Homeschooling6 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 (edited) My 9 and 10 yr. old boys are still not reading fluently. I am looking at Dancing Bears to finish the year and work through the summer but am confused as where to start. The site recommends starting at the beginning with level A but I see Level A, Level A1 and A2. Do I start with A1 and the A workbook? The Dancing Bears set, does that include workbooks too? What about Fast Track? If I were to purchase the Fast Track Set, I'd need to buy two, correct? or should I use Apples and Pears instead of Dancing Bears :001_unsure: Appreciate any help, I so want to be done with teaching reading to these two, makes for some long school days. Edited February 22, 2011 by Homeschooling6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Dancing Bears A,B,C are the books we went with I believe Fasttrack combines A/B and all use C as the final reading instruction. The way I teach it, is with student next to me as I coach him along, so with two students at same time not sure how it would work, but if your students were to study from it on seperate sessions only 1 set would need to be purchased. [ we are 2/3 through B] Can't help with the spelling program... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Thank you, anyone else have some information :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Wisc Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I decided to pop over to the K-8 board today. My baby will probably graduate in December, so I've not been keeping an eye on elementary materials for some time. I must admit your question about when to start dancing bears caught my attention! You can imagine the images that come to mind with that title... :lol::bigear::lol::party: ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 I decided to pop over to the K-8 board today. My baby will probably graduate in December, so I've not been keeping an eye on elementary materials for some time. I must admit your question about when to start dancing bears caught my attention! You can imagine the images that come to mind with that title... :lol::bigear::lol::party: ;) Glad to give you a good laugh, it's good for the liver ;) I used Fast Track/Dancing Bears C with my ds last year. He was 8 at the time, we used it daily over a 6 month period and his reading level jumped 3+ grade levels. It was a good fit for him. Did you look at the samples online? A more gentle pace would be Dancing Bears A and B instead of the condensed version of them in Fast Track. Then going on to Dancing Bears C. I tried my 7 year old with Fast Track and the pace was obviously too much. So I bought Dancing Bears A for him, he hates this approach. He needs games, interaction, variety, and color. Just to show you it's not a good fit for all kids. Despite me liking it and getting such good result with using it for my middle ds. If you are interested, I have Dancing Bears A, Fast Track which is A/B condensed, Dancing Bears C, and 2 sets of the flash cards. PM me an offer. We also use Apples & Pears spelling. I gave both my older two placement tests and placed according to their first missed word to shore up weaknesses. My oldest finished A&P B and is now in C. My middler finished A and is now in B. I hope to be able to use it with my youngest once he turns 8. A&P has been a great fit for both of my older two. HTH I did look at the samples but am still a bit confused. Some of it looks like they are consumable. I'm going to PM you :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Okay, I think I'm figuring this out. Since my boys couldn't read the sentence "Our teacher is waiting for us in the hall" word perfect (they goofed on our and hall) for 'Fast Track', I should have them start with Dancing Bears A. Now, do I purchase two of them? From the samples the books look consumable, is that correct? If my son did figure out the word our on his own, I didn't prompt him to correct it, he noticed it but did miss the word 'hall' I should go back and start with A? Just double checking, would love to do the Fast Track instead but don't want them to miss out either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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