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I just started back up on a routine and did reveiwing last week. I reviewed numbers and abcs and colors and shapes. For some reason my son don't seem to remember his ABCs. It's frusterating. His sister gets them but not him. He gets the colors, shapes, numbers but not his ABCs. We started Unit 8 this week. He had no problem with the counting and all the other stuff. He even found the big G's. Yet when I do the flashcards, he draws a blank. Everything is Ba Ba Ba B. What is some extra stuff I can do with this? I would like to move onto LHFHG after LHTH but if he cannot get his ABC's and their sounds why move on. I know we are not far in the book but we have been doing the unschooling style of learning for everyone this past couple of months do to a move to a different state and deploying daddy. This week is our first normal week in a long time. Our week actually started yesterday with church. (oh and this ABC thing isn't new it was like this before the move too) I have thought of using HOP for preschool for additional work. Borders is having educators week the first week of April. You can get 25% instead of 20%. That is when I would get HOP to go with the LHTH, maybe.
My little ones just turned 3 and 4.

You think Leap Frog dvds might help? He is still young though, so try not to stress like I do. I think I am the queen of stressing over phonics!

The best I have found is Leap Fog dvd and Phonics Firefly.
I just ordered the dvd that goes with the Reading Lesson to try.

Another vote for Leap Frog letter factory. It really works and they love it!

I also think the LeapFrog reading/phonics are wonderful. We have 4 of them, The Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory, Code Word Caper, and Storybook Factory. They are all excellent, and my kids ages 3, 5, 6, and 7 LOVE them.

My 3 year old actually learned to read, and is reading at the same level as his brother & sister (the 6 and 7 year olds) who are in Kindergarten. (The 5 year old isn't there yet, but he's getting the individual letter sounds very well.)

For my 3 year old, his learning was all from just those videos, which he watched over and over and over. For the other 3, they are learning phonics in school (not homeschooled yet, in private Christian school.) The videos were great reinforcement for them.

Katie really got a lot out of the Leap Frog DVDs too.

Though really, your son is still young. If he's the 3 yr old, maybe he's just not ready for letters yet. Katie didn't seem to really get it till this school year at 4 yrs old. And now she's reading simple words with no problem.

My boys weren't ready to start learning letters until this year, at ages 5 and 4. We had the Letter Factory DVD and while they asked to watch it all the time, they just would not sit long enough to watch the whole thing I loved it, though, and if your children have a longer attention span than mine do, I think they'll really enjoy it.

I wanted to add to my first post. I suggested Leap Frog cuz I believe they are very good. However the reason I put it in a question form is cuz my dd is starting to be distracted by pictures in books and dvds.

We first got Leap Frog when she was 2 . At that time she would listen to the vid and tell us different letters and their sounds. She would play with her tub letters and out of the blue tell us what they were and the sounds.

Lately, though she becomes very engulfed in the animations on the vids. I can be watching it with her and ask her what letter was just shown and what it says. She will pick some random letter or sound out of her head. She had been watching everything except the letters. I have found the same thing is beginning to happen with some of our story books. She will talk about the picture so much that I can hardly read the story.

So my point in this post is to say that Leap Frog vids are excellent, but if you child is easily distracted then maybe they are not the right choice.

I have been looking at Alpha Phonics as a possibility for us. It is simple and no pics. I do have time to see if Hannah outgrows her distraction though.

Your son may be a bit young for letters. Even though your kiddos are close in age you may find that for a time you will need to separate them for phonics and math. That being said I read your post earlier in the day and this thought keeps coming back into my head. My kids love races and my son loves competition (cut only if he thinks he will win ) We would put a box by the front door and my ds and dd would run, bunny hop, frog hop or bear crawl to it. In the box would be letters or pictures of things that begin with a certain letter. They would run back and tell me what they got and the sound the letter makes. Sometimes I would put out texture letters for them to trace with their finger. Hope you understand what I'm describing. Not sure if this will help at all but it might make it a bit more fun for him

HTH
Sarah

One more vote for the Leap Frog DVD's! I got them at Target for around $10. I also think that he is quite young, and it will definitely come. I think repetition and consistency has a huge impact on what a child can remember. For instance, when I was only doing phonics every other day with LHFHG, my ds didn't remember the sounds very well. When I began doing it daily, he had it almost in no time. I really do think he is quite young, but with that being said, one of the very best things you could do to help him remember his letters and sounds would be to do them daily. Even if you don't do school every day, just doing the letter parts daily would really make a difference.

Also, having him trace the letter with his finger on the flashcard and say the sound, then the letter, as he's tracing it might help. Redoing any of the wonderful letter activities he seemed to enjoy the most from LHTH would probably help too. For instance, we did the masking tape letter on the floor, driving the car over it for about every letter, just because that was one of the letter activities from LHTH that he adored! HTH
In Christ,
Julie

You've got a lot of great ideas to go with here. I just wanted to add that I wouldn't be worried about it at this point. It's something that will come with time and repetition. I would have been much more "worried" with my oldest. (I've mellowed out with time. ) My dd who is going through LHTH and I think is in about the same place as you are gets B, D, C, and G mixed up. All those letter names rhyme, and we're not going over them daily. I know that when we start doing phonics sometime though, she will have been introduced to the letters and their sounds, and any phonics program is going to start with individual letter sounds so she has plenty of time to catch on.

Enjoy LHTH!
Kathleen

MamaBear23Cubs,

We had the Leap Frog videos too, but suprisingly neither my second or third little guys were very excited about them, so you never know! I actually scheduled time for them to watch them to practice their letters, but they really didn't want to! I think the personality of the kiddos makes a difference in how successful the Leap Frog videos and products are. I know the moms that it works for are thrilled with them though!

The ladies gave you such good advice as far as your son being young. Also, boys often get their shapes, colors, and counting skills much quicker than their ABC's. It is just how their little brains are wired.

I wouldn't worry about adding a bunch of things to "Little Hands to Heaven" right now. You've just had a big break from school and learning will definitely take a little while to jump start again. I think that consistent use of "Little Hands.." actually will give your little guy the steady practice needed for letter recognition and retention.

My 5 year old has much better retention of the first half of the letters in the alphabet than the last half, because we reviewed them more weeks in "Little Hands...".

So, give him some time to grow into learning his letters. Sometimes we worry so much about things that just take time to come. When he's 5 is the usual time for the light bulb to go on phonics wise. So, you're just jump starting his learning now with what you're doing.

Blessings,
Carrie

My son is 4. We do have leapfrog. We have dvds, magnets, leappads. You name it we got it. My girls were very talkitive at age 1. He didn't start until almost 2. I try hard not to compare everyone but it's hard. Thanks for the advice.

MamaBear23Cubs,

It sounds like you have worked very hard at surrounding your little ones with different ways of learning! You sound like a very caring mom!

I would take heart that you have time on your side, and your little one will grow into learning his sounds. My first little guy was mainly kinesthetic and auditory. My second one is highly visual. My third son is kinesthetic mainly. So, each child is very different in their learning styles and internal time tables for learning skills. This keeps the momma's on their toes!

Thankfully, the Lord does this to help us not go into overload with everyone having the same areas of concern or strength in a family. So, what is one child's frustration is the next one's joy.

After being very frustrated with math through the years with my oldest (who is doing beautifully now), my second born is a math natural. What a relief!

I just wanted to encourage you that you're not alone.

Blessings,
Carrie