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Phonics
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- OK, I know Charlotte mason was not for intensive phonics but I am– at least for now;) I realize that different ways are for different students and families. So that said has anyone used Christian light for phonics or LA and what did you think. I have worked through much of AAR level 1 but the stories are just too long now though he easily has retained all the sounds. He also likes the I see Sam books.
Many people love CLE for phonics/reading, but we HATED it. Is it rigorous and intense? Definitely. So if you want your child to have to spend an hour a day doing pages of bookwork, then this is the program for you. My daughter hated it, and it made her hate reading. The lessons were too long, too repetitive. Some people advised me to cut out half the work or do it differently – but I don’t see the point in buying a program just to have to constantly modify it.
Have you considered Explode the Code?
I have no experience with CLE. Are you trying to have your child read an entire story in one day in AAR? I would suggest you slow it down and break the story up into a few days of reading instead until he’s ready for more in one sitting. We never do everything in a lesson in one day. We almost always break a reading up over more than one day. Those pre-reading sheets – are you skipping them? Because they really are helpful for gaining fluency if you use them. Again, we even break those up over more than one day. You don’t have to finish a lesson in a week. My 7 year old is in AAR level 2 right now. I have 4 older and 4 younger than him. 3 of the older ones I taught to read without any real program. 1 of the 4 older taught himself to read before I could teach him anything (he was reading chapter books at age 3.5, just taught himself).
Just because he knows the sounds doesn’t mean he’s ready to read fluently, as you can see. He needs lots of time and repetition and practice to gain fluency with what he has while slowly adding more. It’s one of the reasons I love AAR. Use the word cards. Use the letter tiles. Use the fluency pre-reading pages. Use the activity pages (we keep ours in page protectors in a binder and get to pick out 1-2 for practice each day). Use the readers. Use, reuse, and take your time. Let him really master the lessons you’ve covered instead of moving on when he hasn’t mastered them (gained fluency). It doesn’t matter what age a child is when they learn to read so there is no rush to get through a program quickly.
I have slowed down and gone over the fluency sheets and split up lessons. We have been camped out at the end of the ng lesson near the end of level one for a month now and were only slightly before that at the end of last year. I am not particularly worried he is still young but I want other ways to practice. Also I don’t love the AAR readers. The first 2 levels are OK but i am not sure about the rest. I don’t really want to spend 3 or 5 years on them. Tristan do you use all 4 levels.
I Aldo don’t like how scripted it is. I took an Orton Gillingham class in college and in some ways would just like to do my own thing. But it is useful to have readers and practice lists and other practice all go together. I would split up CLE and not do all the exercises and teach the new phonemes like I always have tracing and with a flash card. I have looked at explode the code and it isn’t right for us now. I did use their ABC books though.
I don’t know yet if we’ll use levels 3 and 4. At some point most kids just take off with reading and ‘get it’, so I am guessing we may not need level 4 at the very least. However I have also had one of mine need explicit instruction in every facet of reading, who would have used all 4 levels if they had been available.
I guess all that to say, I’m open to getting and using all 4 levels. And as I have 4 more learners below the current learning to read child they’re a great investment for me. We will simply reused everything 4 more times.
About the very scripted nature of AAR – I love that it is there so I can literally open and go, no thought, no preparation on my part. However on days or weeks when I have time to read ahead what we’ll be working on I don’t use all the scripted bits. I just study that myself and share the material in my own words. So I don’t feel tied to it, but I appreciate that it is there when I want it.
I say do what works for your child. How old is your son? Is he stuck on just that sound (ng)? I would consider moving ahead 1 lesson and keeping up some short daily review of ng too, but if he grasps the next lesson fine just trust that some sounds are harder to hear and developmentally come later so if you are working with a child on the younger end you may be asking him to do something he’s not quite developmentally ready for with the ng sound.
Tristan just said it perfectly – some sounds are harder to master, move on and just keep reviewing it. He/she will get it with time. Also, just because you’re using AAR right now doesn’t mean you have to use it forever. Focus on the now and what works for right now, which it sounds like AAR is. And just like Tristan said – you may not need phonics past a certain point. My son only did phonics until halfway through his grade 1 year, because he had it and that was that. The day he picked up MY novel and started reading it out loud to me was the day I realize we didn’t need phonics anymore, lol. Now obviously at only 6.5, that’s the exception, not the normal. But, there’s still no reason to think that your child will need several years of phonics instruction – they may only need 1 or 2 good years.
He gets all the sounds and remembers them well. He even remembers the rules, like c says /s/ before e,I or y and ck is used with a short vowel at the end… (We have been doing a bit of spelling ( bit of spalding style) as it seems easier for him than reading and he likes it). He can decode and remembers everything I taught him–always has. He just sounds out everything except the, Sam, pig, of and maybe a few others. I was just thinking about another way to practice…
O he can sound out about 10-13 words in a min. So he is good at it? I think we just need practice….? Any thoughts
You haven’t mentioned how old he is, but honestly, I don’t think you need anything else at all assuming he’s 7 or under. Remember, many places are not even remotely starting to teach reading until age 7. Also, all studies show that outcomes are better for children who learn to read later, than earlier (assuming neurotypical children without learning delays). Learning at 4 or 5 or 6, gives no benefit, no edge, over children that learn to read later at 7, 8 or 9, and in fact, they often end up behind those that learn later.
It’s very easy to memorize a rule, or a simple sound. It’s a lot tougher job to blend them together. I think the worst thing you can do is start overloading a child who is struggling with yet MORE work, another program etc… If anything, back off for awhile, give him time to mature.
What can be taught in 6 months at 6, can be taught in 6 weeks at 7, can be taught in 6 days at 8. If we would just wait until children are actually developmentally ready, the learning process would go much easier/faster.
So… at the most, just continue with what you’re doing and just continue to read to him, every day. Get him some simple BOB books if you want, or the I Can Read It! series is great, if he WANTS some extra practice. Otherwise, if it is stressing him out, then I would back off.
The range of the normal age for learning to read is 4-10. The median is 6-7. There’s no reason to rush it.
Thanks ladies. I will keep our lessons short and relaxed! Here is what I am trying now:) I really don’t like how scripted AAR is and how fast the readings and lists get long. I do like the OG part but i can do that without a program. So…i am using the phoneme progression and stories from CLE and using the board from AAR and starting back in the beginning for reading so he has a really easy time for a bit and can learn to recognize some words and gain fluency. I will probably add in some of the worksheets from CLE in later if i want him to practice a different way. We also have I See Sam readers to use. CLE is intensive phonics like AAR but the reading selections are shorter and I like them better:) He does like to finish a story in one sitting so we were buddy reading the AAR stories. He likes the CLE stories too and as a farm kid he can relate to them. Also I can have him practice in other ways than the fluency page. It takes us about 15 min or so and so far it’s going well. Thanks for your ideas.
O I talked to the AAR folks (they have great customer service) and since he likes spelling they suggested trying AAS as a spelling to reading approach. So I will try alternating that with reading later. I had planned to use AAS for spelling anyway. My husband and I did not learn spelling in school and I finally got better after my OG training in college… So I am going to try that right off for our kids.
PS I have BOB books and planned to use them and he hates them?…anyone need set 2 I will sell it:)
O also I love the CLE kindergarten 2 program for my eager to do school daughter but we stretch 1 lesson over a week and add in other oral sound play and RightStart number since games and subatizing activities. She always wants to do school and I looked hard for a good nonflashy letters and numbers book.
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