vaquitita Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 (edited) My DD loved AAR pre 1 and level 1. So I ordered level 2. Friday we did lesson 1 and she hated it. Today I pulled it out again and she moaned and groaned through the whole thing. She asked me why the games are SO boring. She sees them as just reading. What happened? OPGTTR left her in tears last year cause it was so dry, AAR was perfect... Now she just wants to read and get it over with. Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Can she read the story about the robot? My son balked when he saw how long it was. The story length increased dramatically in book 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunsForSanity Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Maybe just step back for a week or two? Stop doing AAR lessons, do some other literacy games, read some easy books, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniePoo Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I am not an AAR user, but I can tell you that after a few years of catering to a child that "doesn't like x" you may end up with a monster on your hands. I wish I had bucked up and said "tough!" to my oldest earlier on. Perseverance in dealing with boring material is a great skill to teach. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 We move rapidly through AAR with my 8 year old (currently on Level 4). We seldom pull out the letters because she doesn't need them. I write words and do full lessons on the white board most often. We only cut apart the things she shows an interest in. Often times we simply read the words off the "game" sheets. She has never been a fan of the fluency sheets, but we do them anyways. I put a chocolate chip at the end of the rows sometimes, or let her cross the words off as she reads, or whatever it takes to get through them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquitita Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 (edited) Nm Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Reading is work. If its easy, move quickly. If the games are "boring" don't play them. Just read the words. I would not be concerned that the reading lesson wasn't fun, I would be concerned that they were learning to read. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I would be very matter of fact with a 7 year old that complained that the games were boring. If they are boring, we don't have to waste time playing them. Read the words on the page and move on. Either that will be acceptable to her (she really doesn't want to play games and just wants to be done) or she will not complain again about the games and play them with a good attitude if indeed she wants them back. Either way I would be fine with it. Sure I try to engage my children, break it up when it's overwhelming, offer rewards when it is challenging...but I would not change a reading curriculum because its not "fun." If it's too easy, move quickly. Kids often complain when they are overwhelmed or underwhelmed. That said, we streamline AAR. We rarely use tiles, read directly from the book or from a white board...we played the games through level 3, but at this point in level 4 we don't...though my ds would like to. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I think this particular lesson since she instantly read all the new words, no sounding out needed, she was bored by reading he same words three different ways. In the past she enjoyed the activities so we did them all. But if she's gotten the lesson, I guess I will just skip over activities she doesn't need. We've rarely used the letter tiles, usually we used a small white board or a magnet letters app. She likes those fine. But with level 2 there are more other tiles used, plus I was going to start AAS 1 so I figured we'd 'need' to use the tiles at this point. At least sometimes. Maybe I will just use the syllable tags with writing on he small whiteboard. I hate having to get out the big board and the letter tiles. We have a small white board with the syllable tiles that we use...it works great. And yes, skip activities you don't need. If my child can read the word, we don't go through the 3 steps to read it...we just read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I'm usually an advocate for changing things up when kids aren't happy and trying to find a better fit. I would be on the lookout that it's too easy or too hard, but this does just sound like she is in a whiny stage more than anything else so I don't think I'd change it or assume it's the wrong program for her. She's the 7 yo in your sig? That's the age at which they're usually starting to be really into more complex stories and the stuff they can read independently begins to seem really lame. The newness of "I'm reading!" has worn off, but except for a few kids that just vault forward from Frog and Toad to Harry Potter overnight, most kids aren't ready to read anything as interesting as what Mom and Dad are reading aloud. So it starts to seem "boring" and frustrating and pointless for some kids. Also, it's just hard to be 7 yo, you know? I'd accelerate as needed and ditch the things that aren't working - you don't need to do stuff for the sake of the curriculum. But mostly I'd just focus on the attitude. This is learning, it's a means to an excellent end (reading great books), it's not always fun, but we do our best and keep it short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 We buddy read through Progressive Phonics (after he balked at OPGTR), read through all the Nora Gaydos books, and now just do the AAR stories. I dumped busywork like ETC because his reading took off. He will finish the level 4 readers this year. You might try accelerating through the game and worksheets and just have her read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKWAcademy Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 We just moved to AAR 2, as well. My kids quickly realized the stories are much longer and the fluency sheets didn't go away. That started their whining. I'm only on lesson 8 or 9 now. They loved the games in the first level but have so far decided they don't want to color and barely want to do the activities. Most of their whining comes from the fluency practice sheets. I break those up over several days. Otherwise, they just have to deal with it. It doesn't take that long, they are really reading well, and it is working. Eventually the whining will have to stop. Right?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I would start her on easy readers. Stop the program for a little while and have her read or buddy read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 We just moved to AAR 2, as well. My kids quickly realized the stories are much longer and the fluency sheets didn't go away. That started their whining. I'm only on lesson 8 or 9 now. They loved the games in the first level but have so far decided they don't want to color and barely want to do the activities. Most of their whining comes from the fluency practice sheets. I break those up over several days. Otherwise, they just have to deal with it. It doesn't take that long, they are really reading well, and it is working. Eventually the whining will have to stop. Right?! The fluency sheets get shorter and shorter each level. By level 3 we had no more complaints at all. On Level 4 she gets all excited when the page is only half full. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 We just moved to AAR 2, as well. My kids quickly realized the stories are much longer and the fluency sheets didn't go away. That started their whining. I'm only on lesson 8 or 9 now. They loved the games in the first level but have so far decided they don't want to color and barely want to do the activities. Most of their whining comes from the fluency practice sheets. I break those up over several days. Otherwise, they just have to deal with it. It doesn't take that long, they are really reading well, and it is working. Eventually the whining will have to stop. Right?! You might try some of the ideas in this article (5 tips for using practice sheets)--the comments section had some good ideas too. Might change things up for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.