My absolute favorite pencil is the Try-Rex jumbo pencil by Moon. It's perfect except for one thing: When the eraser on the end is used up, a regular-sized eraser will not fit on the end. Such a tragedy!! I've done many internet seaches for eraser caps to fit on a jumbo pencil but haven't found any. Does anybody know if this type of eraser exists?

I agree...Math Mammoth is amazing. I seems to be along the lines of what Singapore Math accomplishes...math with a lot of thinking and figuring things out instead of just lots of fact memorization. Which is also important, of course, but I like the fact that it does this plus a whole lot more. Plus it's pretty inexpensive and includes a lot of repetition. We love it! :hurray:

We've been using AAS for about six weeks, and sadly, I've fallen out of love. As "good" as I'm sure it is, it seems too tedious for me and the kids - too many little things to have to do. I loved, loved the simplicity of ETC, which we did last year, and I'm thinking of rekindling my relationship with those books, and just throwing in some Bob Books or readers for my 1st grader and kindergartner. I probably never should have switched to AAS, but I was afraid they needed "something more." Simple is probably better for us... Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions for a spelling program for my 3rd grader, who's already a great reader? Does she even need spelling, or should I just let her just read away and learn new words that way?

On p. 7 of the Level 2 book, it shows the tiles I'm supposed to use for Step 1. Am I supposed to have two tiles with "Consonant Teams" and "Vowel Teams" on them? In other words, I have all the consonant team and vowel team tiles (aw, ao, ck, dge, nk, etc.) but not a tiles with the "team" titles on them... :confused:

I know AAS sells readers, but are there any others that would be good to go along with AAS, especially Levels 1 and 2? I don't want to completely confuse the kids!

Thank you guys for being patient with me! So, when you say that when the child gets to the next level they go back and review the "cards" from the previous levels, are you talking about all the cards, or just the phonogram cards?

This is my last decision to make. I really like the concept of AAS, and I love that it teaches all the phonograms. I like that it teaches the different pronunciations of the phonograms at the same time, as opposed to scattered around, like with ETC. For example, in ETC, my kids learned that EA can be pronounced in different ways, but they learned the different pronunciations in different places, instead of all at once. Does that make any sense at all? Anyway, I don't like that AAS is kind of pricey, not that it wouldn't be worth it, and the fact that there are so many different things to buy. I guess I'm asking how Phonics Pathways compares with AAS? If I used PP, would anything else be necessary, like phonogram cards?

Heather, I'm starting TOG and AAS this year, and I don't think I could handle anything else new! :scared: I think I'm gonna stick with Explode the Code and get 5-yr-old reading pretty well while working on the AAS with her. Sounds interesting, though!

Thanks girls! Very helpful info!

:iagree: But, you agree I should start her there, right? I just hate to start her right in the middle, even if she does finish level 1 in a week, ya know?

It's late, and my brain is fried, so I may not be thinking clearly, but this is my AAS plan: Buy Levels 1, 2, and 3. Let my 8-yr-old run through Level 1 to get a feel for the program. She's a good speller. Then, 6 yr old can start it. Move 8 yr old to Level 2. When 6 yr old gets thru with Level 1, let 5 yr old start it, move 6 yr old to the Level 2, and move 8 yr old on up to Level 3, and so on.... So, wouldn't I be buying Tiles and magnets for each child (don't think I would use the CD-ROM), Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, What else am I missing? Ohhhh, my head.....:ohmy: