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AAS or Apples and Pears


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I tried AAS with my DS10 who has struggled with spelling for years. I then switched to WRTR for focused phonics instruction which helped a great deal and we did that for a year. However, I needed something less teacher intensive as we made an international move. So, I switched to Apples and Pears and boy oh boy have I seen a difference. It's a great program, very user friendly, predictable, built in review, no fancy magnet tiles, etc. It gets done and I have been amazed at his spelling outside of "spelling" also. I am pleased and will continue the program through to completion. 

 

HTH. If you have any other questions, maybe I can answer some of them. 

 

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We also preferred A&P to AAS, but my DD has dyslexia and was a terrible speller.

 

AAS is great for certain kids.  Kids who like to analyze and like to know why and how.  My DD does not.  She likes to get school done so that she can move on to more interesting things.  While she could recite all the rules, she just couldn't apply them, no matter how long we reviewed.  We flamed out early in level 2, that's how bad a fit it was.

 

Her spelling has increased dramatically with A&P and she only has to remember 3 rules.  A&P does have a lot of writing so a lot of people split the lessons up.  We do 1 page (1 side) each day.  It's been slow and sometimes a bit torturous, but we are finally in book D and there is an end in sight.

 

It hasn't completely fixed her spelling issues.  I don't think anything could.  But she spells a million times better and that's what matters.

 

My one caution with A&P is that it is intended for dyslexic students.  It goes slowly and reviews like you wouldn't believe.  It is truly for spellers that just don't get it, IMO.

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I prefer Apples & Pears between the two, but A&P is a lot of writing for a 7/8yo.  I use A&P for my advanced 9yo, and I do like the efficiency of the program.  The visualization & morphemic techniques work beautifully.  Even so, we do one page a day, making the books take about a year a piece to complete.

 

For my 8yo, I use the Essentials in Spelling reformatted from the old Pearson books. It's linked in my siggie.  (I use it for my older dyslexic too.)  I knew he would not be able to hack A&P without frustration even at a page per day, and I knew his handwriting would take a massive nose-dive in A&P.  He's a child who *really* needs a streamlined curriculum so this works better for him.

 

 

 

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For my 8yo, I use the Essentials in Spelling reformatted from the old Pearson books. It's linked in my siggie.  (I use it for my older dyslexic too.)  I knew he would not be able to hack A&P without frustration even at a page per day, and I knew his handwriting would take a massive nose-dive in A&P.  He's a child who *really* needs a streamlined curriculum so this works better for him.

 

Is there a way to view the sample without entering in all my credit card info and such?  I'd be interested in having a closer look....

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Is there a way to view the sample without entering in all my credit card info and such?  I'd be interested in having a closer look....

 

I'm interested in viewing the Essentials sample too.  I don't think my soon to be 8 yr old is ready for Apples and Pears yet.

 

 

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I'm using A&P with dd8. She absolutely needs that level of review, so it's been very good. It is a lot of writing, so we do about 1/2 a lesson a day. It's easy to subdivide. It also teaches capital rules and end punctuation with an intense level of review. Very necessary. Open and go, which is good for me. I may use it for my next kid, but I wouldn't do it next year (grade 2) but might do it the year after. 

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Is there a way to view the sample without entering in all my credit card info and such?  I'd be interested in having a closer look....

 

 

I'm interested in viewing the Essentials sample too.  I don't think my soon to be 8 yr old is ready for Apples and Pears yet.

 

 

I think you just need to enter in 0 as the price.  If that doesn't work PM with an email addy and I will send you the files directly. 

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  • 1 month later...

May I ask a question about spelling here?

 

I have an 8yo natural speller and an 11yo terrible speller.  We are using Spelling Workout this year and it works fine for the little guy, but I don't think my older kid is really learning any spelling. 

 

I'm interested in A&P.  Is there a placement test somewhere or does everyone start at level 1 and go from there?  Also, for the 8yo good speller...someone above mentioned it is a lot of writing for that age...should I just get him a different program? or is there a way to tweak this, so it's doable for him? 

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May I ask a question about spelling here?

 

I have an 8yo natural speller and an 11yo terrible speller.  We are using Spelling Workout this year and it works fine for the little guy, but I don't think my older kid is really learning any spelling. 

 

I'm interested in A&P.  Is there a placement test somewhere or does everyone start at level 1 and go from there?  Also, for the 8yo good speller...someone above mentioned it is a lot of writing for that age...should I just get him a different program? or is there a way to tweak this, so it's doable for him? 

 

 

Don't change anything that is working just fine. If Spelling Workout is working for your 8yo, keep it...for him.

 

 

For the 11yo, A&P has all of their books visible online.  Yes, there are Mastery Tests within the books to check for level.  It never hurts to start in Book 1 and move quickly through the Levels. Book 4 ends with the student being prepared for writing academic essays (high school ready). 11yo is a good age to start in Book A. Be prepared that he might zip through Book A in 3 months, and then Book B might take longer, and Book C might take a full school year.

 

 

If A&P is too much, too fast, check my siggie.  I don't recommend tweaking A&P.  Move at a pace of a page per day at least, or find something else.  Any less and it loses it's effectiveness. btdt.  Don't tweak though.  Everything in A&P is designed that way for a reason.

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I do love Apples and Pears. My weak speller knew all the phonograms and rules. But he still couldn't spell well, because he couldn't remember the visual look of words. For convenience, I used it with my more natural speller as well. I couldn't have used it at 8, though, because of the volume of writing involved. One page a day might work for some kids at that age? I'm not sure.

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I do love Apples and Pears. My weak speller knew all the phonograms and rules. But he still couldn't spell well, because he couldn't remember the visual look of words. For convenience, I used it with my more natural speller as well. I couldn't have used it at 8, though, because of the volume of writing involved. One page a day might work for some kids at that age? I'm not sure.

 

I just looked over the samples and I really like the look of it for my older kiddo, but it does look like a lot of work for the 8yo. 

 

I'm not really sure that Spelling Workout is "working" for my 8yo as much as the words are easy so far...but he could fairly easily spell the words in his brother's level, too.  I'll need to think about what to do for him.  He may do well with something like Spelling Wisdom...thanks for the input, though!

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