LOVEVERY READING SKILL SET REVIEW | Teaching Kids To Read | BEST PHONICS GAMES!

[@lovilife]

im so excited the way lovevery is evolving to be this educational companion company for children. can’t wait for their math kit 😁

[@confidentlymom]

They’re doing a math kit?!? Tell me everything!!

[@angelamak6411]

A math kit? When does it release? 🎉

[@wisdomencouraged9326]

As soon as I got the email about this I checked your channel to see if you did a review 😅

[@confidentlymom]

Haha I’ve been so excited to talk about these!! The games really just blew my mind!

[@toxicharm7239]

The only comparable homeschool curriculum would be All About Reading and once you add up the cost it's way more than the Lovevery reading set. Plus that program was just so boring for us. They have you cutting so many papers for games you only play once and doing a lot of worksheets. It's so complicated. I'm so exited to use the reading set! I will add that I think it would go really well with the Abeka Handbook for Reading. It's just a book of phonics based words to read through that really helps.

[@confidentlymom]

Thank you!! Someone asked about that and at a glance I came to a similar conclusion, so happy to hear from someone with experience!!

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

I wonder how this compares to Logic of English since it’s more play based, and what we have.

[@confidentlymom]

​@@Montessori_Motherhood at a glance, Logic of English definitely has more rules it's teaching and is just more detailed as a whole as it gets into handwriting, grammar, etc. For parents reading this, this page would be helpful to look at: reading.logicofenglish.com/systematic-phonics/spelling-rules/ and can pair the knowledge with lovevery or just for your own teaching! I'd say this is the best alternative I've quickly looked into from all the suggestions on this thread! While the games aren't board games/as tactile as lovevery, they are quick set ups. I like that you can buy one-offs to fill gaps if using another program, so any parents reading this concerned about multiple sounds who already have a program, this book alone: store.logicofenglish.com/products/sounding-out-the-sight-words-an-alternative-to-rote-memorization is going to get into some of those more complex rules and would be a good resource to pair with other curriculums if you're finding a challenge around multiple sounds being taught. Keep in mind, while I have a Master's in Education, I'm just a parent so I dk what "grade" some of those advanced rules line up with, while Lovevery is specific for 2nd grade and under; and I think formal grammar lessons typically start in 3rd or 4th grade, so they may expand to that with their new team

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

@@confidentlymom yes the handwriting and spelling rules are nice. Logic of English says B is for Kindergarten but it seems a bit advanced for that, I’m starting it with my first grader. I could probably pair the two for more games and more books if I wanted to spend the money.

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

@@confidentlymom I think the programs can work nicely together. I plan on using the Lovevery one and two with my son to teach him letters and reading before even starting logics of English A. They teach every sound a letter can make up front, which I think is confusing until the child has a very good understanding of the first letter sounds and basic cvc words and blending. I will likely pair the books and the games with this program to make it totally multi sensory

[@parnaz67]

They have created something special with the reading set. I am going to their website right after to buy the whole package.

[@confidentlymom]

Agreed! It’s been so so so great for our family!

[@Gameroomschoolhouse]

This also seems like it would be great for struggling readers. My 7 year old is having a hard time with learning to read and something like this would really be helpful but ugh that pricetag! Thank you so much for the comprehensive review- agree that your video should be on the website- I learned way more from this than from the website!

[@confidentlymom]

For sure can help beyond 7! and thank you!! The price tag is def a sticker shock, but in my second video of the series (just part one) it has the alternatives and show it's actually pretty well priced!

[@Lovevery]

Happy reading! 📚

[@confidentlymom]

Thank you!!

[@Ari-ju8ry]

I thought about waiting for your review but then was afraid it’ll sell out, so I ordered Part 1 for my soon to be 3 yo and hoped for the best! So excited to work on this soon. She really wants to read but my phonics curriculum is not really interesting to her. I recently got the Storyteller kit, and feel like the alphabet puzzle did a lot more for her letter sound awareness development than my purchased homeschool curriculum- she actually wants to work on it! Lovevery is onto something. Whereas it felt like when I used my curriculum it’s like pulling teeth. She has no interest. glad to know you love it though. I looked incredible to me. Like many I was initially shocked by the price tag, but they include so much with each part, and they’re so thoughtfully designed that there are no straight up dupes that I actually think it’s kind of a steal.

