AAS 1 Question

[lorisuewho]

About how many days did it take you to complete each step?

Is the program designed to last an entire school year?

 

We just started off and I was doing an entire step each day, but now that I am into it more, I think we should definitely break up the steps over more than one day.

[Five More Minutes]

I've found that AAS steps can take as little as one day, and as long as 3-5 days. (I aim for about 15-20 minutes of spelling each day.) We're in AAS 2 now and it still applies.

 

I've heard that many go through AAS 1 faster than subsequent Levels. That has been our experience so far.

 

I wouldn't try to make a level last a year, but just fit it to the child.

[Xuzi]

I ended up going through all of Level 1, and half of Level 2 with my 1st grader last year. I allowed a week for each step.

[Mommee & Baba]

For dd6 who is doing level 1 it takes her 2-3 days per step. With dd8 who is doing level 2 she was doing a step each day comfortably, but we're nearing the END of level 1 and I can see that I need to have the steps take her 2 days just so she can grasp the concepts enough and not mispell because the step was pushed through too fast. She was spelling all the words correctly and she was writing the phrases and sentences correctly...now that we're doing the end steps of level 2 I can see alot more mispelled words and struggles with phrases and sentences so it's time to slow it down for her.

 

Go at your dc's pace. Allow the spelling to be for the year. If he/she doesn't complete it then no big deal and if he/she completes it then move on up the next level or just review the rest of the year. Whatever is your dc's pace.

[boscopup]

At age 5, I'd expect it to take maybe a semester? Is your child reading already? That might affect the time frame. My son did level 1 in 3 weeks at age 6.5, but he was reading at a 4th grade level already. Spelling words like "bus" were old hat to him. He just needed to learn a handful of new rules. Now that we're in level 3, we've slowed down quite a bit. I expect to do levels 3 and 4 this school year. In level 1, we sometimes did more than one step in a day (especially those first ones), and then by halfway through the book, we were at one step per day.

 

With a 5 year old, you could be doing one step per day or one step per week, depending on where the child is. I wouldn't try to stretch it out to a year if the child is ready to move on. Just set your timer for 15 minutes, and do whatever you can in that time frame. The next day, pick up where you left off. Don't worry about trying to fit one step into a specific time frame.

[MerryAtHope]

AAS recomends working for 15-20 minutes per day, so you can take as many or as few days as you need per step. For a 5 yo, I might even go down to 10 minutes some days, depending on her attention level. You want to keep it FUN at this stage :).

 

Also, sometimes young ones hit a wall when some of the rules are introduced (like when C is soft), so don't worry if you need to slow it down or even take a break at some points.

 

Merry :-)

[FairProspects]

I ended up going through all of Level 1, and half of Level 2 with my 1st grader last year. I allowed a week for each step.

 

:iagree:Each step takes us about a week, but that is as much due to ds's wiggle factor as anything else (there are only so many tile bumper cars and explosions I can take in a day :lol:).

[lorisuewho]

Thank you! Your responses make perfect sense to me. I think I'm spending too much time each day on spelling. It is taking us closer to 25 minutes. I'm going to shorten our time and slow down.