About to start using AAR level 1 and was curious how others incorporated primer sight words,word famil, and such.
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We have used AAR Levels 1 and 2 so far with our oldest child and AAR Level 1 with our youngest. We never needed to supplement with anything. Our first child completed level 1 in K-1st grade and was reading on a mid-5th grade level by the time she completed that first level, and our Kindergartener is wrapping up Level 1 right now and is reading his second lengthy chapter book right now. Their program is very thorough and introduces sight words, “rule breaker” words, etc. at the right times, so I wouldn’t think there would be a need to incorporate other resources. We’ve found it to be a great program encompassing everything that’s needed.
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My DD was not reading past level 1 of AAR when we completed level one. She could read Bob books and other basic phonics readers that didn’t use many sight words. She didn’t like the stories in the AAR readers (I did though) so we eventually used other readers. I have seen others recommend the American Language Readers (http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/042639) and phonic readers by Nora Gaydos. I don’t have personal experience with those though.
ETA: I have seen a blog incorporate other sight words and word family practice, but it isn’t necessary IMO. It depends on your child and what they enjoy and how they learn best.
Thanks for the advice. About how many lessons did you cover a week. I obviously will use my child to help the pacing but was just curious in trying to “map” out my year. (This is my first year homeschooling and I’m a planner)
@Luvmyboys, we are using Logic of English Foundations now. AAR is a great program, but LOE F was a better fit for DD.
ETA: I thought I should come back and add something after a conversation with DD last night. She informed me that she missed AAR and asked if next school year she could do some of AAR again (she saw our Ziggy Zebra puppet and brought it up).
@Lmurch - I didn’t cover a set number of lessons per week. I just went at whatever pace was needed for DD. There were some periods of time we only made it through one lesson a week and other times we got through multiple lessons a week. It’s designed so you can easily adjust the pace to your child and either speed it up or slow down as needed. I used it my first year homeschooling and found I adjusted my planning a lot. You may be better off planning for a certain amount of time each day vs a certain number of lessons. Others that have been homeschooling longer or used this with more than one child will probably be more helpful than me on planning lessons per week. I just know each time I thought we had a certain pace down it would change.
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@Lmurch We usually covered 3 lessons a week (usually M, W, F)–although some weeks we would split up a lesson and do some of the teaching portion on one day and then the fluency sheet or activity page on the next day to complete the rest of that lesson. There are 49 lessons in AAR Level 1. I think the first year, I attempted to complete AAR 1 and AAS 1 with my daughter, but with my son, I only worked through AAR 1 in Kindergarten and am saving AAS 1 for his 1st grade year, so we went a little slower. With my son in K this year, we are only doing about 2 lessons a week, and some weeks only 1 lesson, depending on what else we are working on. He doesn’t seem to forget anything or “lose” anything from week to week even going at this slower pace though, and both he and my daughter have seemed to enjoy the stories very much. I was surprised to see the simplicity of the materials when I first received them and that everything was in black and white (where were the engaging colorful pages!? 
But after talking to a friend of mine who used to teach in public schools, she mentioned the wisdom in this approach–it is contrary to what they are used to seeing in cartoons, etc. and actually works to better grasp their attention and focus their attention on the words, not the flashy pages. That made sense! We are only in our 3rd year of homeschooling and still learning a LOT as we go along I am also a planner! I hope this info was helpful!
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Thank you. For your comments. It’s always good to hear how others worked it out. So excited to start but just trying to wrap my mind around it all.