Spelling, Just how intensive is AAS? Talk me into/out of it.

[abba12]

I'm trying to make a decision on spelling curriculum. I love the concept of AAS but the fact it is teacher intensive scares me off. With little ones running around, and looking into the future with multiple children to homeschool, teacher intensive is something I try to avoid, or select carefully (I'm more likely to do a teacher intensive math or science than a teacher intensive spelling) Yet I am in love with the approach. How teacher intensive is it, exactly? How much would it require of me? 

 

I also like the spalding materials, but since I am seeing people who say they switched to AAS because it was less intensive than spalding pretty much rule that one out, would that be right?

 

I am looking at R&S spelling, which looks good. I suppose I am trying to convince myself of the typical argument, better the good thing that gets done than the great thing which never gets done. If I were starting R&S spelling from the beginning, should I use the phonics program too? It seems to me that, since they assume a child is using their complete LA curriculum, we might miss something if we skipped the two years of phonics which the spelling would be building off.

 

Is AAS really that teacher intensive? Can someone give me an idea of what would be involved (with times) in a typical week?

[MotherGoose]

It is very teacher-intensive, and has these little magnetic letters your little ones will love to destroy/eat! There are ways around that, of course, but I switched from it because I wanted something I could hand over to my dd if necessary. I've used Rod and Staff, and they do expect you to use the phonics program through 2nd or 3rd grade. I also used How to Teach Spelling, which has a similar method of teaching as AAS and it has a workbook.

[Dana]

We spend about 15 min a day with it. Started in 3 rd grade.

That's time that definitely has to be 1 on 1.

The advantage is that it reviews phonics as well and does a great job of the "why's" behind spelling rules and giving techniques for when you don't know how a word should be spelled.

 

It's been great for us.

[Jess4879]

I guess it depends on what you describe as intensive.  LOL  I tried RS math and it was a 45 minute lesson that I had to be there for the entire time - that was intensive to me.  Big time.  We dumped it and fast.  AAS takes me approx 10-15 mins on Monday and then approx 5 mins for Tues-Fri.  I don't find it intensive at all.  I am currently using it with two children -- one in Level 2 and one in Level 4 and we have never had a problem fitting it in to the day. 

[Hypatia.]

It was definitely more on the teacher intensive side for us.  It's been over 2 years since we used it and we're still occasionally finding the tiles somewhere in the house.  DS1 didn't care for all the fiddling with the tiles, and I had too many younger ones to juggle to really feel like dealing with it that much.

[Tawlas]

I've used it for the last year or so, with two children (one half way through level one the other just about done level 1) along with a four year old and a one year old. It's probably about ten minutes a day. We don't use the tile though, my kids would rather write on paper. Sometimes we'll use the whiteboard for introduction to a concept but mostly it's all paper. I don't find it all that intensive, though I guess I need to be there the whole time. Ther's no prep time at all, just open, glance though and start talking. I've experimented a bit with an iPad app where you enter the words and dictation phrases but for now, my kids are too young. They're both 7 and need instant correction to really understand mistakes etc. I could see the app working well for older kids though.

[IsabelC]

AAS doesn't take long and isn't difficult to teach. However, it does need to be one on one and the student can't do it without your active involvement, so you would need to find a way to keep your toddler and baby occupied while you do it.

[sweetpea3829]

Oh gosh, I don't find it teacher intensive AT ALL!  I've been using it with my oldest two for a couple of years now and I'll be using it with my youngest two as well.  

 

1) We don't use the tiles.  I used them initially, in level 1, and I may still do that with my youngest two, but honestly...the tiles are a complete pain in the rear.  It was much easier to just write it on the whiteboard.  (I do use the tiles when I'm first teaching my kindergarteners how to blend words and the tiles were quite handy when learning alphabetical order.).

 

I also do not use the word cards.  Or even any of the cards, really...lol.  I did use them quite a bit in the first level, but haven't found a need for them in the 2nd and 3rd.  

 

2) For the first level, there is quite a bit of hand-holding but...that's pretty true of any 1st grade/level curriculum.

 

3) For levels 2 and 3 (what we've done so far), I started spelling lists with spelling tests on Friday.  Here's how I worked it:

 

On Monday, I'd give them the new spelling list.  The list came from the word list for each lesson.  Each lesson conveniently has a ten word list associated with that lesson.  We would have "spelling defense" or "spelling analysis" on Mondays, where we'd review past lessons/rules.  Maybe ten or fifteen minutes of time.  

 

Most lessons were easily broken into two segments of material.  I'd present the first segment on Tuesday and the second segment on Thursday.  Some lessons took longer, and so we'd spread it over two weeks.  Some were short, and so on Thursday we'd review.  But either way, I don't think we took more than 15-20 minutes going over the new material and practicing it.  

