hollyh Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 So, I'm sold on buying it. Now I just have two questions. 1. What are the necessary items re: the regular kit vs. the deluxe. The deluxe includes the box to hold the cards and the bag. Do you like having these items, or is it totally not a big deal. Thoughts? 2. I would love to see some of your set-ups for the area you do the program. Do you sit at a table, sit on the floor, have the whiteboard on the wall or where? How has worked best for you? 3. Oh, had another question. Do you like the reading books that go with the AAS & AAR early levels? Did you find that they really helped or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I like the box. I wouldn't have used the bag. I just got the tiles, magnets, and box individually, since they had a sale when I ordered. I didn't get the phonogram CD. I used a white board from Sam's and left the tiles on the board. I didn't have wall space, so we just pulled it out when needed. I left it behind a dresser in my room when not in use, since I have littles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyh Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 hmm. Is the cd just telling you the sounds (primarily for the teacher, not the student)? If so, I don't really need that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I would do a search, there are so many threads on AAS Go into the advance search and type in AAS (or AAR) Then ask for title only. You will get pages of info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 hmm. Is the cd just telling you the sounds (primarily for the teacher, not the student)? If so, I don't really need that! Yes, the CD is just demonstrating the sounds of the phonograms. The one time I needed to hear one to double check what I was doing, I just googled Spalding phonograms and found a page that had audio clips for each phonogram on it - free. The phonograms are the same, except AAS adds a few obvious sounds (/E/ to 'i' and 'y', /uh/ to 'o'). The phonogram cards give you example words so you know how to make the sounds. It's pretty straight forward unless you have a heavy accent of some type where words are pronounced differently from what the dictionary says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I like the box. I wouldn't have used the bag. :iagree: I don't think the deluxe kit was available when I started the program. The box would have been nice, but I easily found one to use. I wouldn't have a use for the bag. During the younger years we had the tiles on a magnetic board which was hung on a wall close to the floor. She had a lap desk which she used on the floor to do spelling. (It had side slots for books etc.) We rarely use the tiles now. We are on Level 6. My daughter was already reading when we started the program, so we didn't use those books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 This is how I store my materials. It helps to have an old china cabinet and ugly wallpaper that you don't care about! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I store all of my supplies in my "Everything Box," and have the magnet board hanging vertically. Here's pics. Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I store all of my supplies in my "Everything Box," and have the magnet board hanging vertically. Here's pics. Merry :-) I'm going to need to get a box like you have at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I store my cards in a basket and my tiles on a white board that is hanging on the wall. I tried a cookie sheet but it was hard to find a big enough one to make it work and store it. I don't have a pic of the white board yet as I just hung it up today. I have levels 1-6 with the tiles, magnets and CD. I wanted a big enough basket/container to store all the cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 This is how I store my materials. It helps to have an old china cabinet and ugly wallpaper that you don't care about! :) That looks a lot like my setup, except I put the TM and box and such on some rolling carts in my bedroom (again, out of reach of little ones). All I had to do is grab the board from behind the dresser and grab the stack-o-stuff from the top of the cart. It was open and go from there. Absolutely nothing like a lot of programs that have many parts and pieces (like RightStart). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I store my cards in a basket and my tiles on a white board that is hanging on the wall. I tried a cookie sheet but it was hard to find a big enough one to make it work and store it. I don't have a pic of the white board yet as I just hung it up today. I have levels 1-6 with the tiles, magnets and CD. I wanted a big enough basket/container to store all the cards. That basket looks a lot prettier than my set-up for sure! Of course, there is always the risk of it being "dumped" by a naughty 2 year old. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Of course, there is always the risk of it being "dumped" by a naughty 2 year old. :) I was just thinking that there is no way I would have used the set-up I did (letter board hanging low to the floor) with littles around. The letters might have been everywhere! (Sometimes they still were. ;)) There are some great ideas here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigger Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I got the deluxe kit when I ordered level 1 - honestly, never use the bag and have not listened to the CD....do like the box though. I initially started with the large white board and had it on a chair in the dining room (where we do school) - that worked well enough, then baby started crawling and walking and I'd find tiles all over, so we mounted the white board on the wall. That didn't work so well since it was too high for DS to do things comfortably. I now use the wall white board to write out things for DS as I explain when I'm not at the table with pen and paper explaining (he actually likes it more when I use the white board, go figure?) I've since gotten a two sided easel, free standing white board-felt board combo; the felt side is for the baby, the white board side for DS and I to do work together.....I can't keep the tiles on it, so set up daily, but it is great! I have it set up in our foyer and we just do AAS in there since it's right next to the dining (school) room. I can fold it and tuck it away when we're having guests over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 That basket looks a lot prettier than my set-up for sure! Of course, there is always the risk of it being "dumped" by a naughty 2 year old. :) I have thought about that. I will be one unhappy camper if that happens. But, my kids are older so the cats are the biggest danger:lol: I like it because of the easy access. The boxes that I had been using were driving me nuts and I wanted a place to store all the cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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