An ABC Flashcard Party

My 2 year old and I have been studying the alphabet together.  Everyday for the past several weeks, we go through the upper and lower case letters using flashcards.  I picked these up at a yard sale for less than $1.00.  Yay!  These cards, by School Zone, [you can also purchase here at Amazon.com] have colorful images on one side depicting something that begins with the letter shown on the flip side.  We use the "picture" side to identify objects...and I use them to quiz my older son on spelling.  ["Zebra starts with 'z'...Turtle starts with 't'..."]

But while we are studying ABC's, we only use the "letter" side.  I show her the card, and ask her if she knows the letter, [she claims she doesn't] and then I tell her the name of the letter and ask her to look at the letter and say its name.  Then she traces the letter with her finger [I make sure to direct her, so she will begin learning how to properly write the characters.] and tells me the name of the letter again. 

I mentioned before that she is frustrating to teach sometimes, because she often knows the answer, but chooses not to say it.  I KNOW she knows it!  But she will not divulge the answer unless she feels like it.  I'm not sure if it is laziness or lack of confidence - I'm fairly certain it's neither.  She is just determined.  She does things on her time, when SHE is ready...and if she decided she does or doesn't want to do or say something, no amount of coercion or bribery will sway her to act otherwise.

So, for the past several weeks, the only letter she would admit to recognizing has been "O" and "o".  That's it.  Out of 52 cards, she would only identify 2!  Two.  Ugh.  I was becoming discouraged.  Maybe it's just too difficult for her, I thought to myself.  Maybe she's not ready yet.  Maybe I'm an awful instructor...

So, you can imagine my shock when we began our routine of naming the letters on our flashcards this morning and she immediately began identifying all kinds of letters! 

Y...P...x...K...p...O...W...s...y...k...o...S...F...Q...q...- OH. MY. 

We were hi-five-ing  and cheering and laughing and having a little party the whole time!  Her brother was sitting next to her and cheering her on and laughing with delight and telling her how smart she is, then looking to me and asking if I "could even believe how smart she was getting"!  It was FUN!!! 

Jaw-dropping, discouragement-annihilating fun! 
Love those moments!

So, now I can breathe a little easier. I'm not crazy. I know she gets this stuff...she's just independent and determined and she kind of does her own thing. I truly admire that in her...although I often pray for wisdom on how to guide and direct that part of her character into becoming something healthy and useful for her, rather than discourage it - or ignore it and allow it to grow destructive roots in her heart.

Now I'm off to make her a "Good job!" page. My son asked me to make one for him yesterday and after her flashcards this morning he asked if we can make one for her too. We've started putting stickers on the page when he does really well in his academic studies. They are both excited to tell Dad all about it when he gets home today. :)