Finished AAR4… where to go next?

[Nm.]

DS10 has finished AAR4.  He is working through all about spelling 3.  He is doing fairly well now.  He sometimes skips small words or suffixes when reading.  Guessing still happens occasionally.  Can anyone relate and let me know what you did after you successfully finished phonics?  Also he sounds a little choppy when reading.  I am using a difficult text (original McGuffey reader 3, for grades 5-8) and wonder if that’s not a good idea for fluency.  I thought the challenge of working on multi syllable words would be helpful, but he also needs to work on intonation and all that.  Maybe do both easier read alouds to me and the McGuffey reader to challenge?  He mostly understands what he’s reading unless it’s new vocabulary.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Nm.

[forty-two]

We did:
*another pass through phonics as part of learning cursive (similar to a cursive-first WRTR approach),
*studied dictation with Spelling You See and WWE (used SYS markings with WWE),
*Rewards,
*Spelling Through Morphographs (after finishing Rewards), and
*Touch Type Read Spell (a O/G typing program, for a third pass through phonics as well as learning to type).

1 hour ago, Nm. said:

Maybe do both easier read alouds to me and the McGuffey reader to challenge?

Sounds like a good idea.

[SFisher]

For reading, after we finished phonics, I’ve had my boys read out loud to me about 15 minutes a day. I help them choose books that are high interest and offer manageable challenge. Anytime there’s a word they don’t know, I help them work through it. Usually they make an attempt to read the word on their own and I coach them through it… the c in this word makes an “s” sound, or you left out the “L” sound, try again and get that sound in the word. With multisyllabic words, I uncover the word syllable by syllable and have them decode each syllable. Sometimes I explain syllable types, particularly open syllables, but I do not drill them on the syllable types.

This is also a good time to put more emphasis on spelling, so now that they can decode, they’re going to revisit the same sounds and words and encode. My experience is that spelling develops much slower than reading, so think of it as a many year approach.

[Nm.]

@SFisher thank you, I think that is exactly where I am at.  What kind of difficulty do you have them read out loud from?  Or How many words per page do they need help decoding?  Independent reading is always on the easier side.

We are continuing AAS, likely through 7.

[Nm.]

@forty-two what is this cursive phonics thing?  I forgot we are doing dictation day by day in addition to AAS.  I would like to add cursive but have not chose anything yet.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Nm.

[SFisher]

On 10/4/2023 at 7:15 PM, Nm. said:

What kind of difficulty do you have them read out loud from?  Or How many words per page do they need help decoding?  Independent reading is always on the easier side.

I think having 1-5 words per page to figure out seems manageable. When kids are at this point they can read lots of book types - picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, poems - and each type brings on its own challenges. For example, reading a chapter book requires a lot of endurance, so I might have less individually challenging words, but the real work is in having the stamina to read a solid text page. Poems require good reading expression and rhythm, so having less challenging words, but working on rhythm and expression instead.

My kids really needed me to choose books that were the right level of difficulty and would have topics that were interesting to them. I usually choose a dozen or so and let them pick from that selection.

As far as independent reading, I focus on high interest. I don’t care if they can or cannot read all of the words. I just want them to want to look ant the books and I try to have a fresh library load every week.

I have mixed experience homeschool & public school. I think AAS is all about spelling? Aas is Orton gillingham and is considered best practice spelling instruction. I’ve used AAS and I’ve seen other orton gillingham methods used at my kids school, so there are many iterations of the methods. If it’s working for you, I’d stay with it.

We tried AAS and did not like the scripted lessons and memorizing rules, just not a good fit for my kids particular strengths/weaknesses. My kids are very visual spatial, so using a white board and mapping out spelling patterns at home seems to be the most helpful for them. My kids also liked Words their Way - again a very visual approach to spelling patterns. People use words their way multiple ways. We would picture sort and make sure they could hear the sounds first … then build on by spelling the sounds. 

[SFisher]

On 10/4/2023 at 7:16 PM, Nm. said:

cursive

I love handwriting without tears, I just did cursive kickoff with my son. I would recommend getting the student workbook and the teachers guide.