deeinfl Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 How long does this take you? or How long is a day's lesson? Does one level last all year or have you gone through two levels in one year? Is this working any better than any other program you've tried? And anything else you would like to add??? :) Thank you so much, Dee :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I haven't used AAS 5 yet, but We've used levels 1-3. It takes us 20 minutes because I set a timer and we do as much as we can get through it that time. AAS isn't meant to be done at a step a day necessarily. It's meant to go at the child's pace. My biggest question would be have you used AAS 1-4? I wouldn't jump into AAS 5 if you've not used the other levels. AAS levels are not grade levels. AAS is working better than anything we've tried and we've tried a lot of them. It just make sense to us. Sometimes we get through 2 books a year, sometimes less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I haven't used AAS 5 yet, but We've used levels 1-3. It takes us 20 minutes because I set a timer and we do as much as we can get through it that time. AAS isn't meant to be done at a step a day necessarily. It's meant to go at the child's pace. My biggest question would be have you used AAS 1-4? I wouldn't jump into AAS 5 if you've not used the other levels. AAS levels are not grade levels. AAS is working better than anything we've tried and we've tried a lot of them. It just make sense to us. Sometimes we get through 2 books a year, sometimes less. :iagree: The author recommends working for 20 minutes per day, though for an older student you could do as much as 30 minutes. Short, daily lessons are going to stick better than longer but fewer sessions. I also agree that you don't want to jump in at Level 5--The numbers are not grade level numbers. Here's a link to help you decide which level to start with. You really want to decide based on what concepts your student knows, and not just what words they can spell--the same concept that helps them know why "cat" uses C and "kid" uses K applies to longer words like concentrate. If you think a student knows all of the concepts in Level 2, you can look at the scope & sequence links for higher levels, to try to discern where there are gaps and where to start. As for how many levels per year--we got through the first 2.5 in a year, and after that do about 1.5 levels per year. It's worked for us where other programs didn't, so we've been very pleased. HTH! Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeinfl Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Thanks everyone! It would definitely be too expensive at this point to start from number 1 and work our way up to 5 because of certain rules. I guess I'll be looking into something else or staying with our current method. 40x5= too much right now. Yikes! Dee :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_midori Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 You could probably start with level 2 and plan to do 2 & 3 in a year or so and then move more slowly for level 4 & 5. That would spread 40*4 over 2-3 years or so, and give a good solid foundation in spelling most anything. We've done level 1 & 2, and I'm finishing up with level 3 in a couple months. We went through level 1 super-fast and level 2 fairly fast but I started dragging it out more (more review of rules and writing practice). For level 3, I do 1 "step" a week - usually spread over 2 days, each approximately 15-25 minutes. You also don't need to buy anything extra for extra kids - my sons are 2 years apart and in 1 & 3 at the same time right now, and I have yet to buy anything additional (beyond the main program for 1 child). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Thanks everyone! It would definitely be too expensive at this point to start from number 1 and work our way up to 5 because of certain rules. I guess I'll be looking into something else or staying with our current method. 40x5= too much right now. Yikes! Dee :) I found AAS 1/2 gently used at a good price. I only have one ds still needing it so I can sell to buy the next levels. It is very solid and teaches the whys, not just a list of words. We are loving it! My ds is flying through level one, we'll slow down in level two to go at his needed pace. If your ds is a struggling speller (can't tell you the whys of spelling, misses bigger words that follow the same rules as the littler ones, etc), I'd seriously consider trying it. And, if you buy new and don't like it they'll refund your money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeinfl Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Thanks Blackmadori and Angie, I will consider all that you've written. :) Angie, I love the name of your son, Zane! Z names are so kewl! My son's middle name is Zaire...:) My son is a good speller who usually just takes a pic of a word in his mind and remembers it, but I know that spelling lists increase in difficulty in the 5th and 6th grades so I was sort of wanting him to have a stronger base when he gets there. I'll be taking all of what you gals have written into consideration... Dee :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 IMO, AAS is not ideal for naturally good spellers. It has a huge amount of review and uses multisensory methods. My dyslexic-ish kid has really benefitted. However, for a child who needs it, one should really start at the beginning. It doesn't sound like your son really needs it. SWo would probably be fine and the price is right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeinfl Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Thanks, Catherine. I am interested in SWO as well. I will probably have to have it in my hands before making a final decision. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 My son is a good speller who usually just takes a pic of a word in his mind and remembers it, but I know that spelling lists increase in difficulty in the 5th and 6th grades so I was sort of wanting him to have a stronger base when he gets there. I'll be taking all of what you gals have written into consideration... You might take a look at How to Teach Spelling (HTTS). It is similar to AAS in that it teaches the rules and syllabication and all the phonograms - those are all the same... It differs in that it moves faster and has all levels in ONE TM so you can adjust the difficulty of the words and sentences to what your child needs. I posted samples of Book 3 (for grades 4-6) on my blog here. The samples at CBD and RR are pretty lame. :tongue_smilie: I think the TM samples on CBD were decent, IIRC. The TM is about $26ish (I got mine via Book Depository when they had a 10% off coupon), and the workbook is about $10ish, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeinfl Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Thank you so much for these great samples, Boscopup! This looks great! Another one to consider, most definitely! :) Dee :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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