zarabellesmom Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Here's my situation... My four year old has suddenly decided to take off on this reading adventure. This is my child who wasn't even interested in the alphabet and couldn't name a letter or its sound six months ago. Now she knows all the sounds, all the letter names, identifies all the letters and is sounding out CVC words with no problem. ??? We have AAR pre-reading and tried using it, she was mostly interested in coloring the letter worksheets but this past week we pulled out Ziggy (we call him Zala and made her a girl) and did all the activities. She can clap syllables better than her seven year old sister and had no problem zipping right through ALL of the activities in the book. We've been reading some of the alphabet books on the progressive phonics website, but I was trying to decide if I wanted something more (I think I do) and if I do, what it should be... I have a seven year old and I'm getting ready to order AAS 3. We already have all of the materials for AAS 1 and 2. I really like the look of AAR 1, but it's another $99.......... Add that to the money I'm already going to spend on AAS 3 and I'm crying over the shopping cart. So has anyone made AAS 1 work, with other resources, as an aid to teaching reading? Help me out here, I'm on a budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I am not going to help you at all........but my ds is LOVING AAR Level 1. He did Pre Level last year and is starting to take off in sounding out words. It is just working so well for us right now. I'm using AAS 1 and then AAS 2 with my dd who has suddenly decided that she can't spell or remember spelling rules. I don't know how I would use it to teach reading. I really wanted something planned out for me to teach reading and spelling-thus the 2 programs for my kids. With a new baby on the way, I wanted to make sure my ds got enough of my time and attention. I somehow taught my dd to read but it was a big struggle for both of us. I am so much less stressed with AAR 1 and wish I had had it for my dd. I can't wait to move into Level 2 with my ds next year. (and then put my other dd in Level 1 - she's doing Pre Level right now). So, I'm not helping your budget (mine has been hit hard too!) but it was a purchase I was glad I made. I blogged about it here... It was not cheap but I don't regret the purchase. My hubby is glad too and he's impressed with how well ds is doing - and with so little frustration on either of our parts. But we are also enjoying AAS here too. I know others have used it for reading as well but I'm not creative enough to do that right now or motivated to put in the time and effort for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarabellesmom Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 I wish I hadn't read your blog post. Now I'm ready to pull out my debt card! I'm not really one to modify programs... I have enough schoolwork to do as it is. If its not easy to do it usually doesn't get done around here. Great! I was hoping to be talked out of spending money.:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 While waiting for AAR to be released, I tried in earnest to use AAS for reading and it just never worked for me. I have 3 kids and although my oldest can do a lot on his own he's also getting into some heavy things that need more from me in the teaching arena. I hated having to figure out how to tweak the lesson to make them more reading focused. I love how AAR is all laid out and I don't have to think about it. I just pull it out and away we go. My son absolutely loves it. I recently purchased AAR 2 so we have it for when he's finished and now he's really stoked to keep things moving right along since he knows we have another level ready and waiting for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I think people have used AAS to teach reading. I prefer to use both. AAR has fluency, blending, etc that you won't get in the AAS program. It is pricey, but I have never regreted the purchase. I wish I'd had AAR to teach my oldest. The customer service is phenomenal too. I *do* wish it was cheaper, and cheaper to ship...but...it's an awesome program! I've paid way more for programs that didn't live up to the hype. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 There are plenty of ways to teach reading. I used Alpha Phonics with my two boys but with my dd, I really needed something that went slower and did wind up buying AAR for dd. I didn't buy the books that go with the program because I have enough graduated readers laying around that I could use which did cut back on the cost quite a bit. AAR is a fun program, but you can get alpha phonics or something similar for less than $25. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I wish I hadn't read your blog post. Now I'm ready to pull out my debt card! I'm not really one to modify programs... I have enough schoolwork to do as it is. If its not easy to do it usually doesn't get done around here. Great! I was hoping to be talked out of spending money.:lol: Sorry! :tongue_smilie: We do really like the program and it has been a great fit for us. I was even trying to convince myself that my oldest dd needed Level 2. But I'm thinking she's beyond that level so we'll just work through AAS and she'll keep reading aloud to me. I wish the levels were coming out faster!