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Introduction
All About Reading and All About Spelling are two programs from All About Learning Press, which also sells All About Math (All About Learning Press, home page). The publisher’s About page says Marie Rippel is the founder and curriculum developer behind the company, and that the reading and spelling programs are “Based on the Orton-Gillingham approach.” This review covers the reading and spelling programs, not math.
One reviewer named it her top overall reading and phonics pick and said that choice was her own opinion (Angela Braniff, 2021). In our assessment, the questions a family should weigh are how much daily teaching time the program asks of the parent and what each level costs.
Key takeaways
- 01Method. The publisher says both programs are based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, and its program pages describe them as scripted and open-and-go, with “lightly scripted lessons” in reading (All About Reading, publisher page).
- 02Scope. All About Reading has a Pre-reading program plus Levels 1 to 4, and the publisher assigns no grades to those levels, saying its lessons are “mastery-based, not grade-level-based” (All About Reading Level 1, publisher page). All About Spelling has seven levels and “was designed with elementary and middle-school children in mind” (All About Spelling, publisher page).
- 03Worldview. Not stated by the publisher. The publisher’s pages and blog that we read state no faith or worldview position, and we did not read the text of the decodable readers (About page).
- 04Reviewer reports. The reviewers cited below describe their own experiences, from enthusiastic to mixed; they are individual opinions, not the publisher’s statements (Anna Bruce, 2023).
- 05Trade-off. The lessons are taught from a teacher’s manual and the publisher recommends about 20 minutes a day (publisher FAQ), and each level is priced separately (publisher price list, July 21, 2026).
What it is
The publisher describes All About Reading as a scripted, open-and-go program with “lightly scripted lessons that give results with only 20 minutes a day” (All About Reading, publisher page). All About Spelling is described on its own page as “a scripted, open-and-go program” (All About Spelling, publisher page). The two programs use the same color-coded letter tiles, and the publisher says one Letter Tiles kit includes every tile needed for both (Letter Tiles, publisher page). The publisher’s reading page also carries a testimonial attributed to Susan Wise Bauer of The Well-Trained Mind that calls it “The most age-appropriate and parent-friendly Orton-Gillingham program on the market.” That is an endorsement the publisher displays, not a claim by the publisher.
The publisher counts the reading sequence as four levels (Levels 1 to 4) plus a Pre-reading program (publisher FAQ). It says the Pre-Reading program is “Designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners” (All About Reading, publisher page) and teaches five pre-reading skills: letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print awareness, listening comprehension, and motivation to read (Pre-Reading, publisher page). The FAQ says that after Level 4 a child “has all the skills needed to decode just about any word.” All About Spelling has seven levels, and the publisher says it has been used by students of all ages, including teens and adults (All About Spelling, publisher page).
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Method | Based on the Orton-Gillingham approach and scripted, per the publisher’s About page and its reading and spelling program pages |
| Worldview | Not stated by the publisher; its pages and blog that we read, including the About page, state no faith or worldview position |
| Grades | No grades assigned to reading Levels 1 to 4 (mastery-based); Pre-Reading designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners; spelling designed with elementary and middle-school children in mind, per the publisher |
| Cost tier | Standard (our classification); reading Level 1 to 4 Materials list at $159.95 each on the publisher’s price list dated July 21, 2026, retrieved October 2026 |
| Parent intensity | 3 (our rating); the publisher describes lessons taught from a scripted teacher’s manual |
How it teaches
A Level 1 reading Materials set includes a Teacher’s Manual, a Student Packet (activity book, flashcards, stickers) and three readers, and the Review Box and Letter Tiles are bought in addition (All About Reading Level 1 Materials, publisher page). The Level 1 Teacher’s Manual is listed as a 399-page softcover (Level 1 Teacher’s Manual, publisher page), and the Level 1 Student Packet page lists 32 perforated Phonogram Cards and 193 perforated Word Cards (Level 1 Student Packet, publisher page). The publisher says reading fluency practice uses activities and games, letter tile demonstrations, fluency pages with words, phrases, and sentences, and fully decodable readers, and that comprehension is covered in every story lesson (publisher FAQ).
For spelling Levels 1 to 4, the publisher says each lesson has five parts: Before You Begin, Review, New Teaching, Advanced Application, and Track Your Progress (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 Materials, publisher pages).
The publisher says its lessons are “mastery-based, not grade-level-based,” and that the lessons “are not meant to be completed in one day” and some may take a week or more (All About Reading Level 1, publisher page). It recommends about 20 minutes per day on reading lessons and 20 minutes per day on spelling, adjustable to the child (publisher FAQ). In our assessment, because the lessons are mastery-based and some take a week or more, the parent rather than a fixed calendar decides when to move on.
What reviewers praise
The reviewers cited on this page are individual homeschool parents who published videos between 2021 and 2023. What they say is their own experience and opinion, not a statement by the publisher, and each video describes the program as it was on its upload date. Three of the four put an affiliate link to the publisher in their video description, so they may earn a commission on purchases (Anna Bruce; The Nerdy Homeschooler; This Homeschool House).
