I started doing AAR with my 8yo dyslexic son last March and it has made a world of difference! We did level 2 and part of 3 and then we took the summer off (traveled for 8 weeks, and couldn’t take everything with us). I think I’m going to review a few lessons and pick up AAR for 20 minutes a day. We are going to homeschool this year, and I want to start AAS, as well as do cursive and another ELA program (Moving Beyond the Page). I’m thinking I might only have time for 10-15 min a day if I try to do all of this. How long will it take us to get through a level if we do 10-15 min a day?

One thing I am concerned about is that he is a very reluctant writer, mostly because he freezes up when he doesn’t know how to spell a word (which is most of the time). I’m concerned that his writing will be impaired if I don’t move quickly through the spelling so that he has a strong base of words that he can spell. Does that make sense? I’ve heard that sometimes, students dictate their ideas to the parent so that they can focus on the concepts on the writing, but I don’t want to help “too” much. How should I handle this?

By the way, I’m excited about all of the good things you have to say about IEW. I’m going to keep my 12 yo home this year too, and have chosen to do IEW (along with MBTP) with him. I’m hoping to do it with my 8 yo in a year or so, once his reading and writing are a bit stronger.

AAL Press recommends 20 minutes on spelling and 20 minutes on reading per day. With two kids doing AAR and three kids doing AAS, all at different levels, I find that I cannot do that. Instead, I spend 10-15 with each child per lesson. We make great progress with this and I am not frazzled. For AAR, that might look like this: Level 1 (young child), read half the story, I read a sentence, he reads a sentence. Or we read two sections on one side of the fluency sheets, then a few of the sentence sections on the other side, I read one, he reads one. Level 4 (older child who just had a leap in reading) introduce the concept and have him read the green cards and the fluency sheet (they are much shorter in L4) to ensure he can read the words with that pattern, then he reads half the story in the next lesson that reinforces the new words. Next day, he reads the other half of the story. At this point, he reads aloud while I do dishes, with me helping him with a word or two but usually not more than that. For AAS, my Level 2 kid does the review box for about five minutes, then new spelling words for about five minutes, then he writes 2-3 phrases or sentences. Level 4 daughter does review box, new spelling words, 3 sentences. Same with Level 5 son. At this rate, we do an AAS step in about 3-4 school days; I slow down when we need to and spend more days, but always just 10-15 minutes per lesson per day.

Question: How many of you fast track by skipping some of the dictation sentences, writing station, etc.? And if you do that, what does it look like?
Background: We have been using AAS for four years. I have always had the student write out all the new words, more words, phrases, sentences, and writing station over the course of a week or ten days per step. My oldest, a 5th grader, is now nine steps into Level 5. He spells most of the words right after the first dictation. I am trying to figure out a way to fast track him so that we can finish his mom-intensive spelling lessons before we add a fourth child to AAS in the 2019-20 school year. He has an advanced vocabulary, so the words in AAS Levels 6-7 are those he already uses in speech and writing; his challenge is sitting down and manually writing sentences. In addition to AAS, in his IEW grammar program, he copies an advanced sentence every day; he also writes outlines or paragraphs daily in the IEW writing program. For AAS, he’s not going to write all twelve sentences in one sitting, nor do we have time for that—it takes him a long time to write. Thus, I only ask him to write four of the sentences at a time in our daily spelling lesson (and one session per day is all I can fit in with my five kids). At this rate, takes us three days to do the sentences, and 4-5 days to complete each step. I think we can fast track in terms of his grasping spelling, but all the writing is slowing us down. What approaches do others have to a situation such as this? Thanks.

My daughter will be entering 4th grade this year at a university model school and I will be in charge of teaching her spelling. AAS is one of the choices we have. Previously she was using Words Their Way. I am struggling with trying to decide what level of AAS she would be using. Can you advise what level a rising 4th grade should begin using?

We do a little bit of spelling each day but it is usually less than 20 minutes. Sometimes just 5 minutes, other times 10 or more….We usually do a one step a week, but that still keeps us on a pretty good pace it seems. From what I can calculate, it seems that we will still probably be done with all 7 levels in about 4 years I think….Hopefully I am not missing something….

I’m excited at the possibilities this program offers. I’m not a homeschool mom, but would like to find a way to support my kids at home so they understand the rules of spelling, and not just memorization. 20″ a day after school sounds doable.

I’m so glad to have come across your site! My daughter isn’t homeschooled, but I’m trying to supplement what she learns in school with a more multi-sensory approach at home – and spelling is a big one we struggle with! We practice spelling words about 10 minutes a night, at most. But our “practice” involves active-learning and lots of moving around – nothing like she does at school! lol!

15-30 minutes max on a lesson with a variety of activities in that time frame. My daughter has difficulty with focus but does so much better 1-1 with short lessons. I’m still trying to figure out timing as some curriculums have unequal lesson timing. I don’t like to leave lessons undone so it is nice to hear your suggestion of a timer and ending with a quick review the next day and then finish what is needed that next day.

