so what's the deal with this 'magic key'?

[muddleduck]

DS1 and I are very confused

Biff and co seem to have a 'magic key' - some very strange things are happening....

(He has just moved up to stage 5. all very dull until now...)

I found the best way to deal with sodding Biff and Chip and the magic key was to home ed till DD3 was past all that, and could read stuff to herself (works for the Rainbow Fairies as well . Bit drastic though

I love the rainbow fairies, as at least it gets DD2 reading. DD1 is Reading Pony Club Secrets and Pony Club Rivals. DS is reading "Brief History of Time" and doesn't really read. So I'm pleased if my kids read anything.
I'll read to them better books, but hooray if they read anything.
I used to read endless girls comics, and boarding school stories at that age (6-11). With the occassional screw ball of "Lord of the Flies" or "The Silver Sword". Just keep them reading.
Have to say the Pony books do have some quite complex language, other than the pony stuff.

Does anyone know what happens in Level 9?

DC's school seems to missing the whole level, so DS1 went straight from Level 8 to Level 10. Biff, Chip and the magic key are all alive and well in Level 8, but in Level 10 there is no mention of them. They do however have Masked Cleaning Ladies, which is even more surreal....

I would personally like to think that Biff, Chip et al are blown up at some point during Level 9, can anyone confirm this?

We're nearing the end of Level 8 so will tell you if there is a big explosion in Level 9 if we ever get there .

I think on the Oxford Reading Tree website you can see bits of books. Might look.

Ooh look at the bottom of the page - it's called Key Trouble and Kipper is spinning away. Although that one is one of the More Stories ones - not sure DS's school has all the More Stories ones. May never find out

ooh mummytime I'd completely forgotten about the "The Silver Sword". One of our teachers read that to us when we were about 9 and i loved it.

do schools still give kids books like that?

Ooh Noah you've made my day... I have visions of them all disappearing into some kind of vortex now

The trouble with having kids quite close in age is that you just get to the end of Biff and Chip with the first and then you're right back to square one with the next child!

The magic key book we really enjoyed was the one where Kipper goes back to the Viking age and gets given a sword and then goes back and tells the teacher about it and the teacher tells him it's all wrong because we know the Vikings didn't have swords like that. Dc's dad is an archaeologist, so this one went down well

By muddleduck Fri 23-Apr-10 12:40:40
ooh mummytime I'd completely forgotten about the "The Silver Sword". One of our teachers read that to us when we were about 9 and i loved it.

do schools still give kids books like that?

YES!

helyg I have two children 22 months apart and so currently have them on either end (nearly) of Biff Chipper and Kip (my preferred terms). We are moving house soon and have no idea what reading scheme there will be in the next school. Maybe I will never find out how it all ends

I've never got to the end either. Kids moved out of these books before final story, or with youngest chooses only story books when she has read all the fact books.
If anyone knows maybe they can tell us?

Noah, I feel your pain. There are 20 months between DS1 and DS2, so I have one on level 10 and one on level 3. Worst thing is DD is 20 months younger than DS2, so I have a long unbroken slog of Biff and bloody Chip still ahead of me!

DS1 also told me the other day that there are Levels 11 and 12 in school... will they ever end? Although Level 10 has dispensed with Biff and Chip, they still aren't that inspiring.

gleekgeek that weirdo is in all the stages....did you read the Traffic Jam one lol! It's a bit like 'The Wicca Man' village where they live ...spooky lol!

ds keeps saying 'can girls be knights' months after reading it