One more thing! Maybe this counts.
I am not a well-organized person at all. I have never do
word cards or math card at the same time of the day.
I never have a plan of cards beforehands, I hv just did it
in the night before.
But I am willing to change for my kids.
I will try to be more organized.
I think you are a highly organised person if you managed to use sets of 5 flashcards, several times per day and several days. I did not because my doughter always tried to grasp my papers.
I don’t think if my curriculum will help you but I do our learning in a totally relaxed and unorganised way. I don’t show single words at all (well, just sometimes), and show only powerpoint files with pictures and words. sometimes pictures only. So my doughter learns names of animals, buterflies, insects, flowers, emotions, etc.
She knows many words. Last week we were in zoo, and she recognised all the popular animals, and knew their voices. I think, knowing so much about the world is good for her development. Probably she will start to read after some time, but it is not a priority in this age 
thanks for the nice information
Well, she’s seen the cover of the book, but as we can never go as far as the second page… But good tip, I’ll try with a book which looks completely different, see how she reacts. I tried to ‘trick’ her a bit today by reading to her while she was drinking her bottle but she was still very agitated… Am a bit puzzled… :huh:
Keep adjusting things to your child and see what she/he likes. As far as books goes my daughter is more keen on the book if I relate the pictures in the books (and the text too since she’s got a bit older) to something she has done during the day - see a circle shape? Remember the circle bricks we ran around on today? Or something to that effect. Also if necessary stop reading the book and take a walk - my daughter loves a book called Mess Monsters but we never just read it through - we point at the pictures, talk about them, look under her bed for monsters, look in the passage, call Daddy to look too - whatever makes the book fun for her.
At younger ages I let my daughter chew the books and turn the pages - even if she didn’t do it correctly - so what if we read the first and then the 16th page and then went back to the 4th page - as long as she was having fun it was fine.
What type of reaction are you expecting (or getting for that matter) from your child when using the flashcards? Many children will turn away at times or even appear not to be looking. They don’t have to get thoroughly excited every time. Obviously crying and throwing a tantrum is not the time to show cards though.
Sounds like you are doing fine. Don’t push too hard - you can go fast through the cards (very very fast) but don’t expect anything from your child - remember the less you expect the more likely you are to have fun and the more fun you have the more your child enjoys it and learns.
Don’t give up, but do consider supplementing with other methods! I used Kailing’s Native Reading techniques successfully with my daughter – native reading methods are much more social and kinetic. My daughter was not a baby that liked to sit still and watch things – not flashcards or videos (and, even if they work for some parents, I have reservations about having my child plopped in front of the TV multiple times a day!). She liked to move and grab and play with things, she liked to be physical.
Kailing’s methods are all social, interactive play that include spoken word-written word correlations. Much more like natural baby and toddler play. I know flashcards seem to work for many parents here, but I do think it is too artificial and a overly static environment for some children at least. And even for those it does work for, I think native reading methods are a useful complement.
Native reading is newer, so not as many people know about it as Titzer and Doman, it shares some of the same ideas, but it has a more “naturalistic” emphasis, trying to teach reading in a parallel manner to how children learn speech – not through simplified stimuli like videos or flashcards.
The native reading web site gives an introduction and some of the philosophy behind the methods. I especially like the intro chapter of the book that’s online. Let me google it. Here:
http://www.nativereading.com/introduction.html
The chapter on dyslexia is also interesting and online. There’s also a description of native reading here at brillbaby:
http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/native-reading-method/method.php
Just don’t think that it is as simple as the text-pointing talked about there. The web sites definitely don’t give you the full picture. In the book Kailing makes the point that text-pointing is not enough for most children. The native reading techniques are crafted to (A) develop a search image for letters and text (B) develop a phonic cognitive “map” (in the brain) from letters to sounds (and back) (C) develop a whole word “map,” too, from written words to spoken words (D) and most importantly, this is done through natural methods which are all fun and games that engage babies and toddlers and teach them socially, and flexibly, just like they naturally learn spoken language. He really emphasizes customizing the games to each child’s personality. By the way, native reading methods are both “left brain,” phonics-based AND “right brain,” whole word-based. It is a whole brain approach!
I think the native reading approach is less programmatic than Doman’s or Titzer’s, and a lot of parents do like to follow a “program” of, say, X number of flashcards, Y times a day. In contrast, Kailing explains a lot more about the “whys” behind the methods, so that if something is not working for your child you can modify the techniques to fit your unique little one, rather than be frustrated if your child “won’t pay attention.”
Sounds very interesting, jtg. I’ll definitely do a good read-up on this technique.
Is native reading working on your child? How long have you tried this method?
Native reading worked wonderfully for my daughter. I had already been reading with her pretty much daily, and doing a bit of “letter play” even earlier, so she had a neurological base. But after about 6 months of native reading techniques, for maybe 15-30 minutes per day, on average, she really took off. (Kailing emphasizes consistency – doing at least a little native reading activity each day, even if it’s only reading with implicit text pointing – rather than stressing a lot of time in a given session.) She could read anything by her third birthday, and in the months since then, she’s continued to gain more fluency and confidence.
I especially like how native reading taught her both phonics and whole word skills together. I don’t know why many people emphasize one over the other, when both skills seem critical to me. Kailing argues that it is best neurologically to learn them together.
I really think Kailing’s “Native Reading” and Lise Eliot’s “What’s Going on in There” are two recent books that should be required reading for any educated parent.
hi, I’m not a well-organized person at all and I’ve got many problems with learning my son, I’ ve maked flashcards and presentation for about 12 moths and my son knows every word but he isn’t reading yet,
AND
two days ago he learned Ape (Bee)…
now he prefers only words without images coz he can concetrate better
ed.
There are so many reading methods out there, I guess I would try to see which one works best with your child and go with that one.
bettylondon, I also had a problem with my daughter wanting to grab at flash cards or whatever learning tools I was using, getting frustrated when it was something I could not give to her and then the learning coming to an abrupt end! Little Reader has helped with this for two reasons: one, it is more difficult to grab the computer and two, the presentations are so engaging she is less distracted by the object and more focussed on the actual material being presented. Occassionally she still wants to start pushing buttons on the computer… even if we scoot back. I tell her that she may not push the buttons, and if she continues I tell her we have to put it away. She is so interested in the presentations that she usually does not press it that far.