If you used the Explode the Code primers (Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code)....

[mrsfrenchy]

If you used the Explode the Code primers, at what age did you start them?  (or, at what age was your child able to make sense of them).

I'm not planning on pushing reading before Kindy, but 2yr old DD is very interested in letters and words (loves starfall.com and understands some of it).  And much to my dismay, she loves the kumon workbooks and such.  So I think that in a year or so, she might actually like the Get Ready for the Code and the other primers.

I'm just wondering when would be a good time to introduce them, provided that DD is interested.   Three?  Three and a half?  Or should I wait until older than 4?

I know this varies by child; I'm just curious.

[lyterae]

We started at around age 3.5, she loves workbooks and is very interested in learning her letters. The most difficult part we've had is writing the letters. We have actually skipped around quite a bit in the book because I really don't want her focused on frustrating over making her letters (she is a perfectionist). We don't use it regularly, just when she expresses interest and wants to work on it.

[AAK]

We got them at 3 and a half I think.  She has all three and does what she wants when she wants out of them.  At the beginning she loved to trace down the various paths.  She also liked marking which item was different from the rest.  Then, she progressed to being able to match sounds if I told her the sound and then told her the words--by 4.5 she was able to do all of it.  Now, she will often do a whole section at one time.  I think they are just about completed now.

We also got basic maze books at that age.  She still loves mazes and we have gotten several other maze books since then.  She also likes hidden pictures, matching, etc.  This child is quite the perfectionist and letter writing (other than her name) didn't really appeal to her until recently.  We also did lots of phonemic awareness stuff with her (mostly because I was remediating her older sister on this).  This last week, my nearly five year old started figuring out CVC words.  Pretty cool.  I am still not "working" on reading with her though.  When she asks things, I answer.  If she wants a "lesson" I ask what she wants to learn today and we go from there.  

Amy

[Nitenites]

Each child I have has started a bit younger - my five-year-old is currently working through ETC 1. He started ETC book A at 4 1/2, and I had to "hold him back" to a letter a day! (I would have done more letters per day, but I have to help the other children with their work, too!) Would he have liked to have started them earlier? Probably, but I waited until he asked to learn how to read. 

[425lisamarie]

my 4.5 year old is almost done with book 1.  I wish I would have known about the books when she was 3 because she would have LOVED them!  I used to make up worksheets because she always wanted to copy older DS