UncleEJ Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Ok so I am having a horrible time deciding on phonics. Every time I find something I like, then there is something else. Ugh! Right now, my almost 6 DS is doing AAR1. We are on lesson 19 and it is going pretty well. He seems to like like it ok, he gets it pretty well, but isn't fluent yet. I like the scripted form but I do not like how long the lessons are. One lesson is almost always to long for DS, but it feels weird to stop in the middle. And then, going back to finish the lesson, it just feels awkward to me. I feel like we would both like a program where each lesson were shorter and could be easier to complete in one session. I already own 100EZ and do not like it at all. I also have OPGTR. I have considered switching to it after we finish AAR1, or maybe just switch now. Then I learned about LoE. I read Uncovering the Logic of English and loved it and the method. I bought LoE Essentials, which I will be using to help my 12 year old step-sister with reading and spelling. I don't think I would like to use it with DS because of the same reasons I dislike AAR ( long lessons, having to break them up). So do I want Foundations?! I like what I have seen looking at the samples. It seems like each lesson is short enough to complete in one session. I like the built in handwriting. I really like the method behind the program. A couple questions for those who are beta testing... If one were to go through all 4 levels of Foundations, would one then go through Essentials as well? At this point, DS can read sentences such as "That is a fat fish in the pan." He can do CVC words and at this moment knows the phonograms for "th" and "sh". If I were to stop right now, would I start with level A? Or would he be ready for level B? Should I stop being a curriculum hopping nut case and just switch to OPGTR and follow up with Essentials when we are finished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorisuewho Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Okay, I really don't want to answer the question of whether or not you should do Foundations. Personally, I would always try to make work what I already have. However, I did beta test Foundations and I did Essentials so I will try to answer your questions as best I can. Foundations is very complete. It does integrate handwriting, spelling, and reading. The lessons can be long, but they are very varied so it keeps it moving for the student (some writing, some reading, some games). There is no need to do an entire lesson every day. You can do half lessons if that is easier. Foundations is very scripted. There is a lot of hand-holding which makes some teachers feel comfortable and more confident. After completing Foundations, I don't see why you can't just right into Essentials. That is my plan. My boys are finishing Essentials now (minus the grammar), and when my daughter finishes Foundations most likely I will move her into Essentials also. I believe there is going to be a placement test developed to help parents/teachers decide what level of Foundations to start with. I would guess based on what you said, you could jump into B if your child. Your child might need some catching up, though. Just like with Essentials, the child must know/be able to recite all the sounds in the correct order for each of the letters already covered. He will also need to be able to form all the letters correctly. I believe these things would be very do-able to catch up on at this point. I have been more than thrilled with Logic of English. It has been fun and educational, a truly solid foundation. However, again, if I already owned something else I would give it another go and try to make that work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forgiven Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I sort of beta tested Foundations. I say sort of because I stopped half way through the year. I thought it was too simple and slow for my 5 year old, who had no prior phonogram experience. He was ready to go. He's now 6 and at around the same level as your son. He can read CVC words easily and that sentence you put up as well. I plan on using Essentials with him next year. I already started, but since it's the end of the year, we'll go through the summer with it and into next year. I'll also have my other two kids do it with him because the review will help. Actually, my 10-year-old will probably do the teaching, giving her another way to learn the phonograms better. All that to say, I'd use Essentials. You don't have to do the full lessons. The lessons we've done, we've only done the phonograms and spelling lists. We're in lesson 4--we just started--but it's going well. My 6-year old can do all the spelling words easily. Also, we play some of the games, but not all. We just don't have time for it all. I also think that LoE gives great stopping points in the lessons, if you do choose to do all the parts. The first chapter of the book is actually a layout of different schedules you can take to do the lessons. It tells you which parts to do when depending on if you want to do the lesson in one week, two weeks, or even shorter period of time. Depending on the age of the child, you'd pick which schedule to follow. We're going to do one lesson a week. Again, we don't do everything in the lessons because we like MCT for our grammar for my older kids and DS 6 will be doing FLL and WWE next year. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleEJ Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 Okay, I really don't want to answer the question of whether or not you should do Foundations. Personally, I would always try to make work what I already have. However, I did beta test Foundations and I did Essentials so I will try to answer your questions as best I can. Foundations is very complete. It does integrate handwriting, spelling, and reading. The lessons can be long, but they are very varied so it keeps it moving for the student (some writing, some reading, some games). There is no need to do an entire lesson every day. You can do half lessons if that is easier. Foundations is very scripted. There is a lot of hand-holding which makes some teachers feel comfortable and more confident. After completing Foundations, I don't see why you can't just right into Essentials. That is my plan. My boys are finishing Essentials now (minus the grammar), and when my daughter finishes Foundations most likely I will move her into Essentials also. I believe there is going to be a placement test developed to help parents/teachers decide what level of Foundations to start with. I would guess based on what you said, you could jump into B if your child. Your child might need some catching up, though. Just like with Essentials, the child must know/be able to recite all the sounds in the correct order for each of the letters already covered. He will also need to be able to form all the letters correctly. I believe these things would be very do-able to catch up on at this point. I have been more than thrilled with Logic of English. It has been fun and educational, a truly solid foundation. However, again, if I already owned something else I would give it another go and try to make that work. I agree with you an trying to make what I already have work. I like AAR. But it just doesn't seem to want to get done lol. Something about the length of the lessons and all the different components make it seem like to much work. Right now we are doing AAR and Zaner-Bloser handwriting. After AAR1 would be AAR2 along with AAS1 and handwriting. It's just feeling like to many programs to keep up with. I like that Foundations takes care of all of it. But I could/probably should at least give OPGTR a try. I'm thinking I could switch over to that and move through those lessons until I feel like he is ready for Essentials. Hmmm.. Thanks for you thoughts :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleEJ Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 All that to say, I'd use Essentials. You don't have to do the full lessons. The lessons we've done, we've only done the phonograms and spelling lists. We're in lesson 4--we just started--but it's going well. My 6-year old can do all the spelling words easily. Also, we play some of the games, but not all. We just don't have time for it all. I also think that LoE gives great stopping points in the lessons, if you do choose to do all the parts. The first chapter of the book is actually a layout of different schedules you can take to do the lessons. It tells you which parts to do when depending on if you want to do the lesson in one week, two weeks, or even shorter period of time. Depending on the age of the child, you'd pick which schedule to follow. We're going to do one lesson a week. Again, we don't do everything in the lessons because we like MCT for our grammar for my older kids and DS 6 will be doing FLL and WWE next year. Just my 2 cents. Thank you for your thoughts. I have considered doing this. For some reason it seems like it would be to hard but maybe not... If I were to go ahead and use Essentials now, I too would likely skip the grammar. I plan to start FLL in the fall and WWE at some point. What about the writing? Is you DS able to handle the amount of writing? Do you modify it at all? My DS is doing pretty well with handwriting but he doesn't seem to want/be able to do more that one handwriting page at a time. ETA - do you have the workbook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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