[@confidentlymom]

Which curriculum were you using? Yes this totally changed the game in that pulling teeth feeling for us 😂😂😂😅

[@Ari-ju8ry]

@@confidentlymom I was using Multisori, and started with week one. (The sandpaper letters + “words that start with A/M” cards, and sorting these cards into “A” or “M” words). She was more interested in the concept behind certain cards (she wanted to watch a lot of acrobat videos…) than the letter sounds or tracing the letters. Isolating two letters at a time didn’t seem interesting to her. But she LOVED the alphabet jigsaw puzzle, and seeing all the letters fit together. Not sure why. Maybe it’s just more fun and she’s too young for “school work”. But then again, she’s always learned things indirectly. When I tried to do color flash cards with her at 2 yo, she just never sat through it. So I just try to incorporate colors into daily life and emphasize it when I can. One day I noticed she not only knew the primary colors (that I tried to teach), but also a bunch of others, which I never explicitly tried to teach. I take out all the flash cards (including secondary colors) and ask them what they are and she got them all right 🤯 So I might just have a kid who doesn’t do well with formal instruction.

[@AlNisa21]

If you have an early reader (reading books with short vowels & some mystery words), which kit would you recommend?

[@confidentlymom]

If they are still working the concepts and could use deeper support AND you plan to have more kids, I’d get part 2 - it’ll be a little repetitive and more foundation and you know your future kids will use it. If you’re done with kids and they are doing well enough on blending and short vowels I’d go to part 3.

[@kelsey30]

Thank you for your review! Would you say the first box is Montessori aligned with how it teaches reading? I’m finishing up teaching lowercase letter sounds (not teaching the letter names yet and for vowels I only did short vowel sounds so far) with my soon to be 5 year old using the sandpaper letters and matching objects/pictures with the initial sounds. We’re getting ready to move on to “building” CVC words with the moveable alphabet so I was wondering you’re thoughts on if the first box would work well in chronological order with where we’re at in her learning? Thank you so much for any input you might have!

[@confidentlymom]

So CVC is more part 2 and short vowels is part 2 too! I would say part 1 is Montessori aligned (no screens, sensory, phonics focused). You may be ready to jump into part 2 based on what you shared! With that said, we were at a similar place with our 5 year old and found blending was really challenging/not going great. I have a 3 year old so getting part 1 was a no brained - and I found that it was actually really important for my 5s confidence. Like I mentioned, and will go deeper into in the part 1 video coming out in about 6 weeks, her learning the foundation of compound words and isolating parts of a word - not just letter sounds - was HUGE! Additionally the extra games allow us to keep working/reinforcing stuff when she needs a brain break from some of the harder concepts in part 2. With that said, it’s just as likely you could feel it’s repetitive if you’re already at blending and not hitting roadblocks there.

[@lauren-b1h]

I noticed on the website that in the block set from the first set one of the pictures for "a" is an anchor. This surprised me because it is not the short vowel sound. Is this a mistake or are they trying to teach both long and short vowels in the first set?

[@confidentlymom]

I’m going to talk more about that in the dedicated video of that skill set! It seems like that section is equally about letter sounds and letter shapes. I do think it was an oversight on their end because the abcs with mr. z is all about the most common letter sounds but I think it was also not a super rigid thing with the blocks as the tokens really grow the activity and have some more complex concepts too so maybe intentional in that sense 🤷🏻‍♀️ could go either way!

[@63device]

How much time per week does this demand? My 3yo kid started going to daycare / preschool at 2yo. Before 2 she used to go throgh play kits so fast we had to ask customer suppoet to send them sooner. After 2, she is at school m-f and we with only weekends, we are now 3mo behind. So is this too much to do with just weekends ? Is this mainly for home schooling?

[@confidentlymom]

You can do itj ust on weekends - def not just for homeschooling. It'll simply reinforce and deepen anything learned in school or teach it to them at a whatever pace you guys choose. You can literally spend 5-15 min a day on it 2 days a week or everyday, it's your families choice between the parent and child.

[@MsKatastrophenBarbie]

You have really cool stuff for thr American market. We europeans still wait for the music set you reviewed some time ago.

[@confidentlymom]

Awe that stinks!! the music set is a huge hit with my kids! they literally tried to take the bells and pan flute to disney last week lolol but i will say most european countries have great access to better quality musical toys than the US does in my experience historically! (we have a good amount of family and friends in europe still).

