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Anyone ELSE surprised by DB Fast Track content!??


Neesy
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Okay, I WAS really considering this, until I looked at the samples!  My "original" main concern in checking out the samples in-depth was the different SPELLINGS of the "Englsh" words.

 

SHEESH!  THEN....my concern became the "message" the readings would be sending to my young boys.  What on earth!?  As I kept reading on, I kept saying to myself, "Seriously!?".  Okay so,  I have sat on this for a couple of days, so I wouldn't overreact....I know....some of you are saying I didn't sit LONG enough, right?  LOL.  I just think this needs to be OUT THERE for those families who DO care about the actual content...this type of content.

 

First of all, the story/stories...are quite.... WEIRD!  LOL.  Okay...maybe that is part of the plan...cuz kids really LIKE weird!?  After all, Explode the Code drawings and sentences are a bit strange...but just in a funny/silly way.  I will post here what I was really surprised by and those considering this curriculum can go take a look at the samples for themselves.  Mainly it is things I wouldn't want my boys either repeating verbally, emulating, or thinking was an okay way to conduct oneself.  Plus, MY boys repeat and emulate constantly (both of them mild-ASD, ADD, ID).  Anyway... I just think the stories/sentences send the WRONG message.  

 

I apologize if all this has already been hashed over here...I didn't see any major postings about it. :confused1:  I will include not only the questionable subject matter, but also the vast number of very different "UK" words...some with completely different spellings, some I just have no idea what they are/mean.  The sentences I quote are taken directly from the online sample. OKAY, here goes...

 

Kerb... as in "Mack and Seth will sit on the kerb."

 

"Beth did well in maths this term."

 

"Chick will kill you if that duck quacks."

 

Who will get more beer for the boys?"   (for the BOYS!?...yes, we sometimes call our men "boys"...but MY boys would think it meant literal BOYS!)  Yes, I know I could explain that....but.... REALLY, should I HAVE to explain that...coming from their PHONICS program??  lol

 

 

WORDS:

 

 luff    quid     quaff     pert    busk    larch    quoit    bung     erne    serf    dux    bort    chink    quid     swot     ruck    kith    corm

 

Okay, next is a "reward story" it was called........

 

The title being, "He Just had Beer and Roast Beef for Lunch".

 

"..............left the pond to see where Bart had got to."  "had got to"??  That just didn't sound right to me,,,,grammatically?  Maybe it is, it just didn't sound right.

 

Gotta love the goat named, "GROIN"!  :laugh: LOL

 

MORE WORDS:

 

woad     aft      chit    berth (birth??)      tosh      quoin       fen       baize       tod        teg       mort      fid     spoilt  (spoiled?)  

 

And they would like to teach my boys some brand new name-calling words:  twerp, nerd, twit

 

Another story title:   "Beer with Bart"

 

He is told, "Wait and the maid will bring you a beer."  :confused1:

 

"Vern, Bart, and Froid drank the beer, AND THEY COULD NOT STAND UP".    My emphasis added.  My jaw literally dropped at this point! :huh:  SERIOUSLY??

 

WORDS AGAIN:

erst       nipper     stoat      bairn      larch 

 

later in the story....

 

"They had drunk all the beer."

 

"We sell swell shorts for tall tramps."

  

"My dad likes to have a smoke with his beer."

 

Mark asks for a glass of milk and the snake says he doesn't have any, then proceeds to say, "But would you like a BEER?" 

 

The horse asks if he makes his beer with oats because oats make the strongest beer. 

Snake gives Mark beer.  Then the text says, "....but Mark could not drink much of it, for it was very strong.".

 

After that, the QUESTIONS your child is supposed to answer at the end of the story: 

 

"Do you think Mark drank much oat beer?"  AND.....

 

"Do you think he can stand up?"  I am NOT joking! :confused1:

 

Here's another couple GEMS: 

 

"If you do not want to go, you could pretend to be unwell."

 

"I like to raid the fridge at night".  

 

These two really hit a nerve, because we struggle with honesty and  food issues with the adopted kiddos.  UGGH!  Not to MENTION the alcohol....both of our boys have some form of fetal alcohol effect from their birthmom's prenatal drinking.  Double UGGGH!

 

And it goes ON....

 

"My dad asked me to fetch his glass of scotch."

 

Title of next story:

 

"Beer at Dawn's"

 

"..... horse took a large pail of beer and went off to soak it up with Floyd." 

 

THAT'S where I STOPPED! :cursing:  I guess I thought that was enough.   Siiiiigh............

 

I could just HEAR one of my boys saying to Grandpa, "Hey, Grandpa...wanna go raid the fridge, have a smoke, get a pail of beer, and go soak it up with Grandma?"  Or worse yet, "....with one of those tall tramps with the swell shorts!?"  LOL :laugh:  Sorry... couldn't RESIST!  Seriously, though...I could totally hear them quoting sentences from this!  That's what they do...hear...repeat....hear...repeat.  Grandma would say, "WHERE on earth did you hear THAT!?"  And they would proceed to tell her, "From our PHONICS program in school!" :ohmy:Oh, NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!   LOL!

 

Hope no one takes this the wrong way.  Like I said in the beginning, I just thought it needed to be "out there".  You all can decide for yourselves what you think of it. ;)

 

 

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Wow, so many people here love Dancing Bears, I'm surprised this has never come up before! (Maybe they haven't used Fast Track? But you'd think the stories would be similar in all modules...) This is like a The Onion parody!

 

How could the program developers not have gotten pushback from disgusted parents who've paid for their kids to read about drunkenness? They couldn't think of better "ee" words than beer????

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Most of those words I know. Berth is a bed on a ship or a dock for a ship. I think fast track is a remedial programme for older kids? Tramp is a homeless person who moves around. Most kids aren't as literal as yours so it isn't a major problem.

 

The spelling, off words and odd grammar - that is how I feel when i read US books. The drunkeness is a bit odd though drinking beer is as normal for some people as other drinks may be for you.

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yeah, I wouldn't use that if I were American. There are many many many words that are different in British English vs. American English. You'd be surprised, but English people think the same of some of our words, ex: khaki pants gets a real laugh (khaki does not mean color and pants is underwear) fanny pack, "follow through" there is a long list. 

 

though going down to the pub for a drink is not like a bar in America, and drinking is perceived differently in the UK, I know many English Christians who do not drink and see it as dangerous/a bad idea to hang out at a pub....b/c of that I'm surprised the publisher would include so much about beer??

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The British spelling wouldn't bother or offend me, but if it's a spelling program, then I wouldn't choose it, since my child needs to learn US English.

The beer thing is odd to me. I found myself rolling my eyes even when cerveza kept popping up in my Pimsleur Spanish, but at least it's geared toward adults. Americans haven't given beer to minors as a regular beverage since at least the Temperance Movement, AFAIK.

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Wow, so many people here love Dancing Bears, I'm surprised this has never come up before! (Maybe they haven't used Fast Track? But you'd think the stories would be similar in all modules...) This is like a The Onion parody!

 

How could the program developers not have gotten pushback from disgusted parents who've paid for their kids to read about drunkenness? They couldn't think of better "ee" words than beer????

 

I don't know??  Fast Track is the only one I looked at. 

 

LOL...I thought the same thing about the word "beer"!  How 'bout some nice stories about a talking DEER?  There were talking horses and talking goats!  lol.  Oh yeh.... they also used the word "queer" (as in, "strange/peculiar"). 

 

Oh wellll..... I think I'll stick with my Phonics Pathways.  I'm debating about purchasing Reading Pathways to go with it. :-)

 

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The British spelling wouldn't bother or offend me, but if it's a spelling program, then I wouldn't choose it, since my child needs to learn US English.

 

No, it wasn't the British spelling that bothered/offended me....at all.  I just included that, since that was the original thing I was looking at...to see how prevalent it was.  There WAS quite a bit. 

 

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I'm not going to comment on the story content, but I just thought you might like a UK perspective on some of the words/sentences:

 

Kerb... as in "Mack and Seth will sit on the kerb."

This is just a UK spelling issue - I think the US is curb (at the edge of the road)?

 

"Beth did well in maths this term."

Again - we say maths not math.

 

The following are perfectly normal in the UK, and are known by my 5-year-old from general life/conversation:

quid is slang for pound (as in currency - US equivalent would be buck as slang for dollar)

larch common type of tree

quoit weighted ring you play throwing games with

bung can't tell what context this was used in, but common as slang for 'put' when a verb (e.g. bung that bag in the corner), or less common as a noun

busk busking is fairly common on UK high streets

chink small gap

 

"..............left the pond to see where Bart had got to."  "had got to"??  That just didn't sound right to me,,,,grammatically?  Maybe it is, it just didn't sound right.

It is in the UK!

 

spoilt correct spelling in UK English

 

nipper slang for small child

stoat small mammal rather like a weasel

bairn Scottish dialect word

kith Scottish dialect word

 

I assume the point of lots of the other more obscure words is to make the child read the actual word on the page, since DB Fast Track is a remedial programme.

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yeah, I wouldn't use that if I were American. There are many many many words that are different in British English vs. American English. You'd be surprised, but English people think the same of some of our words, ex: khaki pants gets a real laugh (khaki does not mean color and pants is underwear) fanny pack, "follow through" there is a long list. 

 

though going down to the pub for a drink is not like a bar in America, and drinking is perceived differently in the UK, I know many English Christians who do not drink and see it as dangerous/a bad idea to hang out at a pub....b/c of that I'm surprised the publisher would include so much about beer??

Oh, I have NO doubt it would be the same if reversed...as far as "our words".  Funny about the khaki pants!

 

The thing that surprised me most about the drinking thing was,  a. that there were so MANY stories/sentences about it and  b. that they included the drunkenness!  WHY?  What purpose could THAT possibly have?  And then, to ask my CHILD to chime in on how "drunk" he thinks the character got (how much he thinks the character drank and if he fell down)!  :eek:Wow.

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I'm not going to comment on the story content, but I just thought you might like a UK perspective on some of the words/sentences:

I assume the point of lots of the other more obscure words is to make the child read the actual word on the page, since DB Fast Track is a remedial programme.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share those!  Very cool! 

 

I wondered about that myself...the obscure words.  Sort of like having them read "nonsense" words.  Thanks again for the education! :thumbup:

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the English WORDS I would be unconcerned about. My kids LOVE learning British words and think that it is both hilarious, and charming, not to mention a fun challenge!  You can definiitey just enjoy that aspect of it with your boys!

 

Now, I was going to defend the whole beer thing by pointing out that people in Europe don't have the same hang up that we do about young people and alcohol.  For better or for worse, children and families see alcohol as we see soda...more or less. They know it can cause major health issues as well as drunkenness and the resulting stupid decisions and addiction, but they just think it is part of life, and something that needs to be understood and used in moderation..

 

BUT I have to say, it is definitely overdone in that story and I can't see why they had to make it such a central point of the whole story.  Maybe it's supposed to be funny. I am shocked that, even in a culture where beer is much more accepted on a regular daily basis, ....I cannot believe they haven't gotten complaints.  

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Knowing this is the remedial version of the program makes me wonder if the beer was included to interest older children with a more adult sounding topic. Not something I would want to use with littles...

 

I haven't looked closely at Dancing Bears, is there a non-remedial version? If so how does it compare content-wise?

 

The use of British words and spellings does not bother me.

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The regular version has a lot of beer drinking also. You can read the full stories in the samples of Dancing Bears A, B, etc.

 

This topic has been brought up several times before. It's not an unknown issue, though I could see some not realizing it, as it's not always mentioned when DB is recommended. I've often seen people suggest it with a caveat to read the stories first, or some people skip the stories and use something else as their reader.

 

ETA: Swype errors almost got me there... big difference between "some nut raising it" and "some not realizing it". :lol: I don't think anyone is a nut for raising this issue! Ha!

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Yes, my ds loves Bear Necessities (we've done 1A and are in 1B now).  I've been ignoring it and most of the beer stuff goes over his head but my teenagers and older always snicker when he's reading aloud.  I had to skip a beer sentence in Apples and Pears A this week, too.  So far, I've just used the excuse that it's a different culture if the kids notice it but I'll have to check if it is more frequent in the next book.  

 

Grr . . . my son who is using Bear Necessities is really flourishing in this program . . . hmm . . I wonder if I can just substitute the word "pop" for beer in the stories :)  He would think it was awesome to be allowed to drink enough pop that he couldn't stand up! 

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"..............left the pond to see where Bart had got to." "had got to"?? That just didn't sound right to me,,,,grammatically? Maybe it is, it just didn't sound right.

 

I use the expression "get to" to mean someone had kind of wandered off, or something is misplaced. "Where Burt had got to" doesn't mean quite the same thing as "where Burt had gone," because it sort of suggests he didn't quite intend to end up there.

 

I am not familiar with DB but wouldn't use beer so often as a discussion point with my kids, but I have had some surprises in European materials. There is a problem in MEP Y5A about how many bottles of wine at a party.

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I'm not going to comment on the story content, but I just thought you might like a UK perspective on some of the words/sentences:

 

 

I assume the point of lots of the other more obscure words is to make the child read the actual word on the page, since DB Fast Track is a remedial programme.

