LAK and AAS

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Permalink Reply by Angela on May 11, 2009 at 3:26pm

LisaMarie!
I'm wondering the same thing... only we just finished LAK, so I'm considering using it with LA1 and ETC. I'm considering scrapping LA1 (it seems like a lot of work...am I wrong?) and just using ETC and AAS... I'd love to hear what others have to say!
My ds will be 5 the end of July, and dd will be 7 in October and I'm schooling them together...

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Permalink Reply by siloam on May 11, 2009 at 4:30pm

You see I saw this coming and started LA K before starting AAS 1 for my 6yo. :D IMO what level 1 of AAS covers is much closer to LA 1. It covers short vowels, then blends, then finishes with long vowels, which is exactly what AAS level 1 does. If your child is progressing well with AAS then I don't see any reason to continue with LA K. If they still struggle or are guessing at letter sounds and like the Code books then I don't see a reason to stop them because they will just reinforce what they are learning in AAS.

As for LA 1 they have much of the same material. SL has dictation, AAS has dictation. SL has the worksheets, which AAS really doesn't cover something similar, but it wouldn't be too difficult to pull out synonyms, antonyms (Homophones are covered by the Homophone book) and do rhyming work with words from AAS. Quotations in the dictation is another thing that I have really appreciated in LA 1 and 2. My kids have always been able to punctuate quotations properly by the time they used quotations in their writing due to the SL dictation, but you can also just choose to teach it later. Obviously you don't need the spelling in SL, which is pretty easy. The I Can Read It! readers I am still using. I always liked them because a child has to be careful reading them. They can't guess. They are wordy through and drive some people nuts. I have never used the SL writing, I always found I had to drag my oldest through it. I agree with Susan Wise Bauer that at this age narration is the appropriate writing tool. We either do our narrations orally, or I write it for them till 4th grade where they take it over. A child who is younger just isn't experienced enough at handwriting or thinking about what they want to say and saying it to bring those skills together and write it out while thinking. They need to become proficient at them as separate skills first, IMO. The writing in SL LA was the first thing I scraped. :D

Heather

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Permalink Reply by Angela on May 11, 2009 at 4:40pm

So you used the dictation from SL1, but not the copywork? Am I reading that right? ;)
My dd6 is always writing her own sentences, guessing at spelling. For example, she wrote 'breakfast' today and spelled it 'breccfist' ;) I think we need AAS! :)

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Permalink Reply by siloam on May 11, 2009 at 4:48pm

I have the old LA (2003), which had two passages a week that could be used as either dictation or copywork. I do both as dictation.

For full disclosure my 8yo is dyslexic, so tackling it from multiple approaches, just helps it stick. That is also why she is just finishing up LA 1 at the end of her 2nd grade year. Daily I have her do one sentence of dictation (I know this is not the way SL set up the dictation, but it works for us) or the exercise worksheet. She does 3 pages a day out of the Explode the Code books, and I also use the half books for 1, 2 and 3. Other LA elements she odes is First Language Lessons for grammar and oral narration daily. I also have her read out of other easy readers: I See Sam, Now I'm Reading, Bob Books, Dick and Jane, the AAS reader so she reads two stories a day vs. just one with SL.

Heather

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Permalink Reply by Merry on May 11, 2009 at 6:18pm

First, what point is your daughter starting from? If she doesn't know any phonograms (or very few), you will likely spend a fair amount of time on the first 4 steps of AAS. These are where they learn the sounds of the alphabet and segmenting skills. A lot of LA K could be used to teach these concepts, since LA K spends a week on each letter. I think it depends on how quickly or how slowly you think your daughter needs to go to learn the letters. (AAS has them learn 4 at a time, so you might be able to go a bit faster with AAS alone).

Likewise, you could use the Pre-Code books that you already have to teach all of the consonants--and then teach your dd the vowels from the AAS cards, one at a time. My personal preference would be to do that--you could do the pre-code books, and mix in activities from the first 4 steps of AAS until she has the phonograms down and then progress on through the book. But there may be other activities in LA K that you could pick and choose from--since you already have it, I might look at it as more of a resource than a schedule, you know? Do the things you enjoy from that but don't feel you have to do it all.

BTW, there is a phonogram progress chart that Marie uploaded to the Level 1 group you might want to download. It's really cute and would be an encouragement to her to learn all the phonograms.

AAS and Beehive 1 could be enough--when my kids were that age, I mainly focused on phonics/learning to read and handwriting. (and not a lot of handwriting here in K, LOL!).

HTH, Merry :-)

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Permalink Reply by LisaMarie on May 13, 2009 at 10:47am

Thanks ladies! Your responses have helped.

My dd will be starting from the very beginning, so as you said Merry, we will be spending a lot of time in the first four steps. I think I will use AAS as my "spine" and fill in with LAK and the Code books. My two older dc really liked the beginning code books, so dd may enjoy them as well.

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Permalink Reply by Merry on May 13, 2009 at 12:24pm

That sounds like a great plan! My dd liked the before-the-code books too, I always wished I had tried them with my son. Merry :-)

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Permalink Reply by Angela on May 13, 2009 at 1:50pm

that is great to know! maybe i will use them for my 2 youngest! thanks!

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