That's correct. On their site it says that they expect to release 1-2 levels per yr.

It doesn't align that way because it's pure phonics instruction. Most schools teach "balanced literacy" which relies heavily on sight words and context clues. There are supposed to be a total of 4 levels for phonics instruction and then a few more levels for reading comprehension and fluency. I believe I read after level I a child would read around 80% of the words on gr1 list and 50% on gr 2 list. Hopefully Merry is around and can give you the exact numbers.

They don't have to write. I just started with my 3.5 yo and the fact that it requires no writing is the single biggest reason I chose it. It has simple cut and paste activities that are great for working on fine motor without actually writing. You could even help with the cutting and just let the child do the pasting if holding scissors is a problem. eta; I was referring to level I

Yes, that's the Idea Paint version. It also contains some serious chemicals so be careful. I would expect the quality to be sufficient for home use if it's not in direct sunlight and you are not especially concerned with a very small amount of yellowing over the course of 5-10 yrs.

It is sold by rustoleum under their professional products. Most small businesses would be able to purchase it if you know somebody that owns a business. I have no idea what retail price is. Idea paint sells a version as well but it is super expensive and the quality is lower.

Yes, it is fine with magnetic underneath. They also have a clear available as an industrial product if you have a way to get your hands on that. It uses heavy duty chemicals though so be sure to follow the instructions if you go that route. Then you put the magnetic as the first layer, follow up with a decor-complementing shade of interior latex and top layer is clear. Magnetic dry erase board that nobody can see.

They are at our Target too. I just paid $16 for one 2 days ago. Maybe try another Target.

A large cookie sheet seems to be sufficient for level 1 because you don't use all the tiles. I think to get all the tiles on and have working room left you will want the 2x3 at some point.

Check out all about reading level I for phonics/reading. I just started w/ my 3.5 yo. No writing!!!! Read, speak, cut, paste, put sticker on chart...very easy on the fine motor skills for littles. We're also using mep reception which does not include handwriting. For handwriting, I just write a few letters with a highlighter and he traces with my help and instruction. He can do 2-3 letters before he says his hand is tired and wants to quit so I'm no help on handwriting curric. We're at least 6 months away from that. I have him do letters/numbers with a big hunk of chalk outside so he can use his whole hand and make the letters a foot tall.

My 3.5 yo is loving mep reception. He often asks if we can do more math. As mentioned above, the key is that it doesn't require much, if any, writing. He also enjoys the c-rods but isn't quite ready for the math lab sheets yet. I plan to start on those in a couple months when he finishes mep reception.

My CVS has them too, for an inflated $2 something, but still better than $9.99.

Thank you so much. I have AAR1 otw and I didn't order the box. I've been mulling over what to do. Now I will have a pretty plastic sterilite ready when they get here :lol:

Tease :tongue_smilie: Now I have to go check it out. I've never heard of that before and I'm fascinated.

Does anyone know if Miquon has changed much over the 50 years or however long it has been? If so, would those changes be from the Miquon school, or from the publisher? My annotations book has a 1985 c and is the 3rd edition. I was scouring ebay to see what was available used and I didn't find any older editions or anything that even had a different pic on the cover. That's not to say there couldn't be changes in some of the material but I'd be rather surprised if it was significant.

Molecular biology suggests it may be more recent than that. Estimates range from 5,000-12,000 yrs ago if you accept Adam and Eve as direct ancestors of all modern humans.

Whew, I just placed my very first HS order with them. AAR1 complete set w/ interactive kit, c-rods w/ orange and red book for a whopping $155. That seemed like a lot to me but after looking at other people's totals, I'm feeling much better about my $155. Of course, this is where it all begins and I'm currently dealing only with a 3.5 yo...

Our father's house has some materials that are meant to be sort of like The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for home use. My 3.5yo ds really enjoys The Bible for Little Ones. IDK if it's specifically Catholic but I've read the whole thing and haven't found anything objectionable. The inside cover says "north american version translated from Italian" so I think it may be specifically Catholic but I can't confirm for sure. The pictures are lively and engaging. DS likes to act it out and often requests that we read from it. My only complaint about it is that most of the people are portrayed in a ridiculously Aryanized fashion. I'm sure it will make for interesting conversation later. We also have Fr. Lovasik's Children's Bible, which is lovely but more for the young elementary set than the preschool set. eta: oh, I also recently purchased "A Year with God: Living the Liturgical Year" and I plan to implement it this year. It's full of great ideas but I definitely wouldn't call it open-and-go.

Aha, okay, thanks for clarifying.

Wait, what? I have to buy new divider cards for each level?! I have AAR1, AAS1 and the interactive kit sitting on my RR wish list but for some reason I feel like I'm not ready to click buy. Then I scour reviews some more and reluctantly settle back on AAR/AAS but in my heart I know it's not what I want.

Since they're asking about dinosaurs this might be a good place to get into more detail on how dinosaurs and mammals coexisted and some basics of biological evolution, diversification, and the food chain. In kid friendly terms, you could say something about how the dinos kept the mammal population in check but once the dinos went extinct the mammals had free reign to diversify and become the dominant land animals. Perhaps tell them it was a mammalian explosion and let them think on that in literal terms for a moment before you explain.

In that case, I think you've done a good job by grouping the first few days together since that's where the biggest chronology problems would come in. If they're asking about dinosaurs rather than the formation of other solar systems, they probably won't ask you to separate those first days out. GL!

We are old earth and theistic evolutionists in our house. I personally would not try to match up the days to the periods. You obviously don't adhere to a strict literal interpretation of a dynamic translation of Genesis if you are OE so there's no reason you NEED to take it as a chronological reading either. It was quite common to group things by category instead of chronological and trying to order it that way when that's not what the Author intended may be confusing to kids. However, if you feel strongly that the Author intended a chronological reading for us Americans then I think your match up looks quite good.

This thread is helpful. We'll be starting AAR1 soon and I've been wondering the same. Those of you that are doing both are you going to do AAR2 with AAS1 or are you just switching over to AAS completely and tossing in the level 2 readers?

Thank you for the input. DS is a bit of a perfectionist so I can see him stressing if they're not "just so" but we have an abundance of unused cookie sheets-that's a great idea!

If you have it do you use it? If you don't do you ever miss it? I'm preparing to place my order. From searching old posts I'm going to go with the 155 set of smooth plastic non-linking c-rods. I don't see the track addressed anywhere. Help me decide yes or no on the track please!