Blessed with seven Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Which one would you use for a beginning 5 1/2 year old reader? I have Essentials that I am going to be using for spelling for my 9 year old but really am wondering if it is worth getting Foundations for a gentler beginning? Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Does your younger child already know all the sounds of the letters a-z? Foundations A teaches those sounds, and Essentials assumes the student knows them already. I think Foundations is much better suited for young wiggly learners. But if you already have Essentials, you could try it out, and switch to Foundations if it doesn't work well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessed with seven Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 No, he has listened in on some things but does not know the sounds for A-Z..so...we will start with Foundations A. Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2Es Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 I would do Foundations. I started my kids on Essentials, and it was fine if you slow down the lesson pacing and cut out the grammar lessons after the first 7 or 8 lessons. My five-year-old already knows all of the rules that A and B cover, but we're switching to level C when the print version comes out because even slowed down, some of the lessons in Essentials are a bit too long for the attention span we've got to work with right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessed with seven Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 Ok...very good to know, so ...are you all pleased with what they learn in Essentials/Foundations? I am going to be doing Essentials with a 9 year old, great reader but we have not done "formal" spelling. She writes letters and things and really spells well, and an 8 year old, not really struggling reader, he does well but is a bit behind...no major issues, we just started later. We are going through Alpha Phonics and he does well, I just have always wanted to use Spell to Write and Read and couldn't, I could not implement it. I need a structured book with "lesson" plans or I just don't do well, went to AAS but it really moves to slow for me, I couldn't see doing 7 or 8 levels. So...same with AAR. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neeko Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 We just started Foundations B today. I'm doing Essentials with my 10yo, and hoped I could combine lessons for both kids, but nope. Essentials was making my 6yo freak out, and he thanked me when I told him I ordered him his own English program for younger kids. I think Foundations will be a good fit, though. The graphics/colors/built in games (we played phonogram tic-tac-toe today) all appeal to my 6yo. We skipped A because he was reading CVC words. Essentials has been interesting with my 10yo, for the record. She has had several lightbulb moments about spelling so far, and we're only on lesson 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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