Must we do phonics, if we're using AAS?

[Ramie]

Thanks to your quick advice on my previous thread, I am leaning towards getting All About Spelling for my 8yo who seems to have some dyslexic tendencies and who is not a natural speller (although I am still keeping "How to Teach Spelling" in mind as well). I am concerned about adding too much work to her already full load though, and I'm wondering if phonics/word study will be covered sufficiently with AAS, or if I'll still need to cover it as a separate subject. She already knows how to read - she will be in 3rd grade. Do you do a separate phonics program, like ETC or MCP when you're doing AAS? Actually my dd is working on ETC book 8 this year, and I was originally planning on putting her into MCP Word Study D for 3rd grade. But is this necessary, or will it be overkill?

[boscopup]

I dropped separate phonics when I started my first grader in AAS. AAS covers all the phonograms, syllabication, etc. For a child that is already reading well, I think AAS covers phonics very well.

[MerryAtHope]

AAS is a complete phonics program, so you don't have to add additional phonics. It won't start at the same place that your daughter is working reading-wise, but it will eventually cover all of the phonics. What I found amazing when I started my kids at the end of 3rd & 5th grades was that even though the phonics level was well below their reading level, their reading still improved 2 grade levels that first year. So...you may find that it fills in some gaps or makes some things click that you might not expect.

 

Merry :-)

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

Some do and some don't. I don't:)

[Love_to_Read]

I'm reading The Writing Road to Reading right now, and it suggests teaching phonics via spelling in order to learn to read. So, I'm presuming AAS woud be enough. I haven't read very far at all in Writing Road to see if there's more to it, though. But AAS does seem to be helping my 4th grader read better already, and it seems to me like more would be somewhat redundant.

[Ramie]

Thanks, this is a relief (although if someone is reading this and disagrees, feel free to say so)! We used a separate learn-to-read program, so I suppose I was seeing the phonics workbooks as reinforcement more than actual reading instruction. We definitely don't need busy work!

[FairProspects]

We do both (actually 3 - one writing phonics workbook, one reading primer, & one spelling book) because ds's decoding and encoding skills are at such different levels.

 

He can read the word "truck" all day long, but when dictated to him, he might not catch that it is spelled with a "ck" rather than just a "c" or just a "k". I want to meet him where he is at both in instructional level of reading and instructional level of spelling, hence a separate phonics program.

 

With an 8 y.o. it might not be as much of a concern, since the student may already be done with traditional reading phonics at this point.

[pinkcastle]

We're doing AAS but still planning to add ETC & BTC.

[kristinannie]

We are using AAS and MCP Plaid Phonics along with some readers. I also use OPGTTR, but DS5 finds it very boring and complains a lot. I am going to keep slogging through it though because I think it really works! I will probably end up dropping one of those. Your DC is much older than mine though so AAS will probably be enough to fill in any gaps in phonics (assuming phonics instruction has already happened). I think the Word Study would be good though and not overkill.