Using AAR and AAS together

[busymama7]

My 7 year old (probably dyslexic) is on lesson 25 of AAR 1. I formerly used SWR and while it worked I love AAR. My son has made tremendous progress and I am thrilled. I read somewhere to start AAS 1 near the end of AAR 1 so I'm just looking ahead. I'm concerned about the time involved (mostly for me but also for him) of using both concurrently. I do think he needs it but I'm trying to plan for how to get them done. He is number 6 of 9 although my oldest is graduated and the next is dual enrolled for most of her classes. I'm still full time homeschooling 5 and I am spread so thin. I am hoping to keep progressing through AAR and be done by January and keep going with level 2 and that means juggling that along with AAS 1. Looking to see how much time I should expect it to take each day. Thanks!

[3 ladybugs]

I spend 20 minutes, often less on AAS. This is with using 1 lesson over 1 week. There are less lessons in each AAS then in AAR.

 

I started both programs at the same time. I can see the advantage of starting spelling later though. I think it flows better and is good for review of prior concepts.

[MerryAtHope]

The recommendation is to spend about 20 minutes on reading, and 20 minutes on spelling. If that's too much yet for this year, then you could wait a few more months and try starting it next fall. You can start any time after finishing AAR 1, so you don't have to start right away if you or your child isn't quite ready to add on spelling yet. You just need the AAR 1 foundation first.

 

You might like these blog posts that show examples of a "typical day" with All About Reading and All About Spelling. The AAR one uses Level 2 as an example, and the AAS one uses level 6, but you can get a general idea of how things can be broken down. HTH some!

[ByGrace3]

We waited until after AAR 2 to start AAS with my ds for that very reason. We spend 20-25 minutes on AAR 5 days a week and 15 minutes 4 days a week on AAS. I think with dd we will probably do the same thing. Right now I am running one level of AAR and one of AAS but with two kids. It's fine. AAS is quicker than AAR.

[displace]

For my dyslexic DS I used a modified AAR and AAS. Spelling x 15 min per day, usually gives us one lesson per week. AAR we do 30-45 min per day, plus additional read alouds daily. I'll try to post more later if I can. :)

[ExcitedMama]

I was nervous about starting AAS because I'd planned on starting spelling when DS was older but I wanted to follow their recommendations. AAS has been great. The first half of AAS1 was way too easy and we went through a lesson per day. Now we have slowed down and spend a couple of days on a lesson depending on how long the lesson is and what DS is up for. It's very quick and easy to break up. I think it will help with reinforcing trickier concepts for his reading as well, like when to use soft c.

[lexi]

My son was very slow to learn to read. It was a huge struggle. AAR has been great for him. However I did not start AAS until we were almost done with AAR 2. And I only spend about 10-15 minutes max on it a day. We move slow but slow is the right speed for him right now. I limit AAR to 20 min a day (or less) because that's as much as he can handle. He's making slow progress but I can see the improvement. So at my house we waited on AAS and I'm glad we did.

My daughter is in AAR 1 and doing AAS at the same time. She doesn't struggle with reading like her brother. So it is working for her.

I only have 3 that I school (with a preschooler and a toddler). It can be hard to balance my time sometimes.

[kalusignan]

AAS takes us only 15-20 minutes daily. After the initial teaching in each Step, the rest of the time is spent on the word cards, extra words, and phrases and sentences. Often times, I will make a list of words and sentences (a few review and the rest from the Step we are currently working on) on a post-it note, and I'll quiz my dd while driving in the car (she uses a clipboard). Before checking her paper, I'll review one of the rules we're working on and ask her to check her own work, etc. It's not a huge time commitment, but the consistency and practice every day is what works.

 

Also, we initially did not do AAR and AAS concurrently. We did AAR1 completely, then AAS 1 completely as review (adding in re-reading the stories) before moving on to AAR2. While doing AAR2, we reviewed AAS1 words for 5-10 minutes every day. Now that she is further along, we are working AAR (just finished 3) and AAS3 (Step 4) concurrently. 

[busymama7]

AAS takes us only 15-20 minutes daily. After the initial teaching in each Step, the rest of the time is spent on the word cards, extra words, and phrases and sentences. Often times, I will make a list of words and sentences (a few review and the rest from the Step we are currently working on) on a post-it note, and I'll quiz my dd while driving in the car (she uses a clipboard). Before checking her paper, I'll review one of the rules we're working on and ask her to check her own work, etc. It's not a huge time commitment, but the consistency and practice every day is what works.

 

Also, we initially did not do AAR and AAS concurrently. We did AAR1 completely, then AAS 1 completely as review (adding in re-reading the stories) before moving on to AAR2. While doing AAR2, we reviewed AAS1 words for 5-10 minutes every day. Now that she is further along, we are working AAR (just finished 3) and AAS3 (Step 4) concurrently.

Thank you. That is an interesting approach! Since AAS is shorter I could see that working really well.