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If you read my monthly home ed posts then you might have seen that we have had a big focus in recent months on getting H more confident with his reading. He definitely doesn’t have the same drive to want to learn to read that D and E had, but he is getting there and regular daily short practice has made a lot of difference in the last few months.
At home we have a set of Song Birds books and some Biff, Chip and Kipper that we have used with all three children. I seem to recall getting these quite cheaply when D was learning to read. I certainly didn’t pay full price for them as the cost is quite a lot. I know some Home Educators use their local library for reading scheme books but, for me, this didn’t work so much as our local library seemed a little hit and miss for what books they had in and not a huge variety at the right level as we worked through them. Finding the sweet spot with reading schemes can be a bit difficult at times so I was thrilled that the team at Reading Chest offered H a six-month subscription to try out their book subscription scheme.
Here is what we have made of Reading Chest so far.
What is Reading Chest?
Reading Chest is a book subscription scheme for children learning to read. They have a wide range of reading scheme books that are sent to you and, once you have read them, pop them into the pre-paid envelope and return them. Another set of books is sent promptly sent to you.
It’s ideal for those children who are racing through the school (or your home) reading schemes or for those children who are reluctant to practice their reading. It’s also a superb way of cutting out the purchase of books that are only used for such a short period of time; I don’t think any of my three have ever gone back to read a reading scheme book once they’re finished it.
It’s a good idea for Home Educators who might struggle to afford the upfront cost of a whole reading scheme as well as have difficulties locating a suitable and reliable reading scheme through their local library.
How Does it Work?
You choose a subscription package; bronze, silver or gold. These start from £9.95 a month and allow a different number of books and swaps throughout the month. We are using the bronze package at the moment.
You then add in some details such as name and address and then you can personalise the choice of books. So you might want to exclude a reading scheme you already have or one that your child hasn’t enjoyed. You might want to exclude fiction or non-fiction books. All these options can be amended at any time. When I set up H’s account I didn’t exclude anything but it has since become clear that he isn’t a fan of non-fiction at the moment so I will update that on our account to exclude those books in the future.
The books are then sent to you very promptly and once you’ve read them, pop them into the pre-paid envelope and return them in the post. Once they get back to Reading Chest some more books are sent out to you. If you don’t use all your swaps in a month you can carry them into the next month and you can end your membership at any time easily.
Do We Enjoy it?
When the Reading Chest books arrived it gave H a real boost. The promise of four different books that he would be able to read as well as a little storage bag and a chart to record how many he had read was a great motivator for him. He promptly sat down to read and happily adds his star to his Reading Chest reading chart once each book is completed. He’s a little in-between book bands at the moment so I am going to try him on the next band when we return the current set of books.
I really like that the books are all in excellent condition and the turnaround of getting books sent back out to us is excellent. I can return books in the post on a Monday evening and have new books with me by Wednesday – superb service.
I like the ease of use of the website and how I can see samples of books at the different book bands which was a really good tool in helping me determine where H was up to for his first lot of books. There is also an excellent variety of books available. You can see which books are available to be selected for you and it’s easy to remove any that you don’t think your child will like or to remove reading schemes you know they don’t like.
H is also enthused by the new books arriving and it keeps him motivated to add a star to his chart as he completes each book. It also makes it easier for me as I don’t need to worry about running out of books at a certain level. So, for instance, he has stayed at the ‘green’ band for longer than other bands. In our home collection, we only had four books at this level but Reading Chest had over 100 for him to choose from! He has had a fair few from them and I’m now confident to move him up to Orange Band. I have removed the non-fiction books from the selection and there are 96 books that can be chosen for him now. This means he is going to have a wide variety of books to keep him motivated and interested.
I also like the little motivational certificates that you can download to mark when a child has read a certain number of books or has moved up a book band. These are great for children that like the additional recognition and are motivated by this.
Learn More
You can learn more about Reading Chest here and also subscribe or purchase gift vouchers to gift on.
This sounds excellent