Beginnings is a complete, open-and-go kindergarten reading curriculum that walks you and your child through each consonant and short vowel sound to read their very first words, one lesson at a time. It combines systematic phonics, hands-on activities, and Bible-based stories, so your child grows in confidence while learning about who God is. Teaching your child to read doesn't require an education degree, just the right tools. Beginnings puts every one of them in your hands.
Instead of leaving you to piece together a reading curriculum, a handwriting page here, and a Bible lesson there, it gives you the whole year in one box, already planned out for you.
Inside the box are two spiral-bound books covering 150 daily lessons across 30 weeks, 135 magnetic letter tiles, 26 alphabet cards with the key word on the front and a memory verse on the back, punch-out sight word flashcards, and a sticker progress chart your child will race to fill. Parent pages at the start of each week give you teaching tips, so you always know exactly what to say and do.
The order of the letters is one of the biggest differences. Instead of introducing the alphabet from A to Z, Beginnings starts with M, A, P, T, E, and N. That means your child can begin sounding out simple words by lesson 7. Those early successes build confidence and keep the momentum going.
Every week starts in God's Word, because the reason we learn to read matters more than the method. Reading the Bible is the only way to know God for ourselves, and that journey starts with the very first letter.
Every week opens with a Bible lesson centered on a word that begins with the letter of the week. M is for Manger. Your child hears the story, sees the letter, and starts memorizing a Scripture verse from the matching alphabet card. Letters stop being abstract shapes and become part of God's story.
Days two through four are short, focused practice: Say It activities train your child's ear to hear sounds, letter tiles put the alphabet in their hands, and Write It pages guide correct letter formation stroke by stroke. Parent tips and daily routines guide you through each lesson, down to details like sounding out /m/ without adding the "uh."
Each week ends with a story you read together, where your child fills in the highlighted words they know. They tear out the letter-of-the-week coloring page for the fridge, add a sticker to their progress chart, and see for themselves how far they've come.
You don't have to guess how to teach your child to read. Beginnings gives you a simple, step-by-step plan that builds real reading skills without the overwhelm, combining systematic phonics, hands-on activities, and Bible-based stories so your child grows in both confidence and understanding as they learn to read.
The kit includes 135 magnetic letter tiles, with extras of the most common letters and every vowel. Your child builds words with their hands long before they can write them, and by lesson 7 they're spelling "map" and "ten" on the refrigerator.
All 26 alphabet cards have a word related to scripture on the front and a memory verse on the back. While your child learns the sound each letter makes, they're hiding God's Word in their heart one verse at a time.
At the end of every week, your child adds a sticker to their progress chart. The chart runs in A to Z order, so as the stickers fill in, they watch the letters they've learned find their place in the whole alphabet.
Maybe this sounds familiar. Everyone tells you homeschooling the early years is easy, and then it hits you: this is the year your child learns to read, and you're the teacher.
So you start researching. One program suggests phonics only. Another is all sight words. The pretty one on Instagram goes letter by letter through the alphabet, and somewhere around the letter F you wonder when your child will ever get to read an actual word. You could piece together a phonics program, a handwriting book, and a Bible story time from three different sources, and be the one holding it all together every morning.
Underneath all the research is the question you don't say out loud: what if I do this wrong? What if he falls behind, and it's because of me?
Research shows that no single method works for every child, and the children who don't take to one method aren't behind. They simply need more than one strategy. The problem was never you, and it was never your child. It's the one-size-fits-all approach.
I've taught five kids how to read in my homeschool and around 200 or so as a first grade teacher in the public school system. It's one of my favorite things to teach, because I love that moment when things seem to click and suddenly their eyes are open to all of the great things that they can read.
Here's what all those years taught me: the best way to teach kids how to read is a multi-sensory, multi-strategy approach. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. And so often kids are labeled as struggling readers or behind when they simply just need more time. Don't rush to put a label on your child.
Why do we want to learn how to read? Because we want to know God. Reading the Bible is the only way to know God for ourselves. That's why I created Beginnings.
Picture your child two months from now. The letter tiles come out after breakfast, and they slide M, A, and P together on the cookie sheet. They sound it out slowly, and then their eyes go wide, because they just read a word. Nobody read it to them. They read it.
It's the same child who couldn't tell M from W last month. The difference is a plan that hands you the right tools in the right order, with you close enough to see the click happen.
You don't have to be a teacher for that moment. You just have to be there.
