AAR 1 -- length of lessons?

[gck21]

I am using AAR Pre-Reading with my preschooler (just turned 5), and it is a great fit for her right now. I am planning on continuing with the program next year for kindergarten. We had half a year of false starts with more basic phonics programs (like Ordinary Parent's Guide), so I am happy to have found something that works. My only complaint is it regularly takes an hour or so just to complete one lesson (with the daily craft, snack, game, and 20 min of read alouds). Has anyone who has used AAR 1 tell me about how long the lessons take? I am trying to be more realistic with my planning this year so that we don't crash and burn in August with all my great plans. 🙂 

[medawyn]

I never counted the 20 minutes of reading aloud, since that was something we did anyway, but I found that lesson length in AAR1 varied for my early reader.  Mostly it was about level of fatigue; we could finish some lessons in 20-30 minutes, and others needed to be split into two days depending on how much reading they were doing and how much of that was with new phonograms.  With AAR and AAS, I find myself going with time per day rather than a lesson per day.  We just work consistently for 20 minutes each day, and then peace out until the next day.  This doesn't necessarily include things like games or gluing activities, since my guys will happily do those over snack or some other time, but for actual instruction, I set a 20 minute timer and we work until it goes off. Repeat until the level is finished, however long that is, and start the next level.

[GaHadley]

They (all about learning press) recommend spending 20 minutes per day.  I would allow 30 minutes, but I would plan to go closer to 20 minutes unless you're on a roll and go 30. 

[MerryAtHope]

yes, 20 minutes is the recommendation, but you can go a bit shorter if you have a young student--adjust it to your child's needs. You can break the lesson up over as many or as few days as needed--here's an example of a "typical" day and week. HTH some! Have fun in Kindergarten, such a fun year with little ones!