Thanks so much for that my3sons! I think we were typing (or I was limping through typing at the same time)!
I agree that it's time for me to give the hand a rest after this!
Jewel 123,
When choosing Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson we looked at SO many factors that affect how well a phonics program works. We also sorted through the many methodologies out there, although I'd seen and read much already about the various methodologies during my 11 years of being doused in a big variety of phonics programs during my public school teaching days!
I'll be very up front in saying that if you are of the "writing as a way to learn to read" methodology or the "learn every phonics rule and drill it" methodology, then the two programs we carry will NOT suit you well. Then, you'd want to look at something like the Writing Road to Reading or the Orton-Gillingham method of phonics instruction instead.
Our philosophy is that writing can actually come much later than reading and that demanding a child's fine motor skills to keep up with the decoding skills needed to read can cause much frustration. Our own boys each read very early and wrote much later. Had I held them back waiting for them to write each word as it was read (or learned) would have made reading an overwhelming task at an early age.
Also, when teaching early readers we've discovered that knowing some rules in beneficial and using an eclectic approach to covering them works fine. Our experience is that not all children need to be able to recite every phonics rule in order to apply it. Many rules are just too tedious and have too many exceptions to be worth memorizing. For example, we used Alphabet Island for phonics/spelling with my first son, and while the rule coverage was amazingly complete, little of the rules were retained and his learning to actually read didn't come out of that experience. We had to use yet another program to teach that! However, we do believe in giving a thorough treatment to phonics, rather than stopping as soon as kiddos are reading quite well. Programs such as 100 Easy Lessons drop kiddos off before phonics is finished, leaving a parent to fill a gap by finishing out phonics on their own (which can be done easily but requires some creativity).
We chose Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson because we find the phonics coverage to be complete enough without being tedious. We find the combination of gentle introductions to the various rules applied right within the reading material gives kiddos an "I can do this" feeling. It gets them reading early in the lessons and keeps it entertaining without being overly flashly.
Both programs also work well with a Charlotte-Mason approach to short lessons that capitalize on kiddo's short attention spans. Both programs provide stories right within the guide, having Teacher's Guide and Student Book in one. This feature saves much time searching for developmentally appropriate books, since the reading material is already there.
It is also wonderful that each guide is just purely for phonics rather than throwing in all sorts of other language arts skills along with phonics. This keeps the focus on learning to read and allows the parent to move more quickly or slowly through the program without feeling like they may be missing other skills if they change the pace. We had used the Blue Book for LLATL with my oldest son early on and felt tied to its slow pace of learning to read due to the multiple other skills woven in the lessons. We had to abandon it for that reason.
Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson also transition very well into our Emerging Reader's Set, solving another difficult problem for parents. The question about what to do after phonics is easily answered by the HOD sequence from phonics program to Emerging Reader's Set to independent reading using Drawn into the Heart of Reading.
Reading Made Easy is more teacher intensive and The Reading Lesson is more open and go. Both make teaching your child to read something anyone can do, rather than requiring the parent to take a course first or wade through how much to do each day or how to pace the program.
Last. both of these programs come highly recommended by other homeschoolers and reviewers alike. Reading Made Easy is currently in Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Curriculum Picks. The Reading Lesson has won many awards as well. Both have been used to teach thousands of children to be good readers. My own mother (who was a first grade teacher for 25 years) really likes The Reading Lesson. She's read it cover to cover and was surprised at how well laid out it is. She's a tough critic! She also like Reading Made Easy, but thinks The Reading Lesson could easily be used by anyone!
With all that being said, there are other good programs out there that work equally as well. The teaching style of the parent is just as important as the learning style of the child, when choosing a phonics program. If the parent is not inspired or doesn't feel confident with their choice, then the phonics program most likely won't get done.
In the end, we've discovered that the best program is one that consistently gets done in the day-to-day. The two phonics options we offer make that possible. While many phonics programs are wonderfully in depth or very full content-wise, if they just sit on the shelf because they're too overwhelming, the benefit is lost.
I hope this gives you some good areas to ponder when choosing a phonics program for your situation. Interestingly enough, most parents find that their second or third phonics option worked best, after struggling with their first option. In truth this is largely due to the child just being more mature and more ready to read by then, and also due to the fact that the child has some phonics instruction under their belt to draw on when heading it a second or third round of phonics! For those parents who only used one phonics option, celebrate!! You are VERY blessed!
Blessings,
Carrie
So certainly if you are looking to substitute stories and want more variety in the writing story the appendix should be more than enough. 
Sometimes that is all it takes to help a parent (and child) learn to like something they did not like at the outset.