Also, if you have particular suggestions for children's lit I'd love to hear them.

Thanks Rebecca! I called Scholastic here and they said I could not. I emailed Scholastic in CA to see what they say. I'm hoping that I can even though I'm outside of CA.

I have a friend w/ a 7 1/2 yr old son that was in the same position. She tried AAS1 and he finally had a break through.

Has anyone ordered French literature from scholastic in Canada? http://www.scholastic.ca/clubs/lecture/index.htm#parents Helpful hints on how to navigate the page for a novice are greatly desired. I'm actually the scholastic coordinator for my HS group here, so I have a teacher account. I don't know if that would help.

Is there anyone that has used both programs?

I love scripted lessons. Our duds: Sound Beginnings and WRTR: I couldn't even start with these. I like visually appealing programs. I love AAS. Prima Latina: The accent drove me nuts. I didn't find a Latin program I liked. We've decided to start w/ French. Song School Latin: It was too cheezy for me. FIAR: love the book list, but is has way to much prep work. I like open and go. Child Size masterpieces: We do a monthly artist study, and that is working much better for us. HWOT: I like the prek book. I don't like it after that.

You can look at Connecting With History to go along with Story of the World. I would do this especially for volume 2. You will have a great book list on the development of the Catholic Church. If you feel like educating yourself you can look into Epic.

Since she is only 4 I'd start funnix 2 and take AAS1 slowly at first. Then if she is doing better with one over the other, I'd go with that. My DS1 did 100 EZ lessosn at 3/early4 and kept reading up a storm. We didn't start AAS1 until he was 6 (he went to kindergarten.) He did fine reading reading reading at 4/5. My DS2 is on lesson 44 in funnix. I've started him on the AAS1 cards, but I won't do the next steps for a while. I will probably follow the above advice with him.

I feel that AAS is a phonics program. When DS is reading I'm frequently reminding him of AAS rules, especially those related to syllables. My DS1 had a solid start w/ 100 EZ Lessons. AAS has been a great next step. His reading is solid with just those. My DS2 is doing funnix now and I think he'll be in the same boat.

DS1 flew through AAS until just now. We're taking extra time on the change the y to i step, because I want to make sure he gets it.

I agree with the above post. You will be surprised how quickly they learn the multi-sound cards. I am having my DS4 memorize them now. We'll begin AAS when he is done with funnix.

I also found Earlybird to be a waste of money. I'm going to get Essential this spring.

will and admin please delete these, because i can't edit the titles http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260009 http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259475

They really go over the vowel combinations a lot in the upcoming lessons. I rather like how they do it:) I think taking a break w/ blocks is a great idea. When ds1 was doing 100 EZ lessons at 3 yrs old, we took a week or two off when he got to the th sound. I was pointing the sound out in everyday life. When we went back he had no problem:)

We just did lesson 40. He had a little trouble at first, but I just reminded him to look for the blue letters. Did they just introduce long a, because they go over it with great repetition after that. Whenever I hit something he doesn't get at first or a sound he is having trouble with (th) we repeat lessons a few times before moving on. I did the same w/ 100 EZ lesson w/ DS1. As a former kindergarten teacher I love how they introduce long vowel sounds with short sounds. It allows the student to read so much more interesting sentences from the beginning.:)

Well that'll be fun figuring that out. Can I edit my title? I tried by it didn't change. In my defense I never slept last night. Too many clothes to wash.

Thanks. I was clicking all over. Too bad it requires an account. I clicked on this site, too, but I don't know how to find anything.

I love AAS. I would love to use this methodology for a foreign language, preferably French. Does this exist?

I was going to start early, but I've decided to wait until 3rd or 4th grade. We are going to start w/ a living language: French.

LOVE IT!!!!! I've turned several friends on to it.

I hear so many people say yes and so many say no. I really don't know what to think. My DS1 and I are going to learn French.

Thank you. This may be just what I need for art.

We call it A, E may. I used caps for long vowel sounds:)

I'm also a kindergarten teacher. The term sight word refers to teaching words to be recognized without sounding them out. When you do teach words phonetically and the child can read them without needing to sound them out that is reading with automaticity not reading it as a sight word. The sight word approach is outside of phonics. If you show a child the word have and he says here, you have mislead him away from phonics no matter how much phonics you are doing in addition to sight words.

I'd love to get the books for each state, but at 5.95 each I can't do that. Is there anywhere to by the states in a set? Thanks