Reading and then continues into Memoria Press's first-grade package arrives at StoryTime Treasures with exactly the vocabulary and phoneme mastery that Memoria's first-grade reading work assumes. The handoff is tight. Families who use First Start Reading and then switch to a different curriculum report the transition is clean but requires a parent to verify that the next program assumes the skills First Start Reading teaches.

What they do poorly

Parent-intensive by design. First Start Reading is not a workbook a child can do independently. Every lesson requires the parent to present, model, and correct. For a family with one young child, this is fine; for a family with multiple young children or a working parent short on morning time, the daily 20-30 minute commitment is real and non-negotiable. Families who want lighter-touch phonics should look at online phonics programs like Reading Eggs or at more scripted but less teacher-dependent programs.

Visually plain. The workbooks are black-and-white line drawings. Memoria Press is deliberate about this, the classical aesthetic favors unadorned materials that do not compete with the instructional content, but families coming from the glossy end of the market (The Good and the Beautiful, Saxon Phonics' heavily illustrated editions) may find First Start Reading visually austere. Children generally adapt; parents sometimes do not.

Consumable workbook cost per child. Because the workbooks are consumable, a family with three children will need to purchase three sets of books A-D over time. This is a deliberate business choice and a pedagogical one, writing in the workbook is part of how the skill is acquired, but families budgeting for long-term use should plan for per-child purchase.

Second-edition and third-edition confusion. The program has been through multiple editions, and the teacher manual has been revised more recently than the student books. Families buying secondhand should verify that the teacher manual edition matches the student workbook edition; the revisions are substantive enough that mixing them causes alignment issues.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick First Start Reading if: you are committed to systematic phonics for your PreK or K child; you want a budget-friendly program that produces genuine reading skill; you plan to continue in Memoria Press's classical sequence or a similar literature-rich path; you value traditional, visually restrained materials; you can commit to 20-30 minutes of daily parent-led instruction; you are any Christian denomination or secular and want a non-doctrinal phonics program.

• Skip First Start Reading if: you want an app-based or gamified phonics program; you have limited daily parent availability for direct instruction; your child is dyslexic and needs an Orton-Gillingham-credentialed program like All About Reading; you prefer glossy, full-color consumables; you are looking for a one-and-done product that spans K-3 in a single purchase.

Cost honest assessment

Per the Memoria Press pricing page as of April 2026, the First Start Reading Student Set (books A-D) retails at $38.05. The Teacher Manual Third Edition (Books A-D) is sold separately; the storybooks A-D companion set is separately priced. A complete new-user bundle, student workbooks, teacher manual, and storybooks, typically runs $65-$85 depending on the retailer and edition.

Compared to Logic of English Foundations (roughly $169 per level and a multi-level program spanning kindergarten through second grade), First Start Reading is a fraction of the cost, though Logic of English covers more territory per level. Compared to All About Reading (roughly $110-$150 per level), First Start Reading is again substantially cheaper but offers a narrower program. First Start Reading is a PreK-K product, where AAR progresses through fourth-grade reading. Compared to The Good and the Beautiful Preschool and Kindergarten, which includes phonics as part of a bundled curriculum, First Start Reading is more focused and less integrated with other subjects.

A realistic all-in budget for one child using First Start Reading as a standalone kindergarten phonics program is $75-$100 once, with incremental later purchases of Book E and first-grade follow-on materials.

ESA eligibility notes

Memoria Press is approved on most state ESA marketplaces, including Arizona's ClassWallet, Florida's Step Up For Students, Utah Fits All, and Iowa Student First Scholarships. First Start Reading typically clears ESA review as a standard curriculum purchase. Because the program has no explicit religious content (unlike some of Memoria's Simply Classical bundled products, which include Bible-study components), it is rarely restricted even in secular-only ESA jurisdictions. The teacher manual and storybooks are separately purchased and independently reimbursable in most states. Memoria Press offers a dedicated ESA ordering workflow for families whose state programs allow direct vendor billing; families should verify current state acceptance with their marketplace before ordering.

Alternatives

• All About Reading, a family would choose AAR over First Start Reading for a fuller multi-level Orton-Gillingham-aligned program that extends through fourth grade reading and is particularly strong for dyslexic or struggling readers.
• Logic of English Foundations, a family would choose Logic of English over First Start Reading for a more comprehensive phonics-plus-spelling-plus-grammar integrated program that begins in kindergarten and continues through third grade in the same system.
• Abeka Phonics K5, a family would choose Abeka over First Start Reading for a more teacher-intensive, flashcard-and-drill phonics program with a strong track record of early reading fluency, at a higher per-year cost and within a distinctly Christian-evangelical framing.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Memoria Press's product pages for First Start Reading at memoriapress.com, the Student Set listing, the Teacher Manual listing, and the phonics and early reading category index. Pricing verified against the publisher's site as of April 2026. ESA eligibility is based on Memoria Press's historical state marketplace participation; families should verify current program-year acceptance directly.