AAR 4

[My4arrows]

I've used AAR 1-2 and half of 3 with my two oldest. For the past year and half we haven't done anymore since they soared with reading. An example...my 7 yo is reading the lord of the rings triology right now for fun. My 9 yo reads a lot, but not necessarily to the same level as yds. But he also has a love of reading and reads a lot throughout the day. I go back and forth on whether to continue in with AAR 4 since I feel like it could cover skills they may not have and I'm assuming they have because of their love of reading. I have at least two more after them that would use it too later on so the cost isn't a big factor for me.

[MerryAtHope]

Have you looked at the online samples? That might help you decide if it would be beneficial. There are some fun aspects to level 4, like the various literary terms, exploring varying dialects and regional language, and then exploring words containing influences from Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian. It also covers words with multiple suffixes and more multi-syllable words, if those might be issues. At the end of Level 4, students have the phonics and word attack skills necessary to sound out high school level words, though they may not know the meaning of all higher level words. (Word attack skills include things like dividing words into syllables, making analogies to other words, sounding out the word with the accent on different word parts, recognizing affixes, etc…)

 

That said, your kids may not need the level--here are examples of some of the harder words covered in Level 4. If they can read these easily, they probably don't need this level: acquaintance, aphid, beneficial, boutique, bronchial, campaign, chameleon, chauffeur, consignment, crochet, cuisine, cylinder, deficient, delectable, distraught, entree, epilogue, etiquette, facial, ferocious, glisten, gnashed, gourmet, graduation, guinea, Herculean, heroism, horticulture, hygiene, incompatible, isle, lariat, lasagna, limousine, magnificence, mayonnaise, malicious, meringue, mustache, neighborhood, nuisance, ocelot, onslaught, oregano, pendulum, perceptible, picturesque, plausible, premiere, prioritize, questionnaire, reassign, routine, sanitize, saute, situation, solstice, souvenir, specimen, spectacular, teleportation, temperament, tortilla, unveiled, vogue, warthog, zucchini.

 

 

[lexi]

Mine arrives tomorrow! I'll have to let you know my thoughts after we start using it. I'm pretty excited! I know my son really needs it. Not sure about my daughter. Her reading has really taken off so we'll see how it helps her. 

[ItoLina]

I think it really depends on the kid. DS completed all four levels. He definitely needed the additional year of practice and intentional phonics lessons. He was not the type of kid that just took off with reading. He needed a lot of practice and specific instruction for each rule and set of words. For him that year with level four really cemented his reading ability, helped with his fluency, and gave him a lot of confidence in himself. So, worth it for him for sure.

 

For my DD, we are about a forth of the way through level three right now and I am less sure she will need level four. She picks up reading skills quickly and on her own. For example, she will read a lot on her own and ask me words she doesn't know, then she will just figure out the phonics rule based on words she has come across and apply it to new words. When I ask her, she is usually even able to articulate the rule and explain why she sounded out a word the way she did. She also usually remembers a word and can read it fluently after reading it once or twice. My son needed much more practice than than. My DS was not able to do that nearly as well or as frequently. So we will see with DD. I have level four and she likes AAR lessons, so we may just do it for fun and to go over some of the other skills like literary terms and words from other languages that Mary mentioned above. But she would likely be a kid that wouldn't necessarily need it.

 

 

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[UCF612]

Level 4 wasn't out yet when my oldest went through the program. He picked up reading easily. My youngest has had a harder time reading. He's about 10 lessons from finishing level 3. Level 4 just arrived in the mail so I've only flipped through it but there are definitely a few lessons I will have my oldest listen in on. I know my youngest will benefit and I believe my oldest will even get a little out of it.

[My4arrows]

Have you looked at the online samples? That might help you decide if it would be beneficial. There are some fun aspects to level 4, like the various literary terms, exploring varying dialects and regional language, and then exploring words containing influences from Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian. It also covers words with multiple suffixes and more multi-syllable words, if those might be issues. At the end of Level 4, students have the phonics and word attack skills necessary to sound out high school level words, though they may not know the meaning of all higher level words. (Word attack skills include things like dividing words into syllables, making analogies to other words, sounding out the word with the accent on different word parts, recognizing affixes, etc…)

 

That said, your kids may not need the level--here are examples of some of the harder words covered in Level 4. If they can read these easily, they probably don't need this level: acquaintance, aphid, beneficial, boutique, bronchial, campaign, chameleon, chauffeur, consignment, crochet, cuisine, cylinder, deficient, delectable, distraught, entree, epilogue, etiquette, facial, ferocious, glisten, gnashed, gourmet, graduation, guinea, Herculean, heroism, horticulture, hygiene, incompatible, isle, lariat, lasagna, limousine, magnificence, mayonnaise, malicious, meringue, mustache, neighborhood, nuisance, ocelot, onslaught, oregano, pendulum, perceptible, picturesque, plausible, premiere, prioritize, questionnaire, reassign, routine, sanitize, saute, situation, solstice, souvenir, specimen, spectacular, teleportation, temperament, tortilla, unveiled, vogue, warthog, zucchini.

Thank you, this was helpful.  I'm going to have them read through the words and see how they do.   I do think that the other skills you mentioned would be beneficial for them.  I did talk to DH about it and he said he thought it could be beneficial for the boys to start up again.  And ODS also said since he enjoyed AAR he would like to as well.  I'm thinking it could be helpful with spelling too since he struggles with that (he REALLY didn't like AAS so never really learned the rules with spelling).  I appreciate your advice!

[My4arrows]

Level 4 wasn't out yet when my oldest went through the program. He picked up reading easily. My youngest has had a harder time reading. He's about 10 lessons from finishing level 3. Level 4 just arrived in the mail so I've only flipped through it but there are definitely a few lessons I will have my oldest listen in on. I know my youngest will benefit and I believe my oldest will even get a little out of it.

My ODS was the one which reading was more difficult, but level 4 wasn't out by the time he was ready for it.  Then he grew with confidence and was reading everything.  I'm definitely going to look at the samples and check it out in person at my conference to see if it'll be beneficial to him.