Flashcards aren’t new, that’s for sure. For many, a humble deck of ordinary flashcards is regarded as so boring and antiquated that they are avoided altogether.
But having children make their own has many more benefits over those purchased in any store. Plus, they don’t have to be only about math facts, either. Flashcards can be about anything you want them to be. How about cooking measurements? Plot details from a book? Plants or insects? Commonly misspelled words? Caring for a pet? How about cards with music notes or how to fold laundry? Literally anything at all a child has learned — or a parent would like that child to learn – can appear on a card. Sets can be topic-specific or mixed, too.
Think about it. Taking something learned in homeschool, or anything in life, and putting it down on a flashcard requires many skills. To name a few, kids are asked to:
- recall what they learned or look it up again
- synthesize, shorten, paraphrase or whatever it takes to fit it on a card
- use writing skills to tell about it, adding quiz questions or riddles as desired
- draw something about it, if the cards will be illustrated
- cut, measure, decorate, laminate or whatever else it takes to make the cards themselves
And those are just a few of the benefits. Even greater benefits come when the cards are shared with others. The creator gets to review everything all over again. The recipient, with any luck a sibling, gets to learn everything, too.
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This post is part of a little series called, “Think about it”, and each post contains a single idea to try this year. Posts are short, so that you can move on to the next quickly. These ideas may inspire you to try something new…or help you realize that something you’re already doing is okay. There will be no particular posting schedule, but you can look for Tags & Titles that begin with the words, “Think about it”.
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