Whether you’re looking to give your child a head start or help them catch up with their reading skills, at-home phonics reading programmes are becoming more and more popular.

It has become the established method of teaching children how to read in Western educational system, but there are a growing number of phonics programmes that are completed at home – either to kick start your child’s learning before they begin school, or to help support your child’s learning a few years down the road.

We’ve conducted in-depth reviews on two of the most popular; Children Learning Reading and Reading Head Start. But how do they fare in a head-to-head comparison?

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The programmes – in summary

Children Learning Reading

Children Learning Reading is a phonics reading programme created by experienced reading teacher, Jim Yang. It combines in-depth theory (for parents) with effective, digestible lessons for children. Although it’s an effective programme that can be used by children up to the age of eight, it’s a little tricky to identify different stages, so it’s best for children who are starting their reading journey.

Check out our in-depth review of Children Learning Reading here.

Reading Head Start

Created by former English teacher Sarah Shepard after her son was falling behind with reading at school, Reading Head Start helps children learn to read through phonics. Although it is primarily targeted 2-9 year olds, it can be used by children of all ages, and there is a clear breakdown of stages, making it easy to choose a tailored starting point based on your child’s reading level.

Check out our in-depth review of Reading Head Start here.

Head-to-head

All products and services reviewed by the DaddiLife team or members of the DaddiLife community use our scoring system. Here’s how Children Learning Reading and Reading Head Start fared in a quick head-to-head.

For more information on our scoring system can be found here.

Let’s look at these comparisons in a bit more detail…

Effectiveness

Everyone is different and learns in different ways, so it’s extremely difficult to compare reading programmes like these objectively. Rather than attempt to describe which is more effective, we’ve decided to explain what each one was effective for.

Children Learning Reading is most effective for younger/beginner readers who are starting from scratch. Although Yang says it can be used for older/better readers, there’s no real indication of where you start if your high has a higher reading lesson. It’s super simple to start from the very beginning of the programme and follow along. So many reviewers say they notice an improvement in their child’s reading ability in just a couple of weeks. 

Reading Head Start is definitely better suited to older readers, with clearly defined stages throughout the course making it easy to determine where your child should start the programme. 

All of our reviewers found that both programmes worked best when additional materials were printed out, rather than viewed on screen. 

Ease of use

Neither of the programmes scored particularly well on this metric (3.5 for Children Learning Reading, 3 for Reading Head Start). Children Learning Reading is generally pretty straightforward to use, but our reviewers stressed that you do need to print off the additional materials to make the most of it. 

It’s a similar story with Reading Head Start – printing is essential if you want your child to really engage. The website isn’t the easiest to navigate for sign-up, but once you get to the programme itself, it’s very easy to use – the dashboard is clear and simple to navigate between different lessons. There’s plenty of information on screen without feeling chaotic and overwhelming.

Value for money

Like ‘Effectiveness’, value is subjective depending on individual circumstances. 

However, Children Learning Reading’s one-off payment of $69 (roughly £54) makes it one of the most affordable phonics programmes around. And Reading Head Start’s £30 monthly fee means you’re likely to spend close to £300 over the full duration of the course. 

Key features

The crux of these programmes are fairly similar – a series of short video tutorials and interactive lessons, coupled with printable additional resources, including – short stories, flashcards, nursery rhymes etc. 

However, Children Learning Reading also provides a 120+ e-book, allowing parents to dive head first into the world of phonics theory – the idea being that if the parent understands what it’s all about, they’ll be better equipped to help teach their child to read. 

Online buzz

Although Reading Head Start’s website claims the programme has helped more than five million families, and that 9/10 customers would recommend the programme, we have no way of verifying that information, so Children Learning Reading comes out on top in terms of online chatter and reviews. 

Review after review after review raved about the impact it had on their child’s reading ability – like Marianna on Trustpilot, whose child went from knowing the alphabet to reading fluently in the space of a year, or Rochelle, who used the programme to help her son catch-up after his reading skills took a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic.