Well, we JUST do the AAS dictation (we don't do WWE or any other), and it works really well for us :). Still doing it here, but we're taking it slow and easy :).

Cover Orange = addictive logic/strategy :)

Bookcases. Seriously. What would I do without them? Much thanks to my DH for building me so many :) - we left ALL of them behind in Alberta when we moved, but he just built me my 1st Nova Scotia bookcase! He loves me :).

Honestly, I'd recommend you work on reading more before you worry about spelling :). We made sure our oldest was reading well (she didn't really click until 7 either) before we even really tried to tackle spelling. We used A Handbook for Reading and readers with her too. What might really help though is using counters to practice blending/segmenting/listening for sounds - if he's guessing and not really decoding, maybe counters for each sound would help connect written phonemes to sounds for decoding. 7 is still young, I'd just work on reading :).

I don't have either yet :). But they do so much review it's definitely possible to jump in on 3rd. We did a bit of 2nd grade English - not a lot - over a 2 year period (R&S) and my DD passed into CLE 400 on the assessment tests. Since there is so much review, we'll learn together what we haven't covered yet (diagramming) when it gets here. So with that in mind, I think it's very possible to jump into 3rd without doing 2nd.

Hi Colleen! Well, we came for the weather (SW NS has the 2nd most temperate climate in all of Canada - we were in Central Alberta before...brrrr!) and the cheap property! ;) Of course...our house does need work!! AH - MLS is so addictive - yep, we got here a month ago! It's great, we wanted to be pretty close to services, and we're 15 minutes from Yarmouth which has...EVERYTHING (of course....so does Halifax). Even a weekly homeschooling support group, which I've never been close enough to take advantage of before (we were 1.5 hours from regular meetings at our last home). For the record (in case anyone else is thinking of moving...) EVERYONE I've met in NS is SO SO Friendly (Colleen included - virtually in her case). We had a HS mom drop by just a few days after we arrived to introduce herself - she lives just two minutes down the road :). Some family members tried to 'warn us off' of attitudes towards outsiders, but everyone here has been nothing but incredibly kind and welcoming to us so far! :) The humidity is also AWESOME for my allergy-prone daughter's skin. She used to suffer so much from eczema, and it's 95% better now! I could go on and on. We have a nice beach 5 minutes away too - my first sunburn in September!

I haven't laminated mine, and they are holding up fine :).

If your daughter is already reading fluently, she likely won't need AAR 2. What we did with my oldest who'd already had a phonics program, is mostly finish phonics then start AAS. With my 2nd who hasn't had phonics yet, we're doing AAR with her, then if she needs encoding help we'll do AAS once her reading is established.

Well, I'd likely do AAS (that's what we did when we finished phonics). Then in 3rd you can look at adding in CLE English (again, that's what we're doing, less for phonics, more for LA, but in 4th because I didn't catch on in time for 3rd).

Does he enjoy it when YOU read to him? Keep reading aloud :). Pick books for him that are in his interest range AND slightly below his fluency level to make it an easy, painless experience.

We skipped the last third of the book because we knew all the letter sounds - what we really wanted were the phonological awareness activities, and they were a big help :).

It isn't consumable, but if I had two children in the same level at the same time I'd get them their own student packs. If your child doesn't need a lot of review from a previous level (and normally shouldn't), then just use the old student pack with your up and coming child - there are free printables online for the progress chart/certificate for the next child :).

Thanks for all your responses!

I just downloaded L'art de Lire Level 1 - pretty affordable, and we'll see how it goes! Looks like we can do it on the iPad too - bonus.

I should perhaps add that I don't have much French, so instructional materials in English is a must. Tatou Le Matou - it's French all the way including instruction? Anyone sell it in North America?

You could make cards, but in all honesty - it's a lot easier to get them ready to go. Lots of work to make them.

The thought of it makes my brain want to explode ;). Just pick one and call it good enough - for me, it just would NEVER come together and never mesh well (but I'm a bit organizationally challenged).

I'm trying CLE's Language Arts this year to see how it goes, it combines more pieces of the puzzle than we've had in one place before. I think we'll still have to teach spelling separately though :).

Definitely! That's what we do - even if you just use them as read alouds (history and read alouds alike) - it's awesome :).

Hi! We just moved into a bi-lingual area a month ago (English/French) and I figure, it would be great for the kids to learn French now that there are actually native speakers around for them to practice on. BUT, I need something pretty open-and-go (new baby coming this fall). Oldest is 9, 2nd born is 6 and she'd likely tag along. Thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

That's basically what we do. And read alouds. And we're good :). They play outside a lot and we talk with them so they get knowledge based subjects covered that way when small :).

The key for me is just sitting down, saying - OKAY, we're doing this 15 minutes, let's go! And then doing it. I even started my DH with level 1 though remedially :).

Yep. AAS doesn't really have prep past the initial set-up. You don't need to be FINISHED phonics to start with spelling, but it is good to start once reading is established like with your DD (that's what we did with my oldest, no one else reading here yet). Then it also serves as review. It is teacher intensive, but you only need a 15 minute block to do it, which isn't bad!

Definitely AAS. We don't teach spelling until we're well into phonics though, then it serves as review too.

Don't miss farmer boy no matter what. It is our FAVORITE and we have 4 girls!