Yup.  My dd with language processing issues and possible dyslexia THRIVED because of techniques like this.  She stopped being able to guess words.  It really was the only program that helped her.  

 

And no, I'm not offended.  First of all, I recognize a lot of the spellings and word usage because we are big fans of BBC, British lit, and British novels.  Secondly, I really did not see it as much as it's written above.  I could point out the times beer and firewhisky were talked about in HP (or a thousand other books) and I'm sure somebody would be up in arms.  My kids know beer exists.  They're not oblivious and have seen drunk people IRL and on TV.  We almost never drink, but I don't shelter them from it and they know that drinking a beer does not make one a bad person. They think stuff like the above is silly nonsense.  They're certainly not going out to drink beer with friends because of a remedial reading program.  :lol:   Honestly, I believe you're overthinking this, personally.  If it makes you uncomfortable, don't use it.  But you're overlooking some cultural and language differences and things kids can find funny but obviously won't take as advice.  Take a deep breath. 

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Having used DB to remediate an older dyslexic child, the stories kept us laughing and my child engaged. Personally, I am thrilled with DB for older children. It gets the job done without making the child feel like they're using material made for preschoolers. That's very important with pre-teens.

 

That being said, DB is not what I use with my littles. :lol: They wouldn't understand the jokes and love the silly stories in the Bob Books.

 

 

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Yes, my ds loves Bear Necessities (we've done 1A and are in 1B now). I've been ignoring it and most of the beer stuff goes over his head but my teenagers and older always snicker when he's reading aloud. I had to skip a beer sentence in Apples and Pears A this week, too. So far, I've just used the excuse that it's a different culture if the kids notice it but I'll have to check if it is more frequent in the next book.

 

Grr . . . my son who is using Bear Necessities is really flourishing in this program . . . hmm . . I wonder if I can just substitute the word "pop" for beer in the stories :) He would think it was awesome to be allowed to drink enough pop that he couldn't stand up!

You could try root beer as a substitution :)

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I know half of these words just from reading a lot of books so I don't have any issue with my child reading them.  Nor do I think of them as "English" (vs American) since many of these words are found in older kids classics, including those written in the US. 

 

Plus, I think the unusual real words instead of nonsense words is one of the strengths of DB   (and we just skipped the stories)

 


 luff    quid     quaff     pert    busk    larch    quoit    bung     erne    serf    dux    bort    chink    quid     swot     ruck    kith    corm

woad     aft      chit    berth (birth??)      tosh      quoin       fen       baize       tod        teg       mort      fid     spoilt  (spoiled?)  

erst       nipper     stoat      bairn      larch 

ETA - some of the words aren't really older either - just specialized -- luff, aft, berth are all sailing terms for example.

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I think it's good you posted about this....just to forewarn others who may be considering DB Fast Track.  Sometimes a person just skims the first few samples and then orders.  Some people could be offended and shocked and others not, as we've seen by the replies.  I, personally, would look for something else.  If you are still looking for a fast track type remedial program you might want to look at Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons.  Another good option is Zoom Reading Strategy. 

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I agree that British culture doesn't have the same hang ups about alcohol as we do. Another thought is that alcohol and drunkedness has not always been a taboo topic for children in the states either. Lots of old cartoons like Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and the like had scenes with characters getting drunk and hiccuping/falling all over the place. My dad, who is a very silly and animated person, on occasion makes jokes and acts like a "drunk" cartoon character around my kids (who don't all get it) even though I frown upon it.  Anyway, I wouldn't choose this for my family, especially my small kids, since we are a conservative religious family although they are aware of what alcohol is and what it can do to you. But I can see it being used by older kids and parents not being offended by it, just considering it silly nonsense. 

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Many of those words are not unfamiliar to me, for example a berth is on a train, a larch is a fairly common tree around here etc. To quaff is to drink something down. And I don't find anything unusual about asking where someone has 'got to'.  And I frequently raid the fridge at night...how is that an unusual thing to say? A tramp is like a hobo, but I am more likely to use the word tramp than hobo, lol. I don't think that is unusual. I occasionally feel unwell....People who play music on the streets for money are busking. If you want to do it in my town you must have a busking license.

 

Aside from some of the more obvious slang, such as quid, which I know from books and movies, I don't see anything worrisome about most of the words you have mentioned.

 

The beer and drunkenness would be odd.

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Sounds like it could be a good choice for older children/teens still needing to do basic phonics.

 

Getting drunk on beer to point of falling down could make for a good discussion.

 

I thought the word lists were interesting.

 

Sounds too grown up and with too advanced a word list for little kids.