 

On Wednesday, they would write the spelling words twice, on lined paper.  One side of the paper, they'd write it in all CAPS, and the other side, they'd write it in lower case (handwriting practice).

 

Friday was the spelling test.  First, I'd dictate five sentences, which they'd write down.  They then flip the paper over and I dictate the spelling words.  

 

In level 3, towards the latter part of the book, they introduced something called writing station.  At first, we did these together, but after a couple of weeks, when they knew what was expected, I"d write the words on the whiteboard, indicate on their assignment page that they needed to do writing station, and they'd do it on their own.  

 

All in all, I find AAS to be one of my easiest curriculums to plan for, implement and review.  

[NASDAQ]

Very intensive. Also didn't work for dyslexic-ish dd.

 

Tried R&S. You'd start with Spelling 2.

 

Switched to Apples & Pears which requires me to read things out loud and check things, but at least there's no tiles. Plus it works for dd. But I won't go back to AAS with following children unless I really have to.

[Guest]

Very intensive. Lots of tiles and cards to keep up with. Slooowww.

 

R&S is fine used separately from the phonics. The spelling TM has a short lesson for each week. You are not going to miss out on anything. :)

[jnaj]

Following this. We have decided to go ahead and use AAS1 (for my 1st grader), as soon as we finish up AAR1. I know for AAR, we don't use the tiles all the time. I will use them probably once a week, but we mainly just use the white board. I was assuming AAS would be similar, and have only just recently flipped through it to begin planning. So far it's really the nicest spelling program I have seen in person, and think it will be worth the time. Although, I am only using it with one child right now, and I am pretty sure we won't use the tiles.

[Ad astra]

Following this, too. I got the AAS teacher's manual only (no tiles, no cards, etc) for next yr and like the look of it. I'll just have my DS write words down on paper/whiteboard/app and lessons will take place during my younger DD's nap time. R&S Spelling also looks good but too religious for my taste.

[abacus2]

I don't consider AAS to be too teacher intensive. It requires one-on-one time, but not much of it, and it doesn't require prep-work. I like R & S with my oldest, but it wasn't helping my middle child at all, so I switched to AAS with her, which has been great. You don't have to do a whole lesson in one day; you can spread things out through the week if needed to keep the daily time commitment manageable.

[Meadowlark]

Very teacher intensive for me. Consider starting out with a letter tile app instead of the tiles. That is what I do with a. 5, 3,2, and 1 yr. old in the mix That said, we do spelling when the littles are NOT around. It's good, it works. Not sure that I'd be comfortable with spelling not being teacher intensive at this point. How do you know if they really know the rules? Also, do YOU know them? Ha, I've been learning right along with AAS!

[jnaj]

Following this, too. I got the AAS teacher's manual only (no tiles, no cards, etc) for next yr and like the look of it. I'll just have my DS write words down on paper/whiteboard/app and lessons will take place during my younger DD's nap time. R&S Spelling also looks good but too religious for my taste.

 

I like the cards, but you could always make your own. For some reason (with AAR, like I said, we haven't started AAS) my daughter feels extra motivated when she sees I am getting "new" cards from the box. And watching me file her "mastered" cards makes her very happy.

 

 

I also agree about not using the tiles when other little ones are around. My younger one wants to be involved if she sees us use the tiles..if she sees us at the whiteboard, she is fine with doing her own thing.

[SevenDaisies]

AAS doesn't take long and isn't difficult to teach. However, it does need to be one on one and the student can't do it without your active involvement, so you would need to find a way to keep your toddler and baby occupied while you do it.

I agree with this. It can take as long as you want. Many people set a timer and get as far as they can in that amount of time. Obviously how much time you spend, and the child's ability will determine how long it will take to complete the program.

 

I considered switching after level 3, but decided to stick with it, and we are now finishing level 6. We are in such a good groove at this point. We spend 10 minutes, three days a week. I don't review all the cards in one day - we do phonogram and key cards one day, then sound cards the next and then word cards.

 

Regarding the letter tiles - my daughter drove me nuts with them. She made them talk to each other as she moved them across the board, but she's a pencil-twirler, so that is not surprising. When we do new teaching, I use the tiles to demonstrate, and on occasion, when syllable division is involved, I let her use them. They are valuable in demonstrating syllable division rules. Otherwise, she spells on the board. I also do not set them up as they recommend. They are all across the top of the board, out of the little one's reach.

[SevenDaisies]

Following this, too. I got the AAS teacher's manual only (no tiles, no cards, etc) for next yr and like the look of it. I'll just have my DS write words down on paper/whiteboard/app and lessons will take place during my younger DD's nap time. R&S Spelling also looks good but too religious for my taste.

You can do the program without these components. Most of the cards are word cards, and you could easily keep a running list of trouble words instead of the cards. There aren't quite as many of the key, sound and phonogram cards, so you could make cards as they come up. At one point, you could buy a complete set of phonogram cards on their website.

