Where should I start?

[Artfiend]

I have soon-to-be four year old triplets!  Yes, 3!  They will be four at the end of the summer.  When they were 2.5 years old I heard about the Doman flash card method and immediately started it.  I made thousands of flash cards and showed them 1-3 times a day depending on interest.  I did them consistently over 3-5 days.  Nothing.  Nothing.  And nothing 1.5 years later.  My kids still can't read.  I don't think they were absorbing any of the words.  Sometimes I would show them two cards and ask them to show me XYZ word and they would sometimes get it right.  So a few months ago I stopped the program completely.  I invested so much money and time in ti.  I created flash cards with phrases, sentences, books, I found pictures cut them out and make home-made stories.  The time invested was unbelievable.  But all worth it to give my little ones the gift of early reading.
We then moved on to basic phonics and they can now read a couple of the very early Bob Books (mostly Mat, Sam and Dot).  But I stumbled along this website and I am willing to give it another try.  But we already started Preschool Prep Sight words last week.  And again, my trio love the DVD but I show them flash cards and they still cannot recognize one word.  I show them the DVD twice a day.  I show them the word "I" and I ask them what it says and they all look at me and clearly do not know.  Is something wrong?

My questions:
Is it too late to start with LR (they are soon 4)?
Is it bad to do it in conjunction with Preschool Prep Sight Words?  Will it confuse?
Why don't my trio seem to get it?  And why did the doman method not work at all with them.  I gave it 1.5 years!

My other questions:
Would love to get them started on LM.  Are they too old?  Should I start it?
Would love to get them started on Little Music?  Are they too old?
If not, which should be the order I start it to the,:  LR, Lm and then Music?  Or wait for music?

Finally I would like to introduce Spanish.  When?????  If I do all LR, LM, Music and Spanish is that way too long?  How long would it take?  Don't forget with triplets I have VERY LITTLE time.  And two of them still love temper tantrums and are more interested in writing on the walls than sitting and watching a video.

Thank you!!
xoxo

[ELeducation]

You have some great questions! I don't know the answers to many of these because my baby is still very young, but hopefully you'll get some helpful responses. People here have a lot of experience with these sorts of things.

[Mandabplus3]

Wow! you must be super mum! Triplets and you still managed to do a manual Doman program! My hat goes of too you. 
Firstly don't stress your time effort and money were not wasted. You babies did learn. They just havnt yet learnt how to show you what they learnt. Some kids take longer than others, once they start, due to the fabulous background you have layer, they will zoom through beginning reading stages. It is all in their brains just waiting to connect. That is what my children mostly did. Stored it up and then exploded.   
So what next you ask?
Their age matters. They are heading into an age where phonics will make sense for them. You can teach them using phonics and sight/whole words now  continue with preschool prep. Many of us aware by it for transitioning from single words to reading books. Kids are not confused by multiple methods. You could add in little reader now and still get a good deal of use from it. It also includes phonics instruction and its a LOT easier than making word cards.    try also readingbear.org and see how they like it. It is often the missing piece of the puzzle and its free!
Now little math....well honestly I think you have missed the boat on subitization. You could teach them skip counting and numeral recognisition with it but frankly I think your money is better spent with......
Little Musician!  You definately want this one and right now! Your kids will LOVE it! And so will you and I cannot imagine a cuter picture than a group of triplets arguing about the tone of the water dripping from the tap into the bath      get it you won't be dissapointed. 
Now languages. Since you opted out of LM you have room for a language but I would get the routine going first on the others and then add it in if you can. Using an iPad might help. I used to show my son his lesson each time I buckled him into the car. With three I imagine a captive audience would be even more important! 
Remember to count and skip count around the house and show numbers to cover their preschool math.
Also if one is more receptive teach only that one at that time. Even if one of you kids learns to read early or that could be all it takes to tip the scale on the other two.
Triple tantrums! Oh what fun! Good luck.

[Artfiend]

Thank you for responding!!!

I learned a lot from your reply.  I will skip Little Math.  We will do counting at home, math games at home, and they do Montessori math at school.

In terms of reading-  I think we will hold off on Little Reader.  After I did the trial I realized that two of the three need way more repitition.  We showed them the sight words now for 3 weeks from Preschool Prep.  With one of them, it totally stuck.  With the other she rememebrs 50% of the words (after 3 weeks, twice a day!) and the third can not even recognize one word on a flash card (not even I or a).  I am being serious.  She just still can't recognize any of the sight words.  She's captivated by the video but I don't think is processing it. I will still show it to her and will incorporate reading bear.  She does not have any developmental delays but I guarantee you she cant recognize the words.

I will start on Little Music and wait later to do a foreign language.    But Im about to give up on one of them to teach them how to read early.  I don't think it is her main interest right now.  She prefers to be hands on and do things with her hands....the other two I can continue with them.  What are your thoughts on my strategy?

Thank you!!  YEs, I spent a lot of time on doing Doman manually.  it was so much work and I had so much hope for it. I spent all of my time on it!!!  Laundry and dinners sometimes went to the back burner.  Oh and I only slept 4 hours a night then.  I was too busy making flash cards!
xoxoxo

[Zeta]

I recommend starting with just pure phonics. This helps build the foundation your child needs to begin decoding the words.

[cheerymom]

ELeducation mom ! triple happiness rocks !!!

First and foremost , huge claps to you for following doman for ur three kiddos     
For sure you have stimulated their brain ! you might not see them reply back on what you expect but I'm pretty confident that they would show this groomed brain development in other activities they do. Coz with my kid , I realized that these stimulation s are a whole development and not just repeating the words with you !

I would recommend go ahead with LR , preferably 'word split' , stories . And try to personalize it with pics that they see daily at your home/school.  eg. I used to have the pic of my son's trolley to show him the word trolley, and his own sippy cup when I show the word sippy cup in LR. As LR is more friendly with personalizing go ahead and that might click out ! as it did for me.

Keep going ! Learning never ends even when ur kid is 120 !
wishes from cheerymom

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