CLE LTR question

[flamommy2mygirls]

Has anyone used a different phonics program before using the Learn to read program by Christian Light? Last year (for K) we used McRuffy Phonics and Reading and I am worried that the LTR program may be redundant and she will get irritated that we are doing the same stuff over again, i.e. letter sounds and such. BUT I don't want to just skip over it and go right to the Reading LUs in case McRuffy had any gaps. She is doing well with the McRuffy readers but is not up to the level of reading chapter books or the like.

 

Any opinions or advice? Thanks so much!

 

ETA: Oh and I also plan to use AAS too. Will this add yet another level of redundancy?

[mrs.m]

My opinion is that it never hurts to over-teach phonics. I used LLATL blue and OPGTR before using LTR. You will probably be able to skip the first couple light units though or speed through them because those are just basic letter sounds. Just have her read the stories in the LU and in the readers.

 

And I wouldn't say that CLE Reading 100 is at chapter book level. They are still working pretty heavily on phonics in the LA portion for 1st grade. But we hit a wall when we got to reading 100 because he was frustrated with the light unit. I'm still trying to figure out a way to alter it so we can keep going.

 

AAS will add another level of redundancy but it is a different approach, so if you have time, go for it! I didn't have time.

[Crazyderiver]

You may want to skip the first few LU's, but if you are concerned with boredom, I suggest using the TM as close to written as possible. I tend to put the workbooks in front of my dd and skip over some the instruction in the TM. She grows bored quickly and all I have to do is pull out the TM and it feels fresh and different. I would start with a few LU, then add work with the first 4 steps of AAS. Then you should better be able to judge how you want to work the two programs together. I use both and simply alter back and forth. We can usually tackle 1 LU and 2 AAS steps in 2 weeks. Both great programs! Good luck!

[lorisuewho]

I did Phonics Pathways. Then we jumped in about 1/2 way through LTR. There wasn't too much review for us. If you can preview on their site a table of contents, you should be able to figure out where a good jump in point is for you.

[tuzor]

I used McRuffy for K and then went to CLE LTR. Some of it was a repeat but that was just fine for my son. You will find that K-3 a lot of phonics will overlap. I am happy with my choice though, my son can now read chapter books independently and I credit that to the excercises in LTR and RTL.

[mytwomonkeys]

i used LTR with my son in grade 1. we loved it. i used it alongside HOP K. if i remember correctly, LTR has spelling already, so i don't think you would need AAS. we started AAS 1 after LTR.

[flamommy2mygirls]

Thank you all so much! All the comments were so very helpful!

 

I definitely know that we need multiple years of phonics lessons I just wanted to confirm that these two programs were different enough...which I figured they would be.

 

And thanks for the perspective on including AAS. I originally wanted to incorporate it into our K year but with a new baby around we were lucky to get our phonics lesson done each day. I may hold off a bit on buying that and see where CLE takes us.

 

I have heard that CLE is a very thorough program and I am excited to try it out. I hope we have success with it!