I started my daughter with flashcards at the age of 4 yrs 4 months old. She does just fine with them.
We started with Your Baby Can Read, then we moved on to Brillkids, then added in some Monkisee to keep it interesting. First I wanted to get her attention and keep it. So I found using the videos first worked really well. Once we did that it became a routine that she has enjoyed ever since.
I use her potty time to keep her attention. You would be amazed how long a child can sit on a potty. LOL. No really she has medical problems so we do enemas. Adding in the learning to read while she sits on the pot has actually worked really well.
I find with 4 yr olds that repetition and being consistent works. Four year olds thrive off of consistency and routine. So you need to find a time when they are most cooperative. Whether it be in the morning, afternoon or before bed.
For a little while it seemed like my daughter had no interest in the flashcards and one evening I didn't bring them out. She immediately asked me " Mommy, where are my words, you forgot my words?" So even when she doesn't seem very interested she actually is.
Flash the cards fast and keep it short. You'll also find with an older child they will learn the words much quicker. My daughter learns words every 2 to 3 days.
So yes, flashcards can be done with a child older than 2 or 3 and yes, it can be fun for them.
Here are a couple of videos I put on my blog. I need to update with some more
http://thereedfamily-blog.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html http://thereedfamily-blog.blogspot.com/2011/02/mighty-reader.htmlP.S I use the Doman flash method with her.
As for the poster that talked about guessing and experts. Well the experts don't know it all. I have three other daughters whom I used phonics with and they all at some point quit using phonics to figure out words and began guessing. Now that I sit back and think about it , teaching just phonetically was a LOT of work only to have them around the age of 7 to start guessing words. That being because when we read we do not sound out each word that we read one sound at a time. We just read it. So children eventually figure this out and want to just read instead of the whole laborious task of sounding out each individual sound just to figure out the word. Don't get me wrong. Its very important for a child to be able to figure out a word using phonics. But eventually they just drop it when they figure out that its just to much darn work. LOL!
I'm finding that teaching Maggie to read first, she is figuring out words on her own and has no problem sounding out words when I stop and ask her to. I've yet to do a phonics program with her yet.
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