SnMomof7 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Well, of course, then you would have to get the puppet. :) I, on the other hand, have not shown my 4yo the picture, so he has no knowledge of said puppet. - I - want the puppet. So badly. "Okay Ro-Ro," says the puppet to my four-year-old. "A says a, a, a, a." I was demonstrating how it would work to my seven-year-old this morning! Sigh. She already knows most of her short sound/hard consonant phonograms. Still up in the air, but leaning towards splurging...:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 My husband encouraged me to go ahead and splurge on it. I told him the price and he said, "Oh that's not bad. Think of how much money schools spend on this kind of stuff." Perspective, I guess! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Is this meant to be a more intensive course such as would be recommended for a dyslexic student? A whole pre-level just for phonemic awareness seems a lot. Not that there is anything wrong with using one, it just seems unnecessary for a lot of children as I thought most of these things were picked up quickly and easily. So I'm wondering if this is meant as a more intensive course for those who need it. And if so, it would be a great price compared to what I hear are the other options out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jentancalann Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Is this meant to be a more intensive course such as would be recommended for a dyslexic student? A whole pre-level just for phonemic awareness seems a lot. Not that there is anything wrong with using one, it just seems unnecessary for a lot of children as I thought most of these things were picked up quickly and easily. So I'm wondering if this is meant as a more intensive course for those who need it. And if so, it would be a great price compared to what I hear are the other options out there. I don't think so. I think phonemic awareness is very important- dyslexic or not. I have a very bright non LD 6 year old that knew letter sounds at 2. However, I'm seeing that if we would have worked specifically on some aspects of pre-reading she would be better off now, in the early reading stage. Just blending, etc. Also, I have a 10 yo dyslexic whom I didn't know was dyslexic at 4. Oh my word, to think how working on these skills could have helped him if I had known. I'm not taking any chances with my 4 yo. With my older son, I was thinking he'd grow into readiness. I won't make that mistake again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfcartmama Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Sounds like it's a no go for us. She should be reading well by the end of this calendar year. I'll have to stick with OPG. and then supplement with ETC and begin AAS for spelling when she's ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Oh, why did you show this to me? That is so cute and looks like something my 4 year old would love. She knows many of her letter sounds, but not all of them, and I'm trying to decide on 100EZ Lessons or OPGTR or The Reading Lesson or Phonics Pathways or one of the many other options out there. I need to add this to the list and I'll probably splurge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Also, I have a 10 yo dyslexic whom I didn't know was dyslexic at 4. Oh my word, to think how working on these skills could have helped him if I had known. I'm not taking any chances with my 4 yo. With my older son, I was thinking he'd grow into readiness. I won't make that mistake again. :iagree: Same thing here. If I had only known how important it would be to work on PRE-reading skills and not just jump into learning to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 I'm trying to decide on 100EZ Lessons or OPGTR or The Reading Lesson or Phonics Pathways or one of the many other options out there. :001_huh: I have all of those on my shelf except for 100EZ, which I sold. (And I'm buying AAR too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Ditto. Does anybody know how long Pre-1 will "typically" take? Let's say you're starting from scratch with a young child who hasn't even learned the alphabet. I'm thinking of my 3.5 yo - we would start him this summer when he turns 4. Let's assume a typical young child starting from the beginning . . . would it be a one year program? Or more like a 3 month program? Any ideas? It seems like many of us are worried about the availability of future levels. Is there even a rough idea of when future levels will be released? Not an exact release month, but is there a plan in place to do, say, one or two levels a year? This is what I am wondering too. I'd love to get this for my youngest but I don't want to finish it and not have the next level out yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Would level 1 of AAR be done alongside level 1 of AAS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Would level 1 of AAR be done alongside level 1 of AAS? They can be, yes, but it's expected that the child may be at different points in each, because many children progress at reading faster than spelling. But I think they are supposed to cover the same topics mainly (short vowels). