My only hesitation with posting this pic, is that people will look at it & think "That's too much work". Remember, this is a picture of 3 years of work. We started out making a few cards here & there & weren't really dedicated until our daughter was about 18 months old. Now that we are going through 40 plus cards a week, I write most of them out on an index card with a felt pen & it takes seconds per card. My laminator actually gets time to cool off now! Most of these cards have pictures on one side & a word on the back because my daughter refused to read anything without a picture until quite recently.
We really couldn't fit them all in our living room & kitchen! This is most of K's cards, stacked in sets. I couldn't get the cards from the last 6 months ago or so because we ran out of space - and we are going through more than 40 cards per week! The very large cards in the background are some of the very large cards we used when she was a baby.
Your story is inspiring ... it's making me really think about activities to do with our daughter as she gets a little older (she is 3 months now).
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am actually hoping to get a post up shortly about things you can do even with new babies. Much of it is fairly common sense like lots of tummy time, massage, etc., but hopefully there will be a few new ideas.
ReplyDeleteOK, you inspired me...but now I'm overwhelmed! How did you choose a program? I've been looking at See & Learn and Brill Kids and I'm totally at a loss! If you had to go back to having an infant-4-6 months- what programs would you use and how?
ReplyDeleteThey are both great program. I really appreciate that any funds raised by selling the See & Learn goes right back into DS research. Downs Ed is doing so much for our kids. I will however have an exciting announcement about Brill Kids as soon as we work out some details, so if you can hold off a few days, it might be worth the wait!
ReplyDeleteWow, and here I thought we had lots of cards. LOL. I do need to get a laminator though. Any suggestions for a good one that is cost effective? If there is such a thing?
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy! I've been enjoying your blog too. I usually just talk about my youngest, but I actually have 4 daughters too!
ReplyDeleteAs far as laminators go, I have to admit that I bought mine when I still really didn't know if early reading was possible. Therefore, I bought the cheapest one I could find that would laminate a 8.5 X 11 sheet. So far it is still going strong so I have never looked into another. I have seen discussions on laminators on Brillkids, you may want to do a search on their site.
I've been reading a little about the Doman fast flash method and was wondering how that works with the pictures on K's cards. Did you flash both sides? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
ReplyDeleteThere are never any dumb questions! Ask away, I could talk about this all day!
ReplyDeleteWe really didn't follow Doman's or anyone else's method exactly. I think you should be flexible & do what you think your child enjoys the most.
We did it a couple of different ways. Most of the time, we would quickly flash each word, then flip the title card over, repeat the title & then say each word again as we flashed the picture.
Occasionally just to change up the routine we would say the word, flip the card over & show the picture while saying the word, then flip it back & repeat the word again.
She seemed to learn equally fast both ways.
Love these posts!! Why do you go fast? I don't understand.
ReplyDeleteCsunshinegirl - sorry, I missed you're quetion before.
ReplyDeleteKids generally learn with the left side of their brains. By fast flashing, you are getting them to use the right side of their brains which helps them to recall things instantly.