Maybe your child has struggled with another program, and you're starting to hear "behind" in your own head. This curriculum meets them where they are, with engaging pages, intentional review, and a proven approach that helps the letters finally stick.
Or maybe your little one is just five, and you want to start reading without turning the kitchen table into a classroom. Lessons are short, gentle, and hands-on with plenty of play, and moms tell us their kids actually start asking for school time.
Or maybe your child is the wiggly one who can't sit still for a worksheet. Beginnings was made for those hands: magnetic tiles to move, cards to flip, pages to color, stickers to earn. The lesson is over before the wiggles win.
Maybe your child has struggled with another program, and you're starting to hear "behind" in your own head. This curriculum meets them where they are, with engaging pages, intentional review, and a proven approach that helps the letters finally stick.
Or maybe your little one is just five, and you want to start reading without turning the kitchen table into a classroom. Lessons are short, gentle, and hands-on with plenty of play, and moms tell us their kids actually start asking for school time.
Or maybe your child is the wiggly one who can't sit still for a worksheet. Beginnings was made for those hands: magnetic tiles to move, cards to flip, pages to color, stickers to earn. The lesson is over before the wiggles win.
That's why one mom called it a "perfect fit" for the struggling learner she'd had such a hard time shopping for, and why families keep asking us for the next level before they've finished this one.
If you're nodding along, Beginnings was created for your family, by a mom who believes every child can learn to read when they're given the right tools and enough time.
We had a difficult time finding a phonics program for our 6 year old struggling learner. This was a perfect fit! The pages were engaging but not distracting and he was able to focus on the task at hand. He finally learned all the letters and sounds and will be starting Connections next week! We hope more levels come out soon! Thank you Not Consumed!
I bought this for my newly 5 year old son & he is loving it! I wanted something to get us started with learning to read without being too overwhelming— and this fits that description entirely. He looks forward to his 'school time' everyday and is breezing through the content! This makes the basic phonics principles easy to grasp and retain. We can't wait to order the next step in this program. I also really appreciate the interweaving of scripture in the lessons. Beautifully created as well!
This program is just what we needed and is something we look forward to doing together! Gentle approach with plenty of review to practice the letters, beautiful design, something I would definitely recommend!
My son is turning 5 soon and I have struggled to find curriculum resources he enjoys and can stay attentive to. This is BY FAR the best resource I have found! It is engaging, straightforward, eye-catching, etc. He thoroughly enjoys doing school work and it made me so happy. He loves the letter matching game. I was also shocked at how much was included especially for the cost! SO much value. I'm so thankful to have found your company. God bless!
I was looking for a curriculum for my 4 yr old daughter that was a little more engaging. This fits the bill! The hands-on activities and worksheets are perfect. She loves having her own school books, just like her big sisters.
We had a difficult time finding a phonics program for our 6 year old struggling learner. This was a perfect fit! The pages were engaging but not distracting and he was able to focus on the task at hand. He finally learned all the letters and sounds and will be starting Connections next week! We hope more levels come out soon! Thank you Not Consumed!
I bought this for my newly 5 year old son & he is loving it! I wanted something to get us started with learning to read without being too overwhelming— and this fits that description entirely. He looks forward to his 'school time' everyday and is breezing through the content! This makes the basic phonics principles easy to grasp and retain. We can't wait to order the next step in this program. I also really appreciate the interweaving of scripture in the lessons. Beautifully created as well!
This program is just what we needed and is something we look forward to doing together! Gentle approach with plenty of review to practice the letters, beautiful design, something I would definitely recommend!
My son is turning 5 soon and I have struggled to find curriculum resources he enjoys and can stay attentive to. This is BY FAR the best resource I have found! It is engaging, straightforward, eye-catching, etc. He thoroughly enjoys doing school work and it made me so happy. He loves the letter matching game. I was also shocked at how much was included especially for the cost! SO much value. I'm so thankful to have found your company. God bless!
I was looking for a curriculum for my 4 yr old daughter that was a little more engaging. This fits the bill! The hands-on activities and worksheets are perfect. She loves having her own school books, just like her big sisters.
It's a brisk morning in October. The letter tiles are spread across a cookie sheet on the kitchen table, and your son slides three of them into a row. He sounds it out the way you've practiced, slow and then all at once:
"ttt... ehh... n. Ten!"
He looks up at you like he just discovered fire. In a way, he did.
That's the week everything clicks. The review weeks keep arriving right when he needs them, and the letters keep turning into words. By winter, the sticker chart on the wall is half full, and he's filling in the highlighted words when you read the Day 5 stories together. Handwriting practice follows the very same letters, so the words he can read become words he can write.