[@priscillasilva9278]

What basic reading skills do you think kids need to have to start the first box? My 2y8m old knows the phonic starts of words quite well and recognises some of the letters lower and upper case, so I was considering getting it before you said it’s more for 3.5+? Thank you

[@confidentlymom]

Kid's don't need to have any skills to start box one! I'd definitely get it if I were in your shoes and you're already working on this! I think with younger than 3-3.5 you just have to be prepared for SHORT practices. I said this on my IG story yesterday in response to this question: Lovevery did an EXCELLENT job at keeping the games SHORT (3 year old attention spans!) and flexible/adaptable - meaning my 3 year old can't sit through as long of a game as my 5 year old, so if we play some of the games from box 1 with him (compound matching, letter blocks), we only set out 4-6 sets instead of all of them to make it more age appropriate for his attention span and less hard for his comprehension. My reasoning for saying wait until 3.5 is that I think for some moms (this may not apply to you!) it can feel frustrating to sit down and want to finish a game or do things how they are "supposed to" and the child just doesn't have the ability/interest to sit through the whole game for whatever reason - I've seen this happen often with board games and 2 year olds or young 3 year olds unrelated to Lovevery --- If that frustration of the "game not going as planned" seeps into learning it can sour the experience - especially when kids are so young. The goal with Lovevery's program (and reason I'm so obsessed with it) is that they really tried to make things FUN. So as long as you show up flexible and meet the child where they are at and you both are interested in the work, then go for it!

[@priscillasilva9278]

@@confidentlymom thank you for that answer!! I definitely can see where your comment came from. Really looking forward to the first box in depth video!

[@ywu37]

the persisted set also provides alphabet games and some language objects. Wondering whether there is duplication? Thanks!

[@helenwegienka2508]

In one of the videos the ceo says if you have the 4 year old alphabet set you can “make even more words”. Sounds like it can be used in a complimentary way with the playsets or that’s what they’re saying

[@confidentlymom]

The only "duplicate" item IMO is the moveable alphabet. Which i guess from the person aboves comment they are saying you can use to do "more" words (and there's def truth to that). The language objects game is totally different than any game in these; and then the Persister is the only one with a handwriting skill component with the traceable board. With that said, I personally think the Persister is the one to skip of play kit in the 4 y.o one's (I have a video walking you through dupes) if being frugal and would put the money towards a RSS box!

[@JacieRoughton]

@@confidentlymomwhat’s an RSS box?

[@confidentlymom]

@@JacieRoughton The box's i showed in this video! Read Skills Set = RSS (just easier to write lol)

[@LisaAllyssa]

I feel like Lovevery is growing up with my son. They have introduced playkits for 4 year olds when he was 4 and for 5 year olds when he was 5. We just got our last box about 4 months ago and I thought we were done. But this looks fun. We are learning phonics and struggling big time with letter recognition.

[@confidentlymom]

I feel the same way! I'm happy they did the RSS instead of formal 5 year old play kits right now because this is exactly what we needed lol

[@sopeace9968]

Oh, this is so interesting! Do you know whether it'll be also transferred to other languages than English? :)

[@confidentlymom]

I haven't heard that - but saw people asking for it (including myself) in the comments of the IG post lol I would LOVE that!!

[@sopeace9968]

@@confidentlymom wonderful! Thank you for your quick response :)

[@TurpeinenRebecca]

The pricetag was a bit of a surprise but I did end up ordering part 1! I'm excited!! Kind of curious how long you have had the reading kit?

[@confidentlymom]

You're not alone in saying that! I've seen a few others comment the same on their IG posts! I do think - from my initial research into dupes - it's probably pretty spot on as most reading programs are equivalent or cheaper without the actual games and sensory/tactile experience. (e.g. many are just paper books or paper cut outs). And i *think* they did these in lieu of 5 year old play kits - i can't imagine them dropping those this year too - which makes the pricing on par with a year of play kits. If you haven't gotten the persister play kit yet, i'd definitely skip that and count that money towards your part 1 is my #girlmath haha

[@TurpeinenRebecca]

@@confidentlymom the only kit we don't have yet from the 4-year-old kits is The Planner Kit. And I want that marble run and clock!! To be honest, I don't think Lovevery is selling this reading kit very well.... I think a lot of people see the price tag and move on, but when you look in depth at what is in the kits, it actually looks quite amazing and well worth the money! I think Lovevery should put your video on their website if I'm being honest!

[@confidentlymom]

@@TurpeinenRebecca Ahh thank you! that's the biggest compliment!! The Planner kit is my next video! I've been so slow on it because it's the last one haha!

[@alexismaurer6123]

Would love a comparison with the reading program from Dash into Learning

[@confidentlymom]

Oh that is super cute!! Will keep digging into that one! Thank you!!

[@LittleLauraBug]

Great video! Where is your outfit from? I like your top and shorts. Thank you

[@confidentlymom]

Thank you! shorts: bit.ly/4bOhO9a and the tank top is H&M from last year and they don't carry it anymore

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

Does this kit teach all the sounds a letter can make? For example makes 3 sounds, does part 3 get into that? My daughter is going into first grade and has blends and short vowels down, so wondering if part 3 would be good for her to read more complex words.

