thefragile7393 Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Now I am finding what many here have already said. The arts and crafts stuff is driving me nuts. I know there is a lot out there that people love....but I don't have a lot of money for a whole new curriculum. I wish I would have invested in AAR 1 now but...oh well. I like having open and go lessons or at least something relatively easy I can break up into lessons on my own. Ideas? Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Aw, too bad. I was looking at LLATL Blue but ended up passing on it.... I don't know much about the setup of LLATL, so I don't know if there's any way to make it salvageable... My 1st grader is really doing well with R&S Phonics (we like it better than we liked AAR). Very inexpensive, very open-and-go, short lessons that are easy to finish in a sitting. Buy just the teacher's guide and the phonics workbooks. There is a bit of writing involved, but DD doesn't mind as long as I let her use crayons and markers and fancy pens. :p Anyway, it has really built up her confidence quickly (in just 3 weeks, she has gone from struggling with c-a-t to reading words like "tuck" and "mess" easily). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefragile7393 Posted September 29, 2012 Author Share Posted September 29, 2012 Aw, too bad. I was looking at LLATL Blue but ended up passing on it.... I don't know much about the setup of LLATL, so I don't know if there's any way to make it salvageable... My 1st grader is really doing well with R&S Phonics (we like it better than we liked AAR). Very inexpensive, very open-and-go, short lessons that are easy to finish in a sitting. Buy just the teacher's guide and the phonics workbooks. There is a bit of writing involved, but DD doesn't mind as long as I let her use crayons and markers and fancy pens. :p Anyway, it has really built up her confidence quickly (in just 3 weeks, she has gone from struggling with c-a-t to reading words like "tuck" and "mess" easily). What about the reading workbooks...are those of any urse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 What about the reading workbooks...are those of any urse? I like the look and idea of them, but for my *very new* reader, it was too much for her to be adding in all their sight words (major confusion!). I'm considering doing all of the phonics lessons and then going back to the reading lessons afterward. Right now we are just doing the phonics lessons, workbooks, and adding our own readers (we really like Beginning Steps to Reading from Eastern Mennonite Publications....very few site words -- like 5 total in all 50 stories.) *ETA: we are not Mennonite, but I've found myself drawn to many of the educational items published from these conservative groups. :)* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidbits of Learning Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Cheap and easy-The Reading Lesson. I sprung for the fun cd also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefragile7393 Posted September 29, 2012 Author Share Posted September 29, 2012 Cheap and easy-The Reading Lesson. I sprung for the fun cd also. Which CD was that? Looks like they have a few Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneP Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 After using LLATL's other books with my older dd and really loving the red and yellow ones, I was also disappointed by the blue book when I decided to use it with my younger dd. I modified it a lot. If you want to stick with it because money is tight consider skipping the things your child knows, particularly early on. Often I would also just point to the words or "sounds" in the teacher's manual instead of doing the craft with those words as we were supposed to. I am disorganized and I lost most of the letter cards during the year so I just wrote them out on a small whiteboard from the TM for that lesson. Anyway, for all that my dd actually enjoyed making the flip book and word wheels so we kept doing them and I could see the purpose of them too. So while I wouldn't necessarily recommend the blue book to anyone again I do think there are ways to make it work if you are stuck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Is dialing back thde arts & crafts a possibility? If you have a functioning printer and paper, we could suggest a multitude of free sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneP Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 You might also want to check out Word Mastery. It is a very solid, "no frills" phonics program - and it is free!! http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/word_mastery_typed.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidbits of Learning Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Which CD was that? Looks like they have a few The book and cd together are the $49 one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneP Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Is dialing back thde arts & crafts a possibility? If you have a functioning printer and paper, we could suggest a multitude of free sites. I think we were posting at the same time :) I really believe that early phonics instruction can be cheap and straightforward and the free sites are very effective. I love the Don Potter site http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/valuable_reading_programs_f.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.