AAS pacing through the whole program?

[dessertbloom]

I know AAS does not assign a grade to each level, and that you should go at the pace your child sets, but I'm just curious... If you have gone through all 7 levels of AAS (or many of them at least), about how long did each level take? At what age did you start? At what age did you finish? Just curious about the experiences of those who have completed (or nearly completed) the program. If you started AAS but didn't continue, why not? Thanks! 

[Crimson Wife]

I took my 2nd child through levels 1-5. I did not continue with 6 or 7 because by that point he'd seen nearly all of the rules and I wanted something free and that could be done independently. So I switched him to the Glencoe Spelling Power worksheets.

 

I started him in AAS1 after he had finished the Hooked on Phonics K-2 kit, which was 2nd semester of K. AAS 1 & 2 he did at the pace of about two lessons per week, and then 3-5 he did at the pace of one lesson per week.

[Kiara.I]

We haven't gone through all levels, but I can tell you what we've done so far.

 

We started halfway through grade 2.  And I started my younger at the same time (so halfway through kindergarten.)  The grade 2 blazed through level one in about 6 weeks, went quickly through the first half of 2, and then hit a wall.  We slowed down.  Now, in grade 3, we've just finished level 3 and are starting level 4.  So we've done three levels in one year, but at slower and slower paces.  I expect to do about 1.5-2 levels per year for the rest of them.

 

My younger, though, took *much* longer to go through 1, and eventually wasn't even retaining it, so I gave up.  We'll start in grade 2, that seems to work much better.

[MerryAtHope]

It took my oldest about 4 years, and my youngest about 5 years, to get through all 7 levels. My oldest worked for 20 minutes per day, while my youngest tended to do slightly shorter lessons (about 15 minutes). Also, she was 2 years younger when we started (I started them both the same year), so my oldest was ready to progress a bit faster through some things. 

 

My oldest did levels 1, 2, and most of 3 the first year, and then did levels 4-6 over about 2 more years, and spent a full year on level 7. We did have some breaks in there (we also did All About Homophones and took a month off every year for our local spelling bee, plus level 7 didn't come out right when he was finished with 6, so he did a semester of keyboarding that included retyping all dictations from earlier levels--double-duty practice on spelling and keyboarding!). So all told, it was 4 years of work spread over 5 years of time.

 

Levels 6 and 7 actually do have more rules (one of the rules in level 6 helped me correct one of my own spelling bugaboos), and also work more with morphological strategies. Some students might be ready for a more independent program sooner--mine still benefited from the one on one. 

 

HTH some! 

[Crimson Wife]

 

Levels 6 and 7 actually do have more rules (one of the rules in level 6 helped me correct one of my own spelling bugaboos), and also work more with morphological strategies. Some students might be ready for a more independent program sooner--mine still benefited from the one on one.

 

Oops, I didn't mean to imply that 6 and 7 didn't have any rules at all. They just have a lot fewer than the lower levels do. The rules covered in AAS 6 & 7 are important to cover in some fashion- either by finishing out the program or by using something else that teaches them (like the Glencoe SP worksheets). 

 

[Kuovonne]

Hum. My DD seems to be going much more slowly. Each level has been taking longer and longer.

She is at the end of AA5 and it takes about two weeks to get through a level. Not because the

words are so much more difficult, but because I make her do all the dictations and she can't handle

more than about four sentences per day. Oh, and I also make her do a ton of review words every day.

[MerryAtHope]

Hum. My DD seems to be going much more slowly. Each level has been taking longer and longer.

She is at the end of AA5 and it takes about two weeks to get through a level. Not because the

words are so much more difficult, but because I make her do all the dictations and she can't handle

more than about four sentences per day. Oh, and I also make her do a ton of review words every day.

 

My son might have been older--he didn't even start the program until he was 11, and it looks like your oldest is doing level 5 at 12--he wasn't that far yet at that age. My dd who was younger did closer to a level per year after the first 3. Both of my kids needed lots of review as well, so it's good that you're focusing on the review your dd needs. 

[Flowergirl159]

My oldest was probably half way through grade 3 when we began AAS. She zoomed through level 1 and 2, then slowed down in level 3. She then completed level 4 in grade 4, level 5 in grade 5 and is now on level 6 in grade 6. I find that allowing a whole year to complete a level, means that when interruptions happen and other things come up that prevent us from spending 15 minutes every single on AAS, we can still complete the level in a year without feeling rushed.

 

My younger two began level 1 in grade 1, but I had to stop with both of them. I found that it was much better to begin AAS1 once they were reading at second grade level. So in grade 2, my middle girl completed level 1 and half of level 2. Then grade 3, she finished level 2 and all of level 3.

 

My youngest has just entered grade 2 is halfway through level 1. I anticipate the same for her, that by the time has finished grade 3, she will also be done with level 3.

 

Hope that helps :)

[dessertbloom]

Thanks everyone! This has been really helpful. I remember reading on the AAS site that it is recommended to begin AAS 1 when you finish AAR 1 and begin AAR 2. But it sounds like many of you have had more success starting when your kids were a bit older? My oldest 2 girls will be finishing AAR 1 soon (another month or two). DD age 6.5 likes to write on her own and wants to spell words correctly.  DD almost 5 years old is reading maybe better than her sister. I'm debating whether I should go ahead and start AAS with them when we finish AAR 1 or wait a bit. What do you think? I don't want to wait and instill bad spelling habits, but I also don't want to rush ahead. Maybe I should start with DD 6 and wait with DD 5?... Ah, too much agonizing over spelling!

