Did you use AAS to teach reading?...........

[naturally]

If you used All About Spelling to teach your child to read, please tell me how you did it. :bigear:

[HiddenJewel]

AAS teaches the phonograms too slowly for teaching reading completely but it does a good job of getting you started. Once the student learns the first 26 phonograms and learns that words are broken into sounds (segmenting), he/she can move to ungluing and gluing the words which leads to reading. Then you can follow that up with teaching the rest of the phonograms long before they are introduced AAS.

[BetterthanIdeserve]

I didn't use AAS to teach reading, but I did notice a huge improvement in my dd's reading ability after starting AAS.

[raceNzanesmom]

I think it can work if you don't expect them to master the spelling before moving on. Teach it to read, then teach it to spell. Teaching it to spell should be quicker, I would think. We're sort of doing it this way. My ds was past a beginning reader when we started AAS, but was struggling. How I'm using it now is once he has the reading portion down we move on. If the spelling isn't mastered, we keep reviewing. So far it's working. We're using the level 2 readers, and then have plenty of other books he can read to work on a particular "rule".

[hellen]

I did but I won't do it again. It did actually work and he is a fine reader now, I just think there are easier ways to teach reading. I'm not sure if it was the method or my son's personality but he guesses at words instead of trying to figure them out. I did now speed ip the lessons. We used the reading book that goes along with level 1. Now that I'm thinking back I'm not certain if AAS did actually teach him to read or he just sort of figured it out since he was nearly six. I'm using AAR with my daughter.

[DawnL]

I did but I won't do it again. It did actually work and he is a fine reader now, I just think there are easier ways to teach reading. I'm not sure if it was the method or my son's personality but he guesses at words instead of trying to figure them out. I did now speed ip the lessons. We used the reading book that goes along with level 1. Now that I'm thinking back I'm not certain if AAS did actually teach him to read or he just sort of figured it out since he was nearly six. I'm using AAR with my daughter.

 

Are you finding AAR better at teaching reading then? I mean, it makes sense that it is better at teaching reading. Just wondering if it's a huge difference, since they are working on the same principles.

 

I've been wanting to get AAR for my youngest, but money is tight. I will have to scrimp for it and we may have to work on it over the summer. I'm still debating if it's worth it.

[lorisuewho]

I thought we were going to be using AAS for teaching reading and spelling, but it moved way too slowly. I then added in Phonics Pathways and together the programs worked really well.

I think the next time through I'm going to drop AAS and Phonics Pathways and try with Writing Road to Reading or Logic of English instead. They seem much faster moving.

[Tanikit]

I also have a budget concern. I have used OPGTR to teach phonics for reading (my DD was already reading a fair amount before we started phonics so didn't use OPGTR as scripted) and now I am wondering whether I can still use OPGTR to teach spelling (obviously with changes since I also want her to learn spelling rules which I believe is where AAS strengths lie amongst other things) So without derailing the thread has anyone done this and how did it work if you did? Oh, if I did this, I would also plan on using letter tiles (or some version of letter tiles) along with it.

[hellen]

Are you finding AAR better at teaching reading then? I mean, it makes sense that it is better at teaching reading. Just wondering if it's a huge difference, since they are working on the same principles.

 

I've been wanting to get AAR for my youngest, but money is tight. I will have to scrimp for it and we may have to work on it over the summer. I'm still debating if it's worth it.

 

I'm only in level one of AAR which introduces letters and letter sounds. So far it is a good fit for my daughter because she doesn't know any of those things. At this age my son did. It's also teaching to listen for the beginning and ending of word sounds which is exactly like the first few lessons of AAS. Like others have said AAS moves pretty slow. Long vowel sounds aren't introduced until Level 2.

 

Unfortunately I can't speak about how AAR will work yet over the long haul. So far I'm pleased with it and we will continue. I can say that I like the ease of the laid out lessons. It's something I like about both programs. My daughter loves the zebra puppet and even my seven year old son who doesn't care for that sort of thing is jealous about the puppet.

 

If you wanted to do AAR cheaply, for the first level at least I think you could get away with just the teacher's manual. You can make your own coloring sheets and anything else that was in the student packet. We use library books instead of the AAR books. I do recommend a puppet of some sort just because kids love it so much. While the AAR letter chart is beautiful you could get a different one or more make your own. I think you could do this program for less money by opting out of some of it. Somebody else could give you an idea about the other levels and how easily it could be done.

Edited April 14, 2012 by hellen
Clarification