Should I just give up with reading schemes?

[20PoundsOfCrazyInA5PoundBag]

Im struggling to find sets over level 10. He has a couple, B,C&K and alien adventure, and he's on around 13. All the rest seem not come in sets so super expensive, trust me I've been looking. Should I just give up on them now and just let him read his jr novels or is there anything important about the later levels?

These are way better imo, and it's free.

www.readworks.org/

readtheory.org/

So they just turn reading in to homework? Sounds boring.

Yeah, right. Everything is boring.

So they just turn reading in to homework?
Sounds boring

You come across as completely clueless when you say things like that.

It is a reading programme which can be done successfullu or awfully depending on the school.
The idea is that books are levelled and studnets read a range of books at/above their current reading age but not so high they don't get it.

I love how sneery and dismissive you are of anything and everything that isn't 'give me banded books in a reading scheme so i can have my child read a limited type of book so i can talk about how they are on level x and must be gifted'

People discussed the need for broad engagement for rounded development - not good enough
People point out issues with reading schemes - obviously they don't know anything
people point out why a broad reading range may be better than reading schemes - noooo reading levels are the best abd even dr seuss books can be graded because the more the post goes on, the more it's clear that thr OP is all about those grades abd levels and bands. Really anything that proves how their child is awesome so by association they must be an awesome parent
People have talked about schemes which blend wider reading and the tiered level thing you seem bloody obsessed with - you say it turns reading into homework and must be boring... from a poster who is drilling their child to do reading schemes out of school and is utterly closed to any suggestions from anyone with actual knowledge of reading teaching

I give up.
There's no pleasing some people.

@MaisyPops ok I think you've officially lost the plot love

I see.
So you have muliple posters giving similar advice and a range of ideas and you don't want to hear it.
You dismiss the ideas of other posters.
You make a stupid flippant comment that a reading programme must be boring because it involves children reading as part of homework abd then when someone points out the irony of your statement you insult them.

Riiiight.

Starting to think @irvineoneohone had a point earlier on in the thread.

You know what OP. You're right. Schools having programmes for reading at home is deathy boring but frog marching your early years child through reading schemes and deciding they don't like basic elements of early years play is totally normal and the best thing you can do for a child.

The answer to your initial question is 'Yes, you should give up with reading schemes and instead try to broaden, gently, the range of activities that your child enjoys'.

HTH

That's not the question...

Your question is 'should I give up on reading schemes'.

Yes. And you should try to broaden the range of activities your child enjoys because that would be the kind thing to do for your child's future development.

Second part is still not the question. You're just being ridiculous. Clearly

BTW, I speak as a parent of a very early reader who was reading long and complicated chapter books early on in Reception and probably could have coped with them well before that. She hated messy play, puddles, snow, sand, anything that toddlers are supposed to enjoy. I encouraged her very gently to try other things and broaden her range of experience as I wanted her to have things in common with other children to form a basis for future friendship. She still struggles occasionally with 'fitting in' but I honestly believe that if I had not tried to help her find out how other children see the world she would be having an even harder time right now. She's not autistic and has no additional needs apart from a slight sensitivity to noisy environments, btw. She is just a little oddball who needed some help to access things that other children find easy. Accessing those things has made her life easier and her friendships easier.

It certainly isn't Maisypops who has lost the plot.
In fact, she - along with quite a few posters on here - have been very patient in trying to help you understand a little bit more about children's development, and also learning in schools.
Incredibly patient considering how dismissive you've been of anyone who seems to actually know anything about children's learning.

How Is making them fit in a good thing? Let kids be kids, they'll find where they fit in, in their own way, in their own way.

You don't have to make them fit in - although fitting in makes life easier for them and very much them rather than you. But you do need to give them the tools for forming friendships and finding common ground. Early on in Reception, your child will encounter other children who have very different experiences of the world and very different ideas about what is fun. Your child will also encounter messy play activities and physical play activities in Reception and it will be a concern for teachers if he is not at least willing to try something new. It is easier to introduce these things before school rather than whacking it at him full on at school when already dealing with a new environment and new expectations. I don't know if your child is in any kind of nursery or preschool setting but I found with mine that she really struggled with this initially. I think I could have started earlier to broaden her experience and range of acceptable activities - she could still have had plenty of time for sitting at home writing stories but we could have done more to make life easier for her when she started school, I think.

She is still a great writer and reads constantly - these are probably her two favourite things to do in the world. We struggle to get her to get out in the world at times and she lives very much inside her head. But I think that our efforts early on to help her try new things and different things definitely helped her when she started school. It's quite hard to describe how! But I think you wouldn't be being kind to your son if you didn't at least attempt this before he starts school. DD found having experiences in common with other children helpful when making friends at the start, even if they weren't experiences she had particularly wanted to have. There is a lot of comparing and 'I did this, have you done this'. Hard to describe until you've lived through it! DD still comes home and tells me literally everyithng that has happened in her day so I have a lot of data to work with!

He does try new things all the time but he's not interested in what he's not interested in. He goes to preschool and actually has made alot of friends through reading. Kids will bring a book for him to read to them.

OK, you know your child best. But at the very least, I would bin the scheme books and get him something more interesting. He doesn't need them at his level of reading competence unless he is really struggling with understanding how the story works etc.