By spring, something happens that you'll want to catch on video. He picks up the story at the end of Book Two and reads it, a real story, mostly on his own. Then he reads it again to Daddy at dinner, louder this time.
And woven through all of it, week after week, he's been learning who God is. Verse by verse, letter by letter, you're not just raising a reader. You're raising a child who will one day open the Bible and meet God there for himself.
Week by week, this is the Beginnings year. The letter order is the secret: real words show up in week 7, not month seven.
Along the way: 42 foundational sight words on punch-out flashcards, weekly library book lists for read-alouds, and a memory verse for every letter of the alphabet.
All consonants and short vowel sounds
How to hear, separate, and play with the sounds inside words
How to form each letter correctly, with guided handwriting practice
42 foundational sight words they'll meet in almost everything they read
How to blend and segment simple words with short vowels
Age-level truths about who God is, one letter and one verse at a time
All consonants and short vowel sounds
How to hear, separate, and play with the sounds inside words
How to form each letter correctly, with guided handwriting practice
42 foundational sight words they'll meet in almost everything they read
How to blend and segment simple words with short vowels
Age-level truths about who God is, one letter and one verse at a time
No. Beginnings was written for parents, and the teaching help is printed exactly where you need it. Parent pages open every week with tips and guidance, down to details like how to pronounce each letter sound correctly. Teaching your child to read doesn't require an education degree, just the right tools.
Beginnings is a kindergarten-level curriculum, and most families start somewhere between ages 4 and 6. We purposely didn't print grade levels on it, because readiness matters more than age. If your child is showing interest in letters and can sit for a short activity, they're likely ready to begin.
Most families spend 10 to 30 minutes a day, five days a week, depending on the day's activities and your child's pace. And don't be surprised when the letter tiles come back out in the afternoon. Playing with sounds is the kind of practice that's welcome to spill into the rest of the day.
Phonics is the backbone, and it doesn't work alone for every child. Beginnings weaves together systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, sight words, handwriting, and read-alouds, so children with different learning styles all have a path to reading.
Start with Connections instead, and there's no placement test needed. The simple rule: if your child already knows all their consonant and short vowel sounds and can spot them at the beginning, middle, and end of words, they're ready for Connections. If they're still learning letters and sounds, Beginnings is the right starting point.
Beginnings was made for busy hands. Lessons take 10 to 30 minutes and move between magnetic tiles, sound games, movement activities, coloring pages, and stickers, so your child is doing something with their hands the whole time. Plenty of moms tell us the wiggly kid is the one who asks to do school first.
That's actually normal, and it isn't a sign something is wrong. Stop, go back to the letters and words your child already knows, and review. Read together, be patient, and give it time. If Beginnings takes longer than a school year, that's fine. Learning to read is an individual process, and this curriculum will wait for your child.
By the end of Beginnings, your child will read a simple story made mostly of sight words, and that's a milestone worth celebrating. Fluent reading takes lots of practice beyond any curriculum, which is exactly what Connections is for. Beginnings lays the foundation; the love of reading keeps growing from there.
It's the natural companion. The handwriting book follows the exact same letter order as the curriculum, with three practice pages per letter and the same built-in review weeks, so handwriting reinforces the reading instead of running on a separate track. Each child needs their own copy, since they work directly in its pages.
Each child needs their own copy. Beginnings is a hands-on curriculum where students write in the books, cut, tear out pages, and earn their own stickers, and that's by design. The doing is how the learning sticks.
We believe that the Bible is the absolute authority in matters of faith and practice. It's 100% true, with no exceptions or figurative sections. We believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture; in one God eternally existing in three Persons; in the creation of all things, including man, as the direct act of God; in eternally secure salvation by grace through faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; in the incarnation and virgin birth of Christ, and in His bodily resurrection; in the personal, bodily, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ and His millennial reign on earth.
A separate companion product, Beginnings Handwriting Practice contains 30 weeks of guided letter formation in the exact same M, A, P, T, E, N order as the curriculum, with three practice pages per letter. The words your child reads each week become the words they write.
Handwriting isn't an add-on you have to find on your own. It's the perfect complement, made to match the reading curriculum week for week.
Beginnings Reading Curriculum Kit: $67
(the complete learn-to-read curriculum with the letter tiles, Scripture cards, and progress chart)
Beginnings Handwriting Practice: $12
(the matching handwriting book for the whole year)