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenDaisies Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I used AAS to teach my dd how to read before AAR was released. She was a natural reader and we had no problem using it for reading. We worked out of two different places in the book - one for reading and one for spelling. I would go through each lesson and see if the rules taught applied to reading. If they did, we reviewed the rule, read the words and then the phrases. When we reached the place where the readers came in, we read those stories. We also used ETC for reinforcement. I recall that early on it was fairly easy to sync the two up. My son has been a different story. For him, I am glad to have AAR. Reading hasn't come as naturally and it is nice having all the extra fluency practice and a curriculum that is geared specifically for reading. You could try AAS with the readers and see how it goes, although the readers are a considerable part of the expense. However, if you don't think you want to modify, AAS may not be the way to go. AAS contains the tools you need to teach your child to read, but AAR holds your hand while you do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbieoftwo Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I thought about teaching reading through AAS, but now that we have both I couldn't imagine teaching reading with it. We love AAR here and AAS is used as mostly review. DS has only done the spelling dictation through Step 10 and hasn't had any trouble :001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernm Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Well great. I was planning on using aas1 for dd5 since we already have it. In my whiny voice, "I don't wanna pay another 99 bucks" :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I also went through this internal battle. We are using AAS for spelling and I really didn't want to spend the money on AAR (especially since I had 2 other phonics programs). I tried the 2 I had and THEN after tears ended up ordering AAR pre level. Ds went from tears to giggles. We finished pre level last week and level 1 arrived today. I really struggled with the price tag. I wish something cheaper would have worked, but in the end, it has definitely been worth it. We love AAS but I wouldn't want to go through the hassle. AAR is worth it to me. Though I know there are others who are successfully using AAS for reading instruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bree Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 If you are on a budget and can't really afford it there are a lot of other programs or just readers you could go with that cost a lot less. I understand spending the money for a dc who is struggling, but if you have a dc who is quick at picking up reading they may advance beyond the program quickly and then you have wasted the money. I would probably use the money to buy fun readers and then just point out things like consonant blends and when you add e at the end of a word the vowel says its name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esse Quam Videri Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 If you are on a budget and can't really afford it there are a lot of other programs or just readers you could go with that cost a lot less. I understand spending the money for a dc who is struggling, but if you have a dc who is quick at picking up reading they may advance beyond the program quickly and then you have wasted the money. I would probably use the money to buy fun readers and then just point out things like consonant blends and when you add e at the end of a word the vowel says its name... :iagree:We bought Pre-levl 1 just for the language exercises, but are still continuing slowly through The Reading Lesson. I already own it and it worked fine for DS when he was 4.5. Because we LOVE AAS, I've been tempted to try AAR 1 as well, but really, probably any program that I stick with will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeves Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 If you are on a budget and can't really afford it there are a lot of other programs or just readers you could go with that cost a lot less. I understand spending the money for a dc who is struggling, but if you have a dc who is quick at picking up reading they may advance beyond the program quickly and then you have wasted the money. I would probably use the money to buy fun readers and then just point out things like consonant blends and when you add e at the end of a word the vowel says its name... :iagree: I'm using AAS to teach reading to my 6 and 5 year old and it's working fine. I think if your child is not a struggling reader, it will work. I haven't seen the AAR material, but I'm sure it's easier to teach reading with, since you wouldn't have to tweak the material, but AAS really does work, if you don't mind tweaking a little. We just work through Steps more quickly than if they were learning to spell. So, my 6 year old is in the middle of AAS 2 for reading, but I'm just going to start back at Level 1 with him to do spelling (I'm not adding this in til after Christmas, though!). And then we find lots of readers to practice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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