A couple of years ago, I purchased some flashcards from Staples to help make reading more fun. I never used them though. My daughter preferred to read words off the whiteboard and never really used flashcards that much, so I tucked them away to be used later on by one of the other children.

Now that I am the only one home with four children, they are an integral part of making things run smoothly and keeping folks from getting into mischief as I help out the other little folks.

My son seemed to like the cards because the pictures are very colorful on one side (the back has other words and it’s in black and white).

This is what my oldest was reading at three:

Yikes, I’ve been taking it easy on the boy! I didn’t realize she was so far ahead at that time. I started homeschooling her three months before her fourth birthday and he started a month before his fourth birthday. This reminds me that all children are different but I should also push them beyond what I think they are capable of doing so that I don’t hold them back.

Don’t worry, InshaALLAH, he gets his fair share of words too. He hasn’t learned all of the sounds of the alphabet yet, but he knows enough to read these words. I like to mix it up and add a few here and there so that we can get started reading sentences right away. It’s empowering to them and it’s so nice to see them picking up books on their own.