AAS: Son is stuck on lesson 16 and 17 Level 1...help!

[Once]

For all you AAS users, what have you done if your kids get stuck on a lesson? My son is 6 and a half years old doing first level. He is stuck....I mean he *cannot* get lesson 16 or 17 in the first level. We have been over and over it and he just cannot figure out when to use c or k to start a letter. I have had him memorize the rule...use the tiles for the word list....write out the word...given it some time for his brain to grow...repeat it over and over...nothing makes it clear to him. Half the time he spells it with the wrong letter and the other half of the time he gets it right. :001_huh:

 

What do you do to help your kids when they get stuck on something and do not seem to learn it? BTW, we have been on this lesson since before Christmas and I am a bit discouraged. Kan you tell! ;) (At least I still have my sense of humor!) :tongue_smilie:

[siloam]

Trina,

 

I would move on, but continue to review it as part of your warm up-even if it isn't listed as part of the warm up. I would do so well into level 2 until he didn't show mastery.

 

BTW SL introduces quotations in their LA 1. Not just the use of them but moving the attribution and such. I thought they were nuts. It took into LA 2 but it did finally click and now she knows how to punctuate quotations cold. That is why I suggest to keep on going, but keep on reviewing it too.

 

Just keep swimming....

 

Heather

 

p.s. I Merry comes along and says something different listen to her. We are only on lesson 7, and she knows the program better. :D

[MerryAtHope]

A couple of questions:

 

Does he know to try C first?

 

Does he know which letters make C stand for /s/?

 

When he has used the tiles for the word list, does he put the blank tile in first for the /k/ sound, and spell the rest of the word, then go back to decide if it's c or k?

 

Does he walk through those steps each time he thinks about the word (does he try C first and then does he look to see if e, i, or y comes next)? If he sees an e, i, or y, can he then decide that the C will say /s/ and won't work?

 

Does he know the two key cards cold, or does he have to stop and think?

 

Just trying to see where in the steps he is struggling with this one. Maybe he's not ready for thinking through the steps yet?

 

Merry :-)

[Sandy in Indy]

I made a huge deal out of "c says 'sssssssssss' before e, i or y" and ds got that firmly stuck in his head. When he made a mistake I'd say "c says" and he'd yell "ssssssssssssss."

 

I think I'd review the key cards daily. Keep the words from those two lesson in the review que for a long while and go on.

 

I'm sure Marie would be happy to give you some suggestions. She's always been good to respond to any questions I've sent her.

[patchfire]

Honestly, I would be tempted to put it away for a week or two. Keep reviewing the key cards he's mastered, review everything through step 15, do all of his other work, and then come back to it. Dd is older but I have done that two or three times w/ AAS and it's been a tremendous help. The once or twice I've just kept pushing through, I've regretted it.

[Lovedtodeath]

We got stuck on a lesson in HTTS. I just moved on. I use them as copywork every once in a while, and I will come back to it later to really cement the deal. But staying stuck wasn't helping us at all.

 

Merry had some good thoughts on that particular lesson. :)

[Julieofsardis]

I would do what someone said and review it everyday, but move on to the rest of the lessons. My son is 9 and he's heard c says before an e, y, or i about 3,348,098,394 times. I swear I have said it several times every day for years now. He still forgets!!!! Sometimes he remembers, though.

 

Julie

[Melmc]

Move on and just add it to the review that's done at the beginning of each lesson. I'd add some of those spelling words from those lessons to the future lessons. After seeing it enough, he'll get it.

[MerryAtHope]

I would do what someone said and review it everyday, but move on to the rest of the lessons. My son is 9 and he's heard c says before an e, y, or i about 3,348,098,394 times. I swear I have said it several times every day for years now. He still forgets!!!! Sometimes he remembers, though.

 

Julie

 

There are times when I've pushed through things in math knowing my kids would get the concept again, so I can see how that might work. I like the option of taking a couple of weeks off & then trying again, and also continuing to review the rule card.

 

My only hesitation in moving on from this lesson is in wondering why he's struggling with it. The next lesson is on doubling f, l, and s, plus an intro to ck, nk, and ng. Depending on his familiarity with any of these, it might just add in more confusion. My kids both struggled a long time when they were younger--and occasionally now, with the nk sound. They wanted to make it ngk.

 

Then the following lesson has the student working with ck, and I don't know if that will just add to the confusion for this child or not to have more c & k choices. I think it might be one of those decisions where a mom has to know her child and go with her gut on what might work out, you know? But I like the idea of letting the new stuff just rest & reviewing/working with stuff he knows for a few weeks, and then trying again. At 6.5 he's pretty young & it's ok to take a breather like this.

 

Merry :-)

[Lovedtodeath]

Mental Note: Merry is the spelling expert. Ask her if a problem comes up. ;)

[Annabel Lee]

For c & k here's the jingle I learned as a kid, and it's for when you're making the /k/ sound before a short vowel sound: "K goes with I and E, C goes with the other 3: A, O, and U". If you have that memorized, you can figure out that if C is before a vowel sound not made by A, O, or U, it must say /s/. Don't know if that will help at all, but it still helps me this many years later. :)

[Once]

Thanks to everyone for the ideas and encouragement. Thanks, Merry, for the thoughtful questions. I spent some time working with my son these past few days and now I have some answers.

 

He knows that c says /s/ before e, i, or y. He know both key cards but sometimes (20% of the time) he says "after" instead of before. I spent some time with him on Friday putting the blank blue tile before the vowel and getting him to spell the words in the word list. He was correct 80% of the time with the blank tile in place. This is an improvement but I still feel like he does not get it enough to use it reliably.

 

He can *write* them correctly, if he spells the words first with the tiles (even if he spells them wrong with the tiles the first time). But then the next day he goes back to spelling it inconsistantly.

 

I'm thinking that the next few lessons would be challenging enough for him that a break to reveiw would be timely. If the next lessons were easier, review lessons then maybe I would go on more slowly. He has not noticed that were are circling around for review, interestingly enough. He just does not seem to see that he has seen these words. In fact, the last word I did with him he said.."Hey, we did this one before!" So, I stopped to prevent the weariness that comes with review. Perhaps his mind is just not ready for that complexity yet. If that is the case, he would be better waiting.

 

So, now the question...How do you review with AAS? Do you just redo the lessons from some point that makes sense or do you do something different? I love this program and will stick with it even if we take a break. I'm just not sure he should go on with it right now.

 

Thanks again for all the help.

[MerryAtHope]

Well, you may have already done this--the beginning of lesson 17 has you review the cards behind the mastered divider. Usually when I review, I go back and pull out a sampling of words plus all of the key, sound, & phonogram cards. Sometimes I take several days to go over them, it just depends. You could also flip through the book and choose from the additional words if you think the ones on the cards are too familiar. Let him see how much he has learned so far, praise him & make it a confirming experience. I'd continue to do the cards on trying C first and when C says /s/ each day for review.

 

Then, what if you have your son try to teach you the lesson? Tell him you want to try to spell the word kept. "What should I do first?" See if he can talk you through the steps while you pull down the tiles. If you think he'd like it, you could even make a big deal & tell him, "today YOU get to be the teacher." It sounds like he's really getting close to knowing this one, and sometimes having to teach something makes us think it through on a deeper level. Try to break down all the steps if he struggles with what to do first. "What are my choices for the /k/ sound? Which one do I try first? How do I know if it will work or not?"

 

I wonder if you could also focus on what he reads a bit here. Can he read the word "face?" If he knows how to read that, then you could make that word with tiles and say, "which letter makes C say /s/?" "What if I take away the e, would the C still say /s/?" (no, it would say /k/. You can make a joke of "fac" not being a word if you want.).

 

Then try "mice." "Which letter makes C say /s/?" "What if I take away the e?" See if he can make the connection this way that it's only what comes after the C that changes it's sound--an e, i, or y BEFORE the c won't change it. You could try ice, icy, ace, race, rice, dice--any of these words that you think he knows how to read.

 

Part of me wonders if the pattern seems arbitrary to him, or if he's accidentally reversing the words before & after. Sometimes kids with dyslexia have trouble with arbitrary sequences (things like the order of the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year...). That might be something to keep an eye out for. Or if he makes other reversals. Kids with dyslexia will need a lot more review than one might expect, and then cards will need to be reviewed more frequently or not moved to "mastered" as quickly.

 

After working on the reading, I might have him try to spell the c or K words again, and then try keeping them in his review section for awhile and see if he can move on. The thing I'd watch for is whether the c vs. k thing is just an issue for those letters, or if he struggles in general with the idea that other letters can affect spelling. That's a similar concept in the ck and the doubling f,l, and s words. At least those letters aren't changing sounds :-).

 

My dd who is 9 sometimes still forgets when to double f, l, and s. She can recite the rule without hesitation, and she's got it down quickly enough to know if I say she got a word wrong, she'll know why it was wrong without my saying so. We just review that concept frequently.

 

For awhile, I would have him recite the rules to you before trying a word or list of words with the /k/ sound--"What letters say /k/? Which one do we try first? C says /s/ before what 3 letters?" Then, "Ok, now let's spell ___." Eventually I think it will stick.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)