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I guess I'll have to scrap my dreams about writing children's curriculum featuring beer, scotch, and being drunk to the point of falling down.  Darn.

 

Still an Apples and Pears fan here though AND I would go so far as to say if I needed it, I would still buy the program and skip those stories. The kids would still learn the phonics.

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I don't think that people are concerned because they think their child is going to be driven to drinking because of their phonics curriculum; for some of us alcohol and drunkenness are topics to be treated more seriously and not the most appropriate source of humor for young children. I don't like it in Dumbo either. 

 

If I felt the program was the best fit for my child otherwise I might use it anyway, because my response to the drinking references and jokes is more along the lines of "not great taste but I don't really expect them to have a negative impact"; but I'm glad to know as they do put DB further down my list of resources to consider.

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I think it's good you posted about this....just to forewarn others who may be considering DB Fast Track.  Sometimes a person just skims the first few samples and then orders.  Some people could be offended and shocked and others not, as we've seen by the replies.  I, personally, would look for something else.  If you are still looking for a fast track type remedial program you might want to look at Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons.  Another good option is Zoom Reading Strate

 

I figured there would be mixed responses and those who would think I was overreacting. ;)   

 

IMHO, it may be fine for older kiddos...that don't have any learning, social, or adoption-related sensitivities.  However, MY boys have all three,  SO.... for US the curriculum is a "no-go". :wacko:  I just felt it was necessary to "put it out there"  for everyone to be aware enough to make an informed decision...whatever their philosophy.

 

Thanks SO MUCH for the recommendations!  I've never heard of either of those programs, so YAY!  More curriculum to research!  LOL :D

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the English WORDS I would be unconcerned about. My kids LOVE learning British words and think that it is both hilarious, and charming, not to mention a fun challenge!  You can definiitey just enjoy that aspect of it with your boys!

:iagree:  The more I think about it, I love the idea of them learning new words from other cultures, etc.  Not sure what I would do about the spelling differences, though???  Not that big of a deal, though.  Especially if I loved the content/stories. 

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Is Apples and Pears like this, too, or just Dancing Bears?

 

Thank you,

Bethany

No, Apples and Pears is not like this. You have to adjust for the color/ colour issues. I think quid comes up a couple of times. There may have been 1 or 2 dictation sentences that have to do with drinking (but out of a choice of 10 or so--you aren't expected to use them all). So, nothing at all like DB seems to be. You can see the entire books on the Sound Foundations websites to check them out if you want.
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And I frequently raid the fridge at night...how is that an unusual thing to say?  I occasionally feel unwell.

 

Aside from some of the more obvious slang, such as quid, which I know from books and movies, I don't see anything worrisome about most of the words you have mentioned.

 

The beer and drunkenness would be odd.

 

LOL!  Okay...let me explain.  The "raiding the fridge thing at night" is something WE have trouble with because our adopted kiddos have issues with food...sneaking food...lying about sneaking food, hoarding food....ETC.  I probably shouldn't have even mentioned that reference.  The one I quoted about "feeling unwell" wasn't about being sick.  It was about LYING about ACTUALLY being sick...to get out of doing something.  That's what I didn't like. 

 

Let me clarify again about the WORDS. I was NOT offended and did not see the words as "worrisome".  I just included them in my review, so others would realize that they were there.  I didn't think they had bad meanings or anything.  I just was pointing out that there were a lot of British words, so others would be made aware of it and could make up their own minds whether they wanted that in their reading program or not.  The main thing I was looking for originally, was words that were spelled differently. :001_smile:

 

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I don't think that people are concerned because they think their child is going to be driven to drinking because of their phonics curriculum; for some of us alcohol and drunkenness are topics to be treated more seriously and not the most appropriate source of humor for young children.

 

:iagree:

 

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I could point out the times beer and firewhisky were talked about in HP (or a thousand other books) and I'm sure somebody would be up in arms.  My kids know beer exists.  They're not oblivious and have seen drunk people IRL and on TV.  We almost never drink, but I don't shelter them from it and they know that drinking a beer does not make one a bad person. They think stuff like the above is silly nonsense.  They're certainly not going out to drink beer with friends because of a remedial reading program.  :lol:   Honestly, I believe you're overthinking this, personally.  If it makes you uncomfortable, don't use it.  But you're overlooking some cultural and language differences and things kids can find funny but obviously won't take as advice.  Take a deep breath. 

