If you have AAS and you actually USE it...

[BlsdMama]

Welcome.

 

 

Now, tell me all your secrets.

 

I've bought it. Twice.

 

Thus far I've NEVER used it.

 

Please help.

 

Sincerely,

The Mama

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

Welcome.

 

 

Now, tell me all your secrets.

 

I've bought it. Twice.

 

Thus far I've NEVER used it.

 

Please help.

 

Sincerely,

The Mama

 

I don't know exactly what to say. I think it is one of the easiest and user friendly programs I've ever seen. I have two children using it, and when DD is done w/ 100 EZ lessons in a year she'll start on it as well.

[LolaT]

Put the tiles on a dry-erase board, open the book and start. It's pretty easy. We usually do one "step" or lesson per week. There's not much to say. It's open and go. As with anything else, the only secret to success is probably consistency.

[BlsdMama]

Okay, I think the problem for me is that I have Level 1. But DD is beyond it. Do I still need to start from the beginning? Or can I hop into the middle? There are rules she needs to memorize. Or can I just have her memorize the rules?

[dmmm]

I would do it, but you can do it very quickly! There might be a few rules she doesn't know, so it is worth it to go over them. We did as much Level 1 as my dd could handle every day for 20 days. We are Starting Level 2 now.

[FairProspects]

If you have Level 1 and she is beyond it, start at Step 16 and quickly go through the rest of the book. I do think there is a learning curve about how to break up the steps, but we usually aim for a step per week, and 3 sentences per day (I would move faster with a strong speller).

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

I started Level 1 w/ both of my boys even though they could read. The oldest went through it in a month. The second is taking slightly longer. They needed to memorize the rules they'd never heard of even though they could read and spell. They had no idea why an o in hotel was long.

[curlylocks]

...

 

They needed to memorize the rules they'd never heard of even though they could read and spell. They had no idea why an o in hotel was long.

 

:iagree: -- start at the beginning.

[Crimson Wife]

I'm going to be the voice of dissent. With an older child, I think you are perfectly fine starting at Level 2 rather than Level 1. Level 2 reviews everything in Level 1 in the first few lessons.

 

I did start my DS in Level 1 even though it was mostly too easy but he was young (just turned 5). He simply didn't have the attention span or physical writing skills to do Level 2 at that point even if cognitively he could handle the material.

[razorbackmama]

I'm going to be the voice of dissent. With an older child, I think you are perfectly fine starting at Level 2 rather than Level 1. Level 2 reviews everything in Level 1 in the first few lessons.

I seem to remember there being a guide of some sort on their website to know whether to start with level 1 or 2. That was years ago though, so I have no idea if it's still there.

 

That said, it's very possible to go through level 1 quickly. You might be surprised at what your child has missed along the way (if she hasn't had a good phonics background). My 6th grader, who spelled OK, struggled very much with the segmenting in AAS level 1. Go figure.

[amyrobynne]

I've got a reading 1st grader and we're going through 3-4 steps a week, starting at the beginning. If a step just has new words and dictations and the words are easy, I skip straight to the dictations and call it done. Today was step 16 with c vs k and we actually used tiles for the first time in awhile then stopped before the dictations. Tomorrow we'll do those and some of the reviewing mastered stuff from step 17. We generally do AAS 4 days a week.

[MerryAtHope]

Okay, I think the problem for me is that I have Level 1. But DD is beyond it. Do I still need to start from the beginning? Or can I hop into the middle? There are rules she needs to memorize. Or can I just have her memorize the rules?

 

She could be ready for Level 2, or she may need just a quick run through of Level 1. You can fast-track her through just to fill in gaps rather than having her do everything:

 

Step 1--make sure she knows the multiple sounds of all the phonograms. I identify any that she doesn't know, and continue working on those few, 1-2 at a time, while you continue on in the book.

 

Step 2, make sure she understands segmenting. Do something from each section, but if it's obviously easy, move on.

 

Step 3, alphabetize the tiles, make sure she knows the key cards.

 

Step 4, do the sound cards even though they're easy, just for practice.

 

Step 5, just have fun with a few words, changing out letters, and move on.

 

Steps 6-10 (short vowels) you may be able to skip (but make sure to introduce the new phonogram & sound cards for CH, SH, and TH. CH has 3 sounds & TH has 2, sometimes kids don't know the additional sounds.)

 

Step 11--if she happened to miss the sounds for X or Q in Step 1, or if she doesn't know that S can say /z/ as in has (or if she writes "haz"), do this step, otherwise skip it unless you think introducing the concept of dictation is something she needs.

