Hi all,
I’m sure this has been a popular topic in the past, I’ve got 2 q’s regarding Flashcarding my DS and DD.
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How often do I flashcard? … What I’m doing is 15 cards 3 times 10seconds apart, 3 times a day,(so each word is repeated 9 times/day) but I’m not sure when to retire the cards and change to the next set.
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Do I use words which are phonically similar … rat, pat, cat… or just jumble up words? my current flashcards are … curtain, green, whistle, bowl… etc (for some reason, my DS and DD get bored with similar words, that’s why the jumble) but I want to do it right…
Do advise!!!
Are you flashing words only, or words and pictures? Is meaning/understanding important to you?
You can do both (actually LR does both, have you downloaded the free trial?)
The problem with phonetic words is they can be difficult to source pictures for, but not always. The old adage that a baby reading is just “barking at print” has some merit to an extent if they don’t understand the words/meaning but can read it or sound it out. I believe understanding will come in time, but it’s best to create understanding from the very beginning by using carefully selected pictures.
To answer your question, I would flash both random words as well as word families (cat, bat, sat, rat). It’s a lot of work to create your own flashcards with pictures. LR shows pictures for the majority of the words and then for phonics, only does a word flash which I think is fine because there are so many other words, pictures, and variety shown in the rest of the lessons.
Hi, and thank you! Well, to answer your question, I have LR/LM and I’m quite prompt with using it according to instruction (twice daily for 5 days/week). I’ve tried creating PPT science presentations in a story form and also downloading some, but my DS and DD don’t seem to be interested in the laptop for long unless it has some music (or LR/LM- they love it)!
They always seem to want more “real” things to learn and play with after, therefore the self-made Flashcards. I only show words as what you said is true, it’s too difficult to source for pictures!!! Initially I tried, but gave up, too many things to do. So, since I’ve got no pictures, you think there’s there’s not much point??? or will they forget faster???
And how often do I need to flash for good results, and when do I retire the old flashcards and replace them with new?
Thanks in advance!
I’m not sure how yours are, but what I have done with my kids is to flash the daily LR lessons, and then supplement with more paper flashcards that I used until they reached mastery. At first I used the 8 core LR categories that used to come with the LR deluxe kit, and after they mastered those I printed out more categories from LR. That is the easiest way to make your own flashcards, by printing from LR. Have you been doing that already?
And to answer your question on how many cards and how many times a day, there is no set answer. It really depends on the child, so follow your child!