kristinannie Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I have seen some of the samples and this program looks really great. I know that some people are already using it. How do you like it? Is it fun for the kids and are they retaining it? What ages do you recommend this for? It looks like the beginning goes over the alphabet. That is about where my DD3.5 is right now. Should I wait until she is 4 or start it now? I know a lot of you like the puppet. Is it worth the extra cost? Anything you can tell me about this would be GREATLY appreciated. Plus, if you will make money if I click on the website through your siggy, please let me know so I can help someone out. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 (edited) Hi Kristinannie, I'll tell you up front I'm an AAS affiliate as the link in my signature shows. I'm using AAR pre-1 with my son who will be 6 in July. He already knows his letters and their sounds but wasn't ready for blending quite yet. He needed to work on his phonemic awareness like rhyming and AAR has been great for him. He really likes the letter pages and the short poems in the books. He's doing really well with the rhyming, We're not too far into it because we've had a lot of illness come through in the last month. Ziggy is awesome and worth it to me, because my son giggles through the lessons and loves Ziggy, but part of that is what you make it. I make him sound very young, and like he's just learning so my son has to help Ziggy out a lot. My son is the youngest, so being older than Ziggy and knowing more really helps him feel like a big boy. I will even find him sleeping with Ziggy some nights. If you dd is working on learning letters I would say go for it. I don't think it would be too hard, and if she has trouble you could always stretch each lesson out. Like say the alphabet, read the poem and do the activity one day, do the alphabet and poem again and the alphabet page the next, maybe even do the activity again the next. You could even split it up more. It usually takes me about 20 mintues tops to do a lesson with my son, not including the time he takes on the letter page. He likes to take his time and make them really colorful. I hope I helped just a little bit. I truly think AAR is great and not trying to just get you to use my link, I put it up only so people will know up front and it's totally up to them how much weight they give my reviews or suggestions. Edited April 17, 2011 by nukeswife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildwood Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I have seen some of the samples and this program looks really great. I know that some people are already using it. How do you like it? Is it fun for the kids and are they retaining it? What ages do you recommend this for? It looks like the beginning goes over the alphabet. That is about where my DD3.5 is right now. Should I wait until she is 4 or start it now? I know a lot of you like the puppet. Is it worth the extra cost? Anything you can tell me about this would be GREATLY appreciated. Plus, if you will make money if I click on the website through your siggy, please let me know so I can help someone out. Thanks! Hello, I am using AAR Pre-Level 1 with my daughter who just turned four last week. Although my daughter has known her letters and their sounds for quite some time already, I was also interested in the program for components other than learning the letters and their sounds. I bought the program so that I could have some specific, structured learning time with my daughter that provided the opportunity for fun, crafts, games, and overall interaction with me AND my 7 year old daughter as well. I ended up purchasing the complete package that included Ziggy the puppet. My daughter absolutely loves Ziggy as part of her 'school time'. The program has scripted portions that tell when Ziggy is to speak and how he interacts with the games and your child. Of course, you could have Ziggy participate however you or your child likes if that works better. I sometimes have Ziggy 'say his part' as the guide indicates and sometimes the three of us take turns with Ziggy so he can interact in ways we each personally like. Ziggy is very well loved here and my daughter takes him to bed with her as well. I would not hesitate to recommend the Ziggy puppet as I feel that it adds a lot to the program and really makes the program come to life for little ones. As far as liking the program here at our house, it absolutely gets 5-stars from me, my 4 year old and my 7 year old. It is fun, educational, and very well done, in my opinion. The materials/content are top notch and the actual products themselves, are absolutely super quality and quite beautifully done. The puppet is of high quality, the books are hard-bound and beautifully illustrated, the alphabet posters and letter/picture cards are sweetly done. Even the box that stores the cards is precious. I even appreciate the beautiful color palette that they selected to theme the program with. It is just good quality, beautiful stuff and I feel like I absolutely got what I paid for. My 4 year old often requests to 'do Ziggy', sometimes multiple times in one day! She adores the rhyming games and loves the coloring/craft sheets. I like that the program is easy to implement, has a variety of interesting activities and crafts, and offers our family time together learning and just having fun. I would recommend this program for any age that *you* feel is appropriate. It just depends on your personal goals with your child. For us, my daughter is beyond the actual learning letters and so on but, I looked at the other components---structured learning time, crafts, fun family interaction, learning games, and good old fashioned fun with a puppet---these components are what helped me to make the decision to purchase the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Will Level 1 coincide with AAS or will they be totally separate programs? I haven't decided if I am going to use AAS or Apples and Pears. I know that this info might not even be available yet. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Level 1 will work with AAS level 1. I believe I read that they will follow the same order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I have an affiliate link in my siggy too :). We are on Step 13 of AAR Pre-1 and we're doing it with my just-turned five-year-old. I sort of wish we'd had it for her to do when she was 4 and was first getting interested in letters. She doesn't want to take ANY days off, and absolutely loves the puppet. She can't wait to 'do school', she runes to me in the morning, "Do school, mommy, do school!" She definitely loves it! We bought the whole she-bang, and I'm glad we did. Even my just-turned-eight-year-old LOVES the program even though she's a fluent reader. It is just so much fun! The games that Marie Rippel has incorporated into the curriculum are just excellent and so developmentally appropriate for little ones. My 2.5 year old also likes to do co-ordinating coloring sheets (I just print her one with the same animal on it and she goes to town.) I agree with Kel, the lessons are short, and very do-able, and I love that it is all planned out for me. As far as whether or not to wait, it really depends upon your child's interest level and whether they are ready to start learning about letters. I think my 2.5 year old is TOO young (though she does like to sit in), I think 4 would be just perfect for most little ones :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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