AAR Pre Level or something else

[fruitofthewomb]

I was thinking about ordering AAR Pre Level for my 4 yr old but the cost has me rethinking this plan. I want something all laid out to do with her-open and go-special school time for her. I saw a review online and liked the looks of it. But the price-yikes! I could buy a lot of books for her and her sisters with that money.

 

I like how TWTM says to go about introducing phonics but I am afraid it and my 4 yr old might slip through the cracks if I don't have it all laid out and ready to go for me.

 

So if you have used this is it worth the money? I have 2 more dd that could use it one day so that is a consideration but I also have loads of flashcards & printables I could use too along with Starfall that would be free.

 

Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

[Tenaj]

I am not impressed with it. I purchase it a few months ago for my 4 yods and we did a few days and it's been sitting and gathering dust ever since. The activity sheets are nothing I couldn't have printed out on the internet for free (just a letter of the alphabet with a picture incorporated and either color/paint/etc. Maybe we didn't stick with it long enough but the first 2/3's of the book is basically letter recognition with the letter names not sounds and I've never taught a kid to read that way. My kids have all learned the sounds of the letters and then connected the names later. Frankly, I was surprised that the pre-level was laid out that way because I truly expected there to be more of an emphasis on "sounds". I could have used it that way but my kidlet was not enjoying it and neither was I so we gave it up. I'm trying to decide whether to just sell it used or take them up on their guarantee - I don't know why I hesitate to use the guarantee - I just feel bad since we did use some of the material.

 

I'm ordering MFW K to work through with him but will probably mainly use my old stand-by Phonics Pathways to teach him to read along with that program.

[MerryAtHope]

I'm trying to decide whether to just sell it used or take them up on their guarantee - I don't know why I hesitate to use the guarantee - I just feel bad since we did use some of the material.

 

 

Absolutely you should take AALP up on the guarantee--Marie created it for exactly this kind of situation. She homeschooled also and never wants anyone to be stuck with a program that just doesn't work for them. If you are within the 1 year period and bought directly from AALP (not a distributor), you should use the "go ahead and try it" guarantee and return it, guilt-free. Sometimes you just don't know until you try something if it fits your needs.

 

Not every kid will need the depth that AAR pre-1 provides (though I confess my kids would have benefited from it--I looked all over for something like this!). But for anyone reading this who might be curious, there was a lot of research and intentionality that went into the design--why so much time is spent on letter recognition and names before sounds.

 

Developmentally, it is easier for young children to learn capital letters first. The visual form of the capital letters is more distinct. Take a look at this row of capital letters:

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

The only letters that could be flipped and mistaken for another letter are M/W.

 

Now take a look at this row of lowercase letters:

 

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

 

There are several pairs of letters that could be flipped:

 

• b/d (flip on the vertical axis)

• b/p (flip on the horizontal axis)

• d/p (flip on the horizontal and vertical axis)

• p/q (flip on the vertical axis

Additionally, the rounded nature of the lowercase letters make other pairs visually similar and confusable.

 

There is a common argument that lowercase letters are used more often and therefore should be taught first. But that logic doesn’t work here — the child will learn BOTH upper and lowercase. We aren’t limiting the child to learning either the lowercase or the capital letters. In a short time span, both will be learned. And since letter awareness is being taught at the pre-reading stage, the child will be very familiar with both forms of the letters before reading begins.

 

 

Here’s an analogy: in math, children learn number recognition before they are expected to do written addition. They recognize the written form of the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. before they are asked to compute 2+3 on paper. As you can imagine, it would be much more challenging for young children to learn the visual form of the numbers at the same time as they are learning to add on paper. For the child’s sake, it is best for them to be highly familiar with the written numbers and what they represent.

 

In a similar vein, Marie strongly recommends that letter recognition begins long before reading instruction starts. When your child is highly familiar with the letter shapes and names, reading instruction will be much smoother. If you try to teach letter recognition and reading together (as is often done by proponents of teaching the lowercase letters first), the child is put in the position of having to actively attend to the letter shape, sound, and position in the word. For many children, this is frustrating and difficult, and for some it is impossible.

 

For preschoolers and kindergarteners, it won’t matter which letter form was learned first (capital or lowercase). What will matter for future reading motivation is the the child has an enjoyable introduction to the letter shapes, and that he can recognize the letters with confidence.

 

And of course, some kids pick things like this up early and don't need Pre-1 at all. Here's a checklist if anyone is wondering whether to start with Pre-1 or 1.

 

HTH :), Merry :-)

[newhsmom]

. If you are within the 1 year period and bought directly from AALP (not a distributor), you should use the "go ahead and try it" guarantee and return it, guilt-free. HTH :), Merry :-)

 

 

Does this mean if I order from Rainbow Resources then there is no guarantee?

[thegirlwhopaintedtrees]

For original poster: I am selling our AAR prelevel 1 so if you do decide to use it, pm me and we can agree on a fair price.

 

I liked it. We both liked the rhyming games in it and I used it for that mainly and kept to the lesson plans introducing the letters (although I did teach him sounds from the get go and not the letter names as suggested). My son knew his letter sounds very well when we started but didn't get rhyming. We did get through the book much faster than I anticipated. I agree that the student workbook is a bit redundant and not necessary for a successful completion of the level. I did not purchase student pages for my son and it seemed fine.

[SnMomof7]

We've been happy with AAR Pre-1, but we skipped the last 14 lessons or so to start level 1 because my daughter already knew all her phonics sounds and was getting a bit bored and ready to move on :)! Her phonetic awareness skills (rhyming, first sounds, last sounds etc.) really improved with the program.