[Flowergirl159]

You could start level 1 if you like and just go at their speed ie. don't try to do a step in a week. I did start AAS1 with two of my girls, then stopped for six months, when we restarted it again they were more ready. So if you started now, just be prepared that you may need to stop for a bit. Or you may find that you can keep moving along swimmingly with the program :) I usually recommend starting level 1 once they have begun reading at a second grade level though. Just my thoughts :)

[Jess4879]

We start AAS in grade 2.  We do one lesson a week.  My oldest has needed more review for some lessons. She's finishing level 5 in Grade 6.  My middle kiddo is a pretty natural speller and hasn't needed to slow down at all.  She just started Level 4 in Grade 4.  We pace it slower than most, but it works for us. :)

[Momto6inIN]

We started AAS with my younger DD when she was in 1st grade after she finished AAR level 1 and part of level 2. She's got 9 weeks left of 2nd grade and just finished level 2.

 

My older DD started AAS in Level 1 in the middle of 4th grade. She's now nearing the end of 6th grade and is almost done with Level 7. She's a pretty good speller and really only had to slow down once we got to the end of Level 5/beginning of Level 6.

[tm919]

Interesting. I never started spelling until my daughters read at 2nd grade level of higher.

 

My older daughter has been doing AAS for 2 years and 3 months, and just finished level 5. It was something like

 

Level 1 = 1.5 months

Level 2 = 3 months

Level 3 = 6 months

Level 4 = 7.5 months

Level 5 = 9 months

 

So by that measure we still have about 2 years left.

[mommy2ella]

We started AAS in 1st grade, and she's about halfway through Level 6 right now in 3rd.  Progress has sometimes slowed, and sometimes speeds ahead, but I guess she's averaging about 2.25 levels per year.

[ExcitedMama]

Thanks everyone! This has been really helpful. I remember reading on the AAS site that it is recommended to begin AAS 1 when you finish AAR 1 and begin AAR 2. But it sounds like many of you have had more success starting when your kids were a bit older? My oldest 2 girls will be finishing AAR 1 soon (another month or two). DD age 6.5 likes to write on her own and wants to spell words correctly. DD almost 5 years old is reading maybe better than her sister. I'm debating whether I should go ahead and start AAS with them when we finish AAR 1 or wait a bit. What do you think? I don't want to wait and instill bad spelling habits, but I also don't want to rush ahead. Maybe I should start with DD 6 and wait with DD 5?... Ah, too much agonizing over spelling!

Definitely start now. I had never intended to start spelling in K but we love AAR so I thought I'd try to follow their recommendation and I'm glad we did. AAS is very simple when your child is doing it with AAR. DS is now on AAS2 and doing great. Just like with AAR you can speed it up or slow it down to match the child's pace. It is so much more than just a spelling program which I had not anticipated. It very gently has the child practice writing words, phrases and short sentences in each lesson. We break it up a little per day as DS is still building up his stamina for writing so he does the words one day, the next day phrases and the next day sentences. I mark any words he missed and we practice those until he knows them. It's been great to have him working on keeping the sentence in his head as he goes and not forget the rest while focusing on writing each word correctly. It's very short and simple and much shorter than AAR lessons. A large part of AAS1 is just the letters and their sounds and moving onto short CVC words so it was too easy for DS so I'm glad we didn't wait even though I was nervous. Plus it's been great having the rules. I don't remember learning to read and don't know any rules. DS is almost done with AAR3 and doing great but every now and again a word will come up and he'll not read it correctly, like if it's a soft c and thanks to AAS I can remind him of the rule for when c is soft.

[ScoutTN]

My Dd is a natural speller. She is 10 and in 5th. We have done 10-15 minutes of AAS 3x a week since 1st grade and she is now in level 7 and on pace to finish in the summer. 

 

My Ds needs to go somewhat slower. He is 8 and in 2nd. He does 10-20 minutes 3-4x a week. He started last year and is in level 3. 

 

We started when they were reading fluently and will just go until they are done. We keep the lessons short and keep up with the review. I rarely use the green word cards. Love, love the homophone list, cards, and silent E book. 

Edited March 6, 2016 by ScoutTN

[cintinative]

My Dd is a natural speller. She is 10 and in 5th. We have done 10-15 minutes of AAS 3x a week since 1st grade and she is now in level 7 and on pace to finish in the summer. 

 

My Ds needs to go somewhat slower. He is 8 and in 2nd. He does 10-20 minutes 3-4x a week. He started last year and is in level 3. 

 

We started when they were reading fluently and will just go until they are done. We keep the lessons short and keep up with the review. I rarely use the green word cards. Love, love the homophone list, cards, and silent E book. 

 

We are in a similar spot.  My DS10 is in 4th grade and about halfway through AAS6. We do AAS 10 minutes a day about 3-4 times a week.  He is a natural speller. He started in 1st grade.

 

My DS8 is in 3rd grade and just started AAS5. He started in K and struggles more with the spelling. 

 

I only use the green cards to track the words they struggle with and have mastered.  For a long time I didn't use them because my boys were in the same level of AAS.

 

HTH!