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AAR - how's it going for your child?


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I began using AAR1 with my 5.5 dd last August, we are currently 3/4 of the way through AAR2 and I feel like my dd is not as advanced in reading as I think she should be. Am I just going too slowly or is the program slow? We have only covered the 'ee' vowel digraph and have yet to get to some consonant digraphs and silent letters.

 

What has your experience been with the program?

 

The other issue is what to do after AAR2 since AAR3 isn't due out until late 2013.

 

I appreciate your input.

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I feel this way too. Not sure what to do .. I actually started with my dd who was 6 and son 5.. I am really worried about her because she is now 7. I think my son is far enough along to just be finishing up K. But, I wish my daughter was farther along ... All About Reading has been so good for my her . She really struggled with learning to reading. And, I don't know what to do because we are waiting for 3 ... and 4 won't be out till next year.. I'm sorry I'm not much help. But, I definitely feel the same as you and I hope you get some good responses. Maybe Merry will respond and give us some good advice. If you go to the All About Learning website and their forums.. there is a post that shows the scope and sequence for level 3. I don't know if that will help you to figure out your next step.. I have to be honest I didn't think level 3 covered that much ... I guess it takes a while to learn all the rules...

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Level 3 should be out early fall. I actually think that completing nearly 2 levels in a year for a 5.5 year old is pretty awesome progress! There are several vowel combos by the end of 2.

 

Is your concern with Level 2 the words she's learning, or is it with the sequence? In other words...is it that the sequence is different from a program that follows a stricter grade-level sequence, making it harder to pick up outside readers, or something else? As I look through the word lists in the appendix, there are some pretty impressive words for 6 and 7 year-olds to read--blockbuster, blueprint, bulge, concern, cornflower, crawfish, cucumber, fingerprint, globetrotter, handshake, invoice, perhaps, relaxed, simmered, seventeen, taut, whisked, voice, watercraft, vacant... Have you been working through the challenge words also?

 

I haven't seen Level 3 yet, but I did see a sneak peak of the readers, and you'll see a lot more silent letters in that level (I saw words like "shipwreck" and "knight" for example). Also more 2 and 3 syllable words like weather, floated, tonight, vacation, selection, together, different, higher-pitched, Cedric, Atticus, and at least one 4 syllable word--thermometer, more vowel combos like oa, ai, ay, ow, ea, eigh, igh, more r-controlled vowels like ur, ir, ear, w+or, consonant-le words, consonant combos like dge and tch, prefixes and suffixes, and so on.

 

Altogether there are 4 levels. At the end of Level 4, students have the phonics and word attack skills necessary to sound out high school level words, though they may not know the meaning of all higher level words.(Word attack skills include things like dividing words into syllables, making analogies to other words, sounding out the word with the accent on different word parts, recognizing affixes, etc…)

 

So, you are about at the halfway point now. Unlike a graded reader system that has to introduce a lot of words as sight words because students aren't taught to sound them out, an Orton-Gillingham program will make things look easy because almost all words are taught so that they can be sounded out. Ideally the student won't think it's hard, or if the student is a struggling reader, at least it will make things seem doable.

 

All that to say, you may want to check the online samples when it comes out this fall and see if it's a good fit for you and your child. That will probably be the best way to help you decide if you want to continue on, or if you want to switch to something else. HTH some! Merry :-)

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I began using AAR1 with my 5.5 dd last August, we are currently 3/4 of the way through AAR2 and I feel like my dd is not as advanced in reading as I think she should be. Am I just going too slowly or is the program slow? We have only covered the 'ee' vowel digraph and have yet to get to some consonant digraphs and silent letters.

 

I just finished AAR 1 with my oldest & this "slowness" you mentioned was one of the reasons we moved on to something else. Since my DD was already "behind" in her reading, I just couldn't bear the thought of taking *however long* to finish 2 more levels before she was reading well. I do like AAR 1 for getting a child started reading, though...

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We just finished the what am I story, not sure on lesson number. We work on fluency with the sheets and also by rereading older stories. My mom, a retired ps teacher, was at our house and commented that she thought he was easily at a level typical of end of first grade in our local schools. The local schools are fairly middle class but most kids go to preschool and know all their basic sounds before starting k. I notice that the nonstandard s&s makes it so he can read lots of words that are more advanced but cant read some of the more common words. This sometimes frustrates him but I consider it great for vocabulary building.

 

After level 2 we are switching to sound beginnings, a spalding spinoff. This is due to a few things unrelated to the publication date. When we started aar, ds couldn't write and had no interest in learning. This has recently changed dramatically. Now that he is writing he is asking how to spell a lot of words. So, now that he can do a more integrated program i think that will be simpler and more cost effective than doing aar plus spelling plus handwriting plus basic grammar and copywork. He is also interested in choosing his own reading material and has reached the stage that he knows enough phonograms that he can figure out quite a bit on his own from context clues. I'm not sure how I feel about him using the context clues to read things that he can't decode yet. I may purchase the level 3 readers when they become available so that I have something on hand if his book choice ends up being too easy or difficult.

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We are about 1/3 of the way through AAR 2. It has been a fantastic fit for my ds. The scope and sequence is different than some so if your child is trying to read leveled readers I can see that being frustrating, but since AAR has so much to read within the program, my ds doesn't read much beyond it. I am ok with this at this point.

 

As far as ahead/behind/slow, a lot depends on your child. My dd was further ahead at this point. (summer after K). I used Abeka with her but she got through Abeka phonics k and at least half of first grade at this point-- we just went at her pace. AAR has been the right pace for my ds, he needs the fluency sheets and practice. This year he did pre level, level 1 and by summers end should be about halfway through level 2.

 

I have had several thoughts for when we finish AAR 2. We may go onto level 3 depending on when it comes out. Or we may move onto OPGTR, or I may just teach the rest of the phonograms via the Abeka charts and flash cards and just start AAS1. We plan to start AAS1 when we finish AAR2 regardless.

 

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AAR1 is working well for my dd. She reads from the readers with the program, Abeka readers and Bob books. If she comes across a word she hasn't learned the rule for yet (bc of different scope and sequence), I simply tell her the word and a quick reason why it says what it does... "Sometimes, "kn" says "/n/" and the k is silent."

 

She calls AAR her "fun, fun, fun" school.

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Merry thanks for sharing about level 3!! Feeling much better.

 

We have been using the Abeka flash cards and readers while waiting for the next level.

 

I was looking thru AAS last night trying to figure out how I could maybe use it as a reading program if we needed to move faster. That might be an option for you.

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Merry thanks for sharing about level 3!! Feeling much better.

 

We have been using the Abeka flash cards and readers while waiting for the next level.

 

I was looking thru AAS last night trying to figure out how I could maybe use it as a reading program if we needed to move faster. That might be an option for you.

 

 

Glad that helped. I heard this morning that Level 3 is on schedule to come out in September.

 

I'm not sure AAS would be faster (7 levels instead of 4). Plus you may end up needing to work at separate places for reading and spelling--the programs are separate because most kids move along faster with reading than with spelling. It could work for a student who catches on to reading quickly though, if you don't mind adding in any needed reading practice, vocabulary work, etc...

 

With AAR, you don't have to do all of the fluency practice, you can pick and choose. There's a lot there for the students that need it in order to develop fluency--but if a child doesn't need that much practice, you can cut it down quite a bit. It just depends on the student's needs. That might help you move along more quickly. OTOH, if a child really needs the fluency practice, then just keep going at his or her pace--that's what it's there for. No one will care in 10 years how long a student spent on learning to read (or math facts, or spelling, or any of these other skills-oriented things that stress us out when we feel our kids are "behind.")

 

I look at: is my child learning and progressing? Is this working? If it is, the time doesn't really matter. Don't fix what's not broken. "Perfect" isn't out there, but lots of good, effective programs are. If it's good and effective, they get there.

 

If a child is bored or isn't learning, then I look at what needs to be fixed. Sometimes that means moving faster for a bored child, or more review for one who isn't retaining, changing up my methods or tweaking the approach; sometimes that means look at something else--we just can't make this work.

 

Anyway, HTH some as you decide what's going to work well! Merry :-)

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Merry, Thank you so much for your insight. It really helped me see the big picture. My issue is with the sequence and the difficulty in reading outside readers. DD has enjoyed the AAR activities and it is still challenging for her. We love AAS and I'm happy to hear AAR3 will be out in September. We will stick with it!

 

Thank you other moms who have responded. I knew I could count on this forum for help!

 

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