Good reading schemes for a 3 year old?

[Runnerbean]

I'm HE two dds 7 and 3; the oldest is a fantastic reader and has been from age 4!
The youngest is sooo different and the approach I used for the older dd is having no impact! I used phonics.
Does anyone know of any good reading schemes? I've tried Letterland but it confused her.
I know it'll happen all in good time but I want to make it a fun game for her!

I'm sorry but do you not think she's a little young to be worried about this

I thought all you need to do is read to her at that age ...

Yep i would read to her.

HAve you a local library, why not take her a long and let her chose her own books.

Otherwise, old ladybird books are great (charity shops always have loads)

runnerbean, I've got two dds who sound similar to yours - by the age of 4 dd1 was reading Just So Stories; by the age of 7.5 dd2 is still not capable of reading them!

If letterland is confusing her, then she is not ready for it. Agree with the others, just concentrate on getting her to enjoy books as sources of entertainment/fun. I used to work in a nursery and here are some things I did with my "charges":

Get loads of the big picture books from the library - encourage her to talk about what is happening in the pictures, ask her to predict what might happen next, show her the title, name of the author, name of the illustrator, the blurb on the back, explain what all these are. All these are important peripheral skills in reading which she will enjoy learning without realising she is learning.

If she enjoys painting/colouring/sticking then you can use these sessions to cement her letter recognition - eg draw a big letter "a" for her to colour/paint/stick glitter on etc.

Laminate cards with each letter of the alphabet on them twice over(playing card size, except square), ie 52 cards altogher, pick out five pairs at a time and play pelmanism (put them all face down, get her to pick matching pairs, memory game) - helps with letter recognition. Use bigger laminated cards with letters on, use three or four at a time, put them on the floor and give her some bean bags - "Can you throw a beanbag onto the t/ the c/ the l?" - more help with letter recognition!

If I remember any more I will let you know!

I agree, would just read to her and let her go at her own pace. I think children feel more positive about books if they are exposed to real books rather than dull reading schemes. Have you read much about child-initiated learning? As a Home Edder you can of course let your children go at their own pace, as they have no need to learn to read early in order to be independent in the classroom. I think your dd will let you know when she wants to learn to read, and then do it quickly, with not much fuss or need for artificial reading schemes.

Thanks Miaou, those games they were just the sort of thing I was looking for.
I do read loads to her and always have done, she won't go to sleep without a story.
Her big sis is an avid reader like myself and my husband and we all love nothing more than trawling charity shops, my kids are always on the floor rummaging in boxes of books.
I also have bits of paper stuck everywhere with names written on them, chair, window etc.
I just wanted to help her recognize each letter makes and that it makes a sound.
I've read John Holt so I accept that each letter to her is merely a squiggle.
thanks all!

dd 3.8 got bought a leap frog fridge phonics thing for xmas by my mum.
My ds was a very early reader by age 4 he could read little books alone. I never taught him exactly but eh just did it. WE did read exhaustivlely though.
DD was (I thought) miles away from reading, she has poor vision and some other issues. However since she got this bloody toy, she knows all her alphabet and the sounds, recently she just started putting the sounds together
For her name E says Eh M says muh EM says Em
she can also do her brothers name M A X
So she just added 2+2
I can only put this down to being read to 100 x a day it is the only similarity in both kids upbringings (9 yrs age gap different fathers)

I know you said you tried phonics and it had no impact. Did you use Jolly Phonics? I found that my 3 year old loved that - I used it after a MN recommendation when he asked me to teach him to read.

another thought - get some of those foam alphabet letters (you can get a tub from primark for about 1.99) and let her play with them in the bath - dd1 knew all her letters by the time she was 2 because she would ask what each one was when she stuck them on the tiles - be led by her on that though!

piffle
please tell me more about your "leap frog fridge phonics thing"!

Are jolly phonics ,"annie apple, bouncy ben" etc?
(Just read through some of my posts and my grammar is appalling!!)

Annie apple etc is letterland. Jolly phonics is better as it has the sound and an action - childrne get less confused in thinking the name of the letter is the same as annie apple!

fridge phonics here

here
What I would say is that is american accents, it misses off a couple of pronunciatiosn of letters. it is only capitals - but dd learned this first and we bought her the foam bath letters in lower case and she picked that up in no time- so now she knows upper and lower case perfectly - mixing up b and d but hey!

Don't really understand why you want to push this so young - I thought one of the benefits of HE was that children could work at their own pace - lot's of people go down that route to avoid children starting formal education when their parents feel they are too young. I'm not trying to pick a fight here - just genuinely interested to know why you are worrying about it at this stage!

And if you really feel she is ready and interested but you haven't found the right approach I would also recommend Jolly Phonics. I think you can get the teaching aids from ELC or their website.

Kteepee,
That is a good point to make. I'm just feeling my way around HE at present as I've only just de-regd my dd7.
She was recognizing letters at 18 months and could read Biff and Chip books at 3. She went to a Montessori nursery from 3 which gave her a fantastic start.
I recognize that dd3 is a completely different child and will learn in her own unique way.
Having done a classroom assistants course we were told that there were different reading schemes, but I never really used one, I just taught my elder daughter by sounding the letters in a phonics way.
I just wondered what was out there really that would give me some new ideas.

It is probably ME who needs de-schooling now!!

Message withdrawn

Giraffeski, I had no sense from the OP that her dd2 was asking to be taught to read, rather, that she wasn't perhaps a natural academic at this age and that the OP was thrown by the difference between dd1 and dd2.

I agree, if children demand to learn, they need to be taught. However if I was Home Educating I would wait until the demands came, not when I thought they 'should' be learning it.

Sorry Runnerbean, just seen you have 3 daughters, which makes a nonsense of my post

Hopefully you all know which daughter I meant anyway.

Message withdrawn

Oh I totally agree that if children want to learn they should be encouraged (could read by 4 myself as could my oldest 2) - which is one of the reasons I don't totally agree with the Steiner system, for example, where no child is taught to read until they are 7 (though I do like other aspects of that system)