We have been using Card Stacking to teach letter recognition. This method teaches independent study and will eventually free you to teach other children while the child learns the letters on his own. You will be surprised by how fast he learns to do this alone and enjoys working without you all day. He will not only teach himself the alphabet, upper and lower case but alphabetical order comes quickly, too.

You will need:

• 26 4×6 or 5×7 inch letter cards with upper case letters on one side and lower case on the reverse. With all upper case facing upward, I cut off the bottom right corner if this is not already done so the child can learn to sort them easily.
• A light colored binder with the alphabet written twice on the inside cover, once in upper case and once in lower case. It is best to copy from the cards you intend to use since the written forms should match.
• A ziploc bag to store the cards. Clip the bottom corners to keep it from holding air when closed. I also add reinforced holes to clip the bag inside the binder.
• To achieve greater independence, you may also wish to have a “my first” cassette player with a recording of the alphabet song and another of the alphabet spoken slowly several times.

1. Sitting on the floor or at a table with plenty of room, begin by teaching the child to “stack” the cards by putting the corner that’s missing together on all the cards. [To the right, for upper case or left for lower case.] Do only upper or lower case each day.
2. With the binder open, show the child how to put his finger under A or a. Say “put your finger under “a” and say ‘I’m going to find a.'” You are telling the child to say this to reinforce the letter name.
3. Show the child how to stack the cards one at a time beside the beginning stack as he looks for the card that matches. Remind him to look if he passes the card but let him start over and find it by himself if he doesn’t notice that he missed it as he stacks the cards.
4. When he finds it clap and say “hooray” as you show him how to make a new stack above the binder for the found letters.
5. Say, “Good, now straighten your stack” and the first few times, help the child put the leftover cards back into a neat stack. This will make it easier to “go again” each time.
6. Say, “Put your finger under that a/A on your binder. Now move it over (I say this as I move the finger myself the first few times) to b/B. Say ‘I’m going to find b.'”
7. When the child says this, tell him to find it now. If he needs help, show him again how to stack the cards one at a time beside the beginning stack as he looks for the card that matches. Remind him to look if he passes the card but let him start over and find it by himself if he doesn’t notice it as he stacks the cards.
8. When he finds it clap and say “hooray” as you show him how to place it in the found stack above the binder.
9. Repeat throughout the alphabet, making sure the child places the found card on the found stack above the binder correctly.
10. When he is finished, I show him how to play the “Slow ABC tape” and he reviews the alphabet as he hears it and goes through the cards with me. If you don’t have a tape, go through the stack saying the letters and showing him one at a time to reinforce.
11. Do only upper or lower case each day. I only repeat the lesson if I am asked to do so (and I usually am asked) Please stop and do it if the child asks at any time of day during the first week.

    By the second week, they are usually doing upper or lower case upon my request and by themselves. I usually have them close to me the second week so I can observe and I like to have them bring the found stack to me when the stacking is finished so I can check that they are really in order.

You will simply be amazed at how quickly children learn to do this on their own if you enthusiastically insist that they can. If you act unsure or “help” constantly, you will not achieve independence very quickly.

My older children were taught to read by age four but since our family has grown larger and I have read more about “waiting” for formal education and learned more patience, I have allowed my children to wait until age five to even begin learning their alphabet. It evens out in the end result and if, like me, you have given up formal testing, too, you will not be worried.

I taught myself everything I really wanted to know and have confidence that if I teach them the basics, they will achieve whatever they wish to achieve. In fact, they always do better than I expected if I refrain from “instructing” them as to “how” something should be done.

Praise God.