Thank you so much! That was exactly what I was looking for. I am going to purchase the WA :)

I am a first time HS mom of a 6 year old. He went to a private classical K-4 and K. We are getting ready to start first grade with Tapestry of Grace. I am looking for a phonics program to supplement the reading and writing he will be doing with TOG, and then move into grammar after we get started. All that to say, I have been looking into AAS and AAR, and I can't really tell the difference, or which would better fit our needs. He knows all the basic phonograms and is reading level 1-2 readers. He doesn't like reading very much because of the time it takes for him to sound out each word. I see that AAS is more encoding and AAR is more decoding, but not sure which would suit us better. I read one review that said AAR moves at a slower pace, he doesn't need that, so I am leaning toward AAS, but I don't want that to be the basis of my decision. Any help would be appreciated!! Especially from anyone who has tried both!

Thank you for posting the links. Will you post a link to the FB page? Having another community to ask questions of would be helpful! I just ordered the curriculum and am starting to plan the first unit of year 1. I noticed on the first week under weekly overview it says to set up your notebook. Then under the writing assignment (he will be level 2), it says set up grammar and composition notebook. Does it explain more about this in the WA? Do you know if there is a way to preview WA before purchasing? I can't find anything on it :-/ I have heard so many great things about TOG, and I am excited to use it. I just would rather spend my research time actually researching what I am going to be teaching rather than trying to figure out how to teach it! I was hoping that the set up would be a little easier. Thanks for any input!

I was thinking the same thing :) I am new to HS this year. My oldest is 6, and went to a private classical school for K-4 and K. I am looking for a Co-op that is laid back and flexible (we travel a lot). I live in Post Falls. I would love to hear if there is anything in our area. I looked into CC, it seems like a great program, just doesn't fit our lifestyle.

I am in the same boat. My 6 yo doesn't like to read because of the time it takes him to sound everything out. He is at the "graduated 100 EZ, now what? phase" I was thinking of doing All About Spelling or Reading (still can't figure out the difference), or Spell to Read and Write, or possibly Spelling Workout (the one recommended in WTM). Does anyone have experience with more than one of these who can compare them?

You are echoing some of the same reasons why I just purchased TOG. I am starting with year 1. My oldest is 6, he went to a Classical private school for K-4 and K. We are new to HS. I purchased the lap book and map aids, but didn't purchase the writing aid. I thought that he wouldn't need that until he was older, but after looking over the intro to the year, it looks like that might be helpful. On the writing side, it says to set up a notebook, but I can't find anywhere that explains what that writing notebook is supposed to entail. Do you suggest purchasing the writing aid for that age? Also, can you point me in a direction to figure out how the writing notebook should be set up, or is that explained in the aid? I wish there was a way to preview it, so I could see for myself if it was something he needs now! Thanks. As for the original question on TOG, I read a TON of reviews and played around with the samples before ordering it. It seems like the only people who didn't like it, were the ones who didn't like/have time to do the prep work. If you want a work book and a teachers manual, this would not be the right fit. But if you have the ability to take all the choices they give you and find what is going to be right for your kids each week, it sounds like you will benefit from it. At least that is the impression I got.