We spend 15-20 minutes each for two kids, a Level 2 and Level 3. Before each step, I set up a “lesson plan sheet” for each day we will do the step, breaking it down into parts. For example, for the first day of a step, I write “Review Red Cards, “Blue cards,” “yellow cards” and put a check box by them. Then I write, “New teaching on board” with a check box. Next comes “spell words with tiles” and a check box. Then I number 1-10 with a space for the child to write 10 review words I dictate to him/her. Then “word bank” with a check box–for my Level 3 child, he does a different word bank every day. Day 2 is writing on paper 10 review words + 10 new words (I number 1-10 for each). The rest of the days are writing on paper. Day 3 is a mix of 5 new words + 10 review words, plus a few phrases or sentences. Day 4 is the same with the 5 other new words. Day 5 is the “more words” + review words, up to 15, plus a few phrases or sentences. Day 6 is the same if there are a lot of “more words.” Day 7 is ten “trouble words” from the previous 6 days and the rest of the sentences. It takes us 7 days per step, but as my children need a lot of review, this really helps them. Writing it all out with spaces for them to write the words and sentences each day keeps me organized, as I know when I look at the sheet what the spelling lesson needs to be. The check mark for word bank each day reminds them to do the word bank.

Thank you for the tips! I’m trying to get my bearings and a plan of action for when we start. Unfortunately, we aren’t homeschooling yet because our adoption isn’t finalized yet =( But, our young lady is very excited to be adopted and keeps asking if we can homeschool. So, hopefully next year we’ll be able to implement some of these ideas!

Consistency really is the key. Through small and simple things, great things really do happen. My son is living proof. My oldest son practically taught himself to read and was reading Jules Verne novels by age nine. Not the abriged or childdren’s adaptations but the real thing. For my second son, however, learning was super hard and exhausting for him. I tried and tried to teach him how to count when he was three, but he didn’t catch on until he was five and even then it was only to twenty and usually with mistakes in the teens. He was ten before he could read a second or third grade level book with any kind of ease or fluency. Teaching him how to read was gruelling, I felt like my eyes and ears were bleeding, he was exhausted and frustrated and so was I. I wish I had known about AAR then, because I think that it would have made a BIG difference. After doing some testing and finding some resources, we did find some exercises to help train the brain and he did learn how to read, but it was PAINFUL. Because we were so far “behind” I got worried and tried to play catch up. So I was always pushing him at the highest level possible. All that did was make us both frustrated, killed our love of learning and teaching and really made us farther behind. On top of all this, I was dealing with a chronic debilitating illness that made it difficult for me to be consistent because many days my body simply could not leave bed. But God is gracious and I finally learned how to change and how to do things a better way. I learned that we have to spend most of the learning time with our kids at a level where they feel comfortable and confident. I learned that I had to be as consistent as possible, and I learned that for kids with his learning challenges, you have to find the tools that speak to their brain. I was led to AAS and some other resources and ideas for math. No matter what we had tried for spelling before, it just didn’t work. When he was 11 and a half we found AAS. The consistent review, the step by step process really helped. I will be full on honest AAS made me feel like a genious teacher! All the info, was right there to walk him through simple processes that allowed complex ideas to become easy and understandable for him. We started looking forward to spelling each day and he started to gain confidence and believe in his ability to learn. There were no more tears and frustration. Learning started to be fun again. He has just turned 13 and we are in AAS level three. This level moves a little faster, and so I am finding that I have to take review days inbetween steps sometimes, but he is still progressing along rapidly. He is so much more confident when he has to write things. He was so embarrassed when he was around other youth his age and was put in a position where he had to write and coudln’t really do it. Now he feels so much more confident. These same concepts are working in math. Yesterday he completed a long division problem for the first time in his life. He was able to divide, subtract, bring down, repeat and put all the numbers in the right spot and figure out which times table, which after years of practice are still a little fuzzy, made things work. The biggest thing for him is keeping all the numbers in the right places, and keeping all the steps and processes in order, But as we have started to approach math and spelling more along the lines of how AAS breaks things down, he is starting to love learning and gain confidence. The keys: 1. Work at a level where your child feels comfortable and confident and learning can be fun, 2. Small consistent lessons and review work better than sporadic lessons or longer lessons that are pushing them to “catch up” and 3. Fnding curriculum like AAS that can make the learning process so much easier by multiple sensory methods, moving incrementally in a logical and consistent way and incorporating consistent review. 4. We are all unique individuals in unique circumstances don’t compare yourself or your children with anyone else. Relax and enjoy this time with your children. If you are worried because you have a struggling learner, there is help and there is hope. If my son can do it, so can yours!! I am very thankful for AAS.

Please give advice on spelling with a 14yo. We have done various spelling programmes over the years for years, and it just does not seem to stick. We have ‘dyslexia’ in the family but the other dc have improved whereas ds is still struggling. He can read, we use books all the time and he has a good memory but is making spelling mistakes like ‘wi’ for ‘why’ and ‘cum’ for ‘come’ – although other days he will get it right! Any advice? I want to keep him motivated, but don’t know how intense I should be making it. Thanks

Consistency is the
K.
E.
Y.
to allll homeschooling.
Its the biggest downfall of HS families and the biggest thing to make you succeed. Its amazing what you can accomplish in ten min a day even. At the end of the week, month, quarter, year…you will be astonished.
However, demands on the mom and undisciplined families make this very often not the norm.
Moms, be consistent. It is THE biggest thing you can do as a mom.
I am 50yo and have been hsling several decades. Hear my wisdom :)

Interested to learn more about this program