One reviewer, about six weeks into trying the program, said she loved it and called it her favorite reading program (Anna Bruce, 2023).
In a one-year check-in, another reviewer said she was very pleased with the program and had no regrets about buying it (This Homeschool House, 2021). The publisher says its programs are very effective for struggling learners (publisher FAQ); that is the publisher’s claim, and we did not evaluate outcomes.
What reviewers question
One reviewer called the program “pretty teacher intensive” and said the parent has to sit with the child the whole way through (Anna Bruce, 2023). Another said that teaching phonics is, for her, “a little boring and a little slow,” and that she was not going to rave about All About Reading, though she did not mean that as a knock against it (The Nerdy Homeschooler, 2023).
Two of the reviewers described taking the activity-book pages apart and organizing them by lesson in a binder or sheet protectors (Anna Bruce; The Nerdy Homeschooler). On cost, the This Homeschool House reviewer called the initial cost big but, in her words, not “astronomical,” compared with other language arts curricula (This Homeschool House, 2021).
Who it fits, and who it does not
In our judgment, the program fits a family that wants a scripted, teacher-led reading or spelling program, can sit with the child for a daily lesson of about 20 minutes, and wants hands-on tiles and cards. The publisher says its lessons are mastery-based and that students are placed by ability rather than age or grade, with a placement page that offers a reading test, a Pre-reading readiness checklist, and a spelling test.
- Good fit (our judgment): a family that wants reading and spelling taught as separate programs from scripted teacher’s manuals.
- Good fit (our judgment): a family that wants placement by mastery rather than by grade.
- Weaker fit (our judgment): a family that needs the child to work independently while the parent does something else, since the publisher describes lessons taught from a teacher’s manual.
- Weaker fit (our judgment): a single-year, tight-budget purchase, since each level is priced separately and the Letter Tiles and Review Box are extra.
- Weaker fit (our judgment): a family whose child already reads fluently and has not taken the placement tests, since the publisher places students by ability and says most students start spelling at Level 1.
Cost and value
Pricing here is the publisher’s list pricing, retrieved October 2026, and applies to All About Reading Level 1 unless noted. The complete Materials set lists at $159.95 and includes the Teacher’s Manual, the Student Packet, and three readers. Bought separately, the Teacher’s Manual is $50.95 and the Student Packet is $67.95. The Letter Tiles are $25.95, which the publisher calls a one-time purchase per household that includes every tile needed for both programs, and the Review Box is $17.95, which the publisher says each student needs for each program and uses for all levels. The Pre-Reading Program lists at $119.95, and the other reading levels list at $159.95 each (Level 4, for example). All About Spelling Level 1 Materials list at $64.95, and the publisher’s July 21, 2026 price list gives $69.95 for Levels 2 to 4 and $49.95 for Levels 5 to 7. These are list prices; the publisher FAQ links to a page of details about its promotions and sales.
On reuse, the Level 1 reading page says the Teacher’s Manual and readers are non-consumable, that a family teaching more than one student needs an additional Student Packet, Review Box and Divider Cards for each student, and that Student Packets can be reused for future students, with downloadable extra copies of the Progress Chart, Read-Aloud Record and Certificate (All About Reading Level 1, publisher page). For editions, the publisher says it no longer carries previous editions and links correlation guides for mixing them (publisher FAQ). Families who look for used sets can search on Amazon or other resale sites, and should match editions using the publisher’s guides; the publisher’s own prices above are the reference prices. Every Homeschool classifies the publisher at a standard cost tier with a parent-intensity rating of 3 on its directory entry.
How it compares
In our assessment, a family comparing reading programs should check four things on each publisher’s own pages: how many levels are priced separately, which physical components are bought in addition, how much daily teaching time the lessons ask of the parent, and whether the program covers reading, spelling, or both. Every Homeschool covers the wider field in its dyslexia guide at /guides/homeschool-dyslexia-2026 and in its guide to first reading programs at /guides/teach-your-child-to-read-2026.
If the spelling side is the main question, the All About Spelling decision against other options is laid out in /guides/best-spelling-curriculum-2026. Families still deciding on a method more generally can start with /guides/how-to-choose-homeschool-curriculum-2026 or filter the full catalog by subject, worldview, and budget at /curriculum/find. The canonical publisher record, with the directory’s method, worldview, grade, and cost tags, lives at /directory/publishers/all-about-learning-press.
The bottom line
In our assessment, All About Reading and All About Spelling are teacher-led programs whose main trade-offs are daily teaching time and the cost of buying each level. The publisher describes mastery-based lessons of about 20 minutes a day taught from scripted manuals, and one reviewer describes both strong results and a teacher-intensive routine (Anna Bruce, 2023). For a family that can give the program daily one-on-one time and wants reading and spelling taught as separate programs, the publisher’s own descriptions suggest a workable match. A family that needs independent work, or is buying for a single already-fluent reader, should check the placement tests and the list prices first.
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