Is there a way to make AAS just a little more independent?

[naturally]

DS1 loves AAS. I don't know why. He says he loves the tiles but we don't always use them. I think it might be because it's a more oral program than say math with worksheets. I like the program too but some days are tough to get to it.

 

Right now I schedule AAS like this:

Mon- 30 minutes of AAS - whatever we get through

Tues - Dictation phrases

Wed - 30 minutes

Thurs - Dictation phrases

 

But there are some days when things don't go as planned and I need to drop something. Is there a way to adjust to make it a little more independent on those days so I don't have to drop it altogether?

 

I've read that R&S is similar but more independent but DS really doesn't want to do a workbook (even though *I* would love to be able to say "Here, do this"). I just need a backup plan for those days when DS3 doesn't feel good and is clingy, or the new puppy poops everywhere, or I just can't sit there for every minute of the day because it's already taken us over an hour to do math.

[Five More Minutes]

Can you just have him independently review the key cards some days? And/or similarly review the phonograms?

 

I'm not sure what level you're on, but I am spending a maximum of 15 minutes daily on AAS Level 5; in earlier levels I spent/am spending 10 minutes a day. Maybe reducing the time spent per day would make it easier to fit in?

[blondeviolin]

My oldest is only in level 3, so take this with a grain of salt. We don't speed through the levels at this point. She's already advanced enough, so we only work through one step a week. I introduce the concepts in the step, and then we practice/review those concepts for the rest of the week. We do spelling T-F, but Tuesday takes the longest with me introducing the topics and ideas, doing word analyzations, etc. The rest of the week, we just do dictation and it takes less than ten minutes.

[skeeterbug]

The only thing I can think of is to record yourself saying the dictation words and sentences. That would allow for independence on the days you are doing dictation only, he can play them back and write them himself.

[Wendy Inman]

We school year round but slow things down in the summer and don't usually move forward on spelling. What i do is use spellingcity.com to help him review word lists from the previous level. With that website you can enter in all the words and the student can independently play games with the words, practice spelling them, and take a quiz where the words are spoken out loud to them. Might be a way to free up a couple days a week.

 

Also i agree with previous poster.... even on Level 7 we are not spending more than 15 minutes on spelling a day.

[dancingmama]

I also spend about 15 minutes a day. We do a step a week at this point and take the first day or two to go through the lessons, do words on day three and do sentences on day four. If they get the first couple of words correct, I move to the more advanced words. I don't do them all. I might add in words from previous lessons that might have been sticking points. Then I won't necessarily do all the sentences and might add one or two sentences from previous lessons that need reinforcement.

[Murrayshire]

I second Spelling City! There is the free version but we ordered the subscription for more activities. When ds hasn't quite mastered his step....he independently practices with spelling city games and does the spelling test, too. It is helping! We are getting ready to start level 3.

[In between chaos]

We are just about through on level 1 and spend maybe 15 minutes on it. I don't use the tiles for the words, only when he's struggling with one. I do the cards to review and learn, then I do the words, and he writes them out. We'll do the ten words he's suppose to learn, then a few of the extra words, and a few of the dictated phrases. That takes maybe 15 minutes. The next day we do the rest of the extra words and the rest of the phrases.

 

The only way to make it more independant is like a pp mentioned and record your voice for the words for him to spell.

[MerryAtHope]

30 minutes is a long time so I echo the idea to shorten your time to 15 or 20 minutes at the most. You want him to apply focused attention the whole time, he'll retain more that way than with longer lessons that you might be tempted to skip.

 

Once you get to the writing station exercises (level 3), I make those days somewhat independent. I give the words that they are to use one day, and then they do the writing with those for their spelling time the next day w/o me (I correct it later).

 

As someone else mentioned, some people record the dictations. But I think if you do shorter sessions, you won't mind the days as much. Our time goes pretty fast.

 

Merry :-)