trishbb,
It is better for the child to know the sounds of the letters very well, and have some idea of how to join them together to form 3 letter words first, before starting the Ladybird keyword series.
My kids learn the sounds from the Leapfrog DVDs. We did not use the Ladybird "Say the Sounds" series. You may want to try out and see which one your child likes better.
The "Read with me" or Tom and Kate series also uses the keyword method of teaching. If your child is learning well from the Peter and Jane series, you actually don't have to let him read the Tom and Kate series. Unless you think that he needs more practice. Or if your child likes the Tom and Kate series, then there is no need to read the Peter and Jane series. They aim to teach the same thing.
Personally I think it is better to stick to one series first, complete all the books before starting on another one.
Read here for more information.
http://www.ladybird.co.uk/grownups/parents/atSchool/readingSchemes.html
Hi all,
I found this very good review in amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Play-Ladybird-Words-Reading-Scheme/dp/1844223604
The best starter I have yet found, 15 Mar 2003
By Yayoi Shimizu, English kindergarten-teacher (Duesseldorf, Germany)
This review is from: Key Words Reading Scheme: Series A, No.1 (Key Words) (Hardcover)
<font color="0000ff">When I first saw this series ... I rejected it immediately - I thought it must've been old stock from the fifties, the illustrations are so traditional; no modern child would want it I thought. I have since completely changed my opinion. This is the best book I have ever come across for teaching children the basic words and sentences of the language (and I have a collection of many thousands of children's books). I now swear by it. Its best features are its simplicity and the repetition of the fundamentals. There's also a mysterious something about this book that draws kids to it; for example: in one of my groups there's this girl with a 5-second attention span, who tired of all the other books very quickly, but who is glued to this one. Why? Is it the clear layout, the sheer simplicity of it...? Perhaps it's a combination of these things.
The children seem to get great satisfaction out of being able to show the world that they can pick it up and read it fluently from cover to cover. It's not daunting for the complete novice like so many of the others can be. It repeats and repeats, and then inches forward. Children need this. They are so unsure of so much we take for granted - what they are pretty sure is "and" on one page, they may not be certain is "and" on the next. At the end of the day the kids themselves know best what they need - and this book is a winner with them. If you want to help a child start to read English, get it.</font>