Flashcards can be a fun and effective way for homeschool parents to teach pretty much any subject. They’re a great tool for children to practice and retain information. Flashcards are especially popular for reiterating skills in math, phonics, science, history, Bible, foreign language—the list goes on and on!

To get the most out of your flashcards, try these 5 tips for using them in your homeschool. The secret is to keep it fun—when kids enjoy the process, it won’t feel like “school” or “work” to them.

TIP 1: Play Games 

Race to see how fast you can go through your flashcards, see how many you can get correct on the first try, or try to put them in the correct order.

Abeka Homeschool mom Melody uses Addition Flashcards to teach her son and make learning fun!

TIP 2: Host Competitions

Children love competing and winning. Let siblings race against each other (which means you may need to use different sets of flashcards at the same time to make it fair for different ages) and see who can give the answer the quickest. Give every child the opportunity to succeed and have fun!

TIP 3: Let Your Kids Do the Drilling

Let your kids drill or test you using the flashcards. They can learn as much while “being the teacher” as they can while being the student.

TIP 4: Switch It Up 

Use a variety of flashcards. Instead of only using the typical 3×5 card with black lettering, use different sizes, colors, and shapes to keep children interested and engaged.

TIP 5: Make Your Own Flashcards

Let your kids get creative by making their own flashcards. Let them come up with something they want to learn and help them reach that goal by making flashcards to drill the information. They’ll benefit from the repetition of actually making the flashcards themselves.

Once your kids catch the learning bug, they’ll have it for life. Flashcards feel more like a game than a part of school. When learning becomes fun in their eyes, they won’t push so hard against it.

Abeka offers a variety of flashcards to enhance your child’s learning, in addition to other helpful resources. Check them out here.