 

And so on. For each step, just take a moment to assess whether she knows the concept. If it's something she struggles with, teach the concept, have her teach it back, and then move on. You don't have to do all of the words if they are easy for her and she has already memorized them. Fast track until you hit words she doesn't know or concepts that are harder for her. (Steps 16 to the end have more involved rules and some kids need more time on some of these).

 

My kids went through Level 1 in about 3 weeks, but it filled in some important gaps for them and gave them a solid foundation for moving on.

 

If you are not sure she needs Level 1, check out this FAQ article to help you decide. Level 2 does start with a review, but if she doesn't know the multiple sounds of the phonograms you'll still need the Level 1 cards. If you bought AAS new from AALP, you can return part or all of it for a refund, they have a 1-year, 100% satisfaction guarantee.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

Edited September 26, 2012 by MerryAtHope

[trlt]

My dd was beyond AAS 1 but we started with 1 anyway. We used it as review to make sure she knew the rules that 1 introduced and to get her used to the program and the way it is set up. We flew through it rather quickly and then started 2.

[Hedgehogs4]

Well, first you have to open the box... :D

No seriously, I can understand the not using it part, but I have found that once you get in a groove with it, it really, really works. I have done levels 1-3 with my ds 11 and now I am doing level 1 with my dd7 who is switching from Phonics Road. I could not face four years of the cumbersome PR, but feel very confident in the OG method, so I decided since I have it I would use it with her. She is doing great with it!

 

I keep the board set up, the box of cards by the board, and use a composition book with elementary-style lines in it for her to write all of her words and dictations in. This keeps it fairly streamlined. I do spelling before we do reading for about 10 minutes every day, and I find that this even helps to reinforce her reading skills. Also, she really enjoys the interactive nature of it. She is not a kid who minds book-work, and sitting for a period of time and doing writing-type work is not a struggle, but I like that she is not tied to the desk for this and I can save that focus for other subjects. She is only 7 and can only do so much, kwim?

 

We are covering about 2 steps per week and we did start about halfway through level 1.

[Mrs.W]

Don't feel bad about not clicking with it at first. It didn't for me either, but when I picked it up again a year later I finally found my groove. For me, just finding a routine with it was the key, and the only way to find the routine is to just plug through it and adapt as you go along. I didn't worry about limiting it to 15 minutes, because many times I was trying to find the right tiles or get used to the manual, so the kids just played with the tiles while I did that.

 

Things also went smoother once I figured out the best way (for us) to organize our materials. I've seen many different ideas for organizing the AAS materials so I think it's a very individual thing, but don't be afraid to think outside the box. Literally, this is what I did when I ditched the idea of keeping the cards in a box -- I now keep the red, yellow, and blue cards on a ring -- and it has worked beautifully for us.

[SnMomof7]

The key for me is just sitting down, saying - OKAY, we're doing this 15 minutes, let's go! And then doing it.

 

I even started my DH with level 1 though remedially :).

[gratitude]

I use it and love it; but we don't use the tiles which is actually a big part of the program.

 

I bought it for my oldest who is a great reader, but not a natural speller. He also though isn't a hands on learner.

 

We did the tiles for one or two weeks, and they weren't adding any benefit for this particular child.

 

So we do use it, and my ds9 won't hear of using any other spelling program but we don't use it fully as intended. I plan on starting it with ds7 sometime soon.

 

How we do use it:

*The sections are listed by spelling rule so we go over the spelling rules. This is something I really do like about the program.

*I test him on the spelling word list. He mostly passes them the first day and then we move to the next. When he doesn't I have him copy the spelling word that he missed 5 times, and we do the ones he missed the next day.

*We do use the dictation sentences, but not the phrases.

 

The lay-out of the book by spelling rules I find makes a lot of sense and is very easy to use. We tried Sequential spelling briefly and R&S briefly and AAS has been the one that has worked.

[BigMamaBird]

We use ours and love it. There's just some magical draw about the white board, the markers and the tiles that draws the kids to it, even when we're not in class. We've had to lay down some serious rules about who can touch it and when because they all want to play with it all the time! So when it's time for Spelling class, it's like recess or something.

 

It's also one of our shorter classes and it's so easily absorbed by them that I look forward to Spelling much more than Math. I think they do too.

[ScoutTN]

Put the tiles on a dry-erase board, open the book and start. It's pretty easy. We usually do one "step" or lesson per week. There's not much to say. It's open and go. As with anything else, the only secret to success is probably consistency.

 

This. Persevere. Just do it!

We do 15 minutes 3x week.

Spelling isn't exciting, but AAS works and even I learn things!

My DD doesn't love the tiles and takes forever to put them on the board, so we just leave them there and we use the board just 1 day each week, for the main insturction part.