Do you have your own early reading books at home?

[Chocoholic900]

I was just wondering do parents of young primary aged children - the ones in the beginning stages of reading and not able to just pick up any story book and read it yet... do you have reading books at home for them to access?
Whether it's the biff & kipper books or songbirds books or using a service like 'reading chest' or the library.. for those times school forgets to change their reading book or they want to do more reading at the weekend or just as extra support in the school holidays.
Or do you just let the school handle it all and not do any 'extra' at home?

We had. We got plenty from the library too.

We do (although my "children" are older teens now) and always did. Fantastic library near us...we went 2x per week. Own books at home for everyone always and book challenge for over the summer.....one easier than their level one at their level and one they chose entirely independently to complete the set (sometimes very unusual choices and way over their heads but....that was the point.....assistance given as needed).

We did - I don't know if thebookpeople website still exists under another name but it was amazing for cheap book collections, the original website closed a few years ago now. we also got them from the library.

Oxford Owl is free to register online and then you also have access to their full elibrary.

We’ve got loads. I bought all the read, write inc books as that’s the system my childrens school uses. My youngest 2 have been doing the red ditty books over the summer.

We had books, not the ones from reading schemes, but some they could attempt themselves, and some that I would read to them. We visited the library quite often and would take out the maximum so that there was plenty of choice.
I was actually shocked when mine started school at how limited the selection there was, only a few for each level, and in some classrooms fewer books for than entire class than mine had in their bedrooms.
Schools now tend to use reading schemes, RML or similar, which is fine for learning to decode, but children also needs books they can access for interest and enjoyment, with good quality stories and illustrations. Find books that appeal to you, your children will probably like them too.

We had the songbird ones but my kids hated them. So we just used our regular picture books and read them together. They are both keen readers now.

We did, sometimes when they were small they would forget to change their book or finish it at home and that way we always had books to access at home. The book people or the works quite often had box sets which were reasonable. We also had a subscription to the reading chest who are brilliant for all levels within primary.

Yes as both started reading before starting school. We have fantastic libraries in our area and also visit at least once each week

The more they are exposed to, the more likely it is they will find something they love and engages them. School reading ones are really dull

We had loads when they were that age and they were usually reading several levels ahead of what school doled out to them ...

Yes. I always did. Old Peter and Jane books, songbirds and biff and chip. Plus endless other early age storybooks.
they're teens and don't pick up a book from one month to the next now.

Yes loads. I found it particularly helpful during holidays to have our own.

No. School advised against it and the children didn't really enjoy reading them. We had loads of regular children's books. They were all good readers.

Yes from the library as they're boring so not the sort of thing you want to buy

We did Read, write, inc series, songbirds, Biff and Chip set and now have a Usbourne Young Readers set although she is able to read around a range of books now. I’ve always been reading every night in part DD does much better with routine rather than reading some nights and not others.

Yes. I didn’t for Dc1 but did for Dc2&3. We have one of the big Usborne sets & a songbirds one. The Usborne one is good and liked, songbirds less so. We also get some from the library which the DC’s choose. Depends on the child though as to wether it helps.

I used to buy rigby star books for my son. I never really forced the idea of reading or treated them like extra homework, I just made them available to my son. I think it helped, he loves reading despite a slow start at primary. He caught up once I started getting those books in.

We do too, started with Songbirds & added others from Facebook marketplace, vinted, eBay. Also, we get them from the library..

We got a deal in work years ago, they had a buy book scheme come in and we got a box set of biff and chip books, was amazing value and I bought them, still probably the only thing I’ve ever just bought on a whim and they have lasted through the 4 kids. Tried to get them since for relatives and never found them again in such a big boxset and definitely not with the same value but our library has a huge amount of them. They are shocking expensive even per book now!

Not the early reader books - some of those are dire, but lots of books suitable for reading to/with young children.

We have the Biff, Chip & Kipper books as someone kindly gave us a huge set when DD started school. DD is now a fluent reader so we’ve handed them down to DS who starts school next year.

We currently have a The Bear Can Read subscription, so we get a mixture of new reading books every month. Although it's not cheap, I consider it a good investment because I will use the books for my younger DD too.
I find that school are quite slow to move up the book bands, so I like to offer a bit more of a challenge at home. We tried the library, but ours has a poor selection of early readers books and often it is hard to work out the levels in our local library as they are all different schemes. We do use the library on a regular basis for books that I read out loud.

We had books of a sensible level and books that caught their interests, but no actual graded reading scheme ones.

No. They are really dull. My 5 year old is going into year 1 and he prefers to pick up books that interest him like Sonic, Charlie and Lola or something and if he struggles with a word he'll ask. He's quite independent though and apart from actual school reading books wouldn't read a book because I told him to.

Yes, we go to the library after football training on a Sat morn and pick out 7 for the week then swap them out the following Sat. I read him a story before bed then he reads me one of the level 1 ones

No, we have normal books.
My mother hothoused my reading at home from 2.5, so I was bored at school for years. Therefore I’m trying to do the opposite.