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 This is what I am wondering too. I'd love to get this for my youngest but I don't want to finish it and not have the next level out yet. If it is like AAS in that it is mastery-based (which I'm guessing it is), then this could vary from child to child. It might only be a few months of material based on your child. I don't think anyone KNOWS right now though, because it is a new program. Anyone jumping in now is doing so without the wealth of experience the Hive Mind normally brings to bear on almost any program under consideration :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 I don't think anyone KNOWS right now though, because it is a new program. Anyone jumping in now is doing so without the wealth of experience the Hive Mind normally brings to bear on almost any program under consideration :). This is true. We just know what we hear from the Chatterbee and the Hive. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenDaisies Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Well when I was looking at the picture posted on the chatterbee last night, my 5.5 year old saw it and asked what it was. I said it was a new reading program I was going to be getting and he said "Cool is that a puppet" when I said yes, he started singing "I'm getting a zebra puppet, he's going to teach me to read", thus I ordered the set with the puppet, so I don't break his heart.' We ordered the puppet too :001_smile: I wasn't planning to buy it, but that is all my ds has been talking about since he saw it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Well, FWIW, the teacher's manual sample shows 78 lessons in the table of contents. The book recommends you work through them at your child's pace, whether that's one lesson a day, or one lesson a day - similar to the recommendations for AAS. So, it will vary :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Looking at the table of contents it looks like it is teaching one letter at a time. With the uppercase letters taught and then the lowercase letters. That concerns me a bit, since I haven't experienced much retention with that method. Darn, I can't wait until 6 months from now when someone can give a concrete review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelFlores Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 This looks like it would be really good for my ds in the fall. He would be 3.5 then and is very interested in letters and "doing school" like his older sister. It looks like it could be a really fun and relaxed intro to reading. Do you think there would be any reason NOT to start him on the program that early? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Looking at the table of contents it looks like it is teaching one letter at a time. With the uppercase letters taught and then the lowercase letters. That concerns me a bit, since I haven't experienced much retention with that method. Darn, I can't wait until 6 months from now when someone can give a concrete review. I thought this was a little strange too. But if I decided to buy it, I would do the uppercase and the lowercase letter's lessons in the same week (I think). Or maybe going back through the lowercase letters later is supposed to be a type of review? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 My concern is that it looks like the student book is consumable, but it isn't sold by itself. You can only get it with the reusable letter charts and picture/sound cards. Unless I was teaching two children the Pre-level 1 at the same time, why would I need duplicates of those for every child in my family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 My concern is that it looks like the student book is consumable, but it isn't sold by itself. You can only get it with the reusable letter charts and picture/sound cards. Unless I was teaching two children the Pre-level 1 at the same time, why would I need duplicates of those for every child in my family?I was considering getting some of the components separate and I noticed that not all of them are available that way. I would also like to see samples of some of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jentancalann Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 My concern is that it looks like the student book is consumable, but it isn't sold by itself. You can only get it with the reusable letter charts and picture/sound cards. Unless I was teaching two children the Pre-level 1 at the same time, why would I need duplicates of those for every child in my family? This is speculation, but... It is probably put together with the assumption that the child will stay w/ AAR. Each child should have their own cards because they will not move through the program at the same rate. I haven't used this, but have used lvl's 1-4 of AAS, which is what I'm going off of. I'm guessing that maybe the cards they use in the Pre-1 level will go along with each student into the subsequent levels. I'm about to start a second child in AAS, and though I have all the cards through level 4, I'll need new ones for her to be able to keep them behind the correct dividers for each child. I think AAR will be set up in a similar way. We have to remember that this pre lvl is all we see. There is a bigger picture that has not yet shown itself. Those of us who know and love Marie's stuff are probably more willing to put our faith in why she does things the way she does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Okay, I just bought mine! Couldn't resist! My 4-yr old loves her Ziggy coloring pages from the free activity books. And it helps me teach pre-reading skills without the muddle/stress I had getting 1st DD to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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