Great idea for a thread! My dd is only 1 right now so no classics for us just yet but I can see myself referring back here in the future! I hope this thread continues to grow!

Thanks for replying, KL.

To be honest I haven't found the c/ow, b/ird etc words too bad and was beginning to wonder how I hadn't even noticed that the male voice was pronouncing the sounds wrong but then I realised that while I am using the UK curriculum, others may not be so I went and listened to the word split from the US sample lessons. The male voice there definitely over-pronounces the "uh" sound. It can be difficult to leave it out completely for some letters (the UK guy isn't too bad...) but in the US lesson it's very noticeable.

The bigger issue for me is the long/short vowel sounds - ta/ble, gi/raffe, cra/yon. I'm not sure if you need to change the whole program but I definitely won't be showing those splits to my lo...

The long A sound is created by the presence of the E at the end of the word though... In isolation "ta" is short. It's just not a great word to teach phonics with really! I think it would've been better to only include words that follow straightforward rules for the Word Split section.

Glad to see I'm not the only one!

luv2laugh - did you get any reply to your email?

Ladybird has lots of different series of books but as a general rule I would give them the thumbs up! 👍

I wish Time4Learning, Explode the Code and Reading Eggs worked on the iPad too. I think we would be more consistent.  

Is the problem that they use Flash? If so, you can download a flash browser app and they should work fine. The one I use is Puffin but I know there are others too.

Has anyone else noticed this? I've come across it a few times now. Sometimes the words are split incorrectly and sometimes they are words that just aren't suitable for teaching phonics. 

For example -

CRAYON is split into Cra- (which is incorrectly pronounced Cray) and -yon. It should have been split into Cray- and -on and then the sounds would be ok.

TABLE is split into Ta- (pronounced Tay) and - ble. T- and -able would be better.

Maybe I'm just nit-picking but as a teacher of primary aged kids it really grates on me to see the program teaching that CRA and TA make a long A (ay) sound when they don't. They make a short A sound like in bat. 

It doesn't really affect me because I just skip over the incorrect ones but I can't help but think about parents who might be using LR to teach English as a second language and are inadvertently teaching incorrect phonics....

I was going to post a link to OxfordOwl but I see someone got there before me! Love that site!

Another fantastic phonics based site is www.literactive.com. I'm a primary teacher and use it all the time with the younger classes. They love it and it's so easy to use. You'll need a flash browser (like Puffin) if you're using it on an iPad though.

Will you have access to wifi while away? If so then www.oxfordowl.co.uk is amazing. You'll need a flash app like Puffin to read the books though, don't think you can download them.

You should also have a look at the reading section of www.smartappsforkids.com. They have a fantastic collection. You can sign up for their Free Apps newsletter and they'll send you links to great apps that are free for 24hrs. There's often good book apps going free for limited time...

Looks great!! Now if only there was an iPad version of Little Math everything would be perfect!!!!

That's really great to know Kezia! I didn't realise it was possible to change any part of LRT! Thanks so much!

Thanks for your reply! I knew LR was customisable but didn't realise you could add in whole new lessons like word flash etc - that's great! Although I had intended using the iPad mostly because it's so much more convenient than the pc and as far as I know those lessons can't be customised? Maybe I'll have to treat myself to a nice laptop for my next birthday...!

Hey everyone!

I've been doing the trial version of LR with my now almost 11 month old and am considering buying the full version. The only thing that is putting me off is the lack of Word Flash in the new version. For those of you who use it - do you think that matters? I'm just a bit confused because I thought flashing the words up quickly was such a big part of the philosophy behind right brain learning...? I understand it's been replaced with sight words which do flash up quickly but does it affect the learning of the topic words?

Thanks for any input! 

Subbing in case anyone has an answer! Would be very interested in Irish content for LR!

Hi all,

I am just starting LR with my 9 month old and intend to buy LM in the future but I am just wondering if there are any similar early math apps you would recommend for the moment? Any that focus on subitising etc? Thanks!