 

If you aren't using tiles, you may want to indicate a phonogram by using a different color marker or underlining the phonogram. In syllable division, there are times when it is helpful to know that two letters are 'joined together'.

[Eagle]

I don't find it teacher-intensive. We do 10-15 minutes four days per week. We use the tiles (ds loves them) but not the cards anymore (We stopped the cards halfway through level 2. He just didn't need that much review). We added the magnets to the back of the tiles and keep them on a portable magnetic chalkboard. It goes in a drawer when not in use and has not been a problem for the toddler.

 

When dictating phrases and sentences I do other stuff while ds writes his answers. He is at the kitchen table, so I can prepare lunch while he works on spelling. I just keep the book on the counter, call out the sentence, and get him to hold up his clipboard after each one so I can check it.

 

It is an excellent program and we enjoy it.

[mmasc]

We are in level 3. I do 15-20 minutes daily. We just work through the book, meaning I don't set it up to do certain things on certain days. We use the tiles only for the new concept for him to 'see' it, then he uses a whiteboard for practice and paper for the dictation sentences. It does require me to be one-on-one with him, but most of our curriculum does at this point!

[pitterpatter]

The toughest part is finding your groove and figuring out how to make it work for you and your child. That part is definitely teacher-intensive and can be frustrating for both parent and child. It took a full tortuous year for us to work through it. I had to change our method several times. Ultimately, we all but dumped the tiles (I now use them for teaching only). We also go at a slower pace than many, I think to help cut down on burnout.

 

Having said that, I'm glad we've stuck with it. I'm starting to see the fruits of our labor.

[MerryAtHope]

For us it was open and go, set the timer and just work through it. The box made it easy to do as much review as my kids needed (and they needed a lot), we'd start with that and then pick up in the book where we left off. Here's a review on my blog from when we started in 2008, with some updates, and here's a "typical week" I posted when my oldest was in level 6. I should update again since he's finished and my dd has just a few lessons to finish up. I kept the materials organized in a box and would just grab that when it was time to do spelling. My kids naturally moved away from tiles around age 12-13, but the cards were especially helpful in making the review easy to customize. So...I don't consider it "intensive" compared to any other spelling approach that required my one on one involvement (which was many of the things I tried before AAS), but it's "intensive" compared to handing them a workbook and saying "do this," or something like studied dictation which requires some attention some days but not other days, etc... Hope you find what works best for you! Merry :-)

[Meghann]

We are on the first level, and it is teacher intensive, but it only takes us 15 minutes, and it's totally open and go. I have a 2 year old and a 7 month old in addition to my oldest, and I keep them away from their magnets by simply keeping them out of their reach.

[Doodlebug]

We've completed AAS 1-3, and I think it's a fabulous curriculum for grammar stage kids. It's probably a fabulous curriculum for 4th grade and up aged kids, too, but I can only speak from my own experience.

 

Where I am (with a bright stubborn DS entering 3rd grade), I need to begin allowing DS some ownership in subjects he excels in. 1) AAS isnt spoon feeding material, but the amount of parental involvement and slow progress can lend that vibe to a kid like mine. That means that, 2) I need to become pickier about the places I'm inserting my voice. History and science are going to get that from me this year. Choosing a more independent spelling program was an easy call because AAS set DS up so well.

 

The curriculum is open and go, and using it for 3 years, I became pretty fluid! But it does require you to teach/ talk it out.

 

Stella

[Tonia]

I considered switching after level 3, but decided to stick with it, and we are now finishing level 6. We are in such a good groove at this point. We spend 10 minutes, three days a week. I don't review all the cards in one day - we do phonogram and key cards one day, then sound cards the next and then word cards.

 

Our time spent is very similar - I've found that each level takes less time. That's probably a combination of what each lesson requires and children learning to write a bit quicker as they get older. We're going into level 7 and I estimate it will take us 10-15 minutes 3 days a week.

 

 

So...I don't consider it "intensive" compared to any other spelling approach that required my one on one involvement (which was many of the things I tried before AAS), but it's "intensive" compared to handing them a workbook and saying "do this," or something like studied dictation which requires some attention some days but not other days, etc... Hope you find what works best for you! Merry :-)

 

What Merry said - it isn't any more intensive than any other spelling program that requires teacher involvement. But or course there is more one-on-one time than you would find with a workbook.

 

 

We've used the tiles less and less each year but use a lap-sized white board quite a bit. Here's what a general week looks like for us (10-15 minutes, 3 times a week):

 

Day 1 - go through all review cards (or mastered cards if it's a review week) and do a few dictation sentences and one original sentence from writing section.

Day 2 - new teaching, a few dictation sentences, one original sentence.

Day 3 - test

[abba12]

Thanks for all the infomation ladies. I will mull it over with my husband this week. I think if we go ahead with AAS we will try to skip the tiles.