All About Reading vs Hooked on Phonics: Parent-Taught or App-Led Phonics?

All About Reading vs Hooked on Phonics: the short answer

Both teach phonics step by step, and both use decodable stories so kids read only what they've learned. The big difference is who does the teaching.

All About Reading is a curriculum you teach. A lightly scripted manual tells you what to say, and your child learns with letter tiles, flashcards, short activities and readers. It's thorough, gentle and often chosen for struggling readers.

Hooked on Phonics is an app that teaches, backed by mailed workbooks and storybooks. You supervise and listen to your child read. It's quick to start and works well for kids who pick up reading easily.

Teaching approach

All About Reading is multisensory. Kids see, hear, say and move letter tiles to build words. Concepts are taught explicitly, reviewed with a card system, and mastered before moving on. Lessons aren't meant to be finished in one day; some take a week. Levels run from Pre-Reading through Level 4, which teaches advanced phonograms and multisyllable words.

Hooked on Phonics moves through fixed steps of three short lessons each. Videos, songs and games introduce a sound, then a decodable story puts it to use. It stops around 2nd-grade reading and focuses on decoding, with little grammar, writing or comprehension.

What a lesson looks like

All About Reading (Level 1): Review a few flashcards, introduce a new sound with the tiles, build and read words together, do a short activity page or game, then read a story from the reader. About 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes of reading aloud to your child.

Hooked on Phonics: Your child watches a short video and sings about a new sound, plays two or three games, reads a short story in the app or from the mailed books, then does a workbook page. It's done in 20 minutes or less.

Price and value

As of October 2026, All About Reading is a one-time purchase: $119.95 for Pre-Reading and $159.95 for each of Levels 1–4, plus letter tiles ($25.95) and a review box ($17.95) per student. Shipping is extra. A one-year return guarantee applies (45 days on ESA orders).

Hooked on Phonics website plans cost $23.96 to $31.99 a month for up to three learners, with a mailed practice pack. App-only access is $129.99 a year. Plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.

All About Reading's teacher materials and readers can be reused for siblings, which makes it cheaper over several children.

Who should choose All About Reading

• Parents who can teach one-on-one for 20 minutes a day
• Struggling readers, including many kids with dyslexia
• Families who want a full homeschool reading spine through about grade 4
• Families who'd rather buy once than pay monthly

Who should choose Hooked on Phonics

• Busy parents who want the app to teach
• Preschoolers and kindergartners who are learning quickly
• Families who want a mix of screen and paper practice
• Parents who want to try phonics before committing to a curriculum

Alternatives to both

• Logic of English: rules-based phonics and spelling together. See All About Reading vs Logic of English.
• Explode the Code: low-cost phonics workbooks. See All About Reading vs Explode the Code.
• Reading Eggs: a broader reading app. See Reading Eggs vs Hooked on Phonics.
• Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons: one inexpensive scripted book.
• Barton Reading: an intensive option for dyslexia.

See the best phonics programs and best reading programs for dyslexia.

Can you use a scholarship for either?

Often, yes. Phonics curriculum is commonly an allowable expense in education savings account programs such as the Arizona ESA and Florida's scholarships. All About Learning Press accepts ESA and state scholarship purchases, and Hooked on Phonics publishes an ESA page for families. Some programs pay only approved vendors through platforms like ClassWallet, and each program decides. Save your pick to your wishlist and apply once to the scholarships your family may qualify for.