With purchase of the Combo kit, you receive all of the Level 1 components plus Instructor’s Directions for Kindergarten, two consumable student worktexts, and a set of six phonetic storybook readers. The student worktexts are totally revised, even down to the theme and names. With a train theme, the All Aboard and On Track workbooks teach alike and different, classification, completing a pattern, tracing, following directions, reading readiness skills, letter recognition, letter sounds, manuscript writing, word blending, vocabulary, beginning reading, comprehension, spelling, listening, and speaking. On Track also includes ten tear-out, color, and read storybooks. The six phonetic storybook readers are correlated to the instruction, reinforcing the phonics, reading, and writing skills taught. One colorful reader covers each short vowel, plus a sixth reader with combined short vowel words. Student materials are also available separately for teaching more than one student with the program. For parents who did not purchase the Combo kit initially, the Instructor’s Directions for Kindergarten is not available separately; however, the publisher says that you should not need it.

Customer Reviews

 
Brandi J. from Pennsylvania wrote the following on 03/25/2008:
Although the phonics teachings are sound, we found this program to be too "worksheet/workbook" oriented for our children. We used it with both our kindergartener and first grader (both boys) and found that even with the cute race car track, they were more interested in the prize box than anything else. It is a good program, but it just didn't work for our family.

 
Jennifer L. from Arkansas wrote the following on 05/30/2008:
I enjoyed using the SSRW K-1 kits. The teacher's manuals were very well organized and made it easy to teach (it even came with an instructional video for the parent). My daughter used it from 3-5 years old with ease. As a kinesthetic/auditory learner, the singing and games kept her very interested. We took the daily kindergarten coloring sheets a step further by allowing her to glue glitter, feathers, googly eyes, etc.. on them. The only "negative" was the long spelling lists at such a young age. While I did make her read and trace them, I would only make her do one column each lesson, and I did not test her on them (as the book suggests). Despite that, she is an excellent reader now! I would highly recommend this program for children who love to wiggle and sing! I also use/support ABEKA, but found it didn't captivate my young child's attention like SSRW. However, once we completed the SSRW program, I was able to transition her right into the 2nd grade ABEKA phonics with no problem. She is currently reading at a 4th grade level. SSRW helped instill a love for reading in her!

 
Christie P. from Alabama wrote the following on 05/15/2009:
The activities for learning letters turned out to be the same three or four worksheet activities for each letter. If your child really thrives on knowing what to expect and repetition, he/she will love it. I heard a lot of, "But we already did that. Are we going to have to do this for every letter?" That said, it improves a lot for level 1. The only problem I had was that the readers included all the same characters illustrated in exactly the same style. I guess that provides some continuity, but it might add some interest for there to be a bit more variety. In the end, I ended up branching out. For the money, I think Phonics Pathways is probably a better bet. My kids really did love the CD/songs though.

 
Janie C. from Nashville, TN wrote the following on 01/09/2007:
My son & daughter have strong phonic/spelling skills and are avid readers in part because of this program! It was fun and easy to use. After we finished each lesson we rewarded ourselves with the fun readers and by moving our cars along the raceway chart. My children eagerly completed even the most challenging lessons, which did become cumbersome sometimes, in order to reach a new reader. I really appreciated the clear phonics instruction, motivational strategies and especially the way these lessons address different ways that children learn. My son and daughter each learn differently yet they both enjoyed this program. My son was excited about the raceway theme, moving his car along the track, singing songs and games so he tolerated the writing which could be overwhelming without motivation. My daughter, shyer by nature, sang the songs out loud but mostly enjoyed the writing, drawing, coloring, creative writing activities, etc. She even asked to do another workbook when we finished the program! I am a certified teacher and taught the first several lessons without the teachers manual. Big mistake!! I thought I had been doing a fine job until I finally read through the manual. There were helpful activities to supplement the workbook and comprehension questions for each reader. We went back to complete some of these and I used the teachers manual for every other lesson. It was easy to understand and required little if any preperation. I used all parts of this program and am glad I did. Other people might choose not to use the readers which would be fine except part of the fun of this program is the way it incorporates reading, comprehension and writing into one program. The workbook sometimes refers to the readers or uses them in assignments but could mostly be completed without them. Leaving the readers out, though, would mean trying to assess reading comprehension some other way and might make the workbooks less fun. My children giggled at certain questions in the workbooks because a name of a story character was used. They would probably have been able to answer most of the workbook without having read the stories but with less interest and perhaps more difficulty. You might need to devise rewards of your own for each section completed if not using the readers. As it was I appreciated bringing the reading in as a reward. I would not attempt this program without the music or without a workbook for each child. The songs go hand in hand with the workbook. As for the workbooks, I started out by trying to use one workbook for two students. This became a hassle and I soon ordered the second workbook because the line spacing and tracing letters were cumbersome to recreate on additional paper and my children were frustrated not writing in the book. The race car theme is fun. We found additional race car foamies, stickers and Disneys "Cars" activities to use in our math and art activities. We attended the Cars movie as a reward and finished off the whole program with a raceway cake! Even my daughter, pink to the core, enjoyed the race car theme. The price for this program can be a bit high. Finding used components was difficult since the program has been updated. I have wished I could find additional components elsewhere besides Modern Curriculum Press. The updates, however, are so much nicer than the original products my friend used. The refrigerator racecar chart and cars are nicer, the CD better than the cassettes, and the workbooks are more colorful yet stay strong in writing repetition like the original. Looking back, I would have overlooked this program because of price when I was first shopping around but a friend who used it thought my son would like it and encouraged me to work through it. I am grateful because both my children liked it and are both doing great in their studies.

 
Donna B. from Cullman, AL wrote the following on 11/15/2007:
When my daughter turned four, she wanted to learn how to read. Sing, Spell, Read & Write was fun with games and songs that were actually educational, and systematic, which made it easy to learn. The readers are colorful, the teacher's manual and instructional video were easy to use. We didn't do all of it. I think four is too young to write on such small lines, so I often wrote things for her, and I didn't do the daily spelling tests, because that seemed too much for a four year old. The program is so complete and systematic that my daughter read her first chapter book before her fifth birthday! My second daughter, who was only two when we started, learned the letter sounds and all the songs along with us. She would attempt to play the games with us too. My oldest daughter is now five-and-a-half, and reading on a fifth grade level, and my second daughter is now four and reading on a first grade level, and she isn't even halfway done with Sing, Spell, Read & Write yet! Even adapting the program slightly to fit our needs, it is working well for us. I like the way it's organized. For example, the program teaches kids that ar says "ar" as in car, but then later, it teaches all the rulebreakers, and gives students a list of words that teaches the rule that ar=or after the letter w. I knew how to read those words, but I had never thought about the rule. Having it laid out so simply made it easy to use, and easy for my children to learn! I also like that it uses music, games, and a variety of other methods to incorporate all learning styles. The only thing I would have done differently, since my younger children wanted to start sooner than my oldest, would have been to buy the combo pack (K-1) instead of just Level 1. It was definitely worth the investment, and I plan to use it with all four of my children!

 
Joanna R. from WV wrote the following on 06/02/2008:
Used this with two of my children for K-2nd grade. Son is a quick, self-guided learner who just completed the program. He just finished 2nd grade and is reading on a 7th grade level. This program has been a wonderful phonics foundation for him. Not only teaches phonics- but also grammar, using dictionary, letter writing, alphabetizing, vocabulary, and introduces students to the format used in standardized testing which is helpful for many homeschoolers. It is easy to keep track of progress as there is a assessment test and a couple achievement tests as well. A couple issues with the program: As other reviewers mentioned, the prize box is pretty lame. I supplemented with other prizes and the completion of an achievement test earned the child a special date with dad. Also, ten spelling words a day was a little much for even a very hard worker. This was our biggest qualm with the program. The readers are great and son loved the satisfaction of reading a whole book. However, with daughter who has concentration issues, this program was not such a success. She is a very kinetic learner who needs more than her brother did. We skipped the copy work and supplemented with BOB books, the Abeka blue-back speller and Dr. Seuss books. She did love the songs (very catchy) and the games which are like go fish or bingo. These were the best part of the program for her. It was a very expensive program, although our kit came with the Kindergarden readers which was also an added bonus. I had also learned phonics with this program when I was younger, so I was familiar with the layout. The teacher's manual is a script to be followed and comes with a video explaining how to play the games and sing the songs, etc... This was especially great while I was teaching two grade levels. Plus, the kids could play the games together eventually. I still think it was a great investment as I have two others who will use it when they are old enough. Highly recommended though I do recommend not to be afraid to tailor it to your child's speed and ability.