We have a stack of flashcards on our counter that reaches a mile high. Multiplication, addition, latin/greek root words, the 50 States, ABC's for Phoebe, subtraction, animals, insects (yuk!), space, and Spanish.
Every once in a while we'll do a flashcard session where I will pile them up all around me and quiz the kids for as long as they last.
About the time they start doing flips off of the couch and laying backwards off of things, I know our flashcard session is almost over. There's Paige struggling to add 7 +5 when ten minutes ago she was rattling off 8x5=40 and the capital of Georgia is Atlanta.
There is a type of learning style called "kinesthetic" learning in which the person learns better while they are engaged in other typically physical activities.
My children are hyper, wild, and often unruly, but when they are moving about they learn about as well as a sea slug.
See Josh struggling? I think he was trying to add 0+6 or something equally mundane. If he had been sitting still somewhere he would have rolled his eyes and answered, "6, Mom! That's so easy! Jeez."
On a slightly related note, can you see how I'm holding the cards upside down for the kids? No, you can't because both photos feature numbers that are interchangeable vertically. But trust me, they were upside down.
It turns out the kids really couldn't do upside down flashcards. It seems that their brains could not do math when the problem was upside down, even though their eyes were also upside down. I wonder if there are any studies about that.........
....and when I find out I'll let you know. It will be about as exciting as this post.
Sorry. Can't be on the ball all of the time. But ɐʇ lǝɐsʇ ıʇ ʍou,ʇ qǝ ndsıpǝ poʍu¡