CCelebi Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 My son is 4.5 and is in the process of learning his letters and phonics. He is doing very well using games, MBTP 4-5, and a little of the Get Ready for the Code series. Pretty soon, I would like to start him on a formal program. So far, I have seen a lot of people mention AAR and AAS. Can anyone recommend IEW's reading and writing program? I would love to hear reviews on both!TIA Christina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidip2p Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 We have used PAL but switched to AAR. I think PAL is really good. For us, it just had too many parts to do each day. If I was only teaching one it would be great. I love AAR for it's short and sweet lessons. One thing we carried on with from PAL was the journaling. Such a great habit to get into at such a young age. I think both are great programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I've used both. We did not care for IEW PAL. It felt so random. So many sight words that were introduced in an odd order. Some of the first sight words it taught were color words. Those are not helpful for a new reader!!! My son was totally frustrated. I found it difficult to teach. So many little things to do each day. So many games. So many pieces. It took forever. We use AAR now. Love it! Straight forward, easy to use, teaches new sounds and words in a logical order progressing to blends. The readers are fun and the stories are cute. The lessons don't take long and they are very clearly laid out. It actually teaches the process of sounding out words and blending. (PAL does not do this) So, AAR is the hands down winner for clarity, solid phonics teaching, and ease of use. Lots of people enjoy PAL though. The programs are very different with differing methods. So it really comes down to how you want to teach phonics/reading and how your child learns best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 We used PAL but I don't have any experience with AAR. PAL does incorporate AAS. I like PAL a lot. It does have a lot to it but because of that I didn't need to supplement it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Victoria~ Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 We are finishing up with the PAL reading program and ds is 5 1/2, in kinder (we started PAL VERY gently when he was 4). It has been easy for us to use and my son is reading really well. At about lesson 60 we began using AAS and it is basically a review to what we have already learned in PAL - he has zoomed through the first 12 steps so far but I love that we are solidifying the phonics and seeing how they relate to spelling instead of reading. I was going to switch to AAR at Christmas (because of all the buzz about it, my bf uses it) but I couldn't figure out which level to buy and just grabbed level 1. From what I could see PAL covers the phonics rules from all the AAR levels (maybe I am wrong). I returned AAR because it would completely have been review. I snagged PAL for 50% off at Mardel, but even at full price ($70) it is so much less expensive than AAR ($100 per level). That all being said, I am sure AAR is great and the readers look excellent. I just don't know why there have to be 4 levels when all of that seems to be easily covered in 1 set by iew. We are walking through McGuffey readers now as well as finishing the last 10 or so lessons in PAL, and we will continue with readers and AAS in 1st. I'll use the program again with my other son. PAL writing seemed unnecessary to me. We did HWOT this year and it worked nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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