[@confidentlymom]

“For example. Makes 3 sounds” I think something was missed in your text there! But yeah I’d go with part 3 in your shoes! Filling in the gap from the typo and what I assumed your asking , part 3 teaches advanced rules so it will teach the rules of magic e, how r changes vowel sounds and some memorization of vowel digraphs etc. it teaches really well! But things like the letter g making multiple sounds are going to be more memorization and you teaching it in part 2.

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

@@confidentlymom sorry I meant the letter A makes 3 sounds and many other letters make multiple sounds other then their basic phonetic sound so I wasn’t sure if this was taught in this program?

[@confidentlymom]

@@Montessori_Motherhood It is when there are specific rules - like e at the end creates the long vowel sound. Or the unique vowels sounds created when pairing different vowels together (penguin game) or with an R (frog game) - but the more random one's (how a makes an o sound in ball or an e sound in many) aren't taught and those would be considered more site word stuff, which some of those are in the sticky word games.

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

@@confidentlymom okay, thanks. I have logics of English B I was going to start with my daughter after doing A and just deciding what I want to do. Logics of English doesn’t teach sight words they teach every rule. I wonder if I could pair it with 3, I love the games. If my daughter only knows cvc words and blends would that be starting at 2 or 3?

[@JanieBicknell]

Are a lot of items sturdy cardboard like the honeycomb or is it wood?

[@confidentlymom]

Wood! It's standard lovevery quality with wood and eco-plastics. The books are more like early reader program books though (paper backs), but still a bit thicker/better quality

[@evitheodoridou2825]

Is there any discount code? Thanks!

[@confidentlymom]

When I asked if my discount code would work on these they said they aren't doing any discount codes for these products! If that changes, I'll let you know!

[@Montessori_Motherhood]

At the end of this will they be able to read most books?

[@confidentlymom]

By the end they should be able to!

[@confidentlymom]

But like anything it takes repetition so you’ll work the games in part 3 with the books or early reader books you’ve used up to this point.

[@BrittanyTaylor-q2s]

Is code TCM still working? i tried to enter it in as a discount code and it wont work for me

[@confidentlymom]

Doesn’t work on reading skills, just new play kit subscriptions!

[@jacieroughton8501]

hi! where did you get that little yellow truck / car at 0:45? my 4 year old wants it >.

[@confidentlymom]

It was part of a travel play set - www.theconfusedmillennial.com/erc3

[@lilykimberlyflowersinwestc1631]

What is the youngest age that you think can begin using the part 1 program?

[@confidentlymom]

I’d introduce it at 4 if I didn’t have any older kids, or 3.5 if I had a big sibling who could play too - both with the expectation that they’ll spend more than 4 months working on the set (if they do it sooner, great! But not pushing it or setting it as a goal). The compound words game and syllabus race and letter blocks are soooo fun from an early age and the others we work in and are super flexible with. And we refer back to those when reading the books with my bigger kid as “wins” like I said.

[@lilykimberlyflowersinwestc1631]

@@confidentlymomthanks! Great information. How do you think this compares to the 4 year old kits? Some of the items seem similar to the ones in those kits.

[@confidentlymom]

@@lilykimberlyflowersinwestc1631 I think I said in the past that The Persister Play Kit is the one I'd skip from the 4 y.o kits and that is only further reinforced with these! I'd 10000000% get the RSS's over the Persister which is the only one I feel like has "duplicat-ish" content with the moveable alphabet. The games in RSS surpass the game in the Persister too IMO making it a no brainer (and just try to find the marble run second hand if you want).

[@lilykimberlyflowersinwestc1631]

@@confidentlymomgot it! Thanks for sharing

[@JacieRoughton]

@@confidentlymomwhat is RSS? 😊

[@jamiemanning2245]

I really love this, but I’m VERY surprised the books aren’t hard cover with the price point 🥴

[@confidentlymom]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reading program use hardcover books (I could be wrong but I’ve checked into at least 7 now). Especially with loveverys it would defeat the purpose of hiding the picture page for some readers.

[@rebecca3157]

Would love to see you compare it to the All About Reading curriculum

[@confidentlymom]

Looking into it now! At first glance I will say, it seems like AAR costs more and lacks the games (which has been my personal biggest pain point on the repetition side of teaching readings that Lovevery solved). AAR also has a screen component add-on and Lovevery is focused on teaching screen free reading which also aligns more with our family (we had access to Nessy last year and it was pretty annoying TBH with a 4.5-5.5 year old who both had to learn language concepts and tech at the same time.) but again that's just personal experience and i'll do a deeper dive on on parents experiences! If you have any to share I'm all ears!