Thank you for the encouragement! I will definitely check that book out. Thanks!

Thank you so much! I guess I had pretty much figured that out from other's threads but was having a hard time accepting she may have any disabilities. I will call her pediatrician tomorrow and the school. And it looks like I need to do some research seeing as none of those acronyms are understandable to me :)

My dd is turning 7 in about a month. She was slightly delayed in speech...she didn't start really talking till she was about 3. We've been using Dancing Bears for awhile now but we are getting no where. Knowing things weren't going well I asked for help and was told she probably just needed more work with the phonograms. She knows them but seems to forget them when sounding out words. For instance she'll sound out something like tap and by the time she gets to the end she has already forgotten the first sound or she struggles at that moment to remember. Sometimes she simply says the wrong sound even though she did fine saying the sounds when we were going over the cards. Other times she will sound out three cvc words but by the time she gets to the fourth word she struggles to produce/remember what sounds those letters make. All this with me first demonstrating sounding the word out. So looking at the forum today I came across the Barton screening. Well she failed all three parts. We used AAS pre level and she struggled miserably through the whole thing. I'm at a loss! Also I don't know if it makes a difference as far as her learning to read but she struggles to count to 100. She knows how but easily/constantly loses her place when trying. Anyone have any insight into where I should go from here? I'm sure I'm not including enough info so please ask and I'll try my best to give the info needed. Thanks!

Word wizard. I've not used it but I know some who use AAS use it. And bonus...it's only $3.

Xtramath.org has an app that my kids enjoy.

My dd is 6 and a huge lover of crafts. She's wanting a book for Christmas to give her a little more direction with her crafting projects. She does great on her own and is very creative but wants something with ideas. I'm wanting this to be independent. It needs to have projects with supplies that your typical crafty kid would already have on hand, ie. pom poms, chenille stems, googly eyes, craft sticks, etc I don't want to buy a bunch of extras just for this. We're still working on reading skills so lots of detailed pictures is a must. Need something with ideas she can work on by herself while her sister and I do school. Anyone know of any great books out there? I'm hoping to get it used off Amazon but that's not essential. It may be worth mentioning she is more crafty than artsy right now so I'm not looking for art books. Thanks in advance for any ideas!

I love love love DB! I've been teaching my first to read and have been using AAR. We stalled a few lessons into level 2 and were both getting discouraged when I saw Alisoncooks posts about DB. I resisted the urge I was having to switch to something else because I hear so much about consistency so we plugged away at AAR but we just weren't getting anywhere and she was really starting to hate her reading lessons. I bit the bullet and bought DB. She had all the same obstacles your DS is dealing with but DB has helped her almost overcome them all. She still does reversals though. I can't believe the difference in her reading since starting DB just 3 or so weeks ago. It really is wonderful! Her fluency/decoding has really picked up and she is no longer sounding out everything. With her new found confidence she is comprehending her stories better also. All this to say I am obviously very glad to be using DB with her! It's working!

Maybe I just over thinking this but I just don't understand how to use this program. Once a student knows the first 26 phonograms and reaches the spelling list, am I suppose to read all the sounds? First spelling word is top. Am I suppose to say all the sounds for o? If so, do I pause between the sounds? Super quick pause saying the sounds fast or a more deliberate pause between sounds? Like I said maybe I am over thinking this but if I am saying three different sounds for one phonogram will she not think I want her to write that phonogram three times to spell the word? Also, I am suppose to explain/help her use the markings on her spelling lists, correct? Sorry if these sound like silly questions but I taught my first to read using AAR and I am not at all satisfied with how slow the program is and am looking for something faster to use with her sister but this is completely different from AAR and is confusing to me. Another question, I know they are suppose to learn to read using this book also. My daughter knows her phonograms, the first 26 anyway. If I were to give her the spelling word top and then give her the sounds she would be able to spell it but when she went to read it she will do something like this t,o,p....pop. Is this a sign she is not yet read to start reading. Should I be doing something else to work on phonics for now till she is more ready? She will be 6 in a couple months. Thanks for any help.

Excited to hear from happy users of this curriculum. I stumbled upon this one day and feel it is EXACTLY what I've been missing and casually searching for! Buying levels 1 and 2 to use with my K and 2nd grade students. I've been wrestling with spending the money because I had already bought everything for this year right before I found this. Excited to give it a try!

Thanks for the book recommendation! I am going to look for at my library this week. Thank you for the link to the coreknowledge website! That is some really great information!!

I've searched and can't seem to find what I am looking for. Does anyone use a checklist organized by grade level? I'm wanting something that I can review every year to make sure we are on track, to maybe help me recognize some things I need to teach that aren't necessarily in a "subject"; i.e. a human body study or things I missed teaching for whatever reason. Every checklist I have found focuses on common core stuff. Is there something out there like this? Preferably free :)

I don't know the answer to your question but just thought I'd share that my oldest dd has a beautiful pencil grip and has since the first day she picked up a pencil as a toddler. Her handwriting though, while not horrible, is not near as nice as her younger sister's handwriting. Younger dd holds her pencil strange but has very nice handwriting that just keeps getting nicer. She started writing letters at 3 and will be 5 in November. Younger dd also seems to be able to outlast her sister when writing, she doesn't seem to experience fatigue and will stop writing more out of boredom :/ I have decided not to try to correct it since it is working and not causing any problems. Others may disagree but we do what works :)

All About Reading's Pre Level teaches a lot of the things the other posters are talking about and it's fun too. It teaches using lots of games. I am glad we used it because I didn't realize how much they need to know before they actually learn how to read. I am teaching my first to read and this program has held my hand along the way :)

We usually have about 50-100 books checked out at any given time, with that in mind, I have 2 black $3 rectangle laundry baskets from Wal-Mart for library books.

We have a 10 per card limit here per visit with a maximum of 50 per card at any given time. We all have cards because of these limits, even the baby :)