A home for their hearts Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I believe that my ds10 has pretty good phonemic awareness and he already know all of his consonants and vowel sounds very well. I think it would be a waste of time and money to have him go through level one and two. Could I just start him off in level three? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Have you taken the placement test at the Barton site? It's important to know which areas he might be weak on. Barton suggests using LIPS if you fail the third part of the test, though LIPS didn't help us but phonemic awareness exercises did. In our experience, Level 1 was super helpful for my son, who is 14 btw. His reading actually started taking off after completing Level 1 and we sped through Level 2. It sounds like a waste of time and I didn't want to do it either, but now, looking back, I'm quite glad we took the time. Besides the time factor, money was an issue as well, but I bought used and sold after finishing and I was only out the money for shipping - which seemed quite worth it for us. Good luck finding what works best for your family, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Have you taken the placement test at the Barton site? It's important to know which areas he might be weak on. Barton suggests using LIPS if you fail the third part of the test, though LIPS didn't help us but phonemic awareness exercises did. In our experience, Level 1 was super helpful for my son, who is 14 btw. His reading actually started taking off after completing Level 1 and we sped through Level 2. It sounds like a waste of time and I didn't want to do it either, but now, looking back, I'm quite glad we took the time. Besides the time factor, money was an issue as well, but I bought used and sold after finishing and I was only out the money for shipping - which seemed quite worth it for us. Good luck finding what works best for your family, :iagree: Level 1 was great for my 13yo, Level 2 was torture (he didn't pass the Level 2 Posttest because of the nonsense words, so we did it.) Most of Level 3 went pretty fast but he is balking now because it is too easy. I am ready to go through the last couple of Level 3 lessons quickly (just the rules) and start Level 4 (which he definitely needs work on.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A home for their hearts Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 Have you taken the placement test at the Barton site? It's important to know which areas he might be weak on. Barton suggests using LIPS if you fail the third part of the test, though LIPS didn't help us but phonemic awareness exercises did. In our experience, Level 1 was super helpful for my son, who is 14 btw. His reading actually started taking off after completing Level 1 and we sped through Level 2. It sounds like a waste of time and I didn't want to do it either, but now, looking back, I'm quite glad we took the time. Besides the time factor, money was an issue as well, but I bought used and sold after finishing and I was only out the money for shipping - which seemed quite worth it for us. Good luck finding what works best for your family, Where have you found it used at? I was also wondering if when you bought them used if the included the letter tiles? I read somewhere that people usually keep the tiles when the sell. Then I wouldn't be able to buy a set of tiles since I didn't purchure the level directly from Barton? Also, how much do the levels usually sell for used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 (edited) Start at level 1, but if you buy it from Susan, and your son finishes it within a week or so, she will exchange it for level 2 for no additional cost. You don't need to keep the level 1 tiles, but you'll need a set for level 2 and up. I've found it easier to buy directly from Susan and buy 2 extra sets of tiles with each level to improve my re-sale value. The Heart of Reading yahoo group is a good place to find used levels, and I've also seen them on http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com. I usually ask for 75% of the new cost. Edited November 20, 2011 by LizzyBee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A home for their hearts Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 Start at level 1, but if you buy it from Susan, and your son finishes it within a week or so, she will exchange it for level 2 for no additional cost. That's good to know! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 That's good to know! Thanks! If you go that route, I would call to order and confirm that's still the policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Start at level 1, but if you buy it from Susan, and your son finishes it within a week or so, she will exchange it for level 2 for no additional cost. You don't need to keep the level 1 tiles, but you'll need a set for level 2 and up. I've found it easier to buy directly from Susan and buy 2 extra sets of tiles with each level to improve my re-sale value. The Heart of Reading yahoo group is a good place to find used levels, and I've also seen them on http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com. I usually ask for 75% of the new cost. What she said. :) You can find it used alot though. The tiles I've just decided to make my own. I use the 4 colored plastic math tiles you can buy and I bought 200 one inch wood tiles that I can paint the right colors and add the letters on them. It solves the issue with tiles for me. Alot of people sell them with the tiles though. I've found all my levels on the yahoo group heart of reading. I've purchased level 1-4 so far. The first two levels were $200ppd and the third and fourth levels were $250ppd. I'm really glad that we finally decided to use Barton. It's definitely been a plus here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 If you call, Susan Barton will advise if it's best to start at level 1 or if you should give post tests for other levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Definitely look for used - by staying up until 2am one Friday I found a Level 4 for $176!:D I was so proud of myself that I woke my dh to tell him.:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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