 

Mainly "pointed it out" just so others could be aware of the content, especially for those families dealing with cognitive and social difficulties with their children.  We don't shelter our kiddos from beer or drinking either and OF COURSE they know that as you put it, "drinking a beer does not make one a bad person.".  I didn't mean to imply that and HOPE I didn't?  TRUE (no duh comes to mind :p).... as you said, " They're certainly not going out to drink beer with friends because of a remedial reading program."  And..."NO"...I have to respectfully disagree with you that I am "overthinking" it....not with the way my boys are.  It would definitely not be appropriate to use it with them.  

 

Everyone has their own standards as to what their children read, learn from, etc. There is such a plethora of curriculum out there though.  Good....better....best is our motto (that we strive for) as far as what our children read and watch AND, if there is a reason for what they are reading/watching...if there is something to be learned from it.  IMHO, the content in DB just seemed unnecessary and pointless.  SO....we ARE looking for something else.  Thanks for the advice, though.  Especially the "If it makes you uncomfortable, don't use it"  advice.  Got it. 

 

Didn't mean to offend....just to inform. :blush:

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I've repeatedly stated on this forum that the stories intertwined in DB are horrible.

 

I do believe that they were written for a different culture and with the intention of catching the interest of older, remedial students.

 

 

If you hate the stories, and your children flourish with other materials, then use other materials. The reason that I will keep recommending DB to people who have a laundry list of programs that they've tried and an older child who is NOT reading after intensive instruction is b/c DB covers an aspect of learning to read that is all but IGNORED by some of the most prominent (and popular) programs available. Specifically, for kids with visual learning quirks, DB is nearly miraculous....and simple. 

 

 

There is NO other program with the same methodology available, not that I know of.  (Maybe I should write one. :coolgleamA:  When my kids are grown and I have time.....)

 

If you simply skip the stories, you will be fine. If you need a cheap/easy substitute for story reading, I suggest McGuffey. 10min of DB, 10min of McGuffey. That will work for a great many of those kids who simply don't learn to read with Spalding or O-G or OPGTR or PP.

 

 

FWIW - Apples & Pears Spelling is excellent. My kids get tired of the didactic nature of the lessons, but they WORK. They work, and in short daily lessons. After a few YEARS of studying Charlotte Mason, I feel confident enough to do my own dictation spelling lessons. For the newbie with a dyslexic, I will absolutely recommend A&P first thing! Where something like LOE or SWR might take *HOURS* out of the school day to work, DB and A&P are 10min and 15min respectively, no teacher prep, spiral review built in, easy to implement.

 

 

 

 

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Mention was made of underage drinking in one of the posts.  Just for reference, the public drinking age in the UK is 16 (with food) or 18.  Parents can by law make their own decisions about when children drink at home.

 

I do understand that some people are concerned about drinking for moral, religious or other reasons.  The difference is highly cultural however, so use the programme or not, based on whether you are interested in that kind of exploration.  Most British children see their parents drink safely and in moderation, so it's just an adult activity to them, no odder than talking about parents driving or going out to work.

 

FWIW, many US and UK children's books talk in loving detail about candy and ice cream, neither of which have much more nutrition than a pint of beer, and both of which (in excess) lead to morbid illness.  From my point of view: everything in moderation.

 

ETA: it might have been more polite to avoid talking about being offended and shocked by another country's culture.  Your concerns could have been expressed as useful information without the over-the-top title.

 

L

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Not offended at all. The rules are different in England, the English-English words are fun and he can't guess them (as has been mentioned). Plus, we read a lot of English lit with AO. And this really isn't a program for a 5 year old. This is a REMEDIAL program (for the most part, I know people can use it however). It is excellent. All the funny names & titles work in those less-used letter combinations... I suppose it isn't a perfect program, but it is pretty darn close. (And my son has completed the whole book - IT WORKS!!! He is reading now!!!)

 

But if you'd rather have "Mat sat". "Jill and the cat ran." more power to ya!

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We've been through DB A. I don't mind the most of the "odd" words...maybe I watch to much BBC and read too much Brit Lit. ;)

The stories.... Meh. I think they're strange and the wording can be awkward. They often don't flow well, IMO. We just read other stuff instead.  (I See Sam books go *really* well alongside Dancing Bears, I thought.  We bought from 3rsplus.com and BRI 3 matched up quite well with the end of DB A.)

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I use DB Fast Track with my 8 year old DD1, who had a nasty habit of guessing at words.  I do like that it has a variety of words that she doesn't usually see.  Some of the stories are a bit weird but eh, I have bigger things to worry about.  The program works, she likes it, it's efficient.

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