See I don't get why everyone thinks reading schemes are boring. Some he can't wait to find out what happens in the next book and are fairly gripping for a children's book. I get the early ones are super basic and repetitive though.

Oh 20Pounds I don't know WHY we're all still here and invested in trying to persuade you to give your DC a broader outlook on the world. You are really extremely fixed in the view that innate preferences are THE thing, and there's no value to be found in expanding learning opportunities. Which is very odd.

I love my DC. I love their preferences, their quirks, I find joy in watching their pleasures. I am also aware that I am selling them down the river if I don't push harder on the bit I and they don't enjoy as much.

Our preferences as parents shape our children as much as their innate preferences. If you prefer to stay in and do puzzles and read, your child will prefer this too, because their experience of the world is governed by what you choose to experience with them. My non-sporty DC will never be Wimbledon tennis champs because I do not place value on tennis, don't play tennis with them myself, haven't enrolled them in summer camps etc. They might have an untapped talent, but I'd never know, to my shame. We all have our blind spots. It's not the not-acknowledging your part in it that is ticking people off on this thread.

Have at the reading schemes, by all means. But reflect on ways in which you can expand that love of reading your DC has to enrich his experience of the world. It is easy for a "good reader" to get lost in books and neglect more tricky or less pleasurable aspects of their lives, even (especially?) as small children, and this has consequences later in life.

As someone who is concerned with getting it "right", where reading is concerned (original post), you are spectacularly dismissive of the idea that there might be other ways to get it "right" for your DS on a broader educational perspective.

The idea that other children "bring him books to read" implies to me they can only interact with him in a really transactional way - he can do this for me, rather than we can do this together. They're not playing together.

Ok - my ds is a little bit older than yours - he’s 4 but in reception. He reads pretty well. (Rather embarrassingly we didn’t fully realise how well until he started school and the teacher noticed. Apparently he was an excellent decoder but had some gaps with digraphs and trigraphs. Hmm - that’ll be because he was completely self taught and his neglectful parents didn’t notice long enough to teach him them! Poor neglected second born - it would never have happened with his sister...)

We have a lot of books. Shelves and shelves of them. (Older cousins whose parents gleefully dumped the lot on us!) Some are “learning to read” style books. Some are books that we used to read to him when he was younger. (Think gruffolo etc.) We have evey Thomas book ever made and the complete set of Mr Men. Books about trains and books about cats and books about balloons. Books and annuals and magazines and pamphlets and anything else with words on that he likes the look of.

Sometimes we read the school book. Usually he just grabs whatever book he fancies and he reads it to me. Or reads it to himself. Or I read it to him. Or we take it in turns to read a bit each.

These days it is all about comprehension anyway. His decoding is great. It is understanding why Mr Grumpy is grumpy that he struggles with. I am like a third rate actress asking about motivations for every page.

Learning to read isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. A lovely lovely journey. If you are focussed on powering through to the end then you’ll miss the view on the way.

OP you have had lots of good advice already on this thread. I have an older child who taught herself to read very early. We have never used book schemes but provided a huge range of books for her to explore.

You are probably worried that if you take your foot off the pedal your child will miss out in some way. However you child must be very motivated to be able to be taught so much in such a short space of time. You could just relax now and let him amaze you with what he applies his skills to. He needs to be experiencing life in order to understand what he is reading and his imagination and spontaneous play skills need feeding and exercising just as the muscles of his body do. It is great that he is making friends at school but he perhaps needs a different dynamic with his friends. My DD has a diagnosis of ASD and is working at a level at least 2 years above her actual age. She can fluently read most books (including my novels) but we make an effort to find interesting books where she can empathise with the main characters. We’ve had a lot of support from the gifted and talented programmes in our borough and they have said what most people on this thread have advised you. You wouldn’t know that most of the children are G&T from meeting them. They are just ordinary kids who play and get dirty and have normal friendships. This more than anything is what I want for my child rather than school gate bragging rights.

As someone who is concerned with getting it "right", where reading is concerned (original post), you are spectacularly dismissive of the idea that there might be other ways to get it "right" for your DS on a broader educational perspective.
This.
Learning to read isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. A lovely lovely journey. If you are focussed on powering through to the end then you’ll miss the view on the way
This. Learning to read is more than getting through a reading scheme.
Plus, reading schemes tend to follow set models. Sticking to schemes does nothing to offer a child breadth and depth (the things required for very strong readers and what will set themup to be good writers).
We all have our blind spots. It's not the not-acknowledging your part in it that is ticking people off on this thread.
This ^^
Especially in the face of multiple posters giving a range of useful advice.
That and tje fact that the OP has resorted to insulting people who don't agree or try to explain another view to them. It's exasperating (and i have no idea wjat was put in the comment removed by MN)

I can see it when the child gets to school now AIBU to think school shouldn't force my DC to do x y z when he clearly doesn't want to do it. He doesn't want to use the imaginative play area or work with others. He wants to sit alone and read reading schemes and do educational puzzles. It's surely obvious that they are scared of how gifted he is and want to hold him back to make him.fit in better.

Trust me Maisy, you don't want to know what the deleted comment was.

Oh I just said stop pulling things out of your bottoms but clearly that's never going to happen

It doesn't sound as vile as the original though.