Trivium Academy Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Okay, give it to me. Give me the uglies, the regrets and whatever else you can tell me before I push the ORDER button. More info: We will use it afterschooling for ADHD, dyslexia, speech disorder child reading on K level but he's in first grade. Just diagnosed after extensive testing and just started meds for ADHD. He will do resource classes at school but I want something to do with him at home. _____ I've extensively looked at the samples, ds7 has read from the lessons and readers and asked for his sticker! Warn me now... :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Sorry, we love it :D <push the button!> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I think it would be perfect for your situation. I'm using it with my 5 year old, and I have an older child who had some struggles in this area and I think it would have been excellent for him at that age. AAS is working wonders for him now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Sorry, I can't help you. We love it here!!! We have only hit a few snags in little ways, a word in a game that wasn't introduced, simple fix take that slip of paper out, a word in the reader where the /u/ wasn't introduced, oh well just tell him the sounds and move on. My son looks forward to it every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 I see affiliate for AAS, if I click the link will you get credit for my AAR purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I did an initial review on it here on my blog. We love it. I also made a note of some of the things you can do to try to save money on your purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) Sorry, we love it here too. My youngest loves her All About Spelling. My 3rd daughter is attending b&m school at the moment and I've literally started to teach it in the evenings when she's home. So when she comes home for next year she can continue on with it. She loves it too. LOL I really don't think you'll regret getting it. I know it took a long time for me to decide to get it. But then I won the whole 1st level package so it was decided for me and I wished I had done it a long time ago. Actually I wish that it was around for my oldest because she's the world's worst speller. But then again, she listens to what we do so I know she's picking it up. Oops, never mind. I though it said All about Spelling. LOL Haven't used all about Reading yet. Edited March 7, 2012 by TracyR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Are you considering pre-1 or level one? We have pre-1, though we didn't get to use it for too long. I thought it was a bit expensive for what you get. Honestly, you can find thousands of free coloring pages with letters and animals online, so I was a bit disappointed in the activity book, though it is nice having it all right there, and there are a few things in there besides that. We never even used the CD- I still don't know what it's for, lol. The Zebra read-aloud book was a bit disappointing. Some of the stories didn't make a lot of sense. Besides that, though, I liked it. If I had it to do over, I would probably just buy the teacher's guide, Ziggy, the Lizard Lou read-aloud book, and the cards, and then find free coloring sheets and alliterative stories to replace the Zebra book online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farming_mum Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We absolutely love AAS but are quite disappointed with AAR. :sad: We are still using it but have gone back to Reading Eggs for our main reading curriculum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I didn't jump on the bandwagon even though i know Chicky my 4yo would LOVE it. My main concern is that the next levels won't be out in good time and we will get to a point of what next before finishing phonics instruction. Just something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) Whoops, sorry, I should have read your title more closely, I was posting about AAS. Edited March 7, 2012 by Jen3boys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We love it here! My only regret was not ordering the puppet!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We use AAS with the readers and LOVE it. I haven't specifically used AAR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Count me as a naysayer...lol. I ordered Pre-level 1 and was disappointed to see that it appeared to lack any real depth as far as phonemic awareness goes. I know others disagree with me, but in my flipping through of the materials, I didn't notice enough specific phonemic awareness instruction (rhyming, phoneme manipulation, blending, segmenting, etc.) I know that some folks feel this is a task for a higher grade, but my own opinion is that these tasks should be taught first and THEN reading will fall into place quite easily. This has been our experience with our oldest two thus far, one of whom is possibly dyslexic. I returned the AAR Pre-1 and, after flipping through AAS1 (which we are now using), I simply didn't see the need for AAR1. AAS1 does have phonemic awareness instruction, but again, I feel these tasks should be taught earlier in instruction. For a student that is really struggling with dyslexia, Barton Reading has been STRONGLY recommended. It is expensive, but from what I have read on the Dyslexia Yahoo groups I am a member of, it's thorough and perfect for struggling dyslexics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I'm not sure what "bad reviews" would constitute. :-) Some people will like it, some won't. Is it a "bad review" if someone doesn't like it? :-) For myself, I'd always choose Spalding as it is more comprehensive than AAS, and you use the same manual and flash cards for all ages/grade levels (the teacher guides are optional, and really, they're more useful for a classroom situation than for homeschoolers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Haven't used AAR, only AAS, but seems to take a long time to get new levels out. That's just the nature of hs curriculum sometimes, it seems. The last level of AAS was supposed to be out over a year ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Well with AAR's full refund within a year guarantee and the fact we're afterschooling- I think we'll go this route first. My hope is that the public school is effective in placing him in resource class where they can use the expensive curriculum and we'll be doing added support activities at home. Barton looks fabulous, the price tag is steep for us at this point. If we feel there is a true need to have such a program at home, we'll go that route happily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasingbutterflies Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 In your siggy, it says that you use Barton -AND- AAR/AAS? Sorry, I can't help you. We love it here!!! We have only hit a few snags in little ways, a word in a game that wasn't introduced, simple fix take that slip of paper out, a word in the reader where the /u/ wasn't introduced, oh well just tell him the sounds and move on. My son looks forward to it every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasingbutterflies Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 After A LOT of research and looking at the samples of AAR... I decided against it. I kept hearing all the hype (which seems common when something is newer). I am sure AAR would work for some. However, mine are older kids (9 and 10.5), who are struggling readers coming out of the public school system. The lessons didn't seem like "enough" and it only goes up to level 2 so far. Then I had my kids look over it and they didn't really care for it. For the price, I just couldn't justify using it. Now I am back to the drawing board. So far, Barton is the ONLY thing that is standing out to me. It is SO impressive! My 17yr old daughter and I learned valuable decoding skills from it and we aren't even dyslexic. However, the price... YIKES! (maybe if I get desperate enough ... or win the lottery). $3000 is a lot to spend on a reading program. Each level is $250 / $300 and there are ten of them. Each one lasts 3-4mths. But the cheaper two (level 1 and 2) take even less time. I have been searching online for ideas - Pinterest has some great activities. I also ordered two books so far "The Reading Teachers Book Of Lists" and "Uncovering The Logic Of English: A Common Sense Approach To Reading, Spelling, And Literacy". I am hoping they give me some aide over the summer - and by fall I will have some sort of idea of what to do about their reading level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NASDAQ Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I used AAR pre-reading and found it highly unimpressive -- basically a "letter of the week" program. And not a cheap one. I won't be continuing (to be fair, I like the Lippincott primers and would have had to be pretty inspired to switch). I like AAS, but I don't like the amount of 'stuff' involved -- the letter tiles and so on. I ditched the letter tiles after level one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2OandE Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Having a child with those dx plus more I feel your pain. We struggled with spelling for 2 years. When I pulled him out I chose to skip spelling for the time being and focus on phonics. Now that his phonics are much better he is naturally spelling. I wouldn't teach spelling until he is reading a good year or so ahead of